April meeting pics (topic: Pocket Fountain Pens)

Twenty-six VPC members, including one newcomer (welcome to the club, Ramiz!), came to our April meeting, which was held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday April 17th. This month's meeting theme was "POCKET FOUNTAIN PENS" (suggested by Asifa) and our secondary theme, as always, was "Newest Acquisitions". I snapped some photos during the meeting, so without further ado, here they are!

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

(Left to right) James, Shona, Asifa and Esther. In the background: Stuart, Anson and David L.

Asifa brought a few pocket fountain pens to the meeting, but highlighted the three above (L-R) - a light pink OHTO 'Tasche' and two aluminum Hongdian M2 fountain pens. I didn't photograph it, but Allan brought in a brass version of the Hongdian M2, which was considerably weightier than its aluminum counterpart.

Asifa's beautiful purple Leather Zippered A5 Leuchtturm1917 Notebook Folio case by Galen Leather and some of her new pens (bottom to top) --two Jinhao '10' fountain pens (in "Matt Gold" and "Coffee Gradient") and a couple of pretty Jinhao '82' fountain pens. Michelle also brought her new Jinhao '10' in "Matt Gold" to the meeting (not pictured); both the Jinhao '10' and '82' are very popular, well-made economical fountain pens.

The five pocket fountain pens I brought to the meeting (L-R): a Titanium Ensso 'Piuma Pocket' , a rainbow-coloured Namisu 'Nova Pocket Titanium', a Kaweco 'Liliput'- Copper , a Kaweco 'STEEL Sport'(made of stainless steel) and an aluminum Kaweco Al Sport "Stonewashed" (which Stuart also brought in for our primary topic)

My main criteria for a pocket fountain pen are portability and durability, and the five pens above were chosen for those reasons. All five are short metal pens, but in terms of weight, they differ quite a bit. My Kaweco 'STEEL Sport' weighs 39 grams when empty, more than double the weight of my aluminum "Stonewashed" Sport (19 grams empty). The copper 'Liliput' is tiny, but weighs 24 grams without a cartridge/converter in place. The titanium-bodied Ensso and Namisu pens have similar weights (38 & 39 grams empty, respectively) to the 'STEEL Sport', but all three pens are very well-balanced when posted (the 'STEEL Sport' posts deeply and the Ensso & Namisu pens have threaded barrel ends) so they are comfortable for me to use. I love that the Ensso and Namisu both have full-sized (#6) nibs; I wish more pen companies did that with wide-diameter pens.

The photo above has a mix of pocket pens and new acquisitions - (top to bottom): David L's favourite pocket pen (which isn't a fountain pen ;) -- a copper Bolt Action Pen by Big Design, Yang's titanium Ensso 'Bolt' (a bolt-action fountain pen), David's brass Kaweco 'Sport', Andrii's new vintage Parker '51' vacuum-filler with sterling silver cap, Audrey's yellow Rotring 'Rivette' (a prize she recently won online--congrats, Audrey!👏) and her navy blue Kaweco 'Classic Sport', Lynne's adorable green Moonman Q2 Mini fountain pen, and Kimberly's silver aluminum Kaweco 'Liliput'. Tony also brought in a brass Kaweco 'Sport', but his didn't have the removable clip (sold separately from the pen) that David's pen sported (pun intended ;)

Above: Kimberly's little aluminum 'Liliput'. Weighing in at just 8 grams empty, it's practically feather-light, but it uses the same nib as the one found on the Kaweco 'Sport' line of fountain pens. The size of the nib is perfect for the 'Liliput', but I wish they'd put a slightly larger nib on the 'Sport' pens, just to make the nibs more proportional to the pens' bodies...

We also saw some nice vintage pocket fountain pens at the meeting, such as these two navy blue Sheaffer 'Tuckaway' fountain pens, and a interesting pen by the company Welsh...

It might be a bit difficult to see in my photos, but the red Welsh pen actually has a flattened cap and barrel...and no, it wasn't run over by a car--that's just the design!

Shona brought a nice mix of vintage and modern pocket fountain pens -- (top to bottom) a clear lavender Pilot 'Petit1', a swirly Wancai 'Mini', two vintage Kaweco 'Sport 'V16N' piston-fillers (ca. 1970), and two vintage Pilot 'Elites'. There's an excellent document about the long history of the Kaweco 'Sport' (which came out in 1913!!) here.

