Monday, December 17, 2012

Season's Greetings!

... and best wishes from the Vancouver Pen Club for a very Happy New Year, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our next meeting will be held on Thursday January 17, 2013 at Perks pen store (5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC). The meeting will start at 6:30pm, and the theme will be "Demonstrator Fountain Pens" (e.g. the lovely new TWSBI Mini fountain pen I got from the Alexander Pen Co. in Ontario, shown in the photo with Santa above). As usual, our secondary theme will be New Acquisitions. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Record-breaking attendance at our November meeting!

We had excellent attendance for our meeting on November 15th at Perks pen store! Twenty-five VPC members showed up to see some exciting new Sheaffer writing instruments that are on the near horizon, as well as some older Sheaffer fountain pens brought in for our monthly theme. Thanks to all members who attended, as well as special guests Patrick Clarke and Nathaniel Clarke of Morton-Clarke & Co. Ltd, the Sheaffer distributors for Canada, who took time out of their busy schedules to come to our meeting and tell us about the new Sheaffer pens that will be launched very soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reminder---we have no meetings in December, so the next VPC meeting will be on Thursday January 17, 2013, usual place & time (unless we need to change it, so please check our website) Theme: to be announced "Demonstrator Fountain Pens"! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (~all photos courtesy of Bill K ~ click on images to enlarge ~)

(above: Patrick (just right of center, holding pen) and Nathaniel (far right, with cap), representatives of Morton-Clarke & Co. Also in the photo are (L-R) David S. (partially hidden), Sam, Dexter and Christopher R.)

(above: Patrick and Nathaniel talking to VPC members about the Sagaris model (coming out in late 2012) and the Taranis (due: early 2013).

(above: a close-up of the pens Patrick brought---(from left to right) seven Sagaris pens and five Taranis pens, all very attractive and classy-looking additions to the Sheaffer lineup)

(above: (from L to R): Bill K, new member Peter, Michael, Glenn C--in the background--and Glenn Marcus, in the foreground)

(above: It was a busy meeting, but I had enough time to resack Bill's Esterbrook desk pen, which I had traded to him a couple of years ago)

(above: Ralph looking on as I attempt to remove the old sac remnants. For some odd reason, the sac detached itself from the section, and simply disappeared. The mysteries of vintage pen repair!!)

(above: new member Al Brunelle, Sam and Dexter looking at some pens in Sam's orange Delta Markiaro pen case, while my vintage Sheaffers look on in the foreground)

(above: VPC member Mark Harcourt doing some in-store pen repair at Perks during our meeting. Mark has set up a workbench inside the Perks store on Cambie Street and has opened up shop for local pen repairs)

(above: It was great to get a hands-on demonstration of the Sagaris and Taranis lines of Sheaffer pens coming out---photos don't do them justice!)

Sheaffer night at Perks!

Many thanks to Patrick Clarke and Nathaniel Clarke of Morton-Clarke & Co. for coming to our pen club meeting on Thursday (November 15) to talk about the new offerings from the Sheaffer Pen Company. Patrick brought some prototypes and samples of the not-released-yet "Sigaris" and "Taranis" models for us to see (you can see the trays of pens that he brought in the videos below).

Both the Sigaris and Taranis are handsome writing instruments, and it's great to see that Sheaffer is still coming up with innovative designs. Patrick's talk was well-received and we had record attendance that night (25 members!), so it was a fun evening. Many thanks to Christopher R. for taking the videos!



The Sagaris isn't on the official Sheaffer website yet (and it's coming out in December 2012, we were told), but I found some nice photos on Jim Mamoulides' amazing Penhero.com site: http://www.penhero.com/News/SheafferSagaris.htm



The Taranis is due out in the first quarter of 2013 (probably March, according to Patrick). Here's a photo of the model that was posted on Fountain Pen Geeks, one of my favourite pen sites: http://fpgeeks.com/2012/08/sheaffer-knocks-one-out-of-the-park-with-the-refreshing-design-of-the-new-taranis/

Visconti Divina Medium Size Black Fountain Pen

Posting this great photo of a Visconti Divina fountain pen on behalf of one of our pen club members who has a keen interest in pens and digital photography. Many thanks to Al for the photograph & text below! (~click on photo to enlarge~)


Al writes: I have been doing photography since I retired from the workforce nine years ago and have now expanded to studio photography. I started collecting pens this year and this fall I decided that I would attempt to take photos of my pen collection. Photographing pens is a real challenge with the biggest challenge being the lighting due to the shape of pens and reflective materials used in the manufacturing of pens.

