October meeting photos - part 2 (Sherman's pics)

A few more photos taken at our October meeting at the VPL's Kensington branch last Saturday (part 1 of photos posted here) ...

(all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Vladan in the middle, flanked by Sherman and myself (Maja). In the background, you can see (left to right) Colin, brand-new member Lyndon (with glasses), David C, Mmina and Anson.

As I mentioned in part 1 of the meeting photos, Sherman and I did a little pen trade at our October meeting--I got the three nice Sheaffer and Cross ballpoints above, in exchange for the élysée fountain pen in the upper right corner of the photo...

Sherman's élysée 'Laque Lapis' collection, including the fountain pen I traded with him (and the matching ballpoint I gave him a few weeks ago), both on the far left

And here are some nice photos Sherman took of the fountain pen he got from me...

It's an élysée 'En Vogue (30 Line) Laque Lapis (1991), and it came in a nice metal box covered with soft felt--classy packaging for this classy German brand!

At first glance, Sherman thought he already owned this model, but when he examined the clip design, he saw that it was an earlier version of one he already had, so he gladly traded me for it. I couldn't believe that he didn't already own this particular model, as I had seen his entire amazing élysée collection at the CFPE picnic last month! (it's in the last three photos of this older blog post)élysée, sadly, went out of business in 2000. Fortunately, though, you can still find some of their elegant writing instruments for sale on the secondary market. For more information on the brand, check out N. Dean Meyer's excellent guide (to which Sherman contributed) here.

Above: All the wonderful writing instruments that Sherman brought to show at our October meeting

Sherman told me that his only new acquistion was a Leonardo stainless steel Bock Stub nib for the Leonardo 'Momento Zero' Turquoise-Green fountain pen he bought from fellow VPC member Skye last November. He mentioned that he's very happy with the new nib, which is his first Leonardo Stub. That pen can be seen (with the rest of Sherman's Leonardo fountain pen collection) in the photo above--it's the fourth pen from the left, on the bottom row. The pens in the lower right corner are Sherman's Pilot Custom 743 Black & Pilot Vanishing Point Matte Black fountain pens.

The attaché briefcase is one that Sherman has been bringing to our meetings ever since he joined our pen club in 2020 (note the spotless white cotton gloves that he wears to protect writing instruments he brings to sell or trade :) Sherman told me that his briefcase is from the late 1990s (which some might consider "vintage", esp. with the rise in popularity of soft-sided folio/satchel-style briefcases), but that it was still in such great condition that he decided to keep using it.

As we didn't have a formal "show & tell", our October meeting was a good opportunity to sell/trade inks --in bottles, ink vials or cartridges. Sherman said the clear box + prescription vials was his new set-up for his ink cartridges (and yes, those are all the cartridges he owns!).

At our "unstructured" meetings (casual get-togethers, like October's), our members are encouraged to bring writing instruments they want to show others, and they can be new pens or old, favourites or daily writers, singles or sets. For our October meeting, Sherman brought three sets of his "quads"---writing instrument sets of four-- to show us, starting with the Cross 'Classic Century' (aka 'Century I') Chrome set below...About this Cross set above, Sherman writes: "For the Cross Classic Century Chrome, there is a bit of a story.  My late Mom gifted the Porous pen (the top pen--a type of felt-tip pen--ed. note) to me when I went back to Hong Kong from Ottawa.  I did not like it that much at that time as it’s not the same as a rollerball (I was ignorant, for sure), but now, reminiscing about my lovely mom, I am passionate about it. Therefore, I sought the rest of the series, starting with the fountain pen."

Above: Sherman's élysée Parthenon (10 Line) Bi-Colour Platinum & 18K Gold quad set. He noted that the “rollingball” (élysée's term for "Rollerball") pen & mechanical pencil were swapped from the original fountain and ballpoint pens, respectively.

Some bottled ink Sherman brought to the meeting to trade (don't worry if you missed it--we'll be having another Ink Swap in December!)

And last, but certainly not least, Sherman's handsome Waterman Carène Black Sea Lacquer GT set!

Many thanks to Sherman for sharing his collection (and excellent photos of it) with us!

(~blog post by Maja~)