Excellent turnout for our March meeting!

Our March meeting was held on the 21st of the month at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano Branch Meeting Room. Twenty-three members were present, including brand-new member Robert!

This month's primary meeting theme was "Neglected Fountain Pens" (which was suggested by Stuart) and our secondary topic was --as usual-- "Newest Acquisitions". It was a very busy meeting, but I snapped a few photos, so here they are...

(photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

That's Julian's colourful new Narwhal (Nahvalur) Schuykill 'Asfur Bronze' fountain pen in between Robert's Montblanc '146' (which belonged to his father) and his Graf von Faber-Castell 'Tamitio', Robert's "daily driver" (the orange Crown Mill paper was a gift to me from Stuart).

Peter R's newest acquisition - an elegant Aurora 'Ipsilon Deluxe', a purchase he said was inspired by the pens he saw (VPCer Phil's Aurora 'Ipsilon Deluxe', perhaps? ;) last month, at his first meeting

Grant's modern Parker '51' (a pen he intensely dislikes and, therefore, neglects lol) and his new acqusition, a vintage Wahl-Eversharp 'Oxford' (I love that twisted celluloid material!)

(Above) A nice-but-neglected silver Faber-Castell 'Grip' belonging to Emilio, our youngest member (who came to the meeting with his father Chris, whose own neglected fountain pen was a hard-starting Waterman 'Charleston'--not shown-- that was later fixed), and Paul's new Hero and Eagle fountain pens (hope I ID'd them correctly!).

A shiny Lamy 'Al-Star' in Pacific Blue (the 2017 special edition colour for the 'Al-Star'), a new acquisition of Peter H's.

Stuart's Graf von Faber-Castell 'Classic', a lovely pen that he recently acquired from the Vancouver Pen Shop...

Stuart's newest acquisition - a handsome vintage Parker '51' Vacumatic in Cedar Blue, with a 16K gold-filled cap.

For our primary topic, Stuart brought in this classy (but neglected, for some reason unknown to him lol) Sheaffer Legacy Heritage "Palladium Deep Cut" fountain pen...

 (Above) A couple of new fountain pens I recently acquired---a red Pelikan 'Ineo' and my Pelikan M200 'Orange Delight'.

I forgot to photograph a tiny Favorite branded lever-filler (not a ringtop!) that I brought for our primary topic.  It's neglected because of its miniscule size, but it's adorable and I love it. When I first started collecting, I collected mostly vintage fountain pens...actually smaller vintage pens because they were cheaper than full-sized pens. I accumulated quite a few over the years, but they weren't getting used as they were simply too small for my hands (I wound up selling them to the good folks at Anderson Pens at the 2015 L.A. Pen Show).

David L. brought in several interesting things to show us, including a new acquisition, his burgundy Parker "New Slimfold" fountain pen (center of photo above). At first glance, it appeared to be a Parker '45' (or a Parker 'Arrow--essentially a '45' with a plastic cap), but it has a screw-on cap. Below the "New Slimfold" is David's Parker 'Jotter' ballpoint, which is a nice colour match for the fountain pen. Regarding his neglected fountain pens, David said that his Platinum 'Preppy' pens (not pictured) ---his earliest pen purchases-- aren't used as much any more.

The longer pens on either side of the Parkers are ones that David uses for his other hobby ---pen-spinning! David said he really got into pen-spinning...so much that he was actually mentioned in a book (shown above) on the topic.

Vladan brought in his father's green-striped Pelikan '140' --a highly-respected vintage fountain pen-- for our primary topic. The pen was neglected due to leaking issues, but Vladan later discovered that the leak was caused by a broken plastic nib collar. He acquired a replacement part, and happily, the pen was back in action.

The pen above it is a Osmia/Faber-Castell 884 fountain pen. The pen was manufactured after Osmia was acquired by Faber-Castell, so the pen's markings are a bit of an oddity-- the barrel has "Osmia" on one side and "Faber-Castell" on the other side, while the clip says "Osmia."

The bottom three pens are more of Vladan's newest acquisitions -- a Lamy Safari 'Violet Blackberry', a dark green Eureka Ebonite fountain pen with 'Dodecagon Diamond' cap (a very well-made pen, crafted by a small pen maker in South Korea), and a lovely purple Kaweco 'Sport' "Royal Amethyst demonstrator fountain pen (a Goldspot Pens exclusive).

The fountain pen at the top of the photo is Hadi's gorgeous modern Conway Stewart 'Total Blue Elegance' exclusive edition (with a stunning guilloché fox-head pattern, sterling silver trim and a sterling silver section), which he brought in for our primary meeting topic. Hadi told us that he was greatly drawn to the pen's appearance, but ultimately found the pen to be too heavy.

Longtime VPC member Glenn Marcus' own reason for not using his neglected fountain pens was different than Hadi's -- they were simply too skinny for his grip. Glenn started buying fountain pens in the 1970s and 80s, when slimmer pens were in fashion, but he later realized that they were too narrow. Glenn didn't bring his "neglected" pens to our meeting, but you can see the pens he *doesn't* neglect on his excellent website -- GlennsPens.com

Vladan forgot to show us this beautiful fountain pen during our meeting, but I snapped a photo of it afterwards. It's his new Leonardo Officina Italiana 'Momento Zero Grande 2.0' "Galattica" (Palladium trim) fountain pen. The pen was a limited numbered edition (only 300 pieces were produced) that was made in collaboration with the Tailored Pen Company, a well-known maker of high-quality resin blanks.

Andrew's Parker 'Sonnet' (neglected because it was surpassed by his vintage flexy-nibbed Parker 'Vacumatic'!) and Karen's black Knox 'Aristotle' fountain pen, which she purchased from the Birmingham Pen Company's online retail store. Karen says she doesn't use the pen much because it's a hard-starter.

I actually hadn't seen (or heard of) the Knox model before ---you never know what you'll see at one of our meetings! 😁

Karen's pretty pink Visconti 'Rembrandt' fountain pen, above the Knox....

And here's the newest addition to Jerred's amazing Delta fountain pen collection---a glossy Pearl Red Delta 'Journal' (with a "Tech & Web" imprint)! The pens below it are David C's vintage blue Esterbrook 'J' transitional model, and a vintage Parker '51' (I'm not sure to whom it belongs--please let me know if you're the owner :)

A couple of more photos of the really nice pens that newcomer Robert brought in --his Montblanc '146' and Graf von Faber-Castell 'Tamitio'

I'm sorry I didn't photograph Mark's NOS (New Old Stock) vintage pens at this meeting. Mark did a good job of explaining the different filling systems used by the pens; our club has a real mix of modern fountain pen aficionados and vintage fountain pen fans, so not everyone is necessarily familiar with the filling mechanisms utilized in vintage fountain pens.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our March meeting, whether you brought something to show or not. It was so nice to finally meet Jessica in person, and it was great to see Barry and Joe B. again (we hadn't seen them since the pandemic started), as well as Renz, who moved to central Canada last year. If you're reading this and you haven't been to one of our meetings in a long time, please don't be shy---just drop in and see what we're up to these days 😊 (no RSVPs required!)

I'm in the process of booking a venue for our April meeting, but when I do, I'll post the meeting details here on our blog (in the usual place --the top of the home page -- in big red letters). Until then, have a safe and happy Easter long weekend!
Cheers,
~Maja