Friday, January 12, 2018

September 2017 meeting photos--Part 4!

As I was going through my phone earlier this week, I found some photos I took at our September 2017 meeting which I forgot to post here. They aren't the greatest quality (I have a very old iPhone, so I always use my Panasonic Lumix LF1 digital camera) but some are of pens that weren't included in previous posts about that meeting (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3) so I'm glad I found them.

Our primary topic was "THEY DON'T FAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO!" (knockoffs/clones/fakes/"tributes") and our secondary theme is always Newest Acquisitions, so without further ado, here they are (~click on images to enlarge~)...
Jerred's Wancher "Forward" fountain pen, which looks a lot like a Lamy 2000 when capped. Jerred and I traded fountain pens at the next meeting, so I wound up getting this pen in trade in October. I'm very pleased with both its quality & the way it writes. Thanks again, Jerred!
Martim (Ricardo's brother, visiting from Portugal) brought along his TWSBI Diamond 580. It's not a clone, but a very well-made fountain pen that borrows some style features from the iconic Pelikan M800.
A lime-green TWSBI 'Eco' fountain pen (bottom) and its knockoff---the Lanbitou '3059' model, both owned by Stanley.
More fountain pens brought in by Stanley for our topic---a brass Delike "Alpha" fountain pen and the Kaweco "Sport" which inspired it. Next to them are a genuine stainless steel Parker "Sonnet", flanked by two copies.
Stanley's WingSung '618' model, a Parker 51 demonstrator clone.
On the left, Stanley's Jinhao '992' fountain pens (copies of the Sailor ProColor) and his colourful array of TWSBI 'Eco' clones --the Lanbitou '3059' models (which are also piston-fillers!).
CaliArts "Ego" piston-filler demonstrator model, a recent acquisition of Stanley's (Jerred brought in a solid pale blue version to our October meeting, which I photographed here)
(Left to right): Bruce's CONID Bulkfiller fountain pen, TWSBI Diamond 530 (or 540?), Pelikan M800, OMAS 'Paragon' and the Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric' which inspired it, and a Hero '616' fountain pen (Parker '51' clone, made in China).
Mindy's Jinhao "Shark" fountain pen and her clear Pilot 'Penmanship' pen above it. I like how Jinhao took the overall shape of the Pilot and turned it into a cool-looking writing instrument :)
Mindy's genuine Montblanc Heritage Rouge et Noir fountain pen and its beautiful knockoff. Which one is which? I have no idea, because they both look great!

Don't forget: our next VPC meeting is next Thursday, January 19, 2018 at the Oakridge library (all details in this post: link). No need to RSVP---just drop in and see what our pen club is all about!

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Christmas 2017 gifts

Lamy 'Aion' fountain pen (from my in-laws), Pelikan K600 ballpoint (from my parents), and Sheaffer 'Intensity' fountain pen (from my good friend Glenn in Australia)
What pen-related gifts did you get this holiday season? :)

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Topic for our January 2018 meeting

Our theme for the January 18 meeting (full details here: link ) will be Iconic Fountain Pens, and I've now confirmed that the short presentations will be on these particular models: the Esterbrook "J", the Montblanc 149 and 146, the Sheaffer Balance, and possibly the Parker '51' (not confirmed yet).

I'll be talking about the Esterbrook "J" model, Ray will discuss the Montblanc 149 and Montblanc 146 pens, and Stuart will tell us about the vintage Sheaffer Balance. If you have examples of these pen models (including matching mechanical pencils/ballpoints/rollerballs), please bring them with you to the meeting.Oh, and if you have a modern Sheaffer Balance, bring it along, too, so we can compare the vintage and modern ones. Someone might be doing a talk on the Parker '51' pen, however I am still waiting to hear back from him...but if you want to bring your Parker 51's just in case, that would be great.

If you don't have any examples of these pens, please don't worry---come and see what others have brought and enjoy the short presentations! Don't forget---our secondary theme/topic is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS, so if you've received/bought any new pen-related stuff (pens, inks, accessories, paper, etc), please bring them with you to show our members.

If you want to do a short talk on another iconic/famous pen model at a future meeting, please let me know (we already have someone who's planning to talk about the Parker "Vacumatic" at the February meeting). Many thanks to VPCer Mark H. for the theme/topic idea!

Monday, January 1, 2018

Happy New Year!


Vintage Aurora '98' sterling silver cartridge-filling fountain pen & gold-plated ballpoint
(~click on image to enlarge~).
There's a nice article on this model and its cousins (the famous Aurora '88' et al.) here.