The Visconti Divina Medium Size Black Fountain Pen is modeled after Visconti’s Divine Proportion limited edition. This new collection represents a simplification in style and construction with the result being an attractive and original design. The Divina is more suitable for daily use and a pleasure to write with. The Divina Proportion is inspired by the Nautilus, or “Golden Spiral”, built according to the sequence of Fibonacci and the Golden proportion of 1618, comparing the length of the cap with the length of the pen, both opened and closed. The pen comes with Visconti’s unique Push and Pull Touch down filling system with a 14K nib.

The photo was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II using a Canon EF 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM lens. Edited in Photoshop CS6. The photo background is the January 2008 issue of Pen World.

More photos can be viewed at: http://alsmcphotos.smugmug.com/Other/My-Pens/26359471_XVQddh#!i=2197293852&k=Pbd4BHq These photos are available for downloading.

Feedback is always welcomed, email me at: alfo2010@gmail.com

Cheers Al Brunelle

Friday, November 2, 2012

November meeting details (last VPC meeting of 2012)

Since we do not have meetings in December (due to the holidays), our November meetup will be the last one of 2012. Here are the details:

Date: Thursday November 15, 2012
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: "Sheaffer Fountain Pens--Past & Present" (ie. vintage and modern fountain pens made by Sheaffer). As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too.

No RSVPs necessary for any meetings held at Perks pen store. We're a very friendly, casual club with no membership dues or duties. New members are always welcome! Hope to see you there!

Happy Fountain Pen Day!

Yes, the first Friday of November has been deemed "Fountain Pen Day", the very first such day dedicated to our favourite writing instrument! Here is the link to the official website with suggestions on how to celebrate the occasion: www.fountainpenday.com/

Monday, October 22, 2012

Some photos from our last meeting

Our October 18th meeting at Perks was well-attended, with 14 members (including two brand-new VPC members---James and Al) braving the wet, miserable weather to see and hear about some very nice fountain pens made in France (the topic of our meeting). Examples of pens made by companies such as Cartier, Dupont, Recife, Stypen, Jean-Pierre Lépine, Reynolds, Gold Starry as well as Parker and Waterman were seen. Many thanks to those who brought pens for our monthly theme, and to everyone who attended!

Here are a few photos snapped by Richard during our meeting (click on photos to enlarge):
(clockwise from far left: Al (in bright green jacket), Dexter, James, Glenn M, Bruce, Bob M, Julienne, Graham, Michael and David S. That's me (Maja) standing on the far right in a green t-shirt (more about that at the bottom of this blog post! ). Ralph and Mark were present, but, unfortunately, not in the photo.
A photo of me in a cool Retro 51 t-shirt, a prize I won in the Retro 51 blog crossword puzzle contest last month (thanks to Julienne for taking the photo, and to the good folks at Retro 51 for the prize!).

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 15th at Perks pen store on Cambie Street (usual place & time) and our theme will be "Sheaffer Fountain Pens--Past & Present". Hope you can make it!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Seattle Pen Club meeting in Bellingham, Washington--updated info

I just reconfirmed with Seattle Pen Club (SeattlePenClub.com) President George Long that their October meeting will be held at the Bellingham Public Market in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday October 20th from 10:30am to 1:00pm. There may or may not be a theme for their meeting---George hadn't come up with one as of yesterday night, and their meetings are even more casual than ours :) I would just say that if you want to bring something interesting (pen-related) to show, please do so. Their members will be bringing a variety of pens, if past meetings are anything to go by. If there is a theme/topic for that meeting, I will post it here on our blog. Alternately, you can contact the SPC via their website (see link above). The address of the Bellingham Public Market is 1530 Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham, WA, and the SPC will be meeting (as usual) in the Food Court area--just look for a bunch of tables pushed together with lots of fountain pens on them :) Update to the update: The theme for the Seattle pen club meeting on Oct. 20th is "Your Oldest Pen and Your Newest Pen". I just got the info from George today (Oct. 18) and he adds "As usual, if you don’t like the theme, bring what you want, it’s all good."

