Photos from our June meeting

We had good attendance for our June meeting (whose topic/theme was "Fountain Pens Made of Natural Materials")--nineteen VPC members showed up, including one newcomer (John). Many thanks to Jerred for this great theme idea (which we've never done before, amazingly enough).
I managed to snap some photos during the meeting, so without further ado....

~ Click on images to enlarge ~

(clockwise from far left): Christopher, Jerred, Stuart, Barry, Ben, Mary Anne, Julienne, Melodie, John, Jenny, Astoria, Mark, Justin and Mindy. Not pictured: Maja (photographer), Alejandra, Bill M, Daryl and Rene.

(below, L-R) Maja's hard rubber (or Ebonite--which is actually a brand name for hard rubber---for short) fountain pens (L-R): no-name BCHR (black chased hard rubber) eyedropper filler with accommodation clip (the clip is an accessory---the pen was originally clipless), Sheaffer flat-top made of BCHR (ca. 1921), Esterbrook 'Relief 2-L' (made in England), Conklin 'Crescent-Filler' 60 model, Danitrio 'Hanryo' and a pen made by "Appleman" (Chris Hughes) in mottled red & black ebonite.

(below, L-R) Brahman ebonite pen, Guider 'Marala' ebonite pen (handmade in India), Danitrio 'Tosca' in ebonite, Stipula 'Passaporto' in ebonite (a special edition made for Fountain Pen Hospital, a well-known pen store in NYC), Waterman 'Liaison' in red ebonite, Oberthur 'Rumba' with wooden barrel, hand-turned wooden ballpoint in a checkered design (from etsy.com).

Jerred's Online "Timeless Wood" fountain pen in Kauri wood, a 45,000-old wood from New Zealand:

More fountain pens made of natural materials belonging to Jerred (L-R): Online 'Vision' (made of African Rosewood), Spalding maple wood fountain pen, Spalding ebony wood fountain pen, an oversized fountain pen by Martemodena made of pear wood (manufactured by Delta Pens), a Delta 'Sea' fountain pen made of iroku wood, a Jinhao 51A with a mottled red & black ebonite barrel and a Faber-Castell 'Ondoro' fountain pen made of ebony wood:

Newest Acquisitions is always our secondary topic and these are two of Jerred's latest acquisitions--a clear vacuum-filling fountain pen made by PenBBS (the '268' model) and a lovely blue Delta 'Papillon':

Some writing instruments Jerred brought in to sell--several Sheaffer 'Imperials' in burgndy (including one ballpoint purchased by Christopher at the June meeting---see the very last photo of this blog post :) and navy blue:

Stuart's vintage Sheaffer 'Balance' in "ebonized pearl" material (black celluloid with inlaid flakes of abalone shell) and a light green Kaweco 'Sport' in the Frosted "Fine Lime" colour (a new purchase):

They're not new acquisitions but they're newly-repaired fountain pens (the group of six pens) owned by Julienne! Next to them is newcomer John's Faber-Castell "Ambition" fountain pen. In the background are a NOS (New Old Stock) set of Winsor & Newton drawing inks belonging to Mary Anne (note: as they contain shellac, these inks should not be used in fountain pens):

A close-up of John's Faber-Castell 'Ambition' fountain pen:

Astoria's newest acquisition---a bottle of Sailor 'Jentle' fountain pen ink, purchased in China:

Beautiful packaging and bottle design!

