Happy 19th birthday to us! 😀 (and another big milestone!)

  

It's hard to believe our pen club was founded on December 7, 2006 🎉 --time sure does fly! (this post has some info on our history) --but our club also reached another milestone recently...

Yes, our 200th meeting was held at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery last month! 🥳

It's so nice that we had our 200th at a special location (even though I didn't realize it was our 200th at the time lol); thank you again to Buchan's for being such great hosts. Our next meeting (our last one of 2025)  will be held at a more utilitarian venue ---the Branch Meeting Room at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public library (which we love having the free use of--thank you, VPL!) -- but we hope you can join us for our 201st 😊 

The December meeting information is posted here; if you have any questions about it (or about joining our club), please feel free to contact us via email at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our pen club (in any way) since its founding nineteen years ago! 🤗

(~blog post by Maja~) 

December 2025 meeting information!

Here's the info on our last meeting of 2025!

⛄🎄 December 2025 meeting info 🎅🦌:

When: Thursday December 18, 2025

Where: Branch Meeting Room (in the basement) of the Vancouver Public Library's KITSILANO branch at 2425 Macdonald Street (between Broadway and West 8th) in Vancouver, BC.

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm

We'll get back to themed meetings ("show & tell" ones) in 2026, so this month's meeting is just a casual get-together where you can chat, buy/sell/trade pens/inks and generally have a good time talking with other pen lovers. Hope you can make it! 😀 (no need to RSVP)

Photos from November meeting at Buchan's!

Many thanks to the good folks at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery for hosting our November meeting at their lovely store last month (November 20th, to be exact)! There were refreshments, great prizes, lots of fountain pen eye candy to look at, and the company of our amazing pen club members (and guests), so I think everyone had a good time 😊 Sherman took some photos during the meeting (thank you, Sherman!), so in case you couldn't make it, here's what you missed...

(pics courtesy of Sherman, except where noted ~ click on images to enlarge) "Selfie King" Sherman with (left to right) Linda N, Carmen L and David L.

All smiles! (left to right: Lawrence C, myself/Maja, Nathan, Andrii and Sherman)

Door prize time! That's Buchan's staffer Yugo (who's also in our club :) in the black hoodie recording the prize draws; Yugo made a really nice short video about our meeting and posted it on Buchan's Instagram ➡️ here ⬅️ (thanks so much, Yugo!)

Everyone checking their door prize tickets ... 

Amy H. (above) won one of five Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel Nr.1 "Mix & Match" ballpoint door prizes!

Each of the five lucky winners got to create a custom ballpoint from the separate components (barrel, end cap & nose cone) in the box of Leuchtturm parts shown above. The Drehgriffel "Mix & Match" ballpoints aren't sold in stores or online, but the nice thing about the versions you *can* buy is that they come in a multitude of colours :) Our thanks to Leuchtturm1917 Canada for donating the ballpoints! 👍

Grant (who was kind enough to call out the winning numbers--thank you, Grant!) was one of two winners of a stilform pen! Rumi won the other stilform pen, and Stuart was one of two winners of a bottle of Stilform fountain pen ink, a new product Buchan's is now carrying in their store. Congratulations to everyone who won a stilform or Leuchtturm door prize! 👏

From stilform's website:
"stilform is a design studio based in Hamburg, which is operated by Christoph Bohrer and Martin Wagner. It was founded in 2013 and creates high-end office products and pens. Always with the focus on creating visually appealing products with clear lines and esthetic form language, attributes like emotions, function and innovation are of utmost importance in the design process.

All parts are from high-grade titanium or aluminium. The superb materials are well known for the extremely high durability and exceptional light weight. The unique magnetic mechanism makes it easy to open and close the pen in just one movement.
Stilform received the Design Award in 2019 and 2021."

(I also won one of the Leuchtturm ballpoints!)

There were tons of possible colour combinations, but I immediately knew which combo I wanted for my custom ballpoint---orange ("Rising Sun" colour) barrel with black end cap & black nose cone! It's not my first Leuchtturm Drehgriffel Nr.1 ballpoint (I bought my first one at Nikaido) but I've always loved the weight and balance of these German-made pens, which are made of precision-milled aluminium and brass.

