Sunday, June 30, 2019

May meeting photos ~ Part 2

Part 2 of our May meeting photos - these courtesy of Ricardo (part 1 can be seen in this blog post)...

(~please click on photos to enlarge images~)
(L-R) Jim M, Justin, Jerred and Leo...
Jerred's Sheaffer "Valor" (with inlaid nib), a fine example of our May meeting topic - "Fountain Pens with Unusually-Shaped Nibs"
(L-R) Leo, Glenn M and Ben ...
(L-R) Leo, Glenn M, Ben and Mary Anne.

Ben and Mary Anne came to their first VPC meeting in April but, unfortunately, I didn't snap any photos during that meeting, so we're glad they came back for another one ;) Ben brought in a 'TiScribe' fountain pen (a Kickstarter.com project) to show us (not pictured)
Candice's cool Sailor "Trident" pen (I wrote about the pen in part 1 of our May meeting pics)
(L-R) Stuart, newcomer Jim Z, Rene and VPC co-founder Bill K.

Stuart brought in a Sheaffer 'Triumph' Sentinel fountain pen and a Conklin 'Omniflex' fountain pen for our May meeting theme.
(below) A close-up of Jim Z's Sheaffer nib on his newly-restored vintage Sheaffer 'Balance':
(L-R) Rene, Bill, myself (Maja) and Alejandra sharing a laugh at our May meeting.

Bill brought in a Parker 'Ellipse' for our topic, as well as some new fountain pens to show us (a Lamy 'LX', Pilot 'Prera' and Parker 'Sonnet')-- all recent birthday gifts from a generous friend in Australia. Rene always brings in great examples for our meeting themes/topics so I'm sorry we forgot to photograph the fountain pens with unusual nibs he brought to our May meeting; the pens included a Pilot 'Parallel', a Waterman 'Carene', a Conklin 'Omniflex' Goulet Pens Special Edition, a vintage Eclipse 'Knight' and three Parker fountain pens--a '21', a '41, and a '45'.
(Below) Longtime VPCer Tristan (wearing a cap) brought in some interesting fountain pens
(Below) Julienne showing us a fountain pen (a black Sheaffer 'Imperial' with inlaid nib) she brought in for our topic, with Mindy to her left:
(Below) Mindy's Waterman 'Expert' I (the first 'Expert' model) with its unique cutaway nib:
Julienne and Mindy, with Barry K looking on...
(Below) Barry's newest acquisition---a vintage Conway Stewart black hard rubber fountain pen:
Barry talking about the amazing flexy (flexible) nib on his vintage Conway Stewart fountain pen (Jim M and Justin are to his left)
(Below) Our secondary topic for each meeting is always "Newest Acquisitions". Jim M brought in his new Namisu fountain pen (not pictured) and his beautiful new Visconti 'Rembrandt' in orange:
(L-R) Barry K, Jim M, Justin and Daryl:
Daryl (center) talking about one of his newest acquisitions--a fountain pen by Chinese manufacturer 'Picasso'.
(Below) Daryl's new Cross 'Century' (or 'Century I') fountain pen. Daryl also brought in another new pen--a Kaco 'Edge' (not pictured); there's a nice write-up on the Kaco here on this blog.
That's Jenny talking to Leo on the far right of the photo. Jenny always has some interesting new fountain pens to show us, and May's meeting was no exception...
(Below) Jenny's lovely white Pilot 'Decimo' limited edition in the "White Art Deco" design (made for the Japanese Mitsukoshi department store chain, only 100 pieces made):
Another pen with an unusual nib--Jenny's Pilot 'Elite' 85S fountain pen:
(Photo below) A new acquisition of Jenny's - a Sailor 'Realo' demonstrator fountain pen:
Ricardo's famous notebook with pen drawings from our pen club meetings!


Many thanks to Ricardo for taking the time to snap photos during our meeting (and for sharing his pen and nib drawings :)

Next up: June 2019 meeting pics!

