Déjà Vu All Over Again...

Many thanks to all who showed up for our July meeting, which featured fountain pen "knockoffs", "look-alikes" and "tributes" ("homages"). This time, I remembered to snap some photos *before* the meeting got really busy! (click on photos to enlarge)

Dave M. brought in some fine examples, including: a Waterman Expert look-alike, MB Copernicus LE and MB StarWalker "clones", a cloisonné Hero fountain pen with a Parker '51'-like hooded nib, a Morrison lever-filler with an overlay reminiscent of a vintage Waterman, a vintage no-name Parker Duofold look-alike, a very Parker-like pencil made in Japan, some lovely Parker Duofold replicas (in colours not used by Parker) made by Chris Thompson, and a Parker '51' "homage" in rippled ebonite created by Howard Levy (of Bexley pen company fame).

Dave also brought in a Parker '61' mark II set (made in Argentina, I believe) with two small metallic "dots" on the fountain pen's shell, in place of the traditional "arrow" for this particular model.

To demonstrate how vintage pen design has carried over to modern pen design, Bruce R. brought in part of his amazing Italian fountain pen collection (including: an OMAS Paragon with its Wahl-Eversharp Doric-inspired Art-Deco styling, a Visconti Wall Street made of Parker Vacumatic-like striped celluloid, a Visconti Metropolis with retractable nib that harkens back to the safety pens of the early 20th century and some cool vintage-inspired Visconti Voyagers), a lovely green Retro 51 'Double Eight' model (with faceted body, reminiscent of Art Deco-era fountain pens), a Bexley Americana (undoubtedly inspired by the Doric model), a TWSBI Diamond 540 (or was it a 580??) & CONID Bulk-Filler, pens which, Bruce claim, remind him of the iconic Pelikan M800 model.

And on the cheaper side of things...I brought in some inexpensive examples for our topic (original---non-knockoff--- model names in parentheses): Left column (top to bottom): a Foster "High Class Pen" model (Parker Vacumatic), Baoer 388 (Parker Sonnet), Hero 200A (Parker '75'), Hero 336 (Parker '61'), Rainbow 231 (Parker '61') and the ever-popular Hero '616' Jumbo (Parker 51). Right columnn (bottom to top, this time): Baoer "Skywalker" (Montblanc StarWalker), Nine Rings Green fountain pen---no brand name on it (Montblanc Nicolaus Copernicus LE), no-name pen (MB Meisterstuck Solitaire), Wing Sung 237 (a variety of Sheaffer Triumph-nibbed pens). The top pen is a lovely Ariel Kullock-made Parker 51 'fantasy' in an iridescent blue finish (a colur never made by the Parker Pen Co.). Ariel makes these pens in a variety of finishes and sells them in his eBay shop here (no afilliation with his store, just a happy customer :)

Important note: Our August meeting will be our annual summer dinner for VPC members (info in group email to be sent to VPC members within the next few days). Regular (themed) meetings will resume on September 19, 2013 at Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (our usual place).