April meeting this *SATURDAY* afternoon!

➤ All details at this link: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2026/03/april-meeting-new-time-old-location.html

Any questions? Please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com
Hope you can make it! 😁

Nikaido's 5-day sale! (April 15-19)

Nikaido is having a 5-day sale ... and it starts tomorrow !! 😄

Nikaido 5-day Sale

We hope you can join us for a 25% off (almost everything) S T O R E W I D E S A L E April 15-19 11.00am - 6.00pm Cannot attend the sale in-person? You can still participate in the sale by emailing us  at nikaidotea@hotmail.com with a list of items you  would like to order. We will then send an invoice,  which is payable via e-transfer. Orders can be picked up at a later date. *Nikaido Tea & Uji Matcha are excluded from sale Twsbi pens are 15% off Sale applies to in-stock items only. Thanks so much for your continued support, and hope to see you there! the team at Nikaido

Nikaido (https://nikaidotea.com/) is located at 3580 Moncton Street in historic Steveston village (Richmond, BC) and their lovely store is open Monday - Sunday from 11:00am-6:00pm. Telephone: 604.275.0262

Happy 69th Anniversary, Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery!

Yes, our good friends at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery are celebrating the store's 69th anniversary this month! 🎉🎈🍾😄

For information on their Anniversary Sale 🏷️(many items at 25% off ~ sale ends April 14th), events, workshops, store history & more, check out this blog post on their website! (for the *most* up-to-date info, follow their official Instagram account)

 Buchan's 69th Anniversary Event Schedule:

• Ink Swatching: April 8th (Time: 6:30PM-7:30PM) Sign up now! - Limited slots available (link to sign up)
• Wax Sealing: Saturday, April 11th (Starting times: 1PM & 4PM)
• Live Embossing: To be announced

Buchan's is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue (at West Boulevard) in Vancouver, BC and the store is open 7 days a week for your shopping convenience!👏 Store hours are: Monday-Saturday : 10AM - 6:30PM, Sunday: 11AM - 5PM

Congratulations to Buchan’s owner Inna on the store's 69th anniversary, and our thanks to her for being such a great host for our pen club meetings! 😊
Wishing Inna & her wonderful staff all the best in the years to come 💛

April meeting (NEW TIME, old location!) information

April 2026 meeting details:

When: ⚠️ SATURDAY April 18, 2026

Where: 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.

Time: 1:00pm - 3:30pm ⚠️

This is one of our popular twice-yearly (Spring & Fall) "Social Saturday" meetings that we started having in 2024 to allow folks to attend a meeting if they couldn't make it to our Thursday night ones. There won't be any "show & tell" at our April meeting, but there will be a themed meeting (with "show & tell") in May!

Hope you can make it to our April meeting! No need to RSVP, but if you have any questions about it (or questions about our pen club), please feel free to email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com  😄

March meeting pics!

We had a good turnout for our March meeting (held on the 19th at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library) with thirty members in attendance, including six (!) newcomers - Chris, David M, Geoff, Kyle, Lemo and Mariana. There was no topic/theme for this month's meeting, but it was a good opportunity to chat about pens/inks/stationery in a casual setting with tables and chairs (thank you, VPL!). Quite a few members did bring some new acquisitions to show each other....

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

...starting with Stuart, who recently acquired this vintage Parker 'Jotter' first-year (1954) stainless steel "Flighter" ballpoint (the dating is based on its "trough clip", which was replaced by Parker's famous Arrow clip in later years). The ballpoint sports an advertisement for a corticosteroid cream/ointment called Aristocort^®. What a cool find!

Another nice vintage find of Stuart's -- a "Forest Green" Parker '51' Demi fountain pen (which is resting on a Moleskine planner I got from Paul at the meeting--thank you, Paul!) ... 

A couple of new acquisitions of my own---a maroon Sailor 1911 Profit Standard 21 (which came with a 21k gold nib) fountain pen, and a cute Esterbrook 'Peanuts' pouch (with Charlie Brown's sister Sally on it) that I got from Amy H (thank you so much, Amy! :)

Though he's a massive fan of vintage fountain pens, Grant told me he's enjoying using this modern Esterbrook 'Camden Composition' fountain pen in “Back to School Black”. Grant won the pen in the door prize draws held during at our February meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop (prizes generously donated by our awesome Pen Shop hosts :)

The speckled pattern on the 'Camden Composition" pens (which also came in the “Spring Break Fluorescent Green" colour) was inspired by the famous Composition notebooks. These durable cloth-bound notebooks (which lie flat -- a nice feature) have been used for over a century by students and artists, and are still going strong.

A vintage Sheaffer double-desk set recently purchased by Paul. It has a handsome clock in the base and two different writing instruments--a Sheaffer Touchdown-filler fountain pen (with a so-called "dolphin nib"), and a ballpoint.

And here are two modern pens Paul purchased--Waterman 'Allure' fountain pens in "Pastel Yellow" & "Pastel Pink". Paul said he got them from a local London Drugs store for under $40 CAD each (looks like they're currently selling for $29.99 + tax).

Back to vintage -- a handsome black German-made 'Mercedes' fountain pen owned by Dominique. I love the fine chased design on the cap and barrel :)

Lyndon's Pilot Custom 912 FA nib fountain pen (on the left) and Allan's new Junlai '930' fountain pen...

The nibs are both interesting, but for different reasons--the Pilot (left) has a 14K gold nib with side cuts to increase its flexiness. while the Junlai came with a huge #9 size steel nib!

