Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 570

Here's Christopher's write up about a very special recent find 😀 :

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

"The 51 was actually the idea and concept of George Parker’s son, Kenneth, who became president of the company in 1933. A young corporate figure who not only had done his time at an advertising agency, but was both inventive and a pilot. Being extremely progressive, he understood that it was important to be one step ahead of the competition, thus a new and advanced line of pens was called for. What was developed and came out of his idea was the so called ‘Pen From Another Planet’. And better still, Kenneth having his wings, saw to it that to offset leaking from a difference in air pressure, that the new aerodynamic 51 had a responsible breather tube and a collector as part of its feed, to keep a wee bit of ink up front so that the pen would come to life and write at any given time. But most important to the marketing end of the equation was to equip the Parker sales force with 51 demonstration models which, in turn, they could take out to the general public to demonstrate the 51’s working strengths. As one can imagine, these demonstrator 51 models, as time went by, became extremely rare.

For years --in fact, as soon as I realized that there actually were Parker 51 Demonstrators-- it was something I just had to have. But for all of sixteen years, it was just wishful thinking. Then, totally out of the blue, one came my way. What I really liked about this item was twofold. First -- the condition, but secondly, it was never made for sale. And this latter fact was inscribed with the model branding right on the barrel. Produced 100% for the Parker sales department. So let me outline the makeup of this rare fountain pen...

Well, first of all, the barrel is black and, as mentioned, had the model, ‘Demonstrator’ along with ‘Not For Sale’ inscribed accordingly. The filling mechanism is Vacumatic with a plastic button covered with a rounded screw-on blind cap. At the business end of the barrel is a clear transparent grip section which allows viewing of the nib, feed and collector. In this case, the feed/collector is black. The 14K Gold nib is a medium writer and that whole front part of the pen is covered with a smart Parker 51 Gold filled ‘Custom’ cap. The clip is the short feathered arrow held in place with a gray plastic jewel. This specific Parker 51 demonstrator hails from the late 1940s and will definitely deserve a place of honor in the Parker ranks of my vintage pen collection."

Christopher--congratulations on this great vintage find, and thanks for the informative write up and accompanying photos!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 569

Christopher's back with another review--this time it's a vintage Waterman fountain pen and pencil set!

He writes:
"To properly visit this set's history, one must turn the clock back to the period just after World War II...While most pen companies were in a state of recovery, Waterman and its pen works were moving forward with amazing grace. There was no faltering in product quality or reliable consistency of materials used. The long era for vulcanized rubber had been suitably replaced with vividly coloured plastics. But, as had always been the company's interest from day one, the business end of each and every Waterman pen had a finely ground and jewelry crafted 14K gold (often flexible) nib. Still, it cannot be ignored that over and above all these strengths, the Waterman company was operating at a financial loss which, in time, halted their North American production, with Waterman products being then moved on to the Jif Waterman works in France.

But, for the time, being let us take a careful look at this lovely late 1940s Waterman pen and pencil set...

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

 The matching finish on both writing instruments is a brilliant scarlet intertwined with jet black and complemented with silver fittings. The effect, to my mind, is both tasteful and at the same time quite elegant. While the pencil has a good working mechanism to extend the lead for writing, the fountain pen sports a fine number 2 Ideal Waterman 14K gold nib that comes with more than adequate flex. This nib is secured a black grip section well-housed in a short barrel that features the typical Waterman boxed lever filler. When I say short, this lady's pen posts at a full 5 ¼ inches, but caps back for her purse at a responsible 4 ¼ inches. Admittedly, I was very much taken with this set the minute I laid eyes on it; subsequently, it will become a go-to part of my vintage pen collection."

Our thanks to Christopher for sending in this review of a lovely vintage set! 

August 2026 meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop! (*please note date & time*)

When: Saturday August 22, 2026 from 6:30pm to ??

Where: The Vancouver Pen Shop - 555 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC.

Theme: Fountain Pens, Leather Goods and Stationery made by Independent Makers (ie. no major name brands :)

Note: this is just a social event (*not* a regular meeting) hosted by the Vancouver Pen Shop. If you have any items that match the theme and wish to show them to your fellow attendees and/or the store staff (they love seeing the stuff we bring in!), please bring them with you; if you don't, no worries! (you can bring other pen-related stuff to show ;) Thanks to Dom at the Van Pen Shop for this great theme idea.

As with previous VPC get-togethers held at the store, attendees can purchase stuff from the Pen Shop during the event. Many thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for inviting us back again this year! 😁

➡️ Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

A few photos from our July meeting

We had a good turnout for our July meeting, held at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday July 16; I counted at least 34 people in attendance, including newcomers Chris, Daphne, and Sam L! It was just a casual get-together with lots of pen, ink and statoinery chats going on, so I had a bit of time to take a few photos of the items our members brought to show others....

(photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

That's Andrii's new Enigma notebook by Taroko (with fountain-pen-friendly Tomoe River paper) and a Waterman 'Hemisphere' fountain pen he got from a pen friend.

Andrii told me that when he got it, the pen wouldn't write, so he removed the feed and discovered it was inserted incorrectly at some point; apparently, the feed is keyed (but very subtly so) and has to be put into the section at exactly the right orientation or the incorrect nib-feed alignment won't allow for the ink to flow. Well done, Andrii!

Stuart's brand-new Sheaffer '300' "Coffee Edition" in Matt Brown with Regal Brown Trims.

From Sheaffer's official website: "This beautiful pen features a rich dark coffee brown hue, accented with a refined cup and heart emblem on the cap." 😊 Stuart recently bought the pen from the Vancouver Pen Shop downtown. Sheaffer was sold to William Penn (an Indian luxury writing instruments retailer) in 2022 and it's good to see its new owners coming out with cool new stuff like this special edition fountain pen.

Jerred recently acquired a red and black marbled Filcao 'Columbia' fountain pen, shown above next to its larger counterpart, the Filcao 'Atlantica' "Lapis". The 'Columbia' model came out in 2004 and was followed by the 'Atlantica'; both pens use a button-filling mechanism. Jerred did a nice review of the 'Atlantica' on our club's website a few years back (posted here).

One of our newer members, Richard P, brought two lovely Pelikan fountain pens he recently acquired--the M200 'Orange Delight' and a M205 'Star Ruby'!

(I took this photo on the hood of my car, in the library parking lot, after the meeting lol)

I purchased the beautiful Galen Leather x NOCK Lookout pen case in Deep Cognac (part of their Legacy Collection) from Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery earlier this month, and I love it! The leather is supple and gorgeous-looking, and the inside of the case is lined with silk.

The three fountain pens I had inside the case are (left to right) a wonderful Stipula fountain pen with a Titanium nib that I bought from Mark & Sharon (in our pen club) of PenDen.ca, a Levenger 'Plumpster' in "Tides" resin, and a Narwhal (Nahvalur) Voyage Cult Pens exclusive (made specially for the well-known UK retailer) that I got from a dear pen friend (that you so much, Bonnie! 🙌)

Our thanks to everyone who came to our July meeting at the Renfrew VPL branch this month!
Information about our August meeting is in this post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2026/07/august-2026-meeting-meet-up-at.html

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Pacific Northwest Pen Show ~ July 10-12, 2026 !

Just a reminder that Portland, Oregon's Pacific Northwest Pen Show is happening this week! (Friday July 10 to Sunday July 12, inclusive)

For more information, check out the show's official website at https://pnwpenshow.com 😁

July meeting info!

Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦 

It's a new month, which means we have another meeting coming up...

 
Location: The Branch Meeting Room of the Vancouver Public Library's RENFREW branch at 2969 East 22nd Avenue, in Vancouver, BC. The library is located on East 22nd Avenue, between Renfrew and Nootka. Link to branch's web page: https://www.vpl.ca/location/renfrew-branch

Date: THURSDAY JULY 16, 2026

Time: 5:00pm to 7:30pm   (gentle reminder: we have the use of the meeting room from 5:00pm, so no "early birds", please! 😉)

Topic/Theme: NONE! This month's meeting is just another casual get-together (ie. no "show & tell") where you can chat, buy/sell/trade pens/inks and hang out with other fountain pen enthusiasts 😀. Hope you can make it! (and no need to RSVP) 

Any questions? Please contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

June meeting mini-report

Many thanks to all who attended our June meeting at the Kitsilano VPL branch on the 18th; I counted at least 35 members in attendance! A warm welcome, once again, to our newest members -- Egon, Reese, Rudolf, Sarah, Stacy and Yoori-- as well as Caroline, who attended her first non-pen-store meeting! 😁 A huge thanks to VPC members Gary & Godwin, as well as Mengxin, for their generosity vis-a-vis the door prizes that were drawn at the meeting! 🙌

We didn't have a "show & tell" at our meeting this month, but it was still a very busy one for me, with lots of enthusiastic newcomers to welcome and the drawing of the door prizes, so I didn't take a lot of photos. Actually, there are just a couple of photos that I took at the meeting....