The Pilot 'Elite' in burgundy (seen above, second from the front) is the older counterpart of the modern Pilot 'E95S', a wonderful gold-nibbed pocket fountain pen.

Jerred also brought a very interesting selection of pocket fountain pens for our primary meeting theme (L-R): an OHTO 'Rook' (a compact fountain pen that becomes a full-sized pen when posted), an AG Spalding fountain pen, a mystery black pocket pen, a Spanish-made Inoxcrom 'Vivaldi', a LIY (Live in You) 'Future' "Enchantress", a black transparent Wancai 'Mini' (2nd gen.), a PenBBS '471' (with a #6 nib--yay!) in the desirable "Amber is a Cat" acrylic, a Kaweco 'Liliput' in Brass , and a vintage Pilot 'Elite'.

Our secondary meeting theme is always "Newest Acquisitions" and Esther brought her new TWSBI Eco 'Irish Green w/Onyx' fountain pen to show us. I love how the dark trim complements the dark green of the cap and piston-turning knob...

The Stone Paper notebook in the photo above has, yes, stone paper in it! Stone paper is a strong and durable (but heavy) paper-like material made from calcium carbonate and high-density polyethylene resin. Jerred said he found the notebook at a local Dollarama store.

Anson also recently acquired a new TWSBI with Onyx trim... but his is this handsome TWSBI '580ALR' "Caribbean w/ Onyx" fountain pen that he purchased from local stationery store Paper-Ya.

Another handsome fountain pen--Paul's amber Visconti 'Pericle'. The pen's distinctive curved clip was modeled after by the helmet worn by Pericles, an ancient Greek general and politician.

Paul's example is the first version of Visconti's 'Pericle' model, which came out in 1994; a revamped model (with a metal cap top and barrel end piece) came out in 2001.

The heaviest fountain pen we saw at our meeting was Paul's new acquisition above -- a Duke '2009 Charlie Chaplin Tribute' fountain pen, which (according to this informative and highly enthusiastic YouTube review here) weighs a whopping 77 grams! The pen's shape was inspired by Chaplin's iconic movie character "The Tramp", and features symbols associated with him (bowler hat, shoes, cane) on the pen's wide cap band.

On the lighter (literally) side, we have Rene's three diminutive vintage Wahl-Eversharp 'Bantam' fountain pens (above). Next to them are a pair of vintage Waterman desk pens that Rene recently acquired. The desk pens are part of a beautiful desk set whose metal base features two large elephants (Rene didn't bring the base to the meeting due the fragility of the tusks on the elephant figures).

That's Paul vintage Waterman fountain pen in dark grey, and above it are two very recent acquisitions of David C's -- a brown-striped Pelikan 'M800' "Brown-Black" and a burgundy Pilot E95S  (nice purchases, David! :)

I'm not certain, but I think James brought in this cool BCHR (black chased hard rubber) safety fountain pen; it's a very old fountain pen with a retractable nib and a lovely cap band engraving. The burgundy pen above it belongs to David C. and is either a vintage Sheaffer 'Touchdown' or 'Snorkel'model.

(the Sheaffer features an "interesting" cap band engraving... 🤭)

Another new acquisition! The beautiful cream-coloured fountain pen above is Kimberly's Esterbrook 'Estie' TheCoffeeMonsterzCo limited edition, a collaboration between Esterbrook and local Vancouver artist Helen Wang. The brown and cream resin used for the cap band (and the section -- which you can't see because the pen is capped, sorry!) was created by Jonathon Brooks of the Carolina Pen Company for this particular model.

...and speaking of Esterbrook, here's Neil's new Esterbrook 'Cube', a canvas portable carrying case that he purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop!

It's a well-organized, roomy, zippered case that has slots for five pens, and lots of space for notebooks, gadgets, ink samples (& more!), and it comes in three colours -- Butter, Navy Blue and Green.

Neil also brought some nice pocket fountain pens for our primary topic---a aluminum Kaweco 'Liliput' in green (a limited production colour), a brass TRC fountain pen by the Traveler's Company, and a blue & tan swirly Conklin 'Minigraph' "Blue Baltic". 

Stuart also bought a nice carrying case from the Vancouver Pen Shop--his new Galen Leather 'Writers Medic Bag'!

The bag was the last design of Galen Leather's founder, Zeynep, who, sadly, passed away in 2019. The design of the bag was inspired by a traditional medic kit bag.... 

(top view of the bag's interior) ... and it has compartments for writing instruments and other writing tools, notebooks/journals, and accessories.

Stuart also brought a new fountain pen to show us--his vintage black Parker '51' vacuum-filler with Lustraloy cap. Stuart was intrigued by the "T6." stamped on the pen and wondered if it indicated that the pen was made in Canada ("T" for Toronto??). If you have any info on this, please drop us a line! 

Wherever it was made, the '51' came with really smooth gold nib that wrote beautifully...

And here's another classic Parker fountain pen...but this one was made a few decades after Stuart's. It's Beverley's beautiful Parker 'Sonnet' in the "Laque Firedance" finish (ca. 1994) with 18K gold nib.

A quick photo of my newest fountain pen--a modern Sheaffer calligraphy pen (with 3 nib units of varying widths) that I got from Stuart during the meeting (thank you, Stuart!) in a beautiful turquoise (and very "Easter") colour.

(photo above & below courtesy of Sherman)

Sherman couldn't make it to the meeting, but he wanted to share his pocket pen collection, so here are a couple of photos of his collection that he sent in.

Sherman's captions for the top photo:

Here is my pocket pen collection, primarily Kaweco Classic Sports & Liliputs...Very common models except the middle two (the Transparent Kaweco Sport set on the left side of the pen case) -- they’re 20+ years old and came with the transparent pouch above them. A similar one (the pen to the right of the set) was gifted by my buddy in 2018.

The two in the middle of the pen case (Kaweco Classic Sport pens) look like Christmas pens.

The 5 Kaweco Liliputs (on the right side of the pen case) are Copper (on top), and (L-R) Brass, Black, Fireblue and Stainless Steel. 

The blue one (extreme left side of photo) is a Stipula Passaporto Sapphire Blue Eye Dropper. Very smooth.

The orange one next to it is a Campo Marzio Minny Mandarin.  Smooth writer.

The one on the extreme right side of the photo is a rOtring Feather-light Metal 400 Esprit Chrome collapsible ballpoint pen.  A very cute pen when it’s fully extended.

The white one on the bottom is a plastic Sailor Dreamy Perfume 50 Ballpoint Pen. I bought it for concealment fun, inserted inside my socks if I don’t have any pocket!  But the ink was dried out long time ago.  Hopefully I can find the matching refill.

The very bottom one is a Fisher Space Pen Bullet Matte Black.  Bought 4 for the family - 2 blacks, 2 chromes - all under $20 each from 3 different owners!

As for the new ones, I had intended to share the excitement of my latest TENNY Square Circle II Sandalwood (at the very bottom of the top photo), together with the latest 2 Vancouver Pen Club pens (at the very top of the photo).

(above: the same pens uncapped/posted)

Many thanks to everyone who came to our April meeting, whether you had pocket fountain pens and/or new acquisitions to show or not 😀. Special thanks to Paul for donating the Peter Pauper Press bound notebook for the door prize draw (which was won by Amy--congrats, Amy!👏)

*Information about our May meeting will be posted near the end of April*

(~Blog post by Maja~) 

Reminder - meeting tomorrow (Thursday) !

➡️ All info in this post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/04/april-meeting-info-back-to-our-usual.html 😁

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 544

Hot on the heels of his two previous reviews, here's another write up sent in by Christopher! (thanks again for all the pen reviews, Christopher :)

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

Christopher writes:

"I have always been a great admirer of the vintage Waterman pens, whether a product before the Great War or one produced by the company near the end of the 1930s, regardless of Circa, they all are well worth having to enjoy. This particular number is a late 1930s Waterman's 94, a model that was well designed to sit perfectly in the hand for long periods of writing. Shorter but with a wider girth, the 94 was introduced in 1927/28 but stood the test of time to be discontinued by the Waterman Company at the end of the second World War. 

So, let's start off with the finish on this fine writing instrument. I would have to say it is a black and pearl with a thin red veined accent to accentuate the finish. The fittings that perfectly complement are a high gloss steel. This pen has a matching typical boxed Waterman lever filler that responsibly fills the interior ink sack impressively with only several strokes. The grip that sits atop the barrel is quite substantial and secures both a fine working Waterman feed and a spectacular Waterman Idea No.5, 14K Gold nib. This is not the sized nib that one would in fact expect in a Waterman 94, since that last numeral usually denotes the nib size in this case which should be a number 4. But I have seen a few other late 94s sporting number 5 nibs, so I note this as a blessing. This is a Canadian Waterman product in difference to the US version which seems to be more faithful to the number 4 size nib. The cap has sort of a thin stacked coins topping, which is very attractive as is the tapered flat ball ended clip. This clip is also chased just to add a finishing touch. At the other end of the pen, the barrel at its end is inscribed with the Waterman number coding for the model of 94. As for further dimensions, this pen posts at a full 6 inches. but caps back to 5 inches. Admittedly, I could not be more pleased to welcome this superb writing instrument into my vintage pen collection and I know it will see use regularly."

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 543

Today we're featuring another one of Christopher's vintage finds, but this one has a surprising Canadian twist! Intrigued? Read on .... 

Christopher writes:

"In the last decade and a half, I have not had the good luck to find and secure a Mabie Todd fountain pen much earlier than the 1920s, but just the other day a lovely relic from the company's past came my way..."

 

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

 

 

"Well noted and inscribed on the barrel are the words 'MABIE TODD & CO.' and above 'THE SWAN PEN' with the early Swan logo just before it. But let me say that the finish on both the barrel and cap is a well-defined black chased vulcanized rubber. The cap is a long flat top, featuring the original early patent 1915 14K Gold filled tapered to a ball end clip. And to add further character to this covering and just above the clip, are the words inscribed, 'SCREW CAP TIGHTLY' with an instructional arrow indicating which way to screw the cap back onto the barrel --a wise directive in anyone's books. The barrel also is well marked on its flat bottom with the Mabie Todd pen model identification as C3 LSF. I am not too sure what the 'C' refers to but the 3 definitely relates to the size of nib and for that matter probably the overall size of the pen, which to my mind is quite substantial. The letters to follow could well identify this writing instrument as a lever self-filler which indeed it is.

The nib, which is supported in a good-sized grip, is most impressive both in size and writing ability. Plus, it is inscribed 14K Gold No.3 Mabie Todd Toronto. Yes, this was a pen sold out of the Mabie Todd. Toronto Canada office. Probably produced in the UK and shipped to Canada just after the Great War to be retailed. I have made comments about the size of this pen but, to be more exact, it posts at a full 6 ½ inches to sit well balanced in the hand, but caps back responsibly to a pocketable 5 ½ inches, just perfect for a breast pocket. All and all a perfect candidate for my vintage pen collection and one I am definitely looking forward to using."

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 542

Christopher sent in a couple of reviews of recent acquisitions (both vintage---no surprise there!), so here's the first of the two...

He writes:

"I would like to say that this pen that I am currently reviewing was duly produced by the Eagle Pencil Company, but I would have to add that the jury is still out on that notion. But, and saying that, this particular writing instrument does definitely tick off all of the boxes for me.

The makeup sings strongly of a German heritage, but the filler is not really as commonplace for pens from the 'Fatherland', where the piston fillers seem to be the most common equation."

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

"Moving on to the design, I would have to say that this pen encapsulates the Art Deco movement. But let's take a look first at the pen's cap. Once again, somewhat German in its appearance with sort of a conical, onion dome shaped jet-black clip screw which, in turn, secures a (once again) German design lengthy ring clip. Just below this pocket pen holder is a double banding. Both the clip and these cap bands are 14K Gold filled and take us down, in turn, to the pen's barrel. 

But before I impart another word, I just have to say that the finish on both the cap and barrel is a most beautiful lapis blue pearl and black swirl, the result of which is simply stunning. The barrel is clear of any branding and being a button filler pen at the end of this barrel, there is a jet-black conical onion dome design blind cap . The button filler that it hides works extremely well, filling the pen with ink with only several firm presses. Back up to the business end, a well-designed grip secures both a responsible feed and a superb Eagle branded 14K Gold nib, with the country of origin being the good old US of A. As for size, this pen posts at a full 6 inches but caps back to a most pocketable 5 inches. And what is to become of this mystery pen? Well, whatever it is, an Eagle or otherwise, it is definitely destined to become part of my vintage pen collection."

Our thanks to Christopher for sharing his finds with us!

April meeting info! (Back to our usual time :)

Yes, we're back to our usual time (the third Thursday of the month)...and back to a familiar location, as well! Here are the deets.....

April meeting info:

When:  Thursday April 17, 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.

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm

Meeting themes/topics:

Primary topic: POCKET FOUNTAIN PENS!

Secondary topic: NEW ACQUISITIONS (pens/inks/stationery/accessories/etc).

Please try to limit your "show & tell" to 2-3 items per person, so everyone has a chance to speak; thanks in advance!

Hope to see you there! 😀 (and no need to RSVP, either)
Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Quick photo of our latest pen club limited edition

I'm waiting for sunnier weather so I can take better photos of it in natural light for a review I'm planning to post here... but in the meantime, here's a quick shot of our latest pen club limited edition -- the beautiful Radius 1934 'Settimo' "Marmo" Limited Edition, made exclusively for our pen club!

(click on image to enlarge ~ photo by Maja)

A few photos from our March meeting

We had an excellent turnout for our March meeting, held on the afternoon of Saturday March 22nd --- a total of 35 VPC members (including five newcomers!) attended an informal gathering at the Vancouver Public Library's Champlain Heights branch.

I had a lot of fun talking to everyone (including brand-new members Andrea P, Ben F, Beverley, Kimberly, and Nadiia)... so much so that I almost forgot to snap any photos for our website 🙄. I did remember to take a small handful, though, and Christopher T. was kind enough to take some group shots (thanks, Christopher!), so here they are...

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

Above: That's me (Maja) on the far left next to Paul and brand-new member Beverley, In the background, you can see Lyndon and another new member, Ben (back turned to camera) ~ photo by Christopher T. ~

A nice group shot (also taken by Christopher) of (L-R) Shona, Steve, James, me, Paul and Beverley.

A quick photo of our club's newest limited edition fountain pen - a beautiful Radius 1934 'Settimo' Marmo! (the one above belongs to Allan, but I'll take some photos of my own pen and post a review soon) The multi-refill ballpoint in the photo was one of many that Steve handed out to all attendees (thanks, Steve!).

Several of our members brought really interesting pen cases to the meeting, so I snapped photos of a couple that were actually handmade by them...starting with this cool vinyl multi-pen holder made by Catherine using leftover vinyl from a 'Star Wars' purse!

Catherine likes the design because she can fold over the flap and use the case as a desk pen holder, as well.

 

Joy made this cute leather solo pen sleeve as a holder for clipless mini pens using materials from two local companies---leather from Hand and Sew and thread from Lonsdale Leather.

Peeking out from it is her adorable Montblanc Heritage Rouge et Noir Baby Ivory-coloured special edition fountain pen!

Last, but not least, we have this Rickshaw Bagworks two-pen sleeve made specially for online retailer Pen Realm featuring the lovely artwork of our fellow pen club member, Carola!

Well, that's all the photos from the meeting! Many thanks to everyone who attended; I hope you had a good time 😀. It wasn't a themed meeting this month, but April's meeting will have a theme, so check our website later this week/early next week for details about next month's meeting (including the theme); I'll post them after our venue booking is confirmed.

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 541

Many thanks to everyone who came to our March meeting two days ago! I'll post a few photos I took during the meeting sometime this week. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this latest installment of newest acquisition reviews by our members; it's a review of a vintage model that Christopher recently acquired (thank you for sharing, Christopher!)....

 Christopher writes:

"I seem to be flush with the likes of Aikin Lambert vintage writing instruments these days. And just for the record and, as memory serves, this fine vintage writing instrument duo is my third example into my vintage pen collection. I was particularly interested when this clasped-together pen and pencil set came my way. My first thought was either a group of writing instruments which could have hung from a gentleman’s watch chain with the items neatly pocketed in his vest. Or, and on the other hand, maybe residing in a fashionable lady’s purse. But wherever they came from in days long gone by, I am truly blessed to have them now."

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

"The fountain pen is an Aikin Lambert black vulcanized hard chased rubber lever filler of responsible size with a very long straight cap. The chasing on this cap and the barrel are impressive, as is the Aikin Lambert branded 14K Gold nib. And to write with, this nib has a most gorgeous amount of flex. The section is also black and allows for good handling when the pen is written with."

"Attached to this fine fountain with an 14K Gold filled clasp, is the most attractively finished miniature mechanical pencil. The colours in this finish of lapis blue, jet and vibrant gold leaf are, to my mind, stunning. As for dimensions, the pen posts at a full 5 3/4 inches, but caps at 4 1/2. While the pencil comes with a short length of only 3 inches, but works extremely well. In closing, I can’t say enough good things about this duo other than it will definitely have a place of honour in my vintage pen collection."