One last photo from the meeting---a closeup of the nib on Sheila's Pelikan '481' fountain pen, a model which was the predecessor of the famous Pelikan 'M200' model. The '481' was only made from 1983-1985 and lacks the Pelikan logo on the cap top -- early 481s had the logo underneath the blind cap, while later ones didn't have any logo on the body. Excellent information on this Pelikan model (and many more models) at https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/index.html

Many thanks to all who came to our March meeting! Information about our April meeting will be posted on our website before the end of this month :)

(~blog post by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 564

Happy Spring! 🐣 🌷 Many thanks to everyone who came to our March meeting last night at the Kitsilano VPL branch; I'll post some photos from it early next week. In the meantime, here's a new review from Christopher for you to enjoy! :)

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

Christopher writes:

The beginning of the 1940s saw another generation of Vacumatics being introduced by the Parker company. This time, their Lock Down filler that had seen them through on this fine line of pens since 1932 had been modified and simplified to be a better and easier to use option. The 'Speedline' as Parker had branded it, remained fully extended out of the back of the barrel when not in use. It also could be applied with just one hand. Still, two requirements were prime in support of this new filler, and one was quite elementary and that was a longer blind cap. But at the same time, to keep the length of the pen just right, a slight shortening of the barrel was called for. There was also some redesigning of the Parker arrow clip in that the feathers were split, and the Parker name was, in turn, run vertically up the center. The effect was noteworthy and well received by customers, but otherwise the Vacumatic remained more or less the same.

This particular pen came to me in parts to be reassembled accordingly. But the end result was a very attractive vintage Parker pen. The model is a second-generation silver pearl Vacumatic Junior identified by its double cap banding. The fixtures are silver and this is a double jewel model, the jewels being black. The section is also black and firmly holds a superb 14K Gold Parker arrow nib. Both the nib and the barrel have US markings and on the barrel, these marking are followed by the Parker date coding of .1., or the second quarter of 1941. All of these markings are clear and sharp where applied. As for the barrel transparency, other than red amber, I would have to say it is about a C8. The length of this pen posted is all of 6 inches, but it does cap back to full pocketable inch to five responsibly.  Overall, this pen is in just remarkable condition with a real brilliance and luster to the exterior finish. It is also a very good writer laying down the ink in a consistent and even fashion. So, I guess the question remains, will I keep this superb example and do Parker proud? Well, I would be hard pressed to say anything but yes.

 Our thanks to Christopher for the review! Have a nice weekend, everyone!

March meeting info (back to Kitsilano!)

MARCH 2026 MEETING INFORMATION:

When: Thursday March 19, 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.

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 generally have a good time talking with other pen lovers (while sitting around tables! 😀). Hope you can make it! (and no need to RSVP)

Some photos from our February meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop

 I was unable to attend the event due to a nasty virus, but by all accounts, our February meeting held at the Vancouver Pen Shop last Saturday (February 21st) was a huge success! 😁 I heard there was lots of food, goody bags and door prizes! Our thanks to Margo, Shannon and all the staff at the store for their hospitality (and generosity)!👏

Luckily, one of our members remembered to snap a few photos during the event, so here they are...

(~ click on images to enlarge~ )

Just found a photo from that evening posted by the store on their Instagram! It's here: https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpenshop/p/DVMckHykhWv/

Thanks again to the Vancouver Pen Shop for being such great hosts! 🙌 😊

Reminder -- meet-up on SATURDAY @ the Van Pen Shop!

(📢 Full details in this post!)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 563

Today's pen review is courtesy of Christopher, whose write ups about his latest finds have been a staple of these type of blog posts (which we started doing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) here on our pen club's website. If you are a member of our pen club, please feel free to submit your own pen-related reviews for posting here :) Now, without further ado, here is Christopher's latest vintage treasure...

He writes: 

"The Parker reintroduced Duofold has always been a favourite in its Sacless Vacumatic filler form. It was my dear old mother's pen of choice and one that I kept shipshape for her for a good many years. Unlike the regular Parker Vacumatics which had been established, Parker really created one of the most beautiful finishes imaginable by simply running the horizontal striping vertically and, at the same time, adding a number of vibrant colours plus pearl. While the colours --which were iridescent-- made them pop, the pearl was the clear transparent Permanite (Lucite plastic produced by Dupont) that allowed the pen user to check the ink level in the pen, and which Parker branded a 'Television' feature. The sum total of this finish was also branded as 'Laidtone' and, as mentioned, stunning. Strangely enough, the matching blind cap cover was the same length for not only the Vacumatic type fillers but also for the much shorter to cover, metal button filler. But what set this Parker pen line apart was the sheer number of different models and makeup options available. There was even the option of a double jewel with some of the sizes at one point in time."

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

"But let us take a look at a Sacless Duofold, which most recently came my way. The finish on my newly acquired pen is a 'Dusty Red and pearl which is smartly offset with 14K Gold filled fittings. Being a Junior model, the cap is appointed with an attractive double banding, while the conically shaped jet-black screw-in jewel secures a Parker split feather arrow clip. This is a Canadian pen well marked with Parker date coding on both the 14K Gold nib and barrel. The former is held in place by a short but adequate grip section, while the jet-black feed is marked 'W' for a wide ink channel, which allows a good stream of ink to get to the paper. The matching blind cap at the end of the barrel is also conical ended, much like the shape of the cap jewel. This blind cap covers a Vacumatic-type plastic button plunger which is amber in colour, but the button end is black. The pen itself is in remarkable condition with crystal clear barrel transparency. It, in turn, posts at just under 6 full inches but caps back to a pocketable 5 inches to stow. I simply love this pen and it will not only be in my suitcase for our annual holiday in Hawaii but end up in my vintage pen collection as a proud trooper. 

Our thanks to Christopher for another nice write up! (and bon voyage, too! 🌞🌴)

Don't forget: our next pen club meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday February 21 at 6:30pm; full meeting information is in the previous blog post!