Photos from our August meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop!

At least 43 members of our pen club showed up for our August meeting, which was a get-together held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on the evening of Saturday August 23rd!

The event was a fun-filled celebration of store manager Shannon's 30th anniversary of working at the store, and Sunshine's 15th year! 🥳 The celebration was open to all local pen/ink/stationery lovers, so it was a packed house that night!

(photo courtesy of the Vancouver Pen Shop) 

I didn't take many photos this time around, but Sherman & Ralph did (thanks so much, guys!), so here are the ones that were taken that night:

That's the Vancouver Pen Shop's elegant owner Margot & myself --Maja-- on the right (with my brand-new Vancouver Pen Shop tote bag :) Margot and her staff did an amazing job hosting the party, so I'm glad the turnout was so good! (~photo taken by Rumi~)

Normally I take many more photos during our meetings (and more photos of pens that members brought lol), but it was really busy that night. I did snap this quick photo of store manager Shannon with (L-R) Grant, David L, Anson, Anson's friend Lawrence, and David C...

.... and I took this shot of Pen Shop staffer Dom (right), helping Sherman with the famous Kaweco DIY machine!

The machine is a manufacturing tool that is used to press together various components of the Kaweco 'Sport' DIY fountain pen (the colour "Emerald Eve" was chosen for the 2025 version of the pen). The machine is sent by Kaweco to various pen stores in different cities around the world for their customers to use to assemble their own fountain pens. The machine will be at the Vancouver Pen Shop for two weeks (starting the night of our meeting, I believe) and the price of the pen was the same as that of a regular --ie. plastic-- Kaweco 'Sport' fountain pen ($45 CAD before taxes).


Speaking of Sherman, here are the photos he took that night!

Sherman's famous selfie pose showing the back part of the store (and a smiling Rumi in front of the Caran d'Ache glass display case)...

That's Stuart and Asifa with Sherman (Allan is smiling at the camera in the background)...

...and here's Sherman's selfie with (L-R) David C, Audrey (sitting), Lisa, Dana, Rob and David L.

Above: Asifa and I with Sherman (doesn't Asifa look great in yellow??).

Shannon and Sherman with Dom (✌️) & his wife Alex, sitting to his left (sorry, I don't know the names of the two folks on the other side of the table; if you know, please email us)

There were more attendees (regular Pen Shop customers who aren't in our club, I'd guess) that I didn't recognize, like these happy pen fans next to Sherman in the photo above.

(Counterclockwise around the table): Alejandra (orange top), Leo, Grant, David C, David's friend Sean (who joined our club after this meeting), Shawn, Lawrence, Vladan and Sherman. Grant brought a lot of nice vintage fountain pens to show (and some to sell). Vladan brought his crutches 🙁 and Van Pen Shop staffer Marlon (not in photo) also showed up, despite a recent injury, but both bravely made it to the store for the celebration - yay!

Above: (L-R) Collin B, Allan and Sherman. 

Smile for the camera! 😀 (L-R) Rebecca, Amy H., Sherman, Rumi and Yang.

Our hosts made sure there was lots of food (including pizza!) to eat & drink. Many thanks to Sunshine for the delicious cookies 😊

In addition to the snacks (and great goody bags!), the store very generously donated some wonderful raffle (door) prizes, including the gorgeous Caran d'Ache 'Ecridor' Milanese Mesh Rhodium-plated fountain pen that Stuart (above) won; I was standing next to Stuart when his ticket number was called and he was very excited lol (and rightly so--what a fountain pen!)

 That's me using the Kaweco DIY machine to assemble my brand-new Kaweco DIY "Sport" "Emerald Eve" fountain pen, with Dom and his wife looking on. I forgot to snap a photo of my pen at the store, but it's a gorgeous green shade. I selected a Medium (gold-plated steel) nib for it, and it writes /so/ smoothly...

Above: A closer look at the Kaweco DIY machine, and Sherman's entire Kaweco collection (to the left of it). The Kaweco 'Liliput' pens are on the right side of the pen case, the Kaweco 'Sport' models are on the left side, and Sherman's newly-made Kaweco'Sport' DIY "Emerald Eve" fountain pen is in front of the case.

