Dunhill AD2000 Sterling Silver Pen

Those gen X kids who like me grew up in the 80's would be familiar with the motto Gaya, Mutu, Keunggulan. "Style, Quality, Excellence". Belonging to the brand Dunhill.

Back those days, cigarette brands would be attach to football, F1, etc. etc. etc. They were everywhere.

These cigarette brands would have a luxury arm making branded goods, always at a premium price.    

Alfred Dunhill, the founder was born on 30 September 1872. In 1893, Dunhill inherited his father's business and the rest we can say is history.

This I purchased in PenGallery thank's to wonderful marketing. It was strategically placed at the entrance and it caught my eye as I was leaving the permise. Wonderfully displayed in a transparent case. The shining torpedo shaped pen immediately caught my attention.

It is under the AD2000 sterling silver series. Most of them on the internet have clips. However this is the clipless version.

Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy them. Beautiful in every way.

Under magnifying you can see many scratches testament to its age.

2 sides of the pen are flat. Testament as a roll stop as it does not have a clip. It does not align straight. It runs by a couple of mm.

The rest of the barrel is round and smooth.

Dismantled. All beautifully crafted and screws in smoothly.

This will be one of my treasured possessions.

A picture of Alfred Dunhill taken in 1893, quite a sophisticated and dashing man

Sailor Vestaere Takuya Leather Crafter Fountain Pen

This was one of my more recent purchase on 4 November 2023 at PenGallery. I was not sure about this pen as it did not pop out like the brilliant breathtaking Arco celluloid. But it was unique and I do love leather goods so it took some thought before deciding. 

The Sailor Vestaere was made in 2002. It is 21 years old. Older than my son. It is based on the Pro Gear 21K fountain pen and individually crafted and hand stitched by a Takuya Okamoto, a well known leather craftsman based in Tokyo. 

He is a highly sought after leather craftsman among Japanese pen collectors and leatherworks. He has gone to great lengths to conceal the secrets of his craft. His creations, which look so deceptively simple, belie much of the attention to detail and time spent to make them. 

Which is what attracted me to the pen n the first place. 

I am unable to share much details with you as to its performance as I had not used it since purchase. It has gone into storage. But users of Sailor fountain pens would be familiar in its writing performance.

Looks wise it is deceptively simple yet elegant. Holding the pen does takes a little getting used to as I am not used to holding leather as a writing tool.

Being clad in leather, it needs to be maintenance like leather goods. i.e. the occasional leather moisturiser.

Ok. The question. Why am I not using it? Why has it gone into storage.

Well the answer is a bit more complicated. Initially I was attracted to the pen due to the leather motif. But on 4 November 2023 whilst holding the pen and seeing my son mingle with the crowd at PenGallery getting more into fountain pens, I thought this would make a good Birthday gift for my son next year. This is provided that he likes it. He is at this phase in his age where is he is attracted to more colourful and brighter pen barrels.   

3 December 2023 Breakfast

Simple or not so simple breakfast today. Depends on how you construe it.

In an oven friendly bowl place 2 cups of chicken broth, 4 smashed slices of garlic, salt, pepper, Italian herbs and cayenne pepper with thin sliced potatoes. Sorry I am unable to provide the measurements as like Uncle Rogers said, Asians go by feel. 

Bake for 220 degrees celsius for 40 minutes. What you are going for is perfectly cooked potatoes infused with the broth and spices flavour and potatoes with a little crisp at the bottom of the pan. There should not be any broth left once the potatoes are baked. If there is still broth left, do as I do. Transfer to a cast iron pan, drizzle with olive oil and butter and cook. Drying out the remaining broth.

Serve with buttered bread, some sour cream, avocados and the potatoes. Enjoy.   

Japanese War Propaganda Poster

The Japanese Army invaded Malaya just after midnight on 8 December 1941 at Padang Pak Amat beach, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Their ruthlessness, tyranny and pilferage of the countries natural resources lasted until the Japanese first garrison to surrender in Penang on 2 September 1945.

The currency adopted during that tenure was the Japanese Government issued Dollar or referred informally with contempt as the banana money because of the motif of the banana tree on the 10 dollar banknote. 

Internet, Facebook, X, television was not a form of mass communication back then. 

To get your message across a broad spectrum of society quickly and effectively, radio, leaflets or posters were used to spread messages.

The invading Japanese forces used slogans such as "Asia untuk orang Asia" (Asia for Asians) to garner support from the locals. The aim was to convince the local population that Japan was the actual saviours of Malaya while Britain was portrayed as an imperialist force that wished to exploit Malaya's resources. 

The propaganda posters utilised were to touch the sentiments of the locals by using colourful art depicting Japanese army as their saviour, spreading false news of the war, depicting how well locals would be treated as opposed to the previous occupying imperial forces. Whatever lies it takes to entice support.

Lithographs posters were commonly used during that time period. Colours used were vibrant, vivid, bright and evocative. I have one such poster in my collection.

I have with the aid of sifu Dickson Niew provided some details as to the translation as I am unable to read Mandarin.

As mentioned above. If you construe the colours look very vivid and unique unlike printed colours of today. The paper material is also different. Another indication compared to the many re-printed fakes of today are the condition is damaged and not perfect, indication of its age, wear and tear. Fakes today are in perfect condition.    

Depicted on the bottom left corner is the artist name.

Pacific Ocean War.

Printer. Copyright. Reserved.

US aircraft carrier was attacked by the Japanese. Suicide bombers.

During the landing of America's army on an island at South Pacific Ocean, there were attacked by Japanese war planes.

Painting of Second World War USA & Airforce vs Japanese.

Anyone who can share more light on this matter please do email me at s_surins@hotmail.com