February meeting details---Ink Swap & more!!

We are back to our usual venue---Perks on Cambie Street----for this meeting---details below!

Date: Thursday February 16, 2012
Place: Perks pen store-5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: "Complete the Set" (in-progress, substantially complete, and wannabe fountain pen sets). For example, Parker 51 fountain pens in various colours, Lamy Safari fountain pens in all production colours, etc.
As always, "New Acquisitions" are our secondary topic.

INK SWAP!
By popular demand, we will be doing another INK SWAP at this meeting. Please bring any inks you don't want with you to the meeting, and trade them with a fellow VPC member for ink/inks that you *will* use! No obligation to bring any inks if you love and use *all* your inks, of course :) Bottles and cartridges for trade are both fine for the Ink Swap.

January meeting photos

We had a good turnout for our January meeting last night (Jan. 19th)---15 VPC members braved the chilly winter conditions to come to the Oakridge White Spot restaurant. Many thanks to all who attended, to Wai for the cookies and Chinese New Year tokens, and to those who brought pens for the anonymous pen swap!

We are back at Perks for our next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday February 16th (but check this website for last-minute updates/changes). Theme/topic for the February meeting: "Complete the Set" (see post above with full meeting details)

Now, here are some photos taken by Bill K. last night at the meeting (thanks, Bill!):


(the long table at White Spot wasn't ideal for a group discussion, but the food and company were excellent!


(in the photo directly above & seated clockwise from bottom left: Ralph, Glenn C., new member Greg, Bob M., Christopher, Sam, Tristan, Graham, Michael, Dexter)



(photo above---Bruce and Wai discussing pens; Dexter is in the background)



(I had a good time catching up with my good friend Brian--seated to my left in the photo above--- who came to our meeting last night, after a long absence. Welcome back, Brian!)


(me with a nice pen set I got from a good pen friend in Australia--sent to me via a mutual friend in our pen club)

Venue change for January 2012 meeting!

The venue for our meeting on Thursday January 19, 2012 has been moved from Perks (our regular place), due to store owner Richard's vacation plans. The meeting will be held at the White Spot restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. VPC members, please RSVP me re: your attendance (Yes or No) for this meeting before Saturday Jan 14th so I can re-confirm our reservation a few days beforehand.

Our January topic will be Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pens, so please bring some examples if you have any. As always, new acquisitions are our secondary topic, so if you received some pen-related Christmas gifts, please bring them along as well!

Wishing you & yours all the very best in the New Year 2012! ~Maja

Christmas presents!

My lovely new Lamy Safari Al-star fountain pen in Ruby Red (a limited edition colour) and a bottle of Yard-O-Led blue-black ink---gifts I got from my parents for Christmas this year.

Many thanks to Perks (on Cambie Street) and the Vancouver Pen Shop for having these lovely items for sale! Cheers ~Maja

Waterman Ad. 119 years old.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year!

Season's Greetings! (please note: venue change for January 2012 meeting!)

As there is no December meeting, our next meeting is Thurs. January 19, 2012, however,
please note, the meeting venue has been moved from Perks (our regular place), due to store owner Richard's vacation plans. The meeting will be held at the White Spot restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. VPC members, please RSVP me re: your attendance (Yes or No) for this meeting before Saturday Jan 14th so I can re-confirm our reservation a few days beforehand.

The theme of the January meeting will be Chinese & Taiwanese Pens (in honour of the Chinese New Year), so I hope you can make it.

Many thanks to all members who took the time to come to our meetings in 2011. Your participation is what makes this group the fun club that it is :) As well, many thanks to Richard of Perks for his hospitality & support throughout the year!
Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season....See you in 2012!

Vintage Ballpoints--November meeting topic

(click on photo to enlarge)

Many thanks to all who attended our meeting yesterday! Special kudos to Michael for giving an excellent talk on the history of the ballpoint. Our meeting theme was well-represented with various examples of vintage ballpoints from the mid-1940s to the late 1970s.

I took a quick shot of my collection during the meeting (see above), which includes a Reynolds "Packet" ballpoint ca. 1948 (pen #1 in upper LH row), three Eversharp CA ballpoints ca. 1946-1947 (pens # 2-4 in the same row) as well as a Sheaffer Stratowriter ca. 1946--Sheaffer's first ballpoint (pen #10 in same row). The pens are in the lovely Sheaffer 48-pen case that Richard presented to me at the last meeting---I forgot to mention that earlier. Many thanks, once again, for the gift!

I fitted the Eversharp CA pens with replacement Bic refills (scavenged from those cheap Bic pens you find in hotels) and the Stratowriter with a modern Sheaffer refill with the help of a brass 'widget' purchased from www.pendemonium.com. All of my vintage Papermate pens work using modern Papermate refills---a wise move on that company's part! The Esterbrook "Scribe" pens work using a shaved-down Lamy M16 refill (thanks to Michael for the idea). If anyone knows of a modern refill that will fit the Esterbrook "J" series ballpoint, please let me know (contact email at top of homepage). It's a great feeling when you can get an old, neglected & forgotten pen---ballpoint or fountain pen---working again :)

~~~~~~~~Our next VPC meeting won't be 'til Thurs January 19, 2012~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Best wishes for a happy holiday season!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~