Local Black Friday/seasonal sales!

With the ongoing Canada Post strike, this is as good a time as any to support your local pen shops by checking out some big sales 😊, such as... 

When you use the discount code above in their online shop (https://www.buchanst.com/), you can select the free "pickup" option or have it shipped to you (via alternative shipping carriers during the postal strike). 

Buchan's is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, and their business hours are: Mon-Sat : 10AM - 6:30PM; Sun: 11AM - 5PM.

                                                              

If you can't make it to Nikaido's in-store sale, you can email owners Joe or Sara at nikaidotea@hotmail.com with a list of items you'd like to order (they'll send you an invoice, payable via e-transfer), which you can then pick up at a later date! (note: Nikaido Tea is excluded from the sale and TWSBI pens are 15% off; sale applies to in-stock items only).

Nikaido is located at 3580 Moncton Street in historic Steveston village (Richmond, BC) and their website is https://nikaidotea.com/ The store is open Monday - Sunday from 11:00am-6:00pm.
                                                             

They don't have a Black Friday sale this year, but CHARALS is having a month-long sale (November 1-30) with selected items up to 30% off! Charals is located at 171 Robson Street (near BC Place) in downtown Vancouver, and their official website/web store is at: https://charals.com/ Charal's hours are: Mon-Fri: 10am – 5:30 pm; Sat 10am-5pm; Sun & All Public Holidays - Closed.

As an aside, I've been updating this list of local pen stores on our club's website here: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2020/08/support-your-local-pen-shop.html (if you spot any errors/glaring omissions, please let me know and I'll update the list).

Happy shopping, everyone!
~Maja

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 535

Many thanks to our November meeting hosts, Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery, and all who attended our get-together at their wonderful store last Saturday! Sherman and I both snapped some photos that evening, so I'll post them here on our blog sometime this week. In the meantime, here's another vintage pen review by Christopher for you to enjoy! (thanks, Christopher :)

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

Christopher writes:"Thinking back to the 1950s, it seemed that BC and, in particular, Vancouver and especially Victoria, had a ton of British influence. I believe there was a migration of Brits to our shore at the time and it seemed if you looked out at a line of traffic, most of the autos were imports for England. In fact, a ton of British products made their way into our stores. Everything from children's toys and books, like Meccano and Rupert the bear annuals, to clothing sold at the Vancouver outlet of Edward Chapman's. And this did not exclude fountain pens. Thankfully to this day such British writing instruments surface at different collectable haunts and such finds from England are truly treasures for vintage pen collectors like myself.

So, what do we have as the pen in question? Well, it is a S.125 Model Summit of London, finished in exquisite grey, jet and pearl on both the barrel and cap, with a substantial black grip section sporting an impressive 14K Gold, Summit marked nib. This is a lever filler pen, which fills responsibly and lays down the ink on paper consistently. Length when posted 6 ¼ inches, capping back to 5 inches. Overall, a very well made and reasonably high-quality fountain pen. And may I add, a perfect addition to my vintage pen collection."

Reminder re: Saturday night's meeting at Buchan's!

      

What: Vancouver Pen Club November 2024 meeting

When: Saturday November 23 from 6:30pm to ???

Where: Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery, 2141 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C (the store is located on the north side of West 41st Avenue, half a block west of West Boulevard).
Buchan's official website/webstore: https://www.buchanst.com/

No topics/themes for this meeting! Please feel free to bring any pen-related stuff you want to show other members/staff while you're mingling at this social event. Hope to see you there!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 534

More of Christopher's finds! In this case, it’s a vintage pen and a very short-lived model, like the one in the previous blog post. He picked this one up a while ago, but forgot to log it and send me his review for this blog post. Better late than never! 

Christopher:
“I really think that for a lot of its products, Wahl Eversharp set a very high-quality standard. A standard that even Kenneth Parker did not turn a blind eye to. But in the late 1940s, the writing was on the wall and the writing division of the Eversharp company would soon be in another owners' hands. Still, that interest in quality products was very much in place as the 1940s came to an end. It was during the 1940s that the Eversharp company reached out to a very successful industrial designer, Raymond Loewy. He had even put his design stamp on the redesigning of the Coco Cola bottle and a new line of Eversharp pens, so he was the perfect solution. But as much as he brought the Eversharp Symphony line of Eversharp products into the limelight, there is speculation that he was not involved with another top-end Eversharp model at the time, the Envoy. This particular pen was to be the flagship of the entire production of Eversharp pens in 1948, but only stuck around in production for one calendar year.”

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

“The overall design was extremely streamlined and somewhat thinner than the other Eversharp models. The finish selected for barrel and cap was 1/10th 14K gold filled, but the grip section, which was quite long, was rendered in jet black plastic. It was a lever filler pen that sported a superb 14K Gold nib. The cap followed the streamlining, but with a long clip with the company branding running vertically down its center. A further beautification to round out the gold-filled finish comprised of long thin vertical lines on both the cap and barrel. The barrel accepts a slip-on cap, which seems to be machined quite well to be a smooth and exacting fit. I cannot say just how impressed I am with this vintage pen and because it is the year of my birth, it will hold a special meaning in my vintage pen collection.”