Sherman also brought his Kaweco 'Student' "60’s Swing" fountain pen in sage green (it's clipped to the inside of his shirt) and said he purposely wore something in light green to match with the Kaweco 'Sport' "Emerald Eve" DIY fountain pen, too!

👍 Sherman and Dom 👍!


Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Ralph also snapped a few photos...

Above: Me with longtime pen club members Bruce R. (left) and Glenn Marcus. Bruce and Glenn were among the first twenty people to join our club (photographer Ralph was the 9th to join)! Our pen club has grown so much since it was founded in December 2006 (with five original members, of which I am one); we now have over 350 people on our membership list! 

That's me talking to Leo about his wonderful Japanese pocket fountain pen collection. Leo joined our club way back in 2009...

...and Stuart (above) joined back in 2013 -- time flies!

Anson (above) joined our pen club during the pandemic, which is when he started making beautiful handmade kitless fountain pens and selling them under his Springfield Pens brand (link to his web store: https://springfieldpens.ca/). He debuted his newest fountain pen model, the "Hummingbird", the night of our club's meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop. It's a lovely pocket fountain pen that's available in a variety of attractive materials.

Vintage Parker fountain pen fan David C (above) attended his first pen club meeting in December 2023...

...and Paul (above) attended his first meeting the following month! That's Paul's friend Yolanda with him; Yolanda was another attendee who joined our club the night of the meeting at the Van Pen Shop (*if you are interested in joining our club, please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com)

Now that I think of it, a lot of our recent new members were introduced to our club by existing members--e.g. Andrii (far left of photo) introduced his friend Ramiz (far right of pic) to our club, and Asifa told her friend Denzel (in white shirt) about our club.

Vladan carefully working the Kaweco DIY machine... 

That's part-time Pen Shop staffer Dierdre (Dee) above. The staff were --as always-- all incredibly patient and helpful during our busy get-together (the store kept the tills open during the event so we could purchase items).

Above (L-R): Sunshine (wearing a black t-shirt, with their back to the camera), an (understandably-tired!) Shannon, and VPC member Andrew (dark blue shirt). It was a very long day for Sunshine, Shannon & company (the event ended after 9:00pm), but the good folks at the Vancouver Pen Shop were real troupers and amazing hosts 😊.

Thank you to everyone who attended our club's get-together (special thanks to Sherman and Ralph for their photos) and many thanks to Margot, Shannon and the staff at the Vancouver Pen Shop for a wonderful evening of pens, inks, paper, great food, great prizes and great company; thank you for always making our pen club members feel so welcome! 💛 And congratulations, once again, to Shannon and Sunshine on their 30th and 15th anniversaries working at the store!👏

If you're in downtown Vancouver, stop by the store and see what they have in stock--they get new items in all the time. The Vancouver Pen Shop is located at 555 Howe Street in downtown Vancouver, and open every day except Sundays and holidays. Check out their official Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpenshop/ for info on store hours and photos of the newest stuff they're carrying.

**Our pen club's September meeting will be held on Saturday September 13th at the Vancouver Public Library's Champlain Heights branch from 2:00pm to 4:30pm. All info in this blog post:
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/08/september-meeting-new-date-time-location.html

(~blog post by Maja~)

September meeting - new date, time & location!

September 2025 meeting details:

Where: The Branch Meeting Room of the Vancouver Public Library's ⭐CHAMPLAIN HEIGHTS⭐ branch at 7110 Kerr Street (SE corner of Kerr & East 54th Avenue), Vancouver, BC. (link: https://www.vpl.ca/location/champlain-heights-branch)

Date: ⭐ SATURDAY⭐ September 13, 2025

Time: ⭐ 2:00pm to 4:30pm ⭐ (please note the meeting start & end times)

Topics:  None! This meeting is just another casual get-together ---ie. no show & tell--- so please do not rearrange the tables & chairs into one long table (this will allow more people to sit at each table) . If you have new pen-related stuff you wish to show your seatmates/other members, please feel free to do so :)

INK SWAP: If you have some ink(s) to swap, this is a good meeting to do it! It's all voluntary, of course, and the ink can be in the form of bottles (full/partially-full) or cartridges. If you don't have any ink to swap - no problem!