And don't forget about our own pen club meeting on Thursday October 18 at Perks pen store (usual place & time---more info in the blog post below this one). Our theme will be French Fountain Pens, so it should be interesting. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Happy Autumn! (October meeting details & more!)

~ Japanese maple (momiji) in beautiful Miyajima, Japan; photo taken November 2008 ~

Many thanks to all who attended our September meeting. It appears the cold & flu season has started up already, as evidenced by some of the emails I've received from members who were unable to attend that meeting. As an aside, there is no pressure to attend all VPC meetings---we realize that not all topics are of interest to everyone, and of course, many members have work & family commitments, etc. Oh, and the only RSVPs we require are for meetings held outside of Perks.

Now, here are the details about our upcoming meeting!

Date: Thursday October 18, 2012
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: French Fountain Pens (note: these can be French brands such as: Cartier, Dupont, Michel Perchin, Recife, Stypen, Jean-Pierre Lépine, Oldwin, Stylomine, Edacoto, Bayard, Unic, Gold Starry, Météore, Mallat & others....OR fountain pens made in France, by companies such as Waterman, Parker, et al.)

As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too. Hope to see you there!

Seattle Pen Club -- October meeting in Bellingham, WA: The Seattle Pen Club (SPC) is planning to have their October meeting in Bellingham, WA on Saturday October 20th (pending approval by the Bellingham Public Market, the proposed venue) and Vancouver Pen Club members are warmly invited to attend. Normally, SPC meetings are held in Seattle, but a couple of times a year they have them in Bellingham to make it easier for folks in northwest WA state & the Lower Mainland to attend. The Bellingham meetings are normally held in the morning, usually from 11:00am to 2:00pm or so, but check your Inboxes for details re: exact time & place once I get them from SPC President George Long. Please check their website at SeattlePenClub.com. for more info on this active & friendly pen club.

Future VPC Topics/Themes: "Sheaffer Fountain Pens" will be our November 15th meeting theme/topic, and will include both modern & vintage Sheaffers. We don't have meetings in December due to the holiday season, but we'll be back in January 2013 with some great new topics, such as: Vintage Pencils, Calligraphy Pens, Limited & Special Editions, Demonstrator Fountain Pens and a topic that that Bruce calls "Errors of Commission" (pens which have been commissioned from a maker and sold under a house name). Many thanks to Bob Morgan for October's theme/topic of French Fountain Pens.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Flexy Nibs!

