September meeting photos (Part 2)

Here are some photos I took at our September meeting, held on Friday September 13th at the Kitsilano Yacht Club...

(~Please click on photos to enlarge images~)

Our theme for September's meeting was "Good Luck!"--pen-related experiences where good luck has played a role. The pen in the photo above is a vintage Waterman '94' fountain pen belonging to our club's co-founder, Tim. Tim acquired the pen by chance thanks to a virtual flea market run by a local radio station in his hometown of Austin, Minnesota. Tim called the station to say that he was looking for fountain pens and eventually got in touch with a person who was selling old pens, one of which was the Waterman above. Tim told us that the Waterman is one of his favourite fountain pens with which to write, so it truly was a lucky find :)

That's Bill Kempton, our club's other co-founder on the right, and next to him is our mutual friend Glenn from Brisbane, Australia. Glenn brought some examples of his own lucky finds (see photo below)...

...such as his first-year Parker '75' fountain pen (8th pen from the right in Glenn's pen pouch above) and his lovely Waterman 'Edson' (2nd pen from the right), both acquired from eBay for a very good price...

Another lucky find was Jerred's sterling silver fountain pen made by the Delta pen company...

Speaking of luck....The lucky winner of our door prize was VPC member Ben R. (one of our newer members), who won a handsome Pelikan pen case in black leather (generously donated by our Aussie guest Glenn). I forgot to photograph the actual case that Ben won, so I snapped a quick photo of its twin (a gift given to me by Glenn a few months ago) when I got home.

Melodie's newest acquisition, a "Maui Makai" fountain pen made by the Kanilea Pen Company and purchased by Melodie at the San Francisco Pen Show in August of this year...

As mentioned in Part 1 of our September meeting photos, the pen's Jowo steel nib was reground at the pen show by nibmeister Yukio Nagahara. This close-up above shows the result---a fun, exotic nib that produces fine lines when used in the normal position and wide strokes when used in the upside-down position...

Continuing on with Newest Acquisitions (which is always our secondary meeting theme)...
This is Barry's vintage Parker '51 Special', a lower-priced version of the famous Parker '51' which arrived on the scene in 1950, nine years after its higher-priced cousin. The '51 Special' almost always came with a steel alloy (Octanium) nib (the original '51' sported a 14k gold nib) but some '51 Special' models that were made in the late 1960s came with gold nibs.

Two of Bill's newest acquisitions---a Lamy 'Al-Star' in the "Pacific" colour (a special edition made in 2017) and a Pelikan M215 in the hard-to-find "Blue Stripes" pattern (only made from 2005-2006). The M215 is my favourite smaller Pelikan fountain pen because of its weight---the M215 barrels were made from brass rather than resin (which is used in the M200/M205 models) so the M215s have a nice heft to them, and yet are nicely balanced in the hand.

René always has some interesting new finds to show us, such as these Parker IM Deluxe special editions in "Midnight Astral" and "Metallic Pursuit".

Some information about these lovely patterns from Parker's official website:

"The IM Special Edition Midnight Astral is inspired by the universe in the palm of our hand. The cap and barrel, embellished with a star chart constellation, guide us on our journey towards creating a positive impact on the world. The kind of impact that will shine through the night and celebrate our purpose in life."
"The IM Special Edition Metallic Pursuit is inspired by the unlimited opportunities which direct us towards our purpose. The cap and barrel, emblazoned with the energetic trajectory of growth, remind us that our path towards success is a unique journey that only we as individuals can take."

Last but not least, a couple of lesser-known vintage pens recently acquired by Daryl (our host at the yacht club)---a green striped Traveler fountain pen and a Hero (unknown model name/number, but most likely an earlier Hero pen)...

Daryl (far left in the photo above) taking a break after a job well done, as our meeting draws to a close...

One last photo----Bill K. Glenn and myself (Maja). Thanks for coming to the meeting, Glenn!

Many thanks to everyone who came to the September meeting (whether you came from Australia or the Lower Mainland :), to Daryl for being such an excellent host, to Glenn G. for the door prize, and to Ricardo and Jim for sending me their photos so I could post them on our club's blog!

Next up: info regarding our November meeting coming very soon!