Any questions? Email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com
Hope you can make it! 😀

Charals now closing its doors on *September 9th* !

Yes, another update!
Charals' closing date (& sale!) has been extended to SEPT 9th! 😀
This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

I messaged the store yesterday via Instagram, and they confirmed that the store will be closing its physical store permanently on September 9, 2025, so you have a few more days to take advantage of their clearance pricing (and wish Shelina & her staff all the best before the stores closes its doors permanently) !

Check out their official Instagram account ( https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en ) for more information and any updates, in case this newest info changes. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience and will be open again after the physical store closes, with a brief break as they update their online store's inventory.
Many thanks to Charals for 39 great years in Vancouver!! 💛
~Maja

Reminder - Meeting on SATURDAY at the VANCOUVER PEN SHOP!

Meeting details in this post:
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/august-meeting-at-vancouver-pen-shop.html

Wahl "All-Metal" fountain pen in "Wedgewood" pattern

This one isn't a new acquisition, but a gorgeous vintage fountain pen that was re-discovered by Christopher this summer in his desk drawer ... and what a find it is!

(all text and photos courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Christopher writes:

"There are Wahl Eversharp pens and then there is this one. It came to me in its beautiful original manufacturer's presentation display box, covered on the exterior in an attractive blue cover stock with a black dotted pattern and with gold line framing on the lid and box bottom. The inside bottom has an indent to secure the pen in place and is finished in black velvet. The inside of the lid is satin lined with the company branding in complimentary blue text."

"But let us get down to the pen. Close to the beginning of the 1920s, the Wahl company released a major line of all-metal pens. They convinced their market that these metal pens were an improvement over the hard rubber pens they had been producing prior. This was due to the metal being thinner than the rubber, subsequently it provided a way and means to fill more ink into the barrel. These metal pens were well-designed and of very good consistent quality, but it also allowed Wahl to apply any number of attractive finishes on the barrels and caps. My feeling too, since gold and sterling silver were used, that it gave Wahl an edge to compete with the pen companies producing gold overlays.

By 1927, when my pen was made, the quality of these barrel and cop finishes had reached a high point. The finish on this pen I am reflecting on was referred to as 'Wedgewood'. It was comprised of narrow and wide vertical panels of silver chased with a wavy dotted line pattern and complimented with plain lines of gold, the effect of which is truly stunning. Breaking this pattern finish on the cap is a short but effective, turned up ended clip. While along the barrel, this pattern is broken again by an even shorter but definitely effective lever filler. The grip section is also 14K gold filled and sports a flexy Wahl No.2, 14K Gold nib. Both ends of this pen are flat but the pen posts responsibly at all of 6 ½ inches, capping back to a pocketable 5 inches. I am very pleased to have this wonderful writing instrument and happily will add it to my vintage pen collection."

 

(Above: closeup of "Wedgewood" engine-turned design)

Our thanks to Christopher for sharing this lovely uncommon vintage Wahl "All-Metal" fountain pen with us!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 551

I recently got an email from our fellow Vancouver Pen Club member Kevin W. During the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kevin sent in some nice reviews of pens he'd acquired (and some cool ink storage solutions, too). I hadn't heard from him in quite a while, though, so it was good to get a new email from him. Kevin recently acquired some fountain pens and wanted to share them with us (thank you, Kevin!), so without further ado, here they are!

 Kevin writes:

"I recently acquired a few specimens from Parker’s late 1930’s to 1950’s lineup to help fill out my collection. A bit of a photo-bomb, but the same day I acquired them I also received my Asvine C80."