Thursday, June 20, 2019

May meeting photos ~ Part 1

Last month's meeting was held at the Oakridge branch of the Vancouver Public Library on May 16th, with twenty-one members in attendance.

The topic for May's meeting was "Fountain Pens with Unusually-Shaped Nibs" and we saw some very interesting examples. I snapped a few photos of the fountain pens some of our members brought in for this theme, so without further ado...

~Please click on images to enlarge ~
Jerred (who suggested the evening's theme) kicked off the meeting with three examples of fountain pens with unusually-shaped nibs (top to bottom): Sheaffer 'Valor' (which features an inlaid nib), Pilot 'PIG' and Pilot 'E'. Both Pilots have inset 'fingernail' nibs (so-named for their appearance). Jerred also brought in a Waterman 'Carene' (which has an inset nib) for our topic (not pictured.)
This cool Paidi fountain pen (also owned by Jerred) was made by the Chinese pen company Hero and sports an integrated (or integral) nib which is part of the pen's metal section:
Julienne's stainless steel Parker '95' and black Sheaffer 'Imperial'. The inlaid-nibbed 'Imperial' model was Sheaffer's forerunner to the 'Valor':
Leo's crosshatched Pilot 'Elite', a fine example of a "long-short" fountain pen - a short pen with a long section that posts to full length. Leo also brought in a Parker '75' for our topic (not pictured)
The 'Elite''s 18K white gold inset nib:
Jenny's Pilot 'E95S' and her TWSBI 'Eco' LE (Limited Edition) made for Bungubox with handpainted cap. The TWSBI has an "Arrow" nib made by FPNibs.com:
Another limited edition pen owned by Jenny - a white Pilot 'Decimo' limited edition in the "White Art Deco" design (made for the Japanese Mitsukoshi department store chain, only 100 pieces made) and Alejandra's Pilot 'Decimo', a regular (non-LE) issue model in Burgundy. The Decimo is a capless fountain pen with a retractable "click" mechanism (like many ballpoint pens). You can't see it in this photo, but Decimos have long, narrow nibs:
Alejandra's vintage Waterman 'Lady Garland' from the 1940s. This model was the feminine (and shorter) version of the larger Waterman 'Taperite'. Both models, however, came with the same diminutive nib. Alejandra also brought in her hooded-nibbed Parker '51' for our topic (not pictured).
A close-up of the Waterman's cap, which has a feathery engraved design on it:
Here's something you don't see every day---a three-tined fountain pen! This is Candice's Sailor 'Trident' (ca. 1983), an all-angle fountain pen made to compete with the ballpoint:
The Trident's three nibs enabled its user to write at any angle and any rotation. The model name came from the three-pronged spear belonging to Poseidon/Neptune, the Roman/Greek god of the sea. There's a nice writeup on this model here on Russ Stutler's website.
(Below) For our meeting topic, Mindy brought her Waterman 'Expert' fountain pen. This is the first generation of the 'Expert' (known as the 'Expert I')--later generations have a traditional nib:
A closeup of the Expert's nib, with its teardrop-shaped cutaway design:
(Photo below) My (Maja's) fountain pens with oddly-shaped nibs (I brought a lot of examples in case others didn't bring the ones I had :) Upper right-hand corner (top to bottom)--red-striped Sheaffer 'Triumph' vacuum-filler, vintage Sheaffer 'Crest', Sheaffer 'Triumph' lever-filler (all three featuring Sheaffer's iconic "Triumph" nib), modern Sheaffer 'Crest' (with a modern "Triumph" nib), Sheaffer 'Imperial I'(with an inset nib) and 'Imperial III' (with a short two-tone conical nib). Upper left-hand corner (top to bottom): burgundy Sheaffer 'Pen For Men', Sheaffer 'Imperial VIII', Sheaffer 'Targa' (all three with inlaid nibs), Sheaffer 'Lady Sheaffer' (short conical nib), green marbled Wing Sung (which has a conical nib definitely inspired by Sheaffer's "Triumph" nib) and a clear green Jinhao 599 (the 3rd generation of this model, which features a hooded nib).

