Mumbai Pen Shops

[hari317]

thanks for the pic. I will visit when ever i will be mimbai .Can you pl. tell me where i will get old ink wells?

 

Shailendra, old ink wells?, well you will have to check in the bylanes of Mohammed Ali Road, near an infamous area called "chor bazaar" there are a lot of vendors there selling supposedly antique stuff, be alert and bargain hard.

 

Best,

Hari

[georges zaslavsky]

very good job hari thanks for sharing these photos and giving advice about which shops to visit. :clap1:

Edited December 23, 2009 by georges zaslavsky

[jkarnes61]

What fantastic info and guidance on pen shopping in Mumbai! I am in Mumbai currently, am a new but avid collector, and am reading your post over 2 years later. Will follow the trail you have blazed and check them out in the coming week. Thank you!

Jeff

[pen2020]

It was a holiday for my office this Friday and I went off to hunt pens and took my camera along. I decided to take snaps of the pen shops I frequent regularly and make a kind of <i>Photo Documentary</i> about the pen shops in Mumbai. Some of them are not so well known but sometimes you can find some good pens.

 

Most of the pen shops are concentrated in the southern part of Mumbai particularly in the <i>Fort</i> area. Generally I travel on my trusty Enfield Bullet and park it near VT (Victoria Terminus) station. From there walking towards a place called the <i>Flora Fountain</i> both the sides of the road are lined with a sprinkling of pen shops. The first good shop on the left is the <b>Mitha Pen mart </b>owned by Mr. Taher. He generally has good vintage as well as modern pens on display. He repairs pens himself and is a master pen engraver. Yesterday he had on display for sale a vintage Omas, a snorkel filling PFM, some Parker 75s, some GF MBs and a Duofold.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Mitha/IMG_0639.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

They are also the service collection centre for Parker pens.

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Mitha/IMG_0633.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Mitha/IMG_0635.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

Mr. Taher showing me a PFM:

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Mitha/IMG_0637.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

 

The next shop you can't miss to notice is the <b>Apsara Pen Mart</b> bang opposite Flora Fountain. This shop has been around in the same place from the 1940's. They usually have a nice collection of moderns and a separate vintage pen chest. Yesterday they had about 50 NOS Sheaffer No-Nonsense pens in original blister packing at a throwaway price of approx 4USD. Of course, I picked up three.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Apsara/IMG_0642.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Apsara/IMG_0646.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

The Vintage pens' chest, They had some nice Duofolds, but were pricey.

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Apsara/IMG_0643.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

The No-Nonsense pens, notice the blister cards at the back.

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Apsara/IMG_0644.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

In the lane adjacent to Apsara pen mart called the <i>Nagindas Master Lane</i> is another reliable shop called the <b>Shukla pen mart</b>. I had bought my NOS old style Pelikan M800 from him at a very reasonable price. Yesterday he had only moderns. He keeps the entire waterman range.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/shukla/IMG_0649.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/shukla/IMG_0650.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/shukla/IMG_0652.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

There is a large wholesale Stationery market in Mumbai which caters to the needs of the whole of India. This is located in on the Abdul Rahman street, bang opposite Crawford Market. Needless to say there are lots of shops here who have been doing business for more than 60 yrs and they do sometimes entertain pen lovers and even sell them a couple of pens at wholesale rates.

 

The first shop on the left is <b>Enayat Ali and Sons</b>

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0682.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0679.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

Adjacent to it is the <b>Bombay Fountain Pen depot</b> from who I have bought my Rotring 600 with 18K nib and various Watermans at fantastic rates.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0677.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

Yesterday he showed me this Chinese pen that had a lever in the feed to floss out the nib slit!

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0680.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

Two shops away is the sole national distributor of Airmail pens, <b>Vrajlal</b>. Whatever Airmail pen has been made, you can find it here.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0676.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

A little further away to the left on the <i>Sutar Chawl</i> lane is a shop called <b>Pen Point</b> owned by Mr. Pradeep Gala. He has a good collection of Pelikans, and sometimes vintages also turn up with him as consignment sales.

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0675.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Pen%20Stores/Pen%20point%20etc/IMG_0672.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

 

There are a lot of other good pen shops also in Mumbai. I hope you enjoyed this little <i>Pen Tour</i> of Mumbai as much as I enjoy on every weekend.

 

Cheers,

Hari

that was excellent,Hari.We do not have so many in Calcutta.

[aditya.shevade]

Thanks a lot Hari - Looks like I am going to have to make a visit to Apsara this time around

[gouri shankar]

Thanks a lot Mr.Hari .....Hope to visit this place when I visit mumbai...

[freewheelingvagabond]

Awesome! Photo-journalism at its best in my book. The feel of the place really shone through in your article. Well done. A great read.

 

Are fountain pens still in such demand in India? Who uses them? You've probably got more specialist pen shops there than we've got in the whole of Britain. Amazing.