We had a good turnout for our September meeting two days ago---15 members braved the heat & humidity of a late summer's evening (well, it was warm inside the store) to see some very cool fountain pens with flexible nibs.
(first three pics courtesy of Richard, the rest taken--poorly--by myself, Maja ;)
Photo above (L to R): Charles, me, Sam & Graham chuckling as I attempt to fill my ultra-flexy Blackbird twist-filler with ink.
I brought a few pens with flex--an Eversharp Skyline, an English-made Waterman lever-filler, a Parker Vac in the Demi size, a no-name lever-filler with a three-tined music nib, the Blackbird (made by Swan) and a Noodler's Ahab. Sam brought some nice examples of Ti(Titanium)-nibbed pens with flex (or perhaps "with spring" is a more accurate description; there's also some nice 'feedback' with Ti-nibbed pens)---an OMAS Emotica, a Stipula Modello T and a Delta Titanio---and Graham brought some gold-nibbed examples, including his Pelikan M1050, and a couple of steel-nibbed flex pens by Noodler's (the Ahab & Konrad)
Photo above (L to R): Graham, Ralph & Mike M enjoying a well-attended meeting.
Photo above (L to R): Mike M, Dexter, Greg S, Bruce & Anne (in foreground), all watching intently.
Greg brought several examples of vintage fountain pens with very flexible nibs (his three Salz pens) & semi-flexible nibs (Noodler's original flex pen, Noodler's Ahab and a Conway Stewart), as well as some pens whose nibs have little to no flex to them (TWSBI 540, Pelikan M200, Pilot VP), just for comparison. Bruce brought his wonderful CONID bulk-filler with Titanium nib, a recent acquisition.
Greg talking about the pens he brought:
Writing samples of the pens Greg demo'd at the meeting (click on image to enlarge--sorry for the blurry photo!):
Charles brought a pen with an interesting nib (see photo below)-- a Visconti Rembrandt fountain pen with a very flexible 0.5mm italic nib (only available as part of the Visconti Rembrandt calligraphy set) that produced the lovely copperplate-type calligraphy shown at the top of the page:
Thanks to all who attend this meeting! Our next meeting will be on Thursday October 18, 2012 at Perks on Cambie Street (usual place & time). Theme: TBA.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

September meeting details

Date: Thursday September 20, 2012
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Flexible ("Flexy") Nibs!

As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too. Hope to see you there!

Meetings are held monthly, on the third Thursday of each month, except December (there is no meeting in December, due to the holidays)...Please check this website for last-minute schedule changes/updates...Any questions? Contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com No RSVPs necessary for any meetings held at Perks pen store. We're a very friendly, casual club with no membership dues or duties. New members are always welcome!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Obscure Fountain Pen Brands

Many thanks to all who came to our August 16th meeting at Perks, and special thanks to May for the ink samples! Despite the heat, we had a good turnout--fifteen members, including four newcomers (Anne F, Greg H, Mike M, and Norman C). In all the excitement, I forgot to take photos, so I snapped this one at home after the meeting:
A photo of three obscure fountain pen brands, all made by J. Harris & Co., which eventually became the Majestic Pen Company (from bottom: Congress, Ambassador & Majestic fountain pens). The Majestic is a fountain pen/mechanical pencil combo. The ink is Diamine Turquoise, which I got in the Ink Swap (thanks, Charles!).

I made a list of the brands that our members brought in for our theme of "Obscure Fountain Pen Brands": Salz, Tombow, Recife, Kaweco, Wancher, CONID, Diamond Point, Celtic Pen, Centropen, Rexpen, Padrino, X-Pen, Marxton, Ottawa, Eagle, Epenco, Majestic, Congress, Ambassador, Stratford, Kolber, American, Eberhard-Faber, Arnold, Jefferson, Waterson, DuBarry, Biltwel, Empire, Ever Ready, Adria Gold, Bankers Pen, Phoenix, Remington, Rex and Superman.

~ Next meeting: Thurs September 20 at Perks! (theme/topic: "Flexible Nibs") ~

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Next meeting--Thursday August 16 at Perks

We're back at Perks pen shop for our August meeting, after last month's dinner. Incidentally, this month's meetup will be VPC meeting #50 (if you include our summer dinners) of our little pen club. How time flies! Many thanks to all who have attended and participated at our meetings since our club started in December 2006.

Now, here are the details regarding our upcoming meeting....
Date: Thursday August 16, 2012
Place: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: "Obscure Fountain Pen Brands" and our biannual Ink Swap! We're not too picky, but suffice to say, if we've done the pen brand as one of our monthly themes already, it is not an obscure brand:)

As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too. Regarding the Ink Swap: if you have any bottled ink (or ink cartridges) that you've like to trade with your fellow VPC members, please bring them to the meeting. This is 100% voluntary, of course and no pressure to bring anything if you like all your inks!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Summer Dinner at Moxie's!

The 2012 VPC Summer Dinner at Moxie's Classic Grill on July 19th was well-attended and I think everyone had a great time--I know I did! We will be back to our regular meetings at Perks pen store on Thursday August 16 at 6:30pm, when our theme will be "Obscure Fountain Pen Brands" and our biannual (voluntary) Ink Swap.

