Sunday, January 15, 2023

January meeting report (w/lots of photos)!

We had excellent attendance at our January meeting, held on the 12th at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public library -- 25 members (including five brand-new members  - Anna, Gaelen,  Marissa, Nurzhan and Renz) showed up, making it one of our top 3 best-attended meetings! 

Our topic was newest acquisitions, but it was also the night that members who pre-ordered the pens made for our club (Leonardo "Furore" limited edition fountain pens in the stunning "Mosaico Hawaii" stacked resin) picked them up. There was a lot of excitement when fellow VPCer Glenn showed up with the long-awaited pens (which I will review here tomorrow). Big thanks to Glenn for his efforts to get this beautiful limited edition Vancover Pen Club pen made, and to Salvatore Matrone of Leonardo Officina Italiana for allowing us to use this beautiful resin for our pen!

Now, onto the meeting photos.....

(~all photos by Maja, except where noted - please click on images to enlarge~)
(~photo courtesy of Sherman~)

Above: (L-R): Phil, Gaelen, April, Glenn, Nurzhan and Liz (who has her brand-new Leonardo 'Furore' Vancouver Pen Club pen in front of her)



(~photo courtesy of Sherman~)

Above: (L-R) Stuart, Chris (who joined a while ago but attended his first in-person meeting in January), me --Maja-- welcoming everyone to the meeting (lol), Renz and Anna. 

Anna's lovely snow-white marbled PenBBS '489', which uses a touchdown-filling mechanism



Chuck brought along several pens he'd acquired since we last saw him, including these two eye-catching dragon-themed fountain pens by Jinhao.

It was great to see another member we hadn't seen in ages, too - longtime VPCer Bruce, who showed me a wonderful faceted OMAS 'Dama' fountain pen he acquired. I wish I'd photographed it, but I did get to try it out (and yes, it's a really nice writer!).




Phil's handsome Parker '61' set (in original box) with the coveted "rainbow" caps.....





April brought along several Hongdian fountain pens, including the hard-to-find 'Mount Everest (pen furthest from camera) which has a 14K gold nib, a Hongdian 'Blue Wave' (second from the front) and a Hongdian 1845 all-metal fountain pen. The ivory-coloured fountain pen is a Jinhao '80'.


Jerred's Delta Markiaro 'Posillipo' fountain pen and a brushed stainless steel Parker 'Jotter' fountain pen that was part of a set (gift-boxed, with matching ballpoint) that Jerred bought at Staples.



Sophia attended her first regular meeting (her first was our November get-together hosted by the Vancouver Pen Shop) and brought along this gorgeous blue Caran d'Ache "LeMan' "Grand Bleu" rollerball which features a guilloché design, lacquered finish and rhodium-plated accents. I always tell prospective members that our club isn't just about fountain pens, so it was great to see this rollerball at the meeting because online photos don't do it justice.

Sherman's Montblanc knockoff ballpoint--yes, it's a knockoff, but it's adorable! You can see just how small it is in Sherman's pen group photo near the end of this blog post.


Yen brought along a lot of fountain pen eye candy for us to see, including a Leonardo 'Supernova' in "Starlight Blue", a Gioia 'Partenope Avorio", and a Laban '325' Sakura. Yen's husband Alvin brought some pen eye candy of his own (not pictured) --- a Nahvalur (formerly Narwhal) 'Nautilus' Mariana Trench fountain pen and a Nahvalur 'Original' made exclusively for UK pen deaier Cult Pens!



Amy's cute pen case and her cute Hongdian N7 'Moon Rabbit' piston-filling fountain pen


This colourful  Conklin 'All American' Rainbow Limited Edition fountain pen belongs to Kelley. It's made of solid brass, so it has some heft to it, but it felt comfortable in my hand when I held it.


Its section, clip *and* nib have the same finish as the rest of the pen (yay, Conklin!!). The pen's Rainbow PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) finish is very durable and scratch-resistant, according to the manufacturer.


Stuart acquired several new pens in the last few weeks, many of them from the Vancouver Pen Shop! The handsome Faber-Castell Ondoro "Smoked Oak" and Kaweco 'Sport' in "Mellow Blue" in the photo above were among his recent Van Pen purchases.


More of Stuart's new acquisitions! The two Platinum 'Preppy WA' fountain pens at the top of the photo are limited editions (the blue one is the Seigaiha LE and the yellow one is the Urokomon LE) purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop.

The Sheaffers below them are both vintage pens---a beautiful carmine-striped Sheaffer 'Balance' (which sports an unusual W.A.S.P -style clip, often seen on Canadian-made Balances) and a Sheaffer 'Snorkel' Sovereign in Buckskin Tan colour that Stuart purchased from fellow pen club member Jerred that night. Stuart also brought along a "space age" vintage Parker desk set that we'll be featuring here later this week.


