Charals store now closing at the end of *August* 2025!

Yes, Charals' closing date (and SALE!) has been extended to the end of AUGUST! 😀
This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

Check out their official Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en for more information. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 549

An early birthday gift that Christopher got from a fellow vintage fountain pen aficionado!

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

Christopher writes:
 "To celebrate my day of days, a good vintage pen-collecting friend passed on this remarkable Parker 'Shadow Wave' set. It appears to be new old store stock from the late 1930s as the Parker date coding on the barrels indicates. Better still, it was gifted to me in the extremely attractive Parker Vacumatic 'Clam Shell' presentation box with suitable ephemera. This is a Second Generation Vacumatic Debutante set, thus it sports a Parker 'Speedline' filler. Being an unused set, the barrel of the fountain has brilliant transparency, and the overall condition of the pen and mechanical pencil is absolutely mint. Both writing instruments sport the new-at-the-time Parker 'Blue Diamond' warranty, and this fine set hails from the Canadian Parker works in Eastern Canada. In closing, I plan to be the first person to use this set on my up and coming birthday and will, in turn, add it gladly to my vintage pen collection."

Happy birthday (in advance), Christopher, and thanks for sharing your wonderful vintage Parker set with us!

Some photos from July's meeting!

There were 34 of us in attendance at our club's July meeting, which was held on Thursday July 17th at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch; among those present were two brand-new members, Francisco and Rob (welcome to our club!)

The meeting featured a special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (by our fellow VPCer Grant) ... and many door prizes (tons of ink, courtesy of VPC member Godwin)! Here are some photos taken during the meeting...

 (~click on images to enlarge~)

Grant gave an excellent talk on the repair of vintage fountain pens, as well as a demonstration on how to change the latex ink sac in a vintage Waterman fountain pen with a lever-filling mechanism

Before getting to the demo, Grant gave us a good overview of things to consider when a pen repair opportunity presents itself -- the pen's material, the tools required for the job, repair techniques, as well as a reminder about the limitations of some repairs. Thank you, Grant, for explaining things in such an engaging and concise manner! 

(*photos above taken by Catherine; photos below taken by Maja, except where noted*)

The meeting was very busy, so I didn't have time to take many photos of the pen-related items that members brought to show each other (we didn't have a "show & tell" at this meeting, though). Some of our members (esp. the folks in the foreground of the photo above) used the casual format of this meeting to do some ink-swatching...

… and here's a quick shot of some nice ink swatches done by Catherine (lower left), Lisa (upper left) and Audrey (right side of photo)...

After his presentation, Grant took the time to look at some vintage fountain pens brought in by our members…

Above (left to right): Grant, Stuart, David C, and Allan.

Grant also brought some of his own wonderful vintage writing instruments to show others. The other side of his pen case (which you can't see--sorry!) had restored vintage pens that Grant brought to sell at the meeting...

That's me next to Stuart, who joined our club way back in September 2013 - time flies! (photo taken by Audrey)

Above photo (left to right): Grant, Shawn and brand-new member Francis.

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

Sherman was kind enough to send me some photos he took during our July meeting, including a couple of his famous selfies! In the background of the photo above are (L-R): James, Grant, Alejandra, newer member Steve K, and Allan.

I was busy calling out door prize ticket numbers (above), so I didn't have time to take any selfies during the draws...but Sherman did (lol); he's holding up the bottle of Diamine 'Platinum Jubilee Ink' that he won.

Here's a closeup of the Diamine ink that Sherman won. The ink was an exclusive made for well-known UK retailer Cult Pens, and it was created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Cult Pens describes the ink as "a rich, regal purple symbolising Royalty with a platinum shimmer."

Sherman brought some of his nice writing instruments to show -- (left to right): a Golf Propelling Pencil 0.5mm, his élysée Damascene Sports (40 Line) fountain pen, and a Pilot Custom 743 Black fountain pen with 14K Gold F nib. His single-pen sleeves (above) were made by Rickshaw Bagworks of San Francisco.

Sherman's door prize ink and some inks he brought to trade. Members are free to bring ink and pen-related items to trade/sell during any of our meetings :)  

Thank you to everyone who came to our July meeting, special thanks to Audrey, Catherine & Sherman for taking some photos for this blog post, and to Audrey & Michelle for helping with the door prize draws 😊. Many thanks, once again, to Grant for his informative vintage pen repair presentation & demo 👏, and to Godwin for his immense generosity in donating so many ink door prizes! 🙌

⚡ Our August meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday August 23rd ~ details in this recent blog post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/august-meeting-at-vancouver-pen-shop.html 

(~Blog post by Maja~)

August meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop (*Saturday* Aug. 23) !!

Vancouver Pen Club August 2025 meeting

When: Saturday August 23 from 5:00pm to ???

Where: The Vancouver Pen Shop, 555 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC.

Theme: "Pens You've Bought from Shannon or Sunshine"

The event will be a celebration of store manager Shannon's 30th anniversary of working at the shop and Sunshine's 15th 🥳 so please bring pens that match the theme (if you can—no worries if you don’t have any) and reminisce with them about your shopping experiences at "The Pen Shop"! 

There will be snacks, soft drinks, door prizes & more! As with our previous get-togethers held at the Pen Shop, attendees can buy stuff from the store during the meeting. Our thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for offering to host our August meeting 😁 (and no RSVPs needed to attend the event)!

➡️Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

Meeting this Thursday!

(all details here !)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 548

Our thanks to Christopher for sending in this write up about his latest vintage treasure!

Christopher writes:
"With the migration of Brits from the UK to British Columbia during the 1950s and well into the 60s, it is not out of the question to find fine British made fountain pens, especially in the city of Vancouver. And I, for one, am always on the lookout for such wonderful treasures. Along these lines, a lovely early 1940s Swan, Mabie Todd came my way and, needless to say, I was thrilled."

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

"But let me relate the makeup of this super vintage writing instrument. The finish of this pen is an attractive blue pearl and black marbling over all on the barrel and cap. The 14K Gold filled cap clip presents a fashionable Swan branding logo at its top, followed vertically down to a ball end, with a black cap ring top and screw, well inserted, to hold the clip and top ring in place. At the open end of the cap is a triple 14K Gold filled banding, signifying that this is a standard top of the model line deluxe model. Under this cap is a well-made black grip section sporting a good-sized No.4, 14K Gold Swan marked nib. The barrel below is quite substantial and, for that matter, well marked, with not only the pen's manufacturer but the model, 1042. And I should mention having handled this pen that it sits extremely well balanced in the hand.

At the other end of this fine writer is a unique filling system, which says quite a bit for the Mabie Todd company's engineering department. The filling mechanism is branded 'Leverless' and works extremely smoothly with a black barrel end knob. Turned clockwise, it inks the pen and in turn, rotated the other way, empties the ink sack in the barrel. With a clean leverless barrel, the effect is quite stunning and I for one intend to add this super British trooper to my vintage pen collection." 

Pen show in Portland *this* coming weekend! (July 11-13)

https://pnwpenshow.com/