Many thanks to Richard Clarke of Perks pen shop for continuing to host our meetings; this dinner was a small, but heart-felt "thank-you" for his gracious hospitality over the past year. We were very glad to see Tim Conklin, our club's founder, at the dinner; Tim managed to make it, despite his busy schedule. Many thanks, once again, to everyone who chipped in for my own meal; it was an unexpected surprise and much-appreciated :)

(all photos below taken by Tim, except for the last one-- Click on photos to enlarge)

(photo above: Top Row (L-R): Greg, Mark's wife Liisa, Charles, Bill K, Maja, Richard, Glenn M, Tim, Bruce; Bottom Row (L-R): Mark, Tristan, Graham, Michael, Glenn C and David S)
(photo above: me (Maja) with Richard, the evening's V.I.P)
(photo above: Richard chatting with Greg, one of our newer members)
(photo above: David S. chatting with Glenn Marcus on the right; Glenn recently came back from Italy, where he visited the Delta Pen factory in Naples. You can read his report here )
(photo above: the "other" Glenn---Glenn C, who has a keen interest in English-made fountain pens)
(photo above: Tristan, pen collector and die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan :)
(photo above: nice portrait of Michael Assaly, a valued contributor to our meetings)
(photo above: Bill K, one of our founding members)
(photo above: our club's founder--Tim Conklin)

Friday, June 29, 2012

VPC Summer Dinner

As per tradition, the VPC summer dinner will be held at Moxie's Classic Grill restaurant on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver on Thursday July 19. VPC members: please RSVP by July 14th, as per the instructions in the Vancouver Pen Club members' group email I sent to members on June 28th. Please note: this is not a regular meeting...We will return to our regular "themed" meetings in August at Perks.

Monday, June 25, 2012

A visit to the Delta pen factory!

~A wonderful report from VPC member Glenn Marcus on his recent visit to the Delta pen factory in Naples, Italy (all photos & text by Glenn)~

"The visit with Delta Pen was very interesting. I have visited the major companies in Italy and France and I must say I was very impressed with the amount of hand work that goes into the pens. Delta has a small factory, with about 45 or so people working to manufacture the pens."



Left to right: Marco Paracenzo (Novelli Pen in Rome), Glenn Marcus, Ciro Matrone (one of the three owners of Delta Pen), Antonio di Maio (Sales Representative). "No one speaks very much English, and when I wrote Marco and told him I would be going to the factory, he offered to come down from Rome to Naples, to be my translator. He also wanted to see the new factory they moved into last year. I would have been lost without his help. Only so many times you can say ci, benne..."

"Delta is launching a new nib, the "fusion" in the next month. They fuse a gold layer onto a steel layer, and the chemical process creates an extremely good writing nib. They presented me with a Dolcevita piston fill fountain pen, fitted on the spot with the new nib. So I truly have a numbered one of a kind pen. I have been using it to write in my travel journal and I can attest to the smoothness and responsiveness of the nib."



"This is a photo of one of the employees filing down the metal to make the lever for the side-lever ink filling part of a pen. At some of the other pen manufacturers there was much more machine based production of parts. With the Delta pen you are truly getting a hand made pen."



"As I walked about the factory the employees would show me the various pens they were working on. Here they tricked me by showing me again the Pompeii Rediscover."



"When I saw the rods of stunning yellow with black streaks... It was one of those must have pens" [note: as Glenn said in a subsequent email: "I now have it"--see photo below]



"My wife, Karen, bought me the Pompeii Rediscover, for our 25th wedding anniversary. They call it the Rediscover because of what they found out about the colour. The first Pompeii pen was produced in a brick red. That is the colour you see today on the walls of the buildings at Pompeii. But scientists have concluded the walls were actually painted yellow, it was the chemical reaction with the lava and gases that changed the colour to what we see today".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Glenn also wound up with another lovely fountain pen on his trip to Italy:]



Glenn writes: "My other Rome pen is the OMAS vintage 360 in red, just 360 pens made, this is #156. Has a great broad nib and writes like a charm".