 (photo courtesy of Kevin ~ click on image to enlarge)He continues:

"Left to right, we have:

• Asvine C80. With large No 8 M nib. Lovely brown/gold resin. Not just injection moulded. Chatoyance, but not gaudy. Cartridge/convertor. Smooth, non-obtrusive threads above section. Really does have the feel of a pen a lot more expensive than it is.
• Parker Arrow. Only made in Canada. 1955. A bit of an oddball pen with gold Vacumatic “arrow” nib, Parker 51 cap, Parker 21 barrel. Sometimes dismissed as a Frankenpen, but was a proper production model for its short life.  https://parkerpens.net/arrow.html
• Canadian Parker 21 Custom with “octanium” (8-metal alloy) nib and 1/10 12K gold filled cap (1952-?). https://parkerpens.net/parker21.html
• Parker VS. Button filler with see through feed. 1946-48 (button filler discontinued for remaining 1948-49 production) https://parkerpens.net/parkervs.html
• Challenger DeLuxe (three bands on cap) pen/pencil set from Q2 1937. https://parkerpens.net/challenger.html 
  
  

**Fellow Vancouver Pen Club members**: If you have any new pen-related acquisitions you'd like to share, please email your write ups and/or photos of them to our club's Gmail address, and I'll post them on our website. 
Thank you in advance!
~Maja

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 550

Happy BC Day!

This is another new acquisition belonging to Christopher...and it's over 100 years old! Although this particular fountain pen wasn't made in Canada, the manufacturer set up a Canadian subsidiary in 1925 and then...Well, I'll let Christopher tell the story 😀…

He writes:
"Eclipse, with its colourful international past, has always fascinated me. Although the company had its original roots in the United States, in turn, it opening up a successful operation in Canada, was able --based on tremendous marketing sales-- to buy out the US main base and is, to my mind, a unique business accolade! But the pen which I am currently reviewing is circa the Great War, and thus pertains to the American Eclipse production. Evidently in the early days, Eclipse sought out and used Warranted nibs. For their less expensive models, these Warranted nibs were steel and gold plated. But for their more uptown models, the Warranted 14K Gold and Warranted No.1, 14K Gold nibs were duly applied. To this end, the jet-black grip section in this pen I am expanding on, does support an upper end 14K Gold Warranted nib, but a flexy one at that. If. by chance. you are wondering just how to tell if a Warranted nib is a true 14K Gold one, the answer can be found by removing the nib from the section, and if it has the plating marking at that inside back end, it is just that. Still, I have as yet to find a Warranted No.1 marked nib that wasn't 14K Gold."

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ click on image to enlarge)

"This pen's finish is a lovely black 'bars and checkers' chased hard rubber with the barrel supporting a 14K Gold filled Eclipse style lever filler. At the business end, the pen's cap --which hides and protects the nib, feed and section-- is a lengthy, robin egg blue triple banded, extremely well-made pen part, which also comes with inside threading right out to the cap's opening. Subsequently, the unscrewing of the barrel takes a good number of turns. I should also draw attention to the cap's clip as being a very long tapered ball ended number sporting the company's branding, smartly running vertically down the center. There is also an Eclipse circled logo above this branding and below, a patent dating. This, in turn, is a good-sized pen measuring a full 7 inches posted, but caps back to just a tad under 6 inches. In closing, I can't think of a finer example of the Eclipse best and brightest to add to my vintage pen collection."

Thanks for sharing this one with us, Christopher! 

Charals store new closing date! (**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th**)

Yes, Charals' closing date (and SALE!) has been extended to the end of AUGUST! 😀

(**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th -- STORE NOW CLOSING ON SEPTEMBER 9th**)

This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

Check out their official Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en for more information. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 549

An early birthday gift that Christopher got from a fellow vintage fountain pen aficionado!

