Soumitra Pen collection

Thursday, 27 November 2014

Wilson Commander

_{Wilson Commander, paid Rs 50 for this. The cap has one dent and one oxidation damage. Everything else is very well preserved.}

_{This is eyedropper filling type, and a breather tube is fitted into the feeder. Cap clip spring working normal.}

West End- Pilot 57G look alike

A brand called west end- never heard of this earlier. The pen looks similar to the Indian Pilot 57. The nib was damaged, straightened up the tynes. The pen seems well preserved, though the clip plating is faded.

Platinex 615N

Platinex 615N from Artex pen company. We used this pen in school, very good eyedropper pen. The nib is new, minor damage to clip plating due to flaking. Otherwise this pen is very well preserved. Neglected new old stock! Very happy to get one unit of this pen, nostalgic appeal for me.

The individual pens.

I would be showing photos of these recovered pens one by one now.

This pen is named Linda, model G 200, stamped made in Japan. Never knew about this pen. Can any one tell us more ? Price paid Rs 75 [ about $ 1.25 ]. Only minor oxidation damage on the gold cap, small pitting on the barrel end finial, all else is good. Aerometric filler works and the sac looks good. Nib is scratchy, needs tuning.

I had been asking Mr. Riyaz Ali of Calcutta Pen Hospital for spare nibs and feeders. Finally he could find time to sort out old junk pens to retrieve various parts and gave me a call. From what was sorted out I picked up some very dirty old pens which are otherwise complete. Also found some nibs and feeders. This is how the 38 pieces of dirty pens look! Most of these were not even inked, a few have the plastic turned brittle and a few have their barrel gone slightly bent due to standing in the shelf for very long.

I spent one evening cleaning and polishing up these pens. These are mostly various models of Wilson, Artex and Swan and couple of unknown brands. This how the pens look after cleaning. Most have brand new nibs, not yet ink tested any. One or two pens have the ink sac wasted away, but most pens are good condition. One or two pen have nib damage- extra work!

This pick makes me very happy as this shows a period of Indian pens in the sixties to seventies, particularly what used to be commonly available in the Kolkata side. Later I would post individual photos.

I am sharing these for the viewers who particularly like old Indian pens.