Our very own pen - the Vancouver Pen Club Delta Dolcevita Caruso!

I can't say enough good things about this gorgeous fountain pen, specially created for our pen club by Delta Pen. It is, quite simply, a stunning piece of workmanship and Italian design.

For the full story on how this beautiful limited edition piston-filler was made for us, please check out Glenn Marcus' online article (with better photos than mine) here.

Many thanks to Delta's President Nino Marino and designer extraordinaire Salvatore Matrone for producing this pen---Grazie mille!--- and to Ross Cameron at YAFA, Delta's distributor in North America, for getting the pens safely to us in Vancouver. Last but not least, many thanks to our fellow VPC member Glenn Marcus for his tireless efforts, and to Richard Clarke of Perks pen store (our pen club host) for importing the pens on our behalf.

Without further ado, here is my lovely pen, number 07/25...

~Click on photos to enlarge~

Delta had our club's initials engraved on the cap top, at our request.

The sumptuous celluloid material takes on different hues under different lighting conditions; in this low light, it appears to be composed of mostly dark brown shades...

In brighter light, the different shades of brown are easier to distinguish...

In very bright natural light, the celluloid material takes on even richer, warm brown tones...

The orange & black pen in two of the photos is the gorgeous Delta Dolcevita Slim that Delta sent me last year (I did a write-up on it here). Both pens are wonderful to use---the Fine "Fusion" nib on my Dolcevita Slim is lovely to write with, and the Stub "Fusion" nib on my new Limited Edition VPC pen is silky smooth. My orange two-pen case (shown above) is part of Delta's Markiaro leather line of pen accessories.

~Photos and blog post by Maja Furlong~

Photos from January meeting

A total of 29 VPC members turned up for our January 2015 meeting, whose theme was "Fountain Pens Marketed To Specific Genders". Many thanks to all our members (including new members Bill M. and Muhammad) who attended - both those who brought in pens for this topic and those who showed up just to listen and learn.

Oh, and just a quick reminder---you don't have to bring in examples for our monthly topics in order to attend a meeting! Our club was formed primarily to share our knowledge & enthusiasm for fountain pens...and our meetings are pretty casual (as befits our West Coast lifestyle ;)

(click on individual photos to enlarge ~ all "people photos" by Richard, pen photos by Maja)

The topic was well-represented with examples by the "Big Four" vintage pen companies (Parker, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp and Waterman), as well as some modern fountain pens. Many thanks again to Stuart for the topic idea. Stuart brought in a wide variety of pens, foremost of which was his ever-growing Lady Sheaffer collection. These clipless fountain pens were introduced in 1958 and came in a wide range of finishes and patterns, as you can see in the photo below:

(from L-R) Mido, Penny, Derek and Ralph listen to Stuart's short talk on the evening's topic:

In addition to the Lady Sheaffers, Stuart also brought a Aurora Style Gemstone fountain pen in the Rose Quartz Pink finish, two vintage Wahl-Eversharp Skylines in the smaller "Demi" size, a Lamy Safari in the "Neon Coral" colour, a Sheaffer Agio Compact (?) in a purple pastel colour, a Sheaffer Tuckaway (a pen model made to be carried in men's trouser pockets), a Sheaffer Balance with so-called "military clip" (more on that below), a Sheaffer Imperial and a Sheaffer "Pen For Men". These pens (in addition to one more Lady Sheaffer--the orangey-red pen) can be seen in the photo below (listed from L-R in the pen case):

There's that Sheaffer Balance with military clip I mentioned earlier. There's a nice write-up on them at Richard Binder's informative website here. The article mentions that Sheaffer started putting military clips on some of their "Balance" line of pens in the year 1941. The wrap-around clip (which was not attached to the front of the pen at all) was a design triumph in that it was both functional and elegant:

Mark Harcourt, the resident pen repairperson at Perks, showed us some lovely examples of smaller-sized vintage Parkers, presumably made for their female customers:

VPCer Rohit brought in a Schrade Tactical fountain pen, a decidedly masculine-looking writing instrument made of aluminum, that can also be used for self-defense. Yes, there exists such a creature!!

In addition to the pens he brought for the topic (shown in the blog post below), Derek brought in a lovely "Parker Pen" makeup powder compact:

Last but certainly not least (and completely unrelated to the evening's topic)...Here's a very quick shot of VPC member James K. trying out his brand-new Delta fountain pen Vancouver Pen Club LE (Limited Edition), a pen specially made for our club by Delta Pen of Naples, Italy. Happily, the pens arrived just in time for our January meeting! More about that in a separate post coming up :)

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday February 19th at the usual place and time (6:30pm-8:30pm or so, at Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver, BC). February's topic will be announced at the end of this month, so please check back then!

Lady Pens.

Fountain Pens Marketed To Specific Genders was the theme of our last meeting.

I presented a Parker Lady Duofold along with a magazine ad from 1931.

Here is the ad and a photograph of the same model pen. In the photo I've included a tiny 18 kt gold filled Peter Pan and a well made unknown brand hard-rubber and gold plate pen and a Parker Duofold Senior, for scale.

(This ad is courtesy of Nathaniel Cerf of The Pen Market in Illinois <http://www.thepenmarket.com>.

I expect these tiny pens were designed for a ladies purse. Many pen companies advertised lady sized pens in the same style of the Lady Duofold. Parker also advertised a smaller Duofold as the vest pocket pen, for mens waistcoats.

There's another ad I found in my collection, a Canadian one from 1953 that tells us the sex of the Parker 51.

Cheers,
Derek

Happy National Handwriting Day (Jan 23, 2015)!

From this page on the website of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA): "The purpose of National Handwriting Day is to alert the public to the importance of handwriting. According to WIMA, National Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting."

Coincidentally, one of my fellow VPC members (Barry K) just sent me this article a day ago :)

Christmas present

(click on image to enlarge)

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's a quick shot of my new Conklin 'Duragraph' fountain pen with factory stub (italic) nib, a Christmas 2014 present from my parents. I love the "cracked ice" design!

Happy holidays!

Wishing you & yours all the best this holiday season and in the New Year 2015!

(Levenger 'True Writer' Silver Anniversary fountain pen, a recent acquisition from one of my favourite eBay pen sellers, Bob Speerbrecher--aka "Speerbob")

Next VPC meeting: Thursday January 15, 2015, usual time (6:30pm) and place (Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC)
Theme/Topic: Fountain Pens Marketed To Specific Genders (e.g. Sheaffer's "Pen for Men", Parker's "Lady Duofold").

Please bring any examples of this theme to the meeting. Many thanks to Stuart for this interesting topic idea! Our secondary topic is (as usual) New Acquisitions, so if you have a new pen/ink/accessory to show, please bring it with you. Hope to see you there!

VPC Members' Marketplace

Quick reminder to Vancouver Pen Club members:

VPCers who wish to post pen-related items for sale/trade/wanted to buy may do so by leaving a comment in the VPC Members' Marketplace on our club's website. The link is below the Perks logo on the left-hand side of our homepage (or by clicking on this link). Peter and Al recently posted some nice pens for sale, so please take a peek at their sales offerings!