Sunday, October 15, 2017

September meeting pics---part 3!

Ricardo was kind enough to snap some photos during our September meeting---
thanks, Ricardo!---and share them with us, so without further ado, here they are...
(please click on images to enlarge)

(above photo) Stanley brought in some very interesting pens for our meeting topic (knockoffs/clones/fakes/"tributes"), including a group of Jinhao '992' fountain pens (far left) that are clones of the Sailor ProColor, and some colourful Lanbitou '3059' models which emulate the TWSBI 'Eco' fountain pen (and yes, the 'Eco' clones are piston-fillers, too!)

Lenal's lovely Xezo fountain pen. This particular model is the "Maestro Sea Shell", and has an abalone finish. From the official Xezo website : " The overall design concept of these pens utilizes Art Nouveau style and follows the natural colors and shapes of the sea shell material...The sea shell panels range from green to black, along with red or blue overtones. No two pens are exactly alike."

Only 500 of the "Maestro Sea Shell" model were produced, and the pen was designed and produced by Xezo for the unite4:good movement.



(photo below) From L-R: New VPC member Alice, me (Maja), Natasha, Alejandra, Tony, Lenal, Marzieh, Linda, Wai, Louise and Norm.


Martim (far left), Mindy and Jerred...


(photo below) L-R: Louise, Norm, Bruce, Justin and Paul listening in...


I think a good time was had by all at the meeting...


Packing up to go, at the end of the evening...


That's Martim taking a selfie with brother Ricardo smiling on. Martim came all the way from Portugal to attend the September meeting! We welcome anyone who wishes to attend a VPC meeting, whether you are a new member, a friend of a member or an out-of-town vistor and pen enthusiast!


Thanks to all who came to our September meeting! Hope to see you at a future VPC meetup soon! Our next meetup is this Thursday---October 19---full details here, in this blog post.
Late note: I added some more photos from our September 2017 meeting to our blog in January 2018! (link here)

Friday, October 13, 2017

Sheaffer Ferrari

A couple of photos of my Sheaffer Ferrari line of writing instruments---from L-R:
Sheaffer 'VFM' ballpoint, Sheaffer 'Taranis' fountain pen & Sheaffer '100' fountain pen
(~click on photos to enlarge~):

It's difficult to capture just how vibrant a red the writing instruments are, so I had to play around with the photo editing...

The Sheaffer Ferrari line was launched in 2013 and included several different models ---
in addition to the 'VFM', '100' and 'Taranis', there were Sheaffer Ferrari writing instruments made for the '200', '300', '500' and 'Intensity' models.
I got the 'VFM' and '100' models, as well as the Ogami stone paper notebook, from
Perks (a great local pen shop), but I purchased the 'Taranis' (Sheaffer's first semi-hooded-nibbed pen since the 1950s)---from Jim Mamoulides of Penhero.com . In addition to being a sales site, Penhero.com is a great online reference, and has some of the loveliest pen photography on the 'net. I got the 'Taranis' on closeout from Jim a few months ago, and it came in a nice gift box with a cool Ferrari keychain. The fountain pen feels nicely balanced in the hand, and its steel nib writes wonderfully.
Many thanks to Jim & Perks for these stylish additions to my Sheaffer collection!

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

September meeting pics--Part 2

Ok, here are some more photos from our September meeting! These are mostly members' Newest Acquisitions (which is always our secondary theme/topic).....
(Click on photos to enlarge)
Lenal's gorgeous abalone fountain pen by Xezo. This particular pen model is the 'Maestro Sea Shell' and it's as stunning in real life as it is in my photos....
Lenal also brought in a hot pink Caran d'Ache '849' fountain pen that she recently acquired, as well as a petite Monteverdo 'Poquito' (neither pictured).

Photo below: Ricardo's new beautifully-crafted (in Germany) Otto Hutt 'Design o4' fountain pen:
A couple of quick shots of the fountain pens Jerred brought in---(top to bottom): Reform 1745, Delta 'Virtuoso', Pilot-Namiki 'Vanishing Point', a Fuliwen fountain pen, Wancher 'Forward' fountain pen (which shares some external design stylings with the famous Lamy '2000') and last but not least, the timeless Montblanc '149'. Jerred also brought in some Lanbitou '3059' fountain pens (not pictured), two of which he donated for our door prize draws. Thanks again, Jerred!
Newest Acquisitions also include fountain pen inks! Here are three recently acquired by Alejandra---Robert Oster fountain pen ink in the "Australian Shiraz" shade, flanked by two inks by Rohrer & Klingner--Solferino & the wonderful Alt-Goldgrün shade:
Stanley's recent pen-related purchases---(L-R): an amazing Yard-O-Led 'Viceroy Grand' in the beautiful Victorian pattern, a classic vintage Parker '51' and some Seitz-Kreuznach's "Dark Orchid" fountain pen ink:
There were a few pens I didn't photograph---the pens that new VPCer Alice--who had to leave early--- brought in (my apologies, Alice!), all of my own newest purchases (which included a couple of nice ballpoints/rollerballs by Retro 51 and Conklin, a Pelikan 'Grand Prix' fountain pen, and the Waterman 'Exception' that I wrote about here), and the pens longtime VPC member Bruce brought in for our topic (knockoffs/clones/fakes/"tributes")---a Hero 616 Jumbo (Parker 51 clone), an OMAS 'Paragon' (inspired by the Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric'), as well as a (likely) Pelikan M800-inspired CONID Bulkfiller fountain pen (I did photograph the CONID at our July meeting here--it's the pen in the middle ;)

Angela couldn't make it to the meeting last month, so I asked her to send me a photo of one of her newest pens--a lovely Pilot-Namiki 'Vanishing Point' that she brought to our Summer Dinner in August. Here it is:


Thank you to everyone who came to the September meeting! Our next meetup is next Thursday---October 19---full details here: http://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2017/10/october-meeting-details-pen-ink-swap-too.html
Hope you can make it! (no RSVPs necessary)

Sunday, October 8, 2017

September meeting pics---Part 1

Nineteen Vancouver Pen Club members (including two newcomers---Alice and Martim) came out to our September meeting, held on Thursday September 21st. Many thanks to Richard for the use of the venue, and to Jerred for his donation of two Lanbitou '3059' fountain pens (more on this cool pen in the post below) as door prizes, which were won by Marzieh and Ricardo!