Lower right-hand corner (top to bottom): stainless steel (aka "Flighter) Parker '51', Parker '100', Parker '21', Parker '17' (all four with hooded nibs), Parker '45' (semi-hooded nib), Parker '25 (with a wraparound nib). Lower left-hand corner (top to bottom): gold-plated Parker '65' "Custom Insignia" (partly-hooded nib), Parker '105' (with a nib that's hard to describe -- "long fingernail" maybe? There's some good info on it here on Tony Fischier's excellent Parker website), Waterman 'Liaison' (with a wraparound nib), Waterman 'Carene' (inlaid nib), Pilot M90 (integral nib) and vintage Pilot 'E'(with inset "fingernail" nib).

Our meetings' secondary topic is always 'Newest Acquisitions', such as Barry's "new" vintage Conway Stewart fountain pen (made of black hard rubber) seen below. Barry also brought in a Parker '51' and Parker '75' for our topic (not pictured):
Newcomer Jim Z brought along his newly-restored vintage Sheaffer 'Balance' in the "Marine Green" colour (ca. 1931-32):
The 'Balance' was introduced in 1929 and was the first streamlined fountain-a radical departure from the traditional "flat-tops" (such as the famous Parker 'Duofold') of the time:


Many thanks to all who attended our May meeting! Our next meeting is Thursday June 20th at the Terry Salman branch of the VPL (all details here). No need to RSVP for this meeting or any other not held at a restaurant.

Part 2 of the May meeting photos (courtesy of Ricardo) to follow!

Monday, June 10, 2019

National Ballpoint Day ~ June 10th

My newest acquisition - a 2004 Parker 'Jotter' Premier Edition ballpoint in "Saffron Yellow":
(click on photo to enlarge)



To celebrate the 50th anniversary of its iconic 'Jotter' ballpoint (which rotates 90 degrees with each 'click', so that the ball wears evenly as you write), Parker released a special Jubilee anniversary edition in 2004. According to Parkerpens.net, the design of this ballpoint was based on the original 'Jotter' Filigree introduced at the New York Fair in 1959, and the featherless clip was similar to that on the earliest Parker 'Jotters'. This 50th anniversary special edition was made in England and features a sterling silver cap, button (engraved "50") and filigree sleeve barrel. The two finishes made for this model were "Licorice Black" and "Saffron Yellow".

This particular pen had been on my radar for several years, but was becoming harder and harder to find, so I was happy to find one on Andersonpens.com recently for a very good price. Many thanks to Lisa & Brian Anderson for their always-excellent customer service! (photo & post by Maja)

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Next meeting ~ Thursday June 20th

JUNE MEETING DETAILS:

When: Thursday June 20 from 6:00pm to 8:45pm
(Don't worry if you're late---we usually start at around 6:30 pm)

Where: the TERRY SALMAN branch of the Vancouver Public Library at 4575 Clancy Loranger Way, Vancouver (on the lower level of the Hillcrest Community Center) by Nat Bailey Stadium (near Queen Elizabeth Park).
This was where our April meeting was held. The meeting will take place in their branch meeting room--same place as before. No food allowed but covered drinks are ok. There's a little café inside the Community Center and vending machines as well, if you want to have a snack before the meeting. Hillcrest Community Center parking is free.

Topic/Theme: Fountain Pens Made of Natural Materials
Please bring your fountain pens made of/with wood, hard rubber (ebonite), urushi, abalone/mother of pearl, lava and casein (basically anything *except* plastics or metal) for the theme. The fountain pens do not have to be entirely made of these materials, but should have at least one part made of one (or more) of these natural materials (e.g. if you have a fountain pen with an ebonite feed, that counts). Many thanks to Jerred for this great theme idea (which we've never done before, amazingly enough!)

Our secondary topic is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS (pen-related)---eg. new pens/inks/paper/pen cases/other accessories/etc---so if you have any you wish to show, please bring them with you.

Hope you can make it to our next meeting! No need to RSVP for this meeting or any other not held at a restaurant. Any questions or concerns? Please let me know at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com