[note: Glenn had previously mentioned on his blog that this particular pen was on his "wish list". Glad you finally got it, Glenn...and many thanks for your report from beautiful Italia!]

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Pen Club 101 and a bit of VPC history

I've been having fun checking out the articles and forum posts on Fountain Pen Geeks (they of the informative & humorous weekly podcasts of which I blogged earlier here ). A few days ago, Eric Schneider (who runs the site, along with Dan Smith) asked if I could do a short write-up on how to start a local pen club. I put something together and they posted it on their site. After I wrote the article, my mind drifted back to the early days of our own pen club, so I thought I'd share this bit of history with the readers of our club's blog (yes, both of you... I jest ;)

The Vancouver Pen Club was started by Tim Conklin, who posted a query on the Zoss List back on October 1, 2006 asking if there were any people in the Vancouver, B.C. area who were interested in forming a local pen club. I missed this post, but saw a later (Nov. 2) Zoss post by Tim, whose subject line was "Announcing the Vancouver Pen Club". I think there were only a couple of members at this point (Tim and his fellow swim club member Bill K.) but at least they were off to a start! My pen friend Brian asked if I was interested in joining, so both he and I wrote to Tim, informing him of our interest. I told Ryan I. (who was also on the Fountain Pen Network, as was original member Bill S.) about the club, and the first meeting was set for December 7, 2006 at Moxie's Classic Grill, a restaurant in Vancouver's West End.

Five of us showed up that night (Brian had just flown back from a trip to Europe and couldn't make it) and we were shown to a very large circular table (with a privacy curtain, no less!) near the front of the restaurant. With the dance music blaring in the background, we managed to introduce ourselves and talked about our love of fountain pens and how we came to be fountain pen users and/or collectors. I don't remember what I ate that night, but I will never forget how friendly and welcoming everyone was. From that date, our club has grown by leaps and bounds and now has over 90 people on our membership list. I hope that some of you reading this will be inspired to start your own local pen club; it's not as difficult as you might think. Many thanks to Tim for taking the initiative to start this wonderful pen club; hope you can make it to another meeting soon, Tim---we miss you!

(photo taken at the first VPC meeting on December 7, 2006---from L to R: Bill S, me (Maja), Ryan I, Bill K and Tim)

Friday, June 1, 2012

Mrs. Chris's Pens for Sale

Dear VPC members....Just posting some pens for sale on behalf of VPC member Christopher's wife Chris, who has decided to sell some of her vintage pens. (all text below by Christopher--click on photos to enlarge) ~~ Just got an update from Chris' husband today (Sept 5, 2012) that all the pens are sold, except for the Waterman's 13 chased hard rubber eyedropper ~~
Let's start off with a mint Parker True Blue set (the later year 'Streamline' models) colours definitely a tribute to the Parker quality and may I add in their original box. Lots of flex in the gold nib and no flaws in either the fittings or finish on pen or pencil. To cut to the chase, Chris is offering this impressive set for $400, which I think is a very good and responsible price.
Round two, involves a mint Big Red Parker set, from the late 1920s. Both pen and pencil are mint and well imprinted with the Lucky Curve designation. The nib on the fountain is big as is the pen, sitting on a Christmas tree feed, and talk about a beautiful writer, this pen takes the cake. The flex in the nib is the best I have ever written with. It is just a joy to use. Pen measures 6.75 inches posted and is totally restored. It draws ink like a Trojan and has a lovely even flow. Chris is selling this set for $500.
Round three is a mint Parker Mandarin Yellow Duofold Jr. also Lucky Curve designated and this pen is both flawless and writes impressively. Once again, lots of flex in the beautiful gold nib and it has a 3 gold cap rings and a brilliant yellow finish. Chris is selling this beauty for $325.
Finally, she is selling a lovely early Waterman's 13 chased hard rubber eyedropper, also in mint condition with two wide brilliant gold overlay barrel bands. The 14K gold nib which also has lots of flex is a number two and the pen measures all of 6.75 inches posted. I inked this pen yesterday and used it to write in my journal. Definitely a lovely pen to write with, with a even smooth flow. Chris is selling this flawless beauty for $225.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Info about our June meeting