Chris was sitting next to me but I only remembered to snap a quick group shot of all the great pens he brought to the meeting.  I distinctly remember one fountain pen that he praised very much--the multicoloured "Pocket Six" fountain pen in anodized aluminum made by Schon DSGN (the pen closest to the camera). I think I need to add one to my own collection...

I snapped the photo above when I got home, because I forgot to do it during the meeting. That's my new(ish) Pelikan Pura on the far left, a handmade fountain pen by RJ Custom Pens (in Australia) in the middle and my Hongdian N8 'Maple Leaf" fountain pen on the far right. 

The pens are in a Galen Leather 6-pen zippered case in "Crazy Horse Brown" leather that I bought from the Vancouver Pen Shop the day before they closed their store's old location (they're now at 555 Howe Street in downtown Vancouver)

(photo courtesy of Sherman)

Sherman had the same idea as I did---to photograph the stuff he brought to the meeting at home! I'm glad he did, because there were a lot of élysée fountain pens amongst them, and it's a brand you don't see in person very often nowadays. The two elegant pens in the photo above are an élysée Classique (70 Line) Laque Cobra fountain pen with a 14K-585 Gold Flat Nib (Rare) and an élysée Classique (70 Line) Laque Cobra ballpoint pen (with a Parker refill in it--Sherman's comment about the refill brand not matching the pen's brand was "sorry, wohahaha…").

(photo courtesy of Sherman)

Above: Sherman's group photo of the other pens he brought to our meeting, along with his captions below (many thanks to Sherman for all the photos he provided for this blog post!)

(From left to right)

1) Leonardo Furore Blue Mosaico Vancouver Pen Club L.E. #26/30 Steel Broad Nib

2) Leonardo Momento Zero Pen Chalet L.E. Blue Hawaii Fountain Pen Steel EF Nib (Not for presentation, just to compare the newly acquired Mosaico)

3) élysée Design (80 Line) Rolled Gold Fountain Pen Gold Plated EF Flat Nib

4) Ferris Wheel Press Sandcastle Clay Brush Fountain Pen Steel M Nib

5) Pelikan Souverän® K400 Black-Green Ballpoint Pen (Sheaffer K Refill Black)

6) Pelikan Souverän® M400 Black-Green Fountain Pen 18K-750 Gold 2-Tone M Nib (rare nowadays)

7) élysée Jewelry (90 Line) Laque Intarsia Antique Greek Black Ballpoint Pen (Set)

8) élysée Jewelry (90 Line) Laque Intarsia Antique Greek Black Fountain Pen Gold Plated Flat F Nib (Set)

9) élysée En Vogue (30 Line) Laque Lapis Fountain Pen Gold Plated M Nib

10) Toy « Montblanc » like Ballpoint Pen which was gifted by a friend in late 90’s

11) Monteverde Ballpoint Refill for Sheaffer K series - Poorly made:

i) Longer than Sheaffer,

ii) Very sharp tip,

iii) Not just scratchy, but can cut through paper!

12) Esterbrook Estie Honeycomb Oversize GT F Nib

13) Esterbrook J Blue Pearl & Chrome 1555 Nib



I meant to take a photo of the wonderful pens brand-new VPCer Renz --who was sitting right next to me!--- brought, but in all the excitement, I forgot (sorry, Renz ---I do remember a couple of good-looking vintage Parker '51' sets you showed us--Update! Renz later sent me his own photos of the sets ---see the very end of this blog post!). Renz, however, has an active Instagram account and a YouTube channel -- both under the profile name pen.traveller -- where he posts pen-related photos & videos, so check them out if you like beautiful calligraphy and amazing journal entries that look like works of art!  Brand-new VPC members Gaelen and Nurzhan also both brought some cool pens for us to see, but I didn't get around to snapping photos of them --my apologies, guys. I know Gaelen brought a stylish Lamy 'Studio" fountain pen in Imperial Blue, and Nurzhan brought another Lamy (the '2000') and a very nice vintage Parker Vacumatic in the Debutante size. Thanks to the three of you plus brand-new members Anna and Marissa for joining our club and coming to our meeting last Thursday! 😊

Many thanks to everyone who showed up for our January meeting, whether you had anything for the topic/theme or not; our meetings are about seeing and learning about pens and inks and stationery ... and having fun!

Hope you can make it to our February meeting --- details will be posted on this blog in late Jan/early Febeuary. Please check the top of our homepage for future meeting info (which will be in big red letters :)

(~Blog post by Maja~)


Update! 

Renz was kind enough to send me his own photos of the two vintage Parker '51' sets I mentioned above!

I asked Renz about their filling systems and he said: "They are both aero metric yes and the green and gold is a fine nib and the black is an extra fine nib!"

Thanks, Renz!
~Maja

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