Friday, October 28, 2011

Blue Peak fountain pen (made in Wales)

Here is some information on the "Blue Peak" fountain pen that VPC member Derek L. brought to our meeting last week (our topic was Non-Parker British fountain pens). I truthfully didn't expect to see any fountain pens made in countries other than England, so it was a nice surprise to see this Welsh pen show up.

Here is Derek's photo of his "Blue Peak" fountain pen, posted with his permission (click on photo to enlarge):


This pen was made and exclusively distributed by Copigraph Ltd, Treforest, Glamorgan, Wales. It is made of Hard Rubber and has a 14ct gold nib. Treforest is a small town in Wales with a current population of around 5,000.
There is a photo of the Copigraph factory, taken in 1976, posted on this page.

Derek did some more research on the pen and found that many of the companies on the town's industrial estate (Treforest Trading estate, later renamed Treforest Industrial Estate), which played a major role in the war effort during WWII, were established by refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. He suspects that this pen might have been made by German immigrants who moved to the area. The pen certainly looks like some vintage German-made pens I've seen. If anyone has any more info on this brand, they are welcome to contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October meeting photos

Here are some photos taken by Richard at our last meeting on October 20th (click photos to enlarge).
The topic was "Non-Parker British Pens" and, as you can see, it was well-represented with examples of many different brands, including Conway Stewart (modern & vintage), Onoto (modern & vintage), Swan, Burnham, Boots, Strand, Mabie-Todd, Summit, Osmiroid and Platignum. One of our members (Derek) brought along a "Blue Peak" fountain pen, made in Wales (update: see our Oct. 28th blog entry for more info on this pen!).



A couple of our members (Bill S---pictured below at far left---and his wife Suzanne--not in photo) handed out back issues of "Pen World" and "Stylophiles" to club members. Many thanks to Suzanne and Bill for their generous gifts!


New VPC member Dexter brought along a few A4 notebooks to give out as well (Dexter is pictured in the photo below, talking to me) Many thanks, Dexter!




(Glenn M. and Tristan)


I was surprised and touched by the special presentation of a lovely Sheaffer "salesman's" 48-pen case, given to me by Perks' owner Richard (pictured to my right) on behalf of the club, as a thank you for all my work with the VPC over the years. Many thanks for this great gift---it will be put to good use, I can assure you! :)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

October meeting details

Many thanks to all who attended the September meeting! Here are the details re: our next meeting:
Time: Thursday October 20, 2011
Place: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Avenue), Vancouver, B. C.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm "Meet & Greet"..... 6:30pm-8:30pm Meeting.
Theme: Non-Parker British Fountain Pens.
(e.g. modern/vintage Conway Stewarts, Onotos & Yard-o-Led pens, as well as vintage pen-makers Burnham, Croxley, Kingswood, Mabie-Todd, Mentmore, Osmiroid, Platignum, Stephens, Summit, Wyvern & others). Thanks to our friends at the London Pen Club in Ontario for this theme idea!
As always, "New Acquisitions" is our secondary topic.

Hope to see you there!