Buchan's also had a "Guess the Inks" contest where you had to identify a set of mystery ink swatches! Linda N and Carmen L both got 6/12 correct (that's my photo of the answer key above), and each won a bottle of Ferris Wheel Press ink---bravo! 👏   Thank you to Sheila L of Buchan's (Sheila is also in our pen club :)  for putting the quiz together!

Sherman brought a few pens to the meeting to show our fellow members (and somehow managed to colour-coordinate them with the lovely Christmas card--in the upper left corner above-- he got from Mark & Sharon at PenDen.ca lol)

Sherman's Cleo Skribent Classic Gold Bordeaux fountain pen....

....his Rhodia scRipt ballpoint made of brushed aluminum.....

...and a handsome vintage Waterman '52V' Red Ripple fountain pen!

Above: My mini haul from Buchan's---my prize (and prized, LOL!) Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel Nr. 1 ballpoint resting on a Leuchtturm1917 A6 Forest Green Notepad (debossed with my name on it), and a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku "Shin-kai" ink.(Side note: Buchan's has complimentary in-store debossing with Leuchtturm notebook purchase until the end of the year!)

It might not look busy in my photo above, but I counted over 65 people (at least 60 members & guests plus a few folks I didn't recognize) in attendance! Thank you to everyone who came to our November meeting at Buchan's!!

Our warmest thanks to Buchan's owner Inna for her generosity, store manager Irena and everyone at Buchan's for their great customer service and warm hospitality 🙏

Buchan's is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, BC and they're open Mon-Sat: 10:00 am - 6:30pm and Sunday: 11:00am - 5:00pm for your shopping convenience. Official web store at https://www.buchanst.com/

(~blog post by Maja~)

Some local Black Friday sales--updated! (Buchan's, Nikaido & now Van Pen, too!)

Web store: https://www.buchanst.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/buchans_stationery/

Buchan's is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, BC and their business hours are: Mon-Sat : 10:00 am - 6:30pm; Sun: 11:00am - 5:00pm.

Nikaido 5-day Sale

We hope you can join us for a   25% off (almost everything)   S T O R E W I D E S A L E     November 26 - 30 11.00am - 6.00pm     Cannot attend the sale in-person? You can still participate in the sale by emailing us  at nikaidotea@hotmail.com with a list of items you  would like to order. We will then send an invoice,  which is payable via e-transfer. Orders can be picked up at a later date.     *Nikaido Tea & Uji Matcha are excluded from sale Twsbi pens are 15% off Sale applies to in-stock items only.     Thanks so much for your continued support, and hope to see you!     the team at Nikaido

Website: https://nikaidotea.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikaidotea/

Nikaido is located at 3580 Moncton Street in historic Steveston village (Richmond, BC)  and they're open Monday - Sunday from 11:00am - 6:00pm  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpenshop/

The Vancouver Pen Shop is located at 555 Howe Street in downtown Vancouver, BC and their store hours are Monday- Saturday from 10:00am - 6:00pm

Reminder re: meeting on Thursday (at Buchan's !)

Just a quick reminder about our meeting on Thursday (November 20) at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery at 6:00pm -- details in this blog post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/10/november-meeting-at-buchans.html

Hope you can make it - no RSVP required 😄 !
Any questions? Please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Local pen repairman Mark's new business card & website (PenDen.ca)!

Mark Harcourt, one of our longtime members who also repairs and sells fountain pens, has a new business card (and a really nice new website), so I thought I'd share it here:

(isn't it beautiful? 😊)

Mark & Sharon 's new website: https://penden.ca/

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 556

Another review, courtesy of Christopher!

He writes:
"As a long-standing vintage pen collector, I have grown to realize that it is not always the larger writing instruments which can be most favoured. In fact, while out and about, running across this fine early 1920s Waterman's 50s series pen and mechanical pencil set which I am featuring, well, it had me stopping dead in my tracks. May I relate that the very smart and wise development of the Waterman 50s series, that first saw the light of day in 1917, was brought about with the development and introduction of the Waterman's new and innovative 'Boxed' lever filler. Oh, sure the Sheaffer company took the lead with this newly introduced filling mechanism in 1908, but with Waterman surrounding it in a protective box, as far as I am concerned, it just added up to a better lever filler final solution. Also, with Waterman's hanging the inside pressure bar off the inside end of this lever filler, it equaled a more substantial method of putting an even amount of pressure on the inside ink sack, to fill and remove ink from the pen. It also added to the longevity of the pressure bar life span, which, in a lot of cases, I find intact with the vintage Waterman pens I am restoring and servicing." 

