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“Do you think fountain pens will eventually become extinct like prehistoric animals?”, I asked.
“I don’t think so”, he replied with a smile. “Fountain pens are still being manufactured and used. It has become more of a luxury item now... you see ballpoints have no character. A good vintage fountain pen has its own character and it also reflects the character of its owner.”
And then he warned me, “Beware of modern fountain pens though. Unless you are investing in a significant amount of money and doing thorough market research before buying a pen, modern pens might disappoint you. They no longer make it like the older ones, when you could pick any fountain pen and be pretty much satisfied with the way it wrote.” He further complained how the modern day Pelikans are either super-expensive or of much poorer built quality compared to older ones.
“Also”, he added, “more often than not, you would surely be unable to try a pen these days before buying it. In contrast, here at my place you can try any pen before buying.”
Under the old glass panel of his display and the dusty racks on his left side I could see a horde of vintage pens from Waterman, Parker, Pelikan, Pilot and other brands. There were a lot of cheap Chinese fountain pens as well, since, according to Mr. Riyaz people on a lower budget would often buy those. While was I talking to him and looking at the pens in his collection, another customer came in. Like me it was someone young, possibly in his late twenties and he came here in this shop in Kolkata all the way from Asansol to get the nib on his Sheaffer replaced. Since, he did not have this pen with him, and that specific pen being an old family heirloom, he could not tell the name of the model as well, Mr Riyaz advised him to send a picture of the nib on his WhatsApp number. And then, Mr Riyaz turned to me and told me, “See! I get customers like that all the time. People come from long distances here, since nowadays it is difficult to get those older pens repaired and there are not many people left who can do it.” “Sadly though”, he added, “the new generation of fountain pen users are not often aware of the pens they own. I get hordes of complaints from people who have bought a fake Mont Blanc and then it did not perform really well. You see, a genuine Mont Blanc if bought new would cost at least 30000 Indian Rupees and vintage Mont Blanc fountain pens in good condition is not always that easy to come by.”
We were again interrupted by another customer, a thin old man, in his late seventies. He came here to get his Parker Vacumatic repaired and asked if any Mont Blancs were available to which Mr Riyaz sadly replied that he did not have one at the moment.
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| One of the pens bought by me. A Parker. |
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| Close up of the nib |
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| Close up of the nib feed |
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| The pen came with a squeeze converter |
Seeing a younger person by his side, he turned to me and said, “See, I myself am 'vintage' now, and may be that is why I prefer vintage pens. I don’t like the newer Watermans, or Parkers. They don’t make pens like Parker Vacumatics anymore. All the pens in my collection are vintage ones.” Mr Riyaz, told him that he should label the pens in his collection with their prices or he should make a list of all his pens stating the prices, so that the unaware youngsters would not throw them away thinking them to be junk. To this, the old man proudly told us, “You see, I told my daughter a little about pens. She lives in Bristol and when she completed her PhD thesis, she signed it with a Parker Duofold from my own collection.” Before leaving the old man told me that, his best experiences were with Wahl Eversharps and I should get one if I may. Mr Riyaz, showed a couple of Eversharps to me, and although I do not like lever fillers, I ended up buying one, which quite possibly have one of the best fine nibs in my collection of pens.
“Do you know Rabindranath Tagore’s (The Nobel Laureate poet) favourite pen was also a specific model of Eversharp?”, Mr Riyaz told me. I certainly did not know that!
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| The Wahl Eversharp lever filler which I bought |
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| Close up of the nib |
I bought a bunch of pens from Mr Riyaz and as my knowledge of vintage fountain pens are not extensive I could not identify the name of the models. Hopefully, some kind reader of this post would be able to identify some of them.
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| A Sheaffer. This one too came with a squeeze converter. To me this looks like a relatively modern one |
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| Close up of the Sheaffer nib |
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| The only Sailor that was available in the shop at that time. The barrel texture feels like leather. |
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| Clos up of the nib which says it is made of 23K gold. The Nib however is as stiff as a nail |
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| Engraving on the nib |
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| Another Sheaffer |
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| Close up of the 14K Sheaffer nib. The smoothest fine nib in my collection |
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| Filling system of the Sheaffer |
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| A Cross |
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| Close up of the Cross nib which gives a really pleasant velvet like feedback |
I had to go to the nearby ATM, leaving my friend, Sayan, standing there who was a silent spectator throughout the series of events. When I came back, I found that Mr Riyaz had put the pens I bought in an envelope and Sayan was telling him how he has read in novels about shopkeepers putting pens in envelopes and of having seen that for the first time. You certainly do not get to see that in regular stationery shops.
We bid farewell to Mr Riyaz and went to the Nizam’s fast food centre nearby in order to treat us to some kebabs and on our way looking at the old shops we were talking about how these shops looked much like Ollivander’s dusty wand shop at the Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series, where things are tucked in dusty little boxes, things which someday some customer would come to cherish.
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