Sunday, August 23, 2015

Photos from our 2015 Summer dinner

Our annual summer dinner was held at the Oakridge Mall White Spot restaurant on Thursday August 20th. This yearly event is our small way of saying "Thank you" to Richard Clarke, owner of Perks, for his gracious hospitality as our VPC meeting host since November 2007. Thirteen members were in attendance and a good time was had by all! Here are some photos taken by VPC members Maja (photos 1-3) and Ralph (photos 4-11).

Clockwise from bottom left: Barry K, Stuart, Tony, Richard, Joyce, Bruce R, Christopher R, Mido, Kiyoshi, Ralph, Louise and Norm (missing from photo--Maja (me)):

Richard and the lovely Joyce:

White Spot's summer menu--I enjoyed the Johnstone Strait Salmon with Baby Zucchini and Smashbrown Potatoes. The fountain pen in the photo is the Kosca button-filler I picked up at the 2015 L.A. Pen Show:
Richard also had the Salmon and Joyce enjoyed the B.C. Chicken Burger :)

That's me (Maja) with my trusty 12-pen case, filled with some new acquisitions and some older purchases from L.A:

Louise and Norm made it to the dinner this year. They are always a delight!

VPC stalwarts Barry (left) and Stuart. Stuart brought along a couple of new pen purchases to show us, including a vintage Sheaffer Crest:

That's me pointing to Stuart's Sheaffer Taranis, one of their newer models:

Longtime VPC member Bruce looks on with interest....

Two of our newer members--Mido (left) and Kiyoshi:

Tony and Richard in uncharacteristically serious poses:
Many thanks to all who attended our Summer dinner this year, and to Ralph for taking such nice photos (mine were a bit blurry---hey, it's a new camera for me!)
Next VPC meeting will be held on Thursday September 17th at Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC. Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm. Theme: Your Oldest Working Fountain Pen. Hope to see you there!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Reminder - VPC members' summer dinner--Thursday August 20th !

Just a quick reminder that the summer dinner for VPC members will be held on Thursday August 20. VPC members - please RSVP me no later than 12 noon on Tuesday August 18, as per the instructions in the members' group emails I sent on July 28th and August 16th. Please note: this is not a regular meeting, and there will be no regular meeting in August, just the dinner. We will return to our regular "themed" meetings at Perks on Thursday September 17th (theme: to be announced).

Vintage Parker classics!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Photos by VPC member Christopher Robertson ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Parker '51' Aerometric model, ca. 1950:


Parker Vacumatic set in the "Maxima" size - 1938:
Many thanks to Christopher for sending us these great photos to post on his behalf!
(click on individual photos to enlarge)

Photos from July meeting - topic: Pen Cases

Our July meeting was well-attended, with 18 VPC members in attendance, including brand-new member Dennis, and longtime VPCer Sienca, who came with her beautiful baby girl April (who brought a plush toy in the shape of a fountain pen---well done, April!). Many thanks to all who came to Perks that night to hear us talk about the theme/topic of the month - pen cases. Here are some quick photos I snapped during the meeting ~ Click on images to enlarge ~

We saw a wide assortment of pen cases brought in by our members for the theme/topic. This particular one is a black leather Diplomat pen case belonging to VPC member Leo Chu. Leo said he bought it in 1980, which is remarkable given its excellent condition! Diplomat is a German pen company that's been around since 1922, and is still in the business of producing writing instruments.

VPCer Glenn Marcus brought in a wide assortment of pen cases, including this lovely leather example:

That's Glenn on the left (with Ralph--in green--and Mido--in blue--listening in) holding a black leather Visconti pen case. Visconti makes an assortment of great leather pen cases, from single pen cases to multi-pen cases, in zippered and non-zippered form. In the photo, Glenn is pointing to a handsome leather case (which is actually a repurposed cigar case) that fellow VPC member Kiyoshi brought to the meeting. The orange pen case on the table in front of Glenn is his "Markiaro" case, made by Delta Pen. I myself own a two-pen "Markiaro" case in orange (note: they also come in black leather) which is probably my favourite, both for the quality of its construction and its bold, yet tasteful colour.

