Some Famous Pens And Their Look Alikes

[mohan]

Great compilation..

Thanks.

[majorworks]

The Hero 5020, so I've been told, is a copy of the Parker Sonnet. No Sonnet here for comparison, unfortunately.

 

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/major_works/Hero%205020%20photos/uncapped.jpg

[mohan]

Dear Majorworks,

How is the writing? Is it convertor or aerometric filled?

[majorworks]

Dear Majorworks,

How is the writing? Is it convertor or aerometric filled?

Mohan:

 

It's not a favorite pen. It's filled with the typical plastic Hero converter. The steel nib (fine/medium) is somewhat toothy and no amount of fiddling or smoothing has changed it much (not that I know what I'm doing). It's very lightweight and I find the section a bit narrow for my hand. I prefer my pens with more meat on their bones.

 

I haven't inked it for quite some time. Maybe I'll give it a spin soon and see if my impressions change.

[hari317]

I want a Flair Majestic, is old stock still available anywhere?

[mohan]

I bought that in 1991 and never again saw elsewhere. If I am getting onemore Ill keep it for you.

[elysee]

Thank you very much for the information and all the great pictures! While I am familiar with the Parkers, Sheaffers, Watermans, and Sailors, I was not aware of their "cousins". : )

[ethernautrix]

Very cool topic. Thanks for sharing!

[mohan]

Welcome Elysee, Welcome Ethernautrix.

[pavoni]

What a super topic.

 

I am so grateful to have come across a post that was so refreshingly different Mohan. Your pictures and your statement 'When I first saw a Parker 51 I was wondering why they made it like hero! Blame it on the part of the world I am living' really grabbed my attention.

 

I can see your post being a hot topic for some time and turning into a must read thread.

 

Thank you very much for sharing. More please!

 

Pavoni.

[mohan]

Thanks Pavoni.

Many of these pens I have bought with out knowing that these are copies. This forum made me to know what are real pens and the great members made this topic hot.

My gratitude to Fpn and its members.

[amk]

A super post!

 

I've managed to acquire a lovely Ratnam 'vacumatic' so this is something that's been happening in India for a good long while, but I've never seen the relationship between original and copy so well illustrated.

 

I also have a Hero 'P51 flighter' - but I don't have a genuine P51 flighter to compare it to. Couldn't resist it for, I think, the absurdly high price of 85 rupees :-)

[basterma]

This is really cool. Thanks for posting.

[hari317]

A super post!

 

I've managed to acquire a lovely Ratnam 'vacumatic' so this is something that's been happening in India for a good long while, but I've never seen the relationship between original and copy so well illustrated.

 

 

very curious, can you post some pics? how does the pen fill? Vac or ED?

[amk]

You guessed it, Hari, though the Ratnam looks like a Parker Vac, it fills with an eyedropper!

 

I'll get round to getting some pics - but I'm just back from 6 months in India so I've a lot of paperwork on my desk and clients making noise about my doing a bit of work for them at last... there will be an 'Indian pen odyssey' with numerous pics popping up on FPN once I get a chance. *Some lovely finds even though I didn't get a chance to visit TN or Hyderabad, still I got a few decent pens; and by sheer luck, I managed to fit in all the pen stores in Mumbai in the few hours between my Ahmedabad-Mumbai train in the morning and the Mumbai-Calcutta slow train leaving in the evening. Also definitively the worst pen I own; the Montex Handy. What a piece of ****. Even for 15 rupees, it's lousy value.)

[hari317]

Really looking forward to the report amk.

[mohan]

What missing now really is a nib company called Arul Script from Thajavoor. They made speciality nibs like caliigraphies and italics, had their on stalls during exhibitions showing many types of hand writings and nibs used to write them. They brought pregrinded nibs and also custom grinded according to our needs. Unfortunately they faced their death around ten years ago which defenitely they did nt deserve. I would like call them as Indian Sailor but they didnt produced any pens afaik.

Edited June 22, 2013 by mohan

[hari317]

What missing now really is a nib company called Arul Script from Thajavoor. They made speciality nibs like caliigraphies and italics, had their on stalls during exhibitions showing many types of hand writings and nibs used to write them. They brought pregrinded nibs and also custom grinded according to our needs. Unfortunately they faced their death around ten years ago which defenitely they did nt deserve. I would like call them as Indian Sailor but they didnt produced any pens afaik.

Sorry to hear that the company is no more. I have seen their calligraphy nib sets at a very cheap price in Deccan.

[nakiana]

That was very enjoyable. Thanks, Mohan.

[ahab]

The Hero 5020, so I've been told, is a copy of the Parker Sonnet. No Sonnet here for comparison, unfortunately.

 

Baoer 388 is the closest that comes to Parker Sonnet. In fact, it is a replica.