Vintage Indian ebonite fountain pens, anyone? “What is your greatest regret as a fountain pen collector?” asked the young lady who had come to take my interview. “Regret”? I heard myself mumbling far away, for her question had hit me straight in the solar plexus. “Fountain pen collecting, on
Montblanc. If there is one name that consistently spells class, that too, of a kind where quality craftsmanship is married to aesthetic beauty to create a legacy that has defied time, then so far as fountain pens go, it is certainly Montblanc. There are other fountain pens that I cherish,
Valuation and Certification services now available in India – Diwali comes early for Fountain Pen lovers. I always buy fountain pens – especially the old, vintage stuff of Indian origin – blindly. I know it is a path full of pitfalls, with dangers lurking in the corners and would never
Pelikan 400 NN – the forever fountainpen! The last of the Pelikan 400 NN pens had rolled out of the factory in July 1965, a full year and a quarter before I was born, which does not make it, downright decrepit like me, but certainly, delightfully vintage! And that is
Pen World – there is only one God in the world of niche lifestyle magazines that deal with writing instruments and Nicky Pessaroff is His prophet. For the last three decades, the Pen World has highlighted the finer nuances of writing, featuring everything pens – new and vintage at all
Tibaldi reinvents itself, ready to take on the future, adorn the hands that will shape tomorrow, accessorise the Generation Next. These are incredibly dark days and we all know just how terrible it feels to be lonely, with no outlet except the social media. One is locked-in, depressed and scared
Fountain Pen Shows in India – why have eggs when you can eat the golden goose? The fountain pen sellers of the Fort area in Mumbai are livid. Why is their livelihood being threatened by the sudden deluge of Fountain Pen shows? These are all ancestral businesses, small, mostly single
Dilip Basak – meet the man with the Midas Touch Dilip Basak, the eldest of his four siblings was about eleven years old, when moved by his father’s struggle to run the family, he decided to drop out of school and help his father in his business as a pen
The Holy Trinity – Prof Yashwant Pitkar, Yusuf Mansoor and BESC makes the fountain pen the common cause What can a professional architect have in common with a marine geologist that would attract students by the droves to hear them speak, that too on a holiday? Prof Dilip Shah, the
Antique, Vintage or Collectable – how best to describe your Fountain Pen? We collectors (hoarders, aficionados, squirrels, gleaners, whatever) of fountain pens are always in a quandary, when it entails describing our prize possessions. How do you classify the Montblanc Rouge et Noir safety BHR (No. 4 long) pen that
Hari Balakrishna on Fountain pen collecting Hari Balakrishna is one of the foremost authorities on India made fountain pens. An penthusiast who has carefully nurtured his all consuming love for everything fountain over the last three decades, painstakingly creating, in the process a collection that is unmatched both in quality and
Meet Dave – the person behind the name Penultimate Dave. Dave has a collection of fountain pens and inks that he has acquired over many years, many of which people would call “grail pens” and reviews the fountain pens in his collection both by posting daily photos on his Instagram