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ click on image to enlarge)

Christopher writes:
 "To celebrate my day of days, a good vintage pen-collecting friend passed on this remarkable Parker 'Shadow Wave' set. It appears to be new old store stock from the late 1930s as the Parker date coding on the barrels indicates. Better still, it was gifted to me in the extremely attractive Parker Vacumatic 'Clam Shell' presentation box with suitable ephemera. This is a Second Generation Vacumatic Debutante set, thus it sports a Parker 'Speedline' filler. Being an unused set, the barrel of the fountain has brilliant transparency, and the overall condition of the pen and mechanical pencil is absolutely mint. Both writing instruments sport the new-at-the-time Parker 'Blue Diamond' warranty, and this fine set hails from the Canadian Parker works in Eastern Canada. In closing, I plan to be the first person to use this set on my up and coming birthday and will, in turn, add it gladly to my vintage pen collection."

Happy birthday (in advance), Christopher, and thanks for sharing your wonderful vintage Parker set with us!

Some photos from July's meeting!

There were 34 of us in attendance at our club's July meeting, which was held on Thursday July 17th at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch; among those present were two brand-new members, Francisco and Rob (welcome to our club!)

The meeting featured a special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (by our fellow VPCer Grant) ... and many door prizes (tons of ink, courtesy of VPC member Godwin)! Here are some photos taken during the meeting...

 (~click on images to enlarge~)

Grant gave an excellent talk on the repair of vintage fountain pens, as well as a demonstration on how to change the latex ink sac in a vintage Waterman fountain pen with a lever-filling mechanism

Before getting to the demo, Grant gave us a good overview of things to consider when a pen repair opportunity presents itself -- the pen's material, the tools required for the job, repair techniques, as well as a reminder about the limitations of some repairs. Thank you, Grant, for explaining things in such an engaging and concise manner! 

(*photos above taken by Catherine; photos below taken by Maja, except where noted*)

The meeting was very busy, so I didn't have time to take many photos of the pen-related items that members brought to show each other (we didn't have a "show & tell" at this meeting, though). Some of our members (esp. the folks in the foreground of the photo above) used the casual format of this meeting to do some ink-swatching...

… and here's a quick shot of some nice ink swatches done by Catherine (lower left), Lisa (upper left) and Audrey (right side of photo)...

After his presentation, Grant took the time to look at some vintage fountain pens brought in by our members…

Above (left to right): Grant, Stuart, David C, and Allan.

Grant also brought some of his own wonderful vintage writing instruments to show others. The other side of his pen case (which you can't see--sorry!) had restored vintage pens that Grant brought to sell at the meeting...

That's me next to Stuart, who joined our club way back in September 2013 - time flies! (photo taken by Audrey)

Above photo (left to right): Grant, Shawn and brand-new member Francis.

(** all photos below courtesy of Sherman ~ click on images to enlarge **)

Sherman was kind enough to send me some photos he took during our July meeting, including a couple of his famous selfies! In the background of the photo above are (L-R): James, Grant, Alejandra, newer member Steve K, and Allan.

I was busy calling out door prize ticket numbers (above), so I didn't have time to take any selfies during the draws...but Sherman did (lol); he's holding up the bottle of Diamine 'Platinum Jubilee Ink' that he won.

Here's a closeup of the Diamine ink that Sherman won. The ink was an exclusive made for well-known UK retailer Cult Pens, and it was created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Cult Pens describes the ink as "a rich, regal purple symbolising Royalty with a platinum shimmer."

Sherman brought some of his nice writing instruments to show -- (left to right): a Golf Propelling Pencil 0.5mm, his élysée Damascene Sports (40 Line) fountain pen, and a Pilot Custom 743 Black fountain pen with 14K Gold F nib. His single-pen sleeves (above) were made by Rickshaw Bagworks of San Francisco.

Sherman's door prize ink and some inks he brought to trade. Members are free to bring ink and pen-related items to trade/sell during any of our meetings :)  

Thank you to everyone who came to our July meeting, special thanks to Audrey, Catherine & Sherman for taking some photos for this blog post, and to Audrey & Michelle for helping with the door prize draws 😊. Many thanks, once again, to Grant for his informative vintage pen repair presentation & demo 👏, and to Godwin for his immense generosity in donating so many ink door prizes! 🙌

⚡ Our August meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday August 23rd ~ details in this recent blog post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/august-meeting-at-vancouver-pen-shop.html 

(~Blog post by Maja~)