Mido brought in a few pen cases, including a Montblanc case made of alligator skin, and a pen briefcase made by Lee Valley Tools. This hard-backed leatherette case has flocked grooves with elasticized bands that can hold up to 32 pens.

Montblanc fan Tony brought in (what else?) a very nice Montblanc pen case! In addition to writing instruments, Montblanc makes an assortment of leather accessories, including pen pouches, wallets and bags.

For our topic, Anne brought in a zippered pen roll made by NOCK. The "Brasstown" model she is holding in the photo is a pen roll that fits into a zippered case, providing double protection for the contents inside. An innovative idea by a relatively new company! Ben R (far left, in photo) brought his Sonne leather pen case, and newer VPC member Erin (far right, in photo) brought in a nice leatherette 12-pen case.

Bruce always brings in cool cases for his writing instruments, and the one he is showing us in the photo below is made by the well-known German company Pelikan. He also brought a large Visconti pen case that can hold several pens (not pictured----sorry about that! It was gorgeous, so I'll have to take a photo of it another time).

VPCer Stuart brought in three pen cases---the zippered leatherette 12-pen case he's holding in the photo below, a zippered pencil case by Campo Marzio (in the photo with Bruce above) and a multi-pen case by Signum Pens of Italy (shown in the photo with Anne--it's the reddish brown one in the foreground).

One of our newer members, Alejandra, brought in a Leuchtturm pen loop, which is (as described by the official website) a "self-adhesive pen-holder made from sturdy elastic" that is "suitable for any size of pen. The self-adhesive loop is simply affixed to the inside back cover" of a notebook or journal.

Brand-new member Dennis brought in two very stylish cases---the dark brown leather case with white stitching (I love that feature!) he's holding in the photo below, made by the Pilot pen company of Japan, and another case made by Mignon, a French company.

Last, but not least, for our secondary theme (New Acquisitions), Tony brought in a Bic fountain pen!

As usual, I forgot to photograph the items I brought for our ttopic, so I snapped some quick shots at home. The single leather pen case was made by an American company called Aston Leather, and purchased at World Lux in Seattle, the brown leather triple-pen case to its right is part of the Cross pen company's "Autocross Leather Collection". The twelve-pen leatherette case on the bottom of the photo is the same one that Stuart brought in (I bought mine from Wood-Bin but I see it's no longer being sold on their website).

This is the nice brown leather "Girologio" 3-pen case I purchased from from Matt of Toys From the Attic at the 2015 Los Angeles Pen Show. The flap on the inside of the case lets you take a quick peek at its contents without removing the pens inside--a clever idea and one that the pen store requested of the manufacturer (according to Matt). When I wrote about the L.A. Pen Show on this blog back in March, I included a photo of the case, but never showed this innovative feature, thus the close-up of it here. I love this case!


A group shot of a few more cases I brought in---Top row (L-R): brown leather two-pen case/business card holder made by Conway Stewart (an English pen company), a simple fabric pen roll with U.S. flag motif purchased from a Chinese seller on aliexpress.com (it holds 12-14 pens---there are some double- and triple-pen slots...not the best for pricey pens, but ok for cheaper one that won't scuff easily), and the aforementioned case bought in L.A. Bottom row: three pen cases made the Campo Marzio pen & accessories store in Pacific Centre mall in downtown Vancouver (note: they also have a store at Metrotown mall in Burnaby). The red and pink cases hold two pens, and the orange one in the middle can hold a single pen and a pair of reading glasses (I managed to fit two or three pens and no glasses inside mine :)

A repurposed cigar case purchased from Perks pen store on Cambie Street (where our club meets) that now holds two fountain pens, and a new acquisition--- my great new Monteverde "Napa" fountain pen, purchased from Jim Sanders of Pooh Corner pens, who was selling it on the Pentrace online Marketplace.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Visconti Rembrandt

(click on images to enlarge)

A couple of shots of my lovely Visconti "Rembrandt" fountain pen, purchased from the good folks at Anderson Pens. The pen was a birthday gift from my wonderful in-laws and is one I've been wanting ever since I saw photos of it online. It writes as beautifully as it looks and is a welcome addition to my small-but-growing Visconti collection!