Beena 500

[hari317]

I quite by chance discovered this pen. I grew up in Pune, a city 200kms south of Mumbai and I always had the pen craze, in the early 90's while I was in the 8th grade, a few nice pens were available which however were out of my reach. One of them was a pen called the Camlin Premier. This was a piston filler and came with interchangeable screw out nibs and cost a princely sum of 350 Rs. So this time when I was in Pune, I went looking for this pen in particular and other old Indian pens. I had no luck finding the Premier but I chanced upon this dealer who had got these pens manufactured in India, it was called the Beena pen model: 500. The pen looked good so I bought a couple of them.

 

The interesting part about the pen is its screw-out nib unit with an Ebonite feeder. The nibs are of excellent quality, available in M and F . The piston is quite smooth and has a nice ink capacity. I have one filled up in rotation. The nib lays a nice wet line and I used this pen to write out about 3 dozen New year greetings. I bought a few more of these pens to give away as gifts to my school going nephew and niece who are becoming FP enthusiasts in their own right!

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2656.jpg

 

The Beena pen has two variants, the pens are identical but for their caps, The black cap pen is called the Lincoln.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2657.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2659.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2658.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2662.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2663.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Beena500/IMG_2664.jpg

 

Dimensions:

Capped 5 1/4 inch

Posted: 5 7/8 inch

 

I am not sure but looking at the red ring at the piston knob and clip jewel, I feel that this pen may have been modelled after a Rotring?

 

Comments are welcome.

 

Regards,

Hari

 

[JulioPB]

Nice pens Hari, as most of Indians pens:

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Julio

[hari317]

Nice pens Hari, as most of Indians pens:

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Julio

 

Thanks Julio, I find the build quality of the Beena much superior to the other Piston fillers made here like the Camlin or the Wality77.

 

Best,

Hari

 

 

 

 

[tknechtel]

Nice designs, Hari, particularly the Lincoln. (And I like the backgrounds you photograph your pens against.) I was in Pune once in 2000, liked it a lot - must have been a great city to grow up in!

Tom

[Strang]

Good looking pens, Hari. Thanks for sharing!

[Abhik]

Nice pens Hari! Photos too!

Abhik

[hari317]

Thanks Tom, Richard and Abhik.

 

Nice designs, Hari, particularly the Lincoln. (And I like the backgrounds you photograph your pens against.) I was in Pune once in 2000, liked it a lot - must have been a great city to grow up in!

 

I personally liked the steel capped one better, performance is the same. The back ground is actually a Bamboo table mat, handmade in Assam (Northeast India). Look me up the next time you visit India.

[PaulK]

Hari, wonderful pictures (also, second the vote on that steel capped model!). I got to tell you, I'm now using a Guider (ED) at work. Great writing pen. Also like that other Ebonite model you've posted ..... Wow! Keep the pictures coming.

 

Paul

[s_t_e_v_e]

Nice one Hari!

 

As usual, you dig out beauties from India and make me feel jealous for missing out on these when I was back there....

 

I have to take note of all these and get hold of them when I make a trip back.....

 

Thanks for the pics,

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[RevAaron]

Wow- that pen looks almost identical to the Rotring Renaissance. I'd be willing to bet that it goes past simply trying to look like the Rotring Renaissance, but that it was made from its parts.... Just a thought!

[J English Smith]

I like the design of these. That does look like a sturdy little nib.

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

Two nice pens and some great photography. Thank you!

[madzaxmax]

Were you ever able to track down the manufacturer or a distributor for more pens?

[ahab]

Were you ever able to track down the manufacturer or a distributor for more pens?

Yes, there's a Beena Pen Company located in Ulhas Nagar, Mumbai. I did try and get in touch with them to obtain a few pieces. I was told that they have stopped the production of Beena fps. That said, they do outsource for companies like Camlin. A pity that they shut down. Such fine nibs and a build that reminds you, in some small way, of MB 144.

[hari317]

.... and a build that reminds you, in some small way, of MB 144.

Really?

[phadnisvivek]

Very nice pens Hari. I did not realise there are so many good pens out there in India.

[ahab]

.... and a build that reminds you, in some small way, of MB 144.

Really?

 

Compare the attached photo to Beena Lincoln (Black). Only that the MB has gold rings in the place of the red ones. Beena is slimmer and smaller without doubt. Yet some passing resemblance...rr so I feel.

[subramaniyam]

Where in Pune did you buy these?

[hari317]

Where in Pune did you buy these?

Sir, It was some shop in the Raviwar Peth area, if I remember correctly. HTH.

[shrujaya]

Hari, yesterday I was browsing on the net trying to look for Chelpark pens and hit upon the Chelpark Sona and it has this fascinating detachable nib unit which could be unscrewed like one of those Pelikan models and then I remembered you had sourced this nice little Indian pen called Beena, which was also a piston FP like the Sona and also had this unscrewable nib unit...very very interesting...and then I searched and "found" this review which you had written then...and this was so long ago and many more new members from India and elsewhere would have joined FPN in the meantime and I felt this pen needed a bump for all the newcomers to see...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya