March meeting info (back to Kitsilano!)

MARCH 2026 MEETING INFORMATION:

When: Thursday March 19, 2026

Where: The 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

This month's meeting is just a casual get-together (ie. no "show & tell") where you can chat, buy/sell/trade pens/inks and generally have a good time talking with other pen lovers (while sitting around tables! 😀). Hope you can make it! (and no need to RSVP)

Some photos from our February meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop

 I was unable to attend the event due to a nasty virus, but by all accounts, our February meeting held at the Vancouver Pen Shop last Saturday (February 21st) was a huge success! 😁 I heard there was lots of food, goody bags and door prizes! Our thanks to Margo, Shannon and all the staff at the store for their hospitality (and generosity)!👏

Luckily, one of our members remembered to snap a few photos during the event, so here they are...

(~ click on images to enlarge~ )

Just found a photo from that evening posted by the store on their Instagram! It's here: https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpenshop/p/DVMckHykhWv/

Thanks again to the Vancouver Pen Shop for being such great hosts! 🙌 😊

Reminder -- meet-up on SATURDAY @ the Van Pen Shop!

(📢 Full details in this post!)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 563

Today's pen review is courtesy of Christopher, whose write ups about his latest finds have been a staple of these type of blog posts (which we started doing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) here on our pen club's website. If you are a member of our pen club, please feel free