In his email to me, Christopher added that the pen's original price (in 1948) was $15 USD, which —according to an online calculator— is about $200 USD today. Our thanks to Christopher for sharing it with us!

Have a great weekend,
~Maja

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 533

Today we're featuring a beautiful but very short-lived vintage Parker model, courtesy of Christopher, who sent in this write up about his wonderful new find!

Christopher writes:

"I believe there are some misconceptions by vintage pen collectors about the Parker 'brown pearl' Vacumatic. In fact, even the pen collectors' rebranding of the original Parker Vacumatic model name --'Golden Web'-- was never a label that the Parker company used back in 1936, when they introduced this particular line of Vacumatics. In fact, in the Parker 1936 catalogue, it was formally referred to as the 'Brown Pearl' Vacumatic. Also, although most feel that there were only two brown pearl models plus a mechanical pencil, actually, there were three -- the regular Junior,, the Juniorette and a 'Long Junior'. Strangely enough, the Long Junior never appeared in any Parker catalogue and yet it was produced. Also, the makeup of the brown Pearl Vacumatic was not the only colour produced. Similar pens with lock-down Vacumatic fillers, under the Diamond Medal banner, in Grey pearl and Green Pearl were sold at the Sears Roebuck department stores. They were advertised as the Diamond Medal Vac-fil pens with the same transparency available in their barrels to view the ink supply available. The only difference in these Diamond Medal Vacumatic pens were the cap screw and the blind cap, the latter being void of both tassie and black jewel, while the former being also without a screw in jewel. Plus, the banding on these Diamond Medal Vac-fillers did not mirror the Parker brown pearl in their Junior double banding -- the Diamond Medal pens sported a triple banding. These Diamond Medal Vac-fill pens were not made by Parker and used a thinner wrapped plastic, over the Parkers' production from a solid rod-stick."

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

"My new acquisition measured at 120mm and therefore is a true Juniorette model (the long Junior measures 132mm and the regular Junior measures 124mm). The Junior brown pearl Vacumatic line was in and out of production during 1936 as a first-generation series and this is indicated on the barrel. The nib on the other hand has no date coding, but looks one hundred percent original and true to this particular Parker pen.

Otherwise, the pen is in remarkable condition, with true luster to the Lucite plastic parts. The 14K Gold Parker arrow nib is totally responsible and lays down ink in a fine and consistent fashion like a real trooper. The Vacumatic lock-down filler works extremely well and the transparency in the barrel is about a C8 and red ambered, as it came out of the Parker factory. The Parker arrow ring clip is interesting and sports numbering on the backside of the ring. This pen has a rather lengthy breather tube, which just falls shy of the Vacumatic diaphragm when the diaphragm is extended to drive out the air and suck in the ink. All in all, a superb example of what Parker did the best. I will find a proud place for this wonderful treasure in my vintage pen collection and enjoy using it regularly."

Our thanks to Christopher for sharing his new acquisition & its historical background with us! Our November meeting will be held on the evening of Saturday November 23rd at Buchan's Stationery--all details in the blog post linked at the top of each web page in big red letters :) Hope you can make it!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 532

Hope you had a nice Fountain Pen Day last Friday (and a nice weekend, despite this rainy weather). Our next pen club meeting will be held on the evening of Saturday November 23rd at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery (details here), so be sure to mark that on your calendars!

Now, here's a brand-new write up about an interesting recent acquisition of Christopher's for your reading pleasure...  

He writes:
"Turning the clock back to the turn of the last century, it seemed that fine jewelers in cities like New York not only supplied writing instrument embellishments, but also manufactured beautiful fountain pens and mechanical pencils. One of these jewelers was George W. Heath, who worked with his brother Alfred. In the beginning, they made a name for their business producing superb gold and sterling fountain pen and pencil overlays. But, time went on, and in 1902 the idea of producing high quality writing instruments was just too tempting to pass up."

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

"The Heath company fountain pens are somewhat rare now, and to get one of their high-end pens both challenging and dear. Still, since I am always turning over stones in the vintage pen department, one such pen came my way, and I have to admit I was a very happy camper. This vintage Heath lovely ticks off all the boxes from stem to stern. So let me put forth the description...

Basically, this is a black hard vulcanized rubber pen with a 14K Gold filled filigree overlay, the effect of which is stunning. An eyedropper with a section that sports a medium writing flexible 14K Gold nib, sitting on top of an early designed feed. As short as the grip section is, the pen's slip-on cap is quite long and substantial. In fact, the pen posts at a lengthy 6 inches but, once capped, stands a good bit shorter at a pocketable 5 1/2 inches. As for the design of the gold overlay, it appears to be extremely Art Nouveau in its overall make up and very finely chased. At the top of this overlay on the barrel is the manufacture's branding and the pen model's name, Heath, Tribute Fountain Pen, with the city of origin, New York, below. The condition of this treasure is near mint, which in turn says a lot for those who used the pen before it came to me. Having said that, I will carry on the tradition by adding it to my vintage pen collection and when using it, respect its age and beauty."