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

"But in turn, I think the real focus here should be on the make-up of the writing instruments in this set. First of all, the Waterman numbering code, found on the end of this fountain pen, is 52 ½ V, which indicates an overall small size, but this can also be applied to the mechanical pencil as part of this fine set. Still, there are a number of very good reasons why these two items (pen and pencil) relate. While the fountain is finished in a 'mottled woodgrain' on its cap and barrel, the pencil leans toward the Waterman red 'Ripple' in its finish. But this is further complemented by the grip section on the fountain pen, which is a matching Waterman red ripple. And to top off this relationship, both pen and pencil sport similar 14K Gold filled cap banding. Finally, and comparably, both writing instruments have a matching chatelaine ring atop their caps.

The fountain pen, being a 52 model, sports the Waterman boxed lever filler in keeping with the Waterman coding number 5 and in turn, on an early Waterman 'Spoon' feed, a small but rather impressive super flexy Waterman Number 2 (relating to the final digit of the Waterman number coding) 14K sold Gold, Ideal nib. As for dating, this lovely little set, with the mixture of finishes, has its production Circa 1925. Strangely, I have found that a good number of vintage pen enthusiasts tend to feel that the small size of this Waterman model does not lend itself to perfect penmanship. To this, I would have to differ, in that if a Waterman 52 ½V fountain pen is posted, it sits extremely well balanced in the hand. To this end, the fountain pen here measures posted, 5 ¼ inches, with another small bit for the chatelaine. Admittedly the mechanical pencil, as a mate to this fountain pen is a shade on the small size but, like the pen, works just fine. It duly measures 3 ¾ inches, with once again and matching the fountain pen, a short bit more for the chatelaine ring. Personally, I am just thrilled with this nice little Waterman set, which will become a noteworthy part of my vintage pen collection in the Waterman department."

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 555

How's this for a coincidence? Today's review is part 555... and the pen featured in the review is a Waterman '555' model! 😮 (cue 'Twilight Zone' music...)

This review is courtesy of Christopher (thank you, Christopher!):

(above: Waterman company offices and factory, Montreal, Quebec)
 
Christopher writes:

"Waterman was always prime throughout their history in the United States, but there were pens produced in Canada which truly stood alone. One such number was the Waterman 555. It came to life in the late 1940s, shortly after World War two, blessed with an outstanding finish, a super gold nib and the age-old and famous Waterman boxed lever filler. But let me be more specific in regard to yet another lovely Waterman pen that came my way." 

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

"The Waterman 555 was a pen product made in Canada at the Waterman plant in Montreal. The quality use of plastic in regard to this pen is enough to take one's breath away, Finished in a rich combination of browns and pearl mottled luster, the surface is further accented with vertical midnight blue lines. The effect pops, and in adding the 14K Gold filled fittings (which include a triple --wide with two outside-- banding), if this isn't a winner, I will eat my hat! Actually, this beautiful cap banding is reminiscent of the Waterman 100-year line of pens, which were not that distant in their production. The cap clip is that smart almost business-like application, with the Waterman branding featured vertically down the center. Underneath this cap is a matching grip section, which to my mind leads the eye on to an outstanding 14K Gold No.5 nib, as indicated by the first numeral of the pen's Waterman branding. The only other feature, other than this pen taking a lion's share of ink, is the end of the barrel being attractively stepped. As for measurements, this fine pen measures 6 ½ inches posted but caps back to a even 5 inches for pocket or purse. The question remains; will this amazing treasure go on to become part of my vintage pen collection? Well, the answer just has to be yes!"

Happy Fountain Pen Day 2025!

Yes, it's that time of year again---Fountain Pen Day! 😁

From the official Fountain Pen Day website: "Taking place on the first Friday in November each year, Fountain Pen Day is celebrated by enthusiasts worldwide as a time to embrace, promote, and share the use of fountain pens."

How will you celebrate Fountain Pen Day this year?

Some photos from our October meeting!

A total of 32 VPC members and guests came to our last monthly meeting, which was held on Thursday October 16th at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The meeting was a casual get-together (ie. a meeting with no "show & tell") that also featured a writing workshop by Paul! 

It was a fun evening and the time flew by quickly, but I remembered to take a few photos during the event, so here they are....

