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This is a test for posting images from behind the Great Firewall in China. So here is a pen from the bottom of the Italian Barrel. It was purchased in Egypt in 1989, and is one of the smoothest writers in my collection. It has no tipping. The nib is rolled, so the tines are folded over to touch the bottom of the nib, instead of the crimped nibs seen on other cheap pens. http://i64.tinypic.com/2nl74f8.jpg http://i65.tinypic.com/bex5hi.jpg http://i66.tinypic.com/a3zerr.jpg The rolled nib and finish give it the smoothness that is incredible. However, the rolled nature of the nib does not tolerate rotation well, so you have to write carefully to keep the pen in its sweet spot. The plastic finish is textured and prone to cracking. http://i66.tinypic.com/fpa34o.jpg A full view of the pen along with a sample of my poor print. http://i64.tinypic.com/2drfofa.jpg The pen cost about 3 USD and is the first of three Wilson pens I have. The others show a development in the design, with a metal clip, then transparent "demonstrator" cap and section. I have not seen any of their pens in a few years, but one still finds packets of fresh International Cartridges today in Egypt, suggesting that the company still exists. Can anyone in Italy verify this?

http://www.indianmemoryproject.com/122/ The story of how Sita & Sity went on to become Wilson Pens due to the secondary effects of a War, the growth of Wilson and President and the decline later. Very interesting story!

I am a Mumbai resident. However, I have to sometimes travel to Bangalore on work. Last week I was being driven to a place on Mysore road. Just as we were exiting Bangalore, I spotted an old run down stationery box stall (kiosk) on the road side. I immediately requested my driver to stop and went back and had a look. I asked if they had fountain pens, he said only old ones, no one is interested in FPs anymore. I asked him to show them to me anyway. The one or two shelve in the shop were packed with old pens kept in polyethene packets, mostly junk. I spotted a packet that looked interesting and asked him to take that one out, this packet had around a dozen celluloid pens from different Indian makers, I was getting late so I just paid what the shopkeeper wanted for the bag of pens and went my way. Later I asked my driver about the area where this shop was located, he told me the area was called Kalasipalaya, so here are some pictures of the Kalasipalaya haul of Indian celluloids. I ran out of patience to photograph all the pens and the imprints, here is what i managed, enjoy!! The haul contains Wilsons with Vac filling, President with Vac filling, Plato 66 from 1952, the 60s etc.. all pens the are of the nitrocelluloid variety. Some have suffered the typical shrinking found with this gorgeous material. The material is of the typical rolled sheet into a tube construction. http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0079.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0080.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0081.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0082.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0083.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0084.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0085.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0086.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0087.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0088.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0089.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0090.jpg http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0091.jpg Cheers! Hari