Pens From Mumbai Shops - Inspired By Aurora 88

[Sudhir]

I was going through the pen box and saw a few pens that I had picked up from many Mumbai stationery shops. These were from the mid-1990s to early 2000s when I had a field job and had to traverse through all parts of Mumbai. I popped into every pen shop as a habit and picked up whatever I liked.

 

While there are many pens, I want to start with these three which were clearly inspired by the Aurora 88 contemporary pen. I have a couple of Senator pens and another Flair pen that were inspired by the Pelikan M200 and M400. I will post those pictures too.

 

I got these in local stationary shops in Mumbai for prices in the $8 to $12 range in local currency. I have tried very hard, but have not been able to get any more of these - even at the same shops. Most shops these days carry chinese pens like Baoer and Jinhao.

 

All of these are piston-fillers with nib & feed units that screw out. All of these have steel nibs that are uncalibrated, but write a Fine to Medium-Fine line. The age clearly shows on these pens as for a long time, these pens were ignored and kept in "less than perfect" conditions.

 

 

From Left to Right: Orchid Black with Gold accents, Orchid Blue with Steel Cap and Gold accents, Flair President Black with Gold Accents.

 

I have another Flair President, but the nib-feed section is broken as is the piston.

 

The Orchid pens came as sets of Fountain pens and ballpoint pens.

 

 

 

 

The Flair President

 

 

 

Orchid with Blue Body

 

 

 

The Black Orchid

 

 

Hope you liked this.

[mhguda]

Yes!

Beautiful pens - it's a design the basics of which I like - and especially, very nice photographs.

Have you cleaned them up, inked them, used them? I'm curious.

I have some pens that also had a similar fate; bought and used a long time ago, then languished in a drawer as some problem developed. When I joined FPN I learned a ton of things to try with those pens, to bring them back into active service, and with most of them, the results were amazing.

Keep up the good work. I hope you post more...

[Sudhir]

Yes!

Beautiful pens - it's a design the basics of which I like - and especially, very nice photographs.

Have you cleaned them up, inked them, used them? I'm curious.

I have some pens that also had a similar fate; bought and used a long time ago, then languished in a drawer as some problem developed. When I joined FPN I learned a ton of things to try with those pens, to bring them back into active service, and with most of them, the results were amazing.

Keep up the good work. I hope you post more...

 

Thanks for your comments and encouragement. I do plan to post more about my pens and pictures.

 

Yes, I have cleaned, used and re-cleaned these as well as all my other pens. These are not the smoothest nibs, so their use is not regular.

 

For a long time, I would just ink up pens with black ink, use them and ignore them. I did not get to spend any kind of quality time on my hobby due to work and other commitments. It is just in the past few months that I learned how to clean the different types of pens, dismantle the nib+feed and piston assemblies, and other stuff. I did break a couple of feeds and pistons on the way, but no sweat.

 

Thanks to FPN and some other resources, I take much better care of my pens now and have also moved on from black ink to many other colors.

[mhguda]

If a nib is not smooth, there is a thread - well, several, but this one will get you started - that tells a number of things you can do to improve their performance. I have used the tips and tricks in there, and developed an approach of my own, with pleasant results. Good luck, and, belatedly,

[Sudhir]

If a nib is not smooth, there is a thread - well, several, but this one will get you started - that tells a number of things you can do to improve their performance. I have used the tips and tricks in there, and developed an approach of my own, with pleasant results. Good luck, and, belatedly,

 

Thank you. That is very useful. Right now, I am looking to get a couple of pens repaired. Maybe my next adventure can be in nib smoothing. Cheers!

[rishikhanna]

Are these current production pens?

Nice pictures and a keen sense of observation !

[Sudhir]

Are these current production pens?

Nice pictures and a keen sense of observation !

 

No, I don't think these pens are still in production. I have visited the same shops I purchased these from and they do not have them. If at all available, the fountain pens in these shops are mainly Jinhao, Baoer and the like.

 

For a long time, I did not know these were Aurora 88 clones myself. It is only recently that I realized the resemblance. Unfortunately, I do not have an Aurora 88 for comparing side-by-side.

 

Cheers,

Sudhir

[watch_art]

Wow those are really close. Especially the Flair.

[Sudhir]

Wow those are really close. Especially the Flair.

 

Yes. Flair seems to have a "flair" for making inspired clones. I am going to post this separately, but here are some sneak pics of another Flair pen inspired by the Pelikan Souveran - possibly M200/205 going by the size.

 

Cheers,

Sudhir

 

 

[mallymal1]

Thanks for sharing these pens with us, Sudhir.

 

Excellent photos.