Date: Thursday June 21, 2012
Place: Perks pen store --- 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Custom & Handcrafted Pens"--ie. pens *not* made by the big pen companies, including Custom & Handcrafted rollerballs and ballpoints.
Normally, when we say "pens", we mean just fountain pens, but I don't want to be the only one with a pen for our theme :) I will be bringing some lovely fountain pens made by Chris Hughes in Ontario, who sells his custom-made pens on his website Appleman Pen Creations. As always, "New Acquisitions" is our secondary topic.

If you don't have any custom-made or handcrafted pens or new pens/ink/paper to show, don't worry---please come anyways, and see what other members have brought (and no RSVPs needed for meetings held at Perks!)

Hope to see a good turnout!
~Maja

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

More photos from our May meeting...and some thank-you's!

A multitude of thanks to Richard Clarke of Perks pen store (5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver, BC) for hosting our VPC meetups since November 2007 (wow, has it been that long??). The store is a great place for a pen meeting (and an even better place to find some nice writing instruments and accessories!), so many thanks, Richard, for your gracious hospitality over the past five years!
Now, here are a couple of more photos (taken by Richard) from our May 17th meeting.....
Clockwise from top left: Dexter, Mark, Jim (our visitor from the Seattle Pen Club), Charles, Brian, Louise, Norm and May.
Christopher and Louise chatting about pens. Louise is well-known for taking the time to research the history behind all the writing instruments she brings in for our monthly themes (note the ad in her hand!)
Many thanks to every VPC member who has brought in items for our monthly themes; this club wouldn't be what it is without your active participation & enthusiasm...and, of course, many thanks to everyone in our club for making our meetings so much fun! ~ Cheers, Maja

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Some photos from our May meeting

Many thanks to all who came to our May 17th meeting at Perks pen store. Fifteen VPC members and one out-of-town guest (Jim W. from the Seattle Pen Club) showed up to hear about our topic-- "Pens from Exotic Places"-- which was well-represented with pens from Argentina, India, China & Taiwan. Special thanks to Brian for donating this handsome tome for our door prize won by Wai S (speaking of books on pens, this is a very handy reference site on the subject: BooksAboutPens.com website).
Note: Our next meeting will be on Thursday June 21 at our usual venue (Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC) and the meeting theme will be "Custom & Handcrafted Pens"--ie. pens *not* made by the big pen companies.
Now, here are some photos I snapped at our May meeting:

Photo above (from Left to Right): Charles, Jim from the Seattle Pen Club, Brian, Norm and May. In the background, Christopher R. is talking to Louise (back to camera). Sorry for the poor picture quality--I'm still learning to keep the camera steady!

Photo above: Dave M. (back to camera) and Bob M. in a deep discussion about fountain pens

We had a nice assortment of pens from exotic places brought in for the 'show & tell', including some lovely fantasty Parker 51 pens and caps made by Ariel Kullock from Argentina, as well as pens made in India by Charter, Guider, Ushat and Wality/Airmail and a few from China and Taiwan. Here are the fountain pens I brought relating to our meeting theme (click on pics to enlarge):

(from L-R: Parker '51' fantasy pen, Wality/Airmail models '71J' (3 pens in this particular model), '71JT', '69TL', '69TS', Guider 'Aja' pen made from 60-year old celluloid nitrate, Guider 'Aruna' model (??), ebonite Guider 'Marala I', ebonite pen by Brahman, and a TWSBI Diamond '530' pen

(from L-R: Laban 'Mento' pens in "Celebration Blue" and "Celebration Red" patterns, Kaigelu '316', MB-style pen with ringed pattern, Baoer '388', Hero '616' Jumbo, Hero '336', Hero '200A', Wing Sung '237', ebonite Long Life button-filler pen, hand-painted Hero '343', and the Jinhao 'Long March' pen (one of my favourite Chinese pens).