Our topic for September's meeting was "THEY DON'T FAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO!" (knockoffs/clones/fakes/"tributes") and we saw many interesting examples. Here are some quick photos of them that I snapped (please excuse some of the blurrier photos and click on images to enlarge):

Two Montblanc 'clones' that Louise & Norm brought in. These were found in an antique shop, along with a fake MB pen case! The silvery one is a copy of the famous Montblanc "Solitaire" model and the black one is actually a rollerball...
Top to bottom: Mindy's Wing Sung model 6359 (Lamy AL-star clone in a gold colour that isn't found in the current AL-star lineup), Ricardo's Wing Sung 659 (a Pilot 78G/78G+ copy) and new VPCer Martim's TWSBI 580 filled with J. Herbin's "1798 Amethyste de l'Oural" ink (the silver flecks suspended in it give the ink a lovely "shimmer" quality)
Mindy's trusty Pilot Penmanship fountain pen (far left), her clear Wing Sung 659 and the real thing---a new bright red Pilot 78G+ (a newer version of the now-discontinued Pilot 78G that is available with an XF nib and comes with a CON-40 piston style converter, in place of the CON-20 squeeze converter). Not pictured: Mindy's Parker '61' clone, a Jinhao "Shark" fountain pen (a quirky tribute to the Pilot 'Penmanship'), as well as her genuine Montblanc Heritage Rouge et Noir fountain pen and its red clone (the latter was photographed at our June 2017 meeting---picture here).
Stanley brought in lots of great examples for our topic, including some Jinhao '992' fountain pens (left-hand side of bottom row) that are clones of the Sailor ProColor, and some wonderfully-colourful TWSBI 'Eco' knockoffs made by Lanbitou (right-hand side of bottom row)- the Lanbitou 3059 models.

Top row (L-R): Delike 'Alpha' (made of brass) and a Kaweco 'Sport', fake Parker Sonnet in the "Tartan" pattern and a real Sonnet, a real TWSBI 'Eco' and a Wing Sung '618'--a very cool knockoff of a Parker '51' Demonstrator!
Parker Sonnet and lookalike
My (Maja's) collection of Montblanc (MB) knockoffs----copies of (top to bottom) MB Copernicus (which never came in green!), MB Heritage Collection Rouge et Noir (which never came in purple!), MB Starwalker, MB 147, MB Solitaire, and MB Bohème. The only manufacturer's name on any of these pens is Baoer, found on the Starwalker clone.
(Top to bottom): Recife fountain pen and a similar model made by Airmail (Wality), Parker 'Vacumatic' and its clone-- a lever-filling (!!) fountain pen made by "Foster", my beloved black Sailor Sapporo (aka Sailor Pro Gear Slim) and a clone by Delike called their "New Moon" model.
Even big, well-known vintage fountain pen companies copied each other!
(Top to bottom) A Wearever "Lady Fair" (a lookalike of the vintage Sheaffer "Lady" pen in the Tulle pattern), a big Jefferson flat-top (a "tribute" to the famous Parker 'Duofold') an old-style OMAS Milord in black and its inspiration, the wonderful Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric'. I found an interesting post about the Wearever "Lady Fair" models here.
More of my knockoffs: (Top to bottom) Wing Sung 237 (note the conical nib, a tip of the hat to the famous vintage Sheaffer "Triumph" nib), Hero 200A (note the Parker '75'-like nib), Hero '336' (a Parker '61' lookalike), two Hero '616' Jumbo fountain pens (Parker '51' knockoffs), my real Lamy 'Safari' and its amazingly-similar clone by Hero (the Hero '359') and lastly, a Jinhao '599A' with hooded nib (which took some design elements from the Safari).
In addition to our monthly topic/theme, we always encourage members to bring in their newest pen-related acquisitions. Here are two that Justin brought in---an orange fountain pen purchased at a Thinka store, and a Rosso Bianco fountain pen, obviously a copy/re-branded Jinhao X750, which he found at the Daiso store in Richmond's Aberdeen Mall.

More September meeting photos coming soon!

Saturday, October 7, 2017

October meeting details (Pen & Ink Swap, too!)

Date: Thursday October 19, 2017
Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm.

Place: the amenities room of the condominium located at 350 East 2nd Avenue in Vancouver, BC (on the south side of East 2nd Avenue, between Scotia & Brunswick...two & a half blocks east of Main Street). This is where we had the September 2017 meeting.

Topic: BEGINNER FOUNTAIN PENS. Please bring 1-3 fountain pens that you think might be well-suited to those who are just getting into fountain pens---either school-aged children or adults. If you don't have any fountain pens that fit the topic, no worries---just come and see what others brought. Many thanks to Tony for the idea!
Our secondary theme is always Newest Acquisitions, so if you have any new pens, ink or pen-related accessories (e.g. pen cases), please bring them to the meeting for us to see.

PEN & INK SWAP---it's all voluntary, of course, so if you have any ink or pens you want to trade (or sell), please bring them with you to the meeting. This is a great chance to unload some pens and ink that you aren't using very much, and to get something that you might get more use out of. Oh, and the ink can be in bottles (they don't have to be full bottles) or cartridges.