(all photos by Maja, except where noted ~ please click on images to enlarge)

With his wife Villoo and son Pierre in attendance, Paul (above) gave an inspiring talk on the use of pen and ink for creative/reflective writing. His talk was followed by a short handwriting exercise--an opportunity to write whatever we wanted, with the fountain pens we brought to the meeting. Paul explained that this exercise was inspired by Mario Levrero’s novel "Empty Words", a book about a novelist who attempts to better his life/himself by improving his handwriting.

Paul provided the handout above, which hopefully will look familiar to some of you :)

Some of the workshop participants (like Paul's friend Drew) were inspired to create art; this is a sketch of a painting that Drew is currently working on...   (photo courtesy of Drew)

We saw many interesting fountain pens in use in the meeting room (both modern and vintage)-- from a bright yellow Sheaffer calligraphy fountain pen (bottom of photo above) that Paul loaned to Amy and a couple of vintage Parkers (a Vacumatic & a Duofold) that Catherine brought (right side of photo)....  

...to some fountain pens that Phil recently acquired--- (top to bottom) a black Pelikan M205 with a 12K gold nib (very unusual), a modern Caran d'Ache, and a vintage Aurora '88'.

Catherine brought two lovely handmade items to the meeting with her ---a fountain pen in a beautiful abalone-like resin made by our fellow VPC member Anson of Springfield Pens ... and a leather notebook cover Catherine made herself!

Phil holding a vintage Lady Sheaffer ballpoint (not something you see every day)...

Speaking of vintage, longtime VPC member Mark (the friendly pen repair guy at PenDen.ca) brought a nice selection of wonderful vintage writing instruments with him (in the black pen cases above). In addition to doing vintage pen repairs, Mark also sells vintage writing instruments (and a few moderns, too).

Lyndon brought a handsome fountain he acquired a little while ago---a Pelikan M805 Black-Silver...

...and Rumi brought her lovely Gravitas 'Entry' "Rainbow Skittles Paisley", an anodized aluminum fountain pen made in Ireland by Ben Walsh (my photo doesn't do it justice!). The pen stand was made by Larry Bennett, a local penmaker.

In addition to Paul's family members and his friends Drew and Lionel (Lionel came with his support dog, West Highland White Terrier Maggie 😊)...

...we were happy to have two avid fountain pen fans from Saskatchewan at our October meeting -- Thomas and Nadya! They brought some fountain pens of their own to show us, of course 😄 :These are ones that Nadya brought to our meeting (L-R) -- a TWSBI 'Diamond Mini AL Grape', a wooden Kakimori dip pen, a Sailor 'Pro Gear Slim' - Cult Pens exclusive, a Pilot 'Metropolitan 'Grey Houndstooth'' and an Esterbrook 'Niblet' "Botanical Garden" pocket fountain pen...

 ....and here are Thomas' fountain pens (L-R)--a green-striped Pelikan Souveran (not sure of the model #), a Pilot '74' "Merlot" , an Esterbrook 'Estie' "Nouveau Bleu" and a black Sailor fountain pen.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our October meeting, especially to Paul for doing his writing workshop during our get-together! 👏 
Our next meeting will be held at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery on Thursday November 20th at 6:00pm (all info in previous blog post) Hope you can make it! (no need to RSVP beforehand)

(~blog post by Maja~)

November meeting at Buchan's!

November 2025 meeting information!

When: Thursday November 20, 2025 from 6:00pm 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. Parking behind the store is *very* limited, but there's metered parking along West 41st Avenue. Store's website: https://www.buchanst.com/

This meeting is just a social gathering (with no topics/themes), but please feel free to bring any pen-related stuff you want to show other members/staff while you're mingling at the event! And don't worry about arriving right at 6:00pm :)

⭐The store will stay open during the meeting for our shopping convenience! ⭐ Hope to see you there! 😊
Any questions? Please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 554

Many thanks to all who attended our October meeting yesterday; I'll post some photos from the event later this month. In the meantime, here's another vintage treasure recently acquired by Christopher! (thanks for the writeup, Christopher :)

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

Christopher writes: 

"Today I will relate a wonderful vintage pen that recently came my way, the Waterman 752. Right off the bat, I noticed that there is not a lot of difference between the Waterman standard 52 and this Waterman 752. But what grabbed me was several features that set this Waterman model aside in its make up and made it easy to see that this is an upper end player with features only offered on the finest of vintage Waterman pens.