Mark has a great collection of vintage pens, including these fountain pens made of hard rubber/ebonite (top to bottom): Mabie-Todd 'Jackdaw', a twist-cap Sheaffer (ca. 1915), a Waterman 'No.7' in "red ripple" (red & black mottled hard rubber) with an Accountant nib (the colour of the upper cap band denoted the type of nib that came with the fountain pen), a smaller model Conklin Crescent-Filler in black hard rubber, and a lovely hard rubber pen with decorative barrel bands:

Melodie's fountain pen made of birds eye maple (a gift from a friend for a "milesone" birthday) and Jenny's Leonardo 'Momento Zero' Limited Edition in orange ebonite. This LE was specially made for the Dutch pen store Fontoplumo, and reputedly only 20 pieces were produced worldwide:

(top to bottom): Some more pens made from natural materials, these being Rene's: a Jinhao '950' ceramic fountain pen, a vintage Waterman '12 PSF' fountain pen made of BCHR, and a BCHR Reliable eye-dropper filling fountain pen made by Byers & Hayes for Macy's department store: 

The old and the new! Alejandra's Kaweco 'Liliput' made of Eco Brass (a lead-free metal that darkens and changes colour over time as the brass oxidizes) and Christopher's vintage Eclipse combo (one end is a fountain pen and the other end is a mechanical pencil):

Mark's wonderful box o' vintage pens:

Barry's newest fountain pen purchases--a blue Esterbrook 'J', a Parker 'Duofold' "Big Red", and a Waterman 'Stalwart' (or it is a 'Dauntless' model??):

Wow, look at the size of the nib on the Duofold!

A nice closeup of the Parker 'Duofolds' massive #7 size gold nib (photo courtesy of Barry):

Stuart's new acquisition - a marble Sheaffer desk set in black with gold/tan veins, fitted with a Touchdown-filling desk pen, its original box and instructions, and a service slip (for a nib exchange) from Ted's Pen Shop:

Another nice desk set recently acquired by Stuart - a Sheaffer Touchdown-filling fountain pen with a milky-white marble base:

This one's a mismatch - the circular marble base was made to hold a Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyline' fountain pen but it sports a vintage Esterbrook desk pen---but Stuart later acquired the correct base for the Esterbrook:

Rene's vintage Conway Stewart '12' model fountain pen made of casein (a material derived from milk protein) ca. 1957-ish:

(top to bottom) Christopher's vintage Packard fountain pen, a lovely red woodgrain flat-top fountain pen, and a Kimberly (made by Wahl-Eversharp) ballpoint. The accommodation clip on the Kimberly was meant for fountain pens, but it fits the ballpoint and now allows ts to be clipped to a shirt pocket:

More of Rene's pens!(from L-R) three Lamy 'Safari' fountains in pastel colours (the caps and barrels match--Rene was just swapping them around for fun :), ceramic Jinhao '950' fountain pen, a vintage Standard fountain pen that was likely made by Aiken-Lambert (it has a Canadian A-L 14k gold nib on it), vintage Sheaffer 'Balance' fountain pen & matching mechanical pencil set in "ebonized pearl" material, a vintage BCHR Wahl 73 (made in Canada), a BCHR Mabie-Todd Swan 100/60, a Faber-Castell 'Ambition' in pear wood, a Moore L-92 made of BCHR, a large bamboo ballpoint handmade by Glenn Craig, BCHR Reliable, Waterman '12PSF" in BCHR, and a Retro 51 'Tornado' Lincoln' rollerball made of copper:

I forgot to photograph it, so Christopher kindly sent me a photo of his new Parker International UK Insignia' set -a door prize he won at our June meeting. The set was generously donated by Mark (thanks, Mark!):

Another new acquisition Christopher brought to the June meeting--a Pladium fountain pen. The pen is pictured with a Parker 'Vacumatic' and was an obvious attempt to copy its more famous counterpart (photo by Christopher).

Last, but certainly not least---the last of Christopher's newest pens! This one is the Sheaffer Imperial ballpoint that he acquired from fellow VPCer Jerred at our June meeting. Christopher had been looking for one that matched his late mother's Sheaffer Imperial fountain pen (also in the photo below) and was happy to finally find its ballpoint counterpart. The photo (taken by Christopher) shows the Sheaffer Imperial set, as well as his mother's wallet and her business card.

Many thanks to all who came to our June meeting, whether you brought anything for our montly topic/theme or not :)