(photo taken by Maja ~ please click on image to enlarge)

This is one of Phil's newest acquisitions---a nice vintage Kaweco 'V4' piston-filling fountain pen with a semi-hooded gold nib 😀

I couldn't find much information about this model, except for this post on The Fountain Pen Network. If anyone has any info on it, please send us an email at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Apologies for the brevity of this meeting report! Information about our July meeting will be posted this week, so keep an eye out for that here on our club's website.

Cheers,
~Maja

June meeting information (back to Kitsilano!)

 JUNE 2026 MEETING INFORMATION:

When: Thursday June 18, 2026

Where: The Branch Meeting Room (in the basement) of the Vancouver Public Library's KITSILANO branch at 2425 Macdonald Street (between Broadway and West 8th) in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Kitsilano branch info: https://www.vpl.ca/branches/kitsilano)

Time: 5:00pm-7:30pm

This month's meeting is just a casual get-together (ie. no "show & tell") where you can chat, buy/sell/trade pens/inks and hang out with other fountain pen enthusiasts 😀. Hope you can make it! (and no need to RSVP) 

Any questions? Please contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Photos from our May meeting!

Another great turnout! I counted 35 members in attendance at our May meeting (which was held at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library on the 21st), including newcomers Kevin and Matthew, as well as a couple of members I hadn't met before -- Angelo and Vena!

This was one of our "themed" meetings with a casual "show & tell"; the primary theme was "Fountain-Pen-Friendly Paper" and our secondary theme was "Newest Pen-Related Acquisitions". This time around, I remembered to get some photos of people to post on our blog (lol), so without further ado....

(all photos by Maja, except where noted ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Above: Group photo taken by Vena just before the "show & tell" started (some folks arrived a bit later--which is perfectly fine--so they weren't in the photo)

Above: Happy pen people! (in the foreground, counter-clockwise from bottom left: Dominique, Christopher T, Cindy, Paul, David C and Anson) 

I took a couple of photos to make sure everyone's smile was captured 😄 -- left to right, on the far side of the table--Kyle (who joined our club in March), Jerred, Andrew, Stuart and Andrii; L-R on the near side of the table: Mark (with hat) and Steve K.

It was Steve who originally suggested the primary meeting topic, and he gave a nice talk on his recent trip to China before telling us about his favourite stationery--Maruman's spiral Mnemosyne notebooks.

Thanks to Rumi for snapping this photo of me (on the far right) with the guys (that's Barry K sitting to Steve's right)

We saw some great pens at the meeting, including this Platinum 3776 Century Urushi Maki-e Sansui (above), a lovely modern Japanese fountain pen belonging to Stuart...

..and some attractive vintage Japanese fountain pens (photo above), including these post-WWII Pilot (top pen) and Platinum fountain pens belonging to David C. I forgot to remove it from its gift bag (because the packaging is exquisite), but behind David's vintage pens is a lovely small handmade notebook that Steve got at Joseph Art Space in Tianjin, China on his recent trip there (thank you so much for the gift, Steve! 😀)

Angelo brought some great pens (above) to show...

 

...including a Pilot 'Justus 95' with an FA nib (bottom pen), a Nakaya 'Aya' (middle pen) with a bouncy gold nib that's a dream to write with, and a Lamy '2000' rollerball with a Uniball refill (Lamy pens usually take proprietary refills, so bravo Angelo, LOL!)

Above: Steve trying out Angelo's Franklin-Christoph fountain pen with nib reground by Jose Munuera (of @nib.lab on Instagram)


Now, you might be wondering "Where are the paper/stationery photos??" 😂
Well, I didn't photograph any (including my own-ha!) because you can find photos of them everywhere online, but I did take notes on what everyone's favourite fountain-pen-friendly paper was... and here are the results!

Fountain-Pen-Friendly Paper Popularity (at May 2026 VPC meeting)

Rank	Paper Brand
1st (tie)	Hobonichi/Tomoe River
1st (tie)	Kokuyo
2nd (tie)	Clairefontaine
2nd (tie)	MUJI
3rd	Rhodia
4th (tie)	Traveler's Notebook
4th (tie)	Maruman
5th	Leuchtturm1917

All of these brands can be found in local pen/stationery stores (Buchan's & the Vancouver Pen Shop --both in Vancouver-- and Nikaido in Richmond, among others), so please give a thought to shopping locally to support them. 😊

Many thanks to everyone who came out to the Renfrew VPL branch for this month's meeting (whether or not you brought stuff for the "show & tell" topics :) and to Rumi and Vena for taking some photos! ** June meeting details will be posted very soon!**

 (~blog post by Maja~)

Reminder about Thursday's meeting (VPL Renfrew branch)

Full details in this post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2026/04/may-meeting-info-and-yes-there-will-be.html