 

Regards,

Dean

 

In my personal opinion, the only major issue with fountain pens in India is that good quality pens are almost always prohibitively expensive and not easily available. I have had many friends and relatives try out some of my pens, and most of them were impressed and hardly anyone ever ridiculed. The Lamy Safari which can be considered as a still-in-production easily available good quality pen is still expensive and retails for about $25, where as typically an individual would buy a plastic ball point for $.1. Many of the people during school life have had experiences with poor quality fountain pens and hence, even if they can afford one, many believe all fountain pens to be of similar quality.

But I guess many people here do appreciate a good quality fountain pen. In my masters programme there were 30 odd students. At the beginning only I would be the one using fountain pens. At the end, the count was 6 out of 30, with everyone having a Lamy Safari at least besides other pens and all satisfied with their decisions to switch.

You would always find fountain pen users here among well-to-do people from all walks of life.

Because of India's huge population and diversity, it is very likely that here you'd probably always have a demand for anything and everything under the sun, the only job is identifying and reaching out to people who could be your potential customers. With respect to consumption of goods and services, urban Indian society also frequently exhibits a strong bandwagon effect- if something kicks off it doesn't run, it flies.

[avoiceinthedistance]

What a great tour . . . thank you, Hari. I hope to get to Mumbai some day.

 

Jim

[freewheelingvagabond]

I visited three of these shops and picked up an NOS Parker 51, a Pelikan M20 Silvexa and a Wahl-Eversharp Skyline!

[Barry Gabay]

Hari,

 

This is the first time I've seen your wonderful photo essay of the pen shops in Mumbai. It is interesting, informative, and visually very pleasing. Thank you for taking the time to post it and to write such good copy as well. By the way, I will learn in about 6 weeks if my grant proposal is approved for travel & research in India. Will let you know. I'll keep all 12 fingers and toes crossed for luck.

 

Thank you again for the very enjoyable travelogue, and as always for your very informed and relevant Montblanc posts.

 

Best wishes,

Barry

[kuno]

Wow, I wonder where their vintage pen supply comes from. Guess these things are still around when you have a billion+ population (no antique pen shops in my country here)

[hari317]

Thanks for the continued interest shown by all of you in this guide. I am grateful.

 

Hari,

 

This is the first time I've seen your wonderful photo essay of the pen shops in Mumbai. It is interesting, informative, and visually very pleasing. Thank you for taking the time to post it and to write such good copy as well. By the way, I will learn in about 6 weeks if my grant proposal is approved for travel & research in India. Will let you know. I'll keep all 12 fingers and toes crossed for luck.

 

Thank you again for the very enjoyable travelogue, and as always for your very informed and relevant Montblanc posts.

 

Best wishes,

Barry

 

Thanks for your kind comments Barry. I hope you get the grant and hopefully we can meet while you are in India.

 

Regards,

Hari

[Preetham]

Very well done... thanks

[SidandNancy]

What a great topic Hari!!!! You are just spoilt for choice!!! Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic city

 

Cheers

Leah

[SubodhK]

This is an excellent post Hari, thanks an lot. I do remember visiting Mitha and Apsara a few years back.

 

Regards,

Subodh

[pelman]

Hari,

 

That is a wonderful collection of shops. Someday I will be in Mumbai and have the time to travel to these shops.

 

My nearest B&M is 150 miles away . Enjoy.

 

Happy Holidays (I guess most of our holidays are over)

 

Jayant

[Andreas Smith]

A fascinating post. I've been to Mumbai three times and walked past dozens of pen stores without stopping to take a look. I've always taken a couple of pens, and ink, with me from the UK and been a bit scared that I will spend all my money on pens in India. Instead I end up with dozens of books - in 2007 I bought about forty in a few days and had to send them back to England. Impossible to carry that lot around the county for six months! Next time, though, I will certainly buy a few pens too. By the way, is there a good place to buy Waterman's ink in Mumbai?

[hari317]

By the way, is there a good place to buy Waterman's ink in Mumbai?

 

Yes, Shukla and Co at fort usually have ample stocks of Waterman's inks.

[Andreas Smith]

Thanks Hari, I'll check them out next time. I love wandering round the Fort area - there's an excellent bookshop there (Strand, I think it's called). By the way, are there any problems with fake pens in Mumbai, especially on the 'street' stalls, or is it possible to pick up a genuine bargain?

[hari317]

Thanks Hari, I'll check them out next time. I love wandering round the Fort area - there's an excellent bookshop there (Strand, I think it's called). By the way, are there any problems with fake pens in Mumbai, especially on the 'street' stalls, or is it possible to pick up a genuine bargain?

 

Yes, Strand it is. There are a lot of counterfiet pens sold, but they will be usually priced accordingly. Be careful when buying cheap Montblancs/ST Duponts or Sonnets. You can get some nice prices on student Pelikans/Sheaffers and Parkers.

 

Best,

Hari