 Let us first look at the cap. The finish on this part of the pen is truly impressive, with deep repeated 'V' shapes circling around the cap over and over again, down the entire surface. The cap also sports a 14K 'Solid' Gold Waterman 'Globe' logo Ideal marked clip, held in place by two well placed 14K solid gold rivets. Further south on this cap, is a spectacular and equally wide jeweler's, Sheraton finished 14K solid Gold banding. While the barrel, other than a Gold-filled Waterman boxed lever filler, has a totally plain surface, free of any chasing but with an indent to welcome cap posting for writing. On the end of this barrel, is the unmistakable Waterman numeric model coding of 752. 

The section at the other end, is both substantial and responsible and sports a truly beautiful Canadian marked 14K number 2 Waterman Ideal nib. It should be noted that the first numeral of this pen's Waterman model coding stands for a barrel banding, but it was also possible to acquire from Waterman a 0752 which meant that the banding was 14K Gold filled. As for the measurements, posted this pen is all of 6 ¾ inches, but caps back to 5 ¼ to pocket. I should add that this pen holds a good measure of ink and lays it down with a smooth medium flex to perfection. Definitely a real pleasure to write with, and a perfect candidate for my vintage pen collection."

Reminder -- Meeting this Thursday! (Oct 16)

Details here! 
(Note: Paul's presentation will start at 6:00pm!).

September meeting photos (part 2)

 (⭐Information about our October meeting⭐ is in this blog post -
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html )

We had record-setting attendance (at least 40 people!) for our September meeting at the VPL's Champlain Heights branch on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th, and both Sherman & I took photos during the meeting. I posted my photos a few days ago (link to post) as part 1 of the photos taken, so here are the photos Sherman wanted to share - part 2! (thanks, Sherman :):

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

 Bird's-eye-views of the hustle and bustle of this busy gathering...

(I'm so glad the library meeting room's official capacity was 40 people -- we needed the space!)

We didn't have a themed meeting with a "show & tell", but the two-and-a-half hours flew by as our members talked pens, inks and all things pen-related :)

VPC member Godwin (who wasn't present) had very generously donated a whole bunch of inks and Chinese-made fountain pens for our door prize draws, so we gave away the last of the ink & a good chunk of the pens at our September meeting. That's Grant helping me (Maja) with the draws that afternoon (I just realized how tired I looked lol); thank you so much for your help, Grant!

This is the Jinhao '992' fountain pen that Sherman won in the door prize draws. The Jinhao is essentially a clone of the Sailor ProColor 500, but it's a nice little fountain pen in its own right.

Sherman wound up trading fountain pens with Audrey (above); for his Jinhao '992', he got Audrey's Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue model with Dragon design. 

Sherman with Abhijit, who came from India to attend our meeting! Abhijit came to our July 2024 meeting and had so much fun that he decided to come back for this one while he was in Vancouver :)


Sherman also sent in some photos of his newest acquisitions that he took after the meeting ended. Here here they are, starting with...

...his Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue with Dragon design fountain pen...

Sherman writes: "The blue paint on the Jinhao 950 Ceramic Blue is quite unique, and I couldn’t find a good match with my current inventories. I inked it with Namiki Blue and this EF nib writes quite okay."

Sherman's new Snowhite 'FP20' disposable fountain pen (link), one of many that our fellow VPCer Steve G. gave away during the meeting. For a modest pocket fountain pen, Sherman was impressed with how smoothly it wrote (and I agree).

Sherman got this lovely notecard from longtime VPC member Mark Harcourt, who created a very nice pen sales & restoration website (PenDen.ca) earlier this year. 

Sherman's Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pen collection (including his Hero 1921 90th Year Commemorative Red fountain pen, with its impressive display stand). The four pens on the extreme right side of the case are (L-R) two of Sherman's beloved élysée fountain pens and his two VPC Limited Edition fountain pens by Leonardo and Radius 1934. Sherman reviewed his very special Hero fountain pen here on our website in 2023.

Many thanks, once again, to all who attended our September meeting, to Godwin for the wonderful pen and ink door prizes, Steve G. for the fountain pens and ballpoints he gave out, and VPCer Sam L. for the many notebooks & other stuff he donated for our de-stashing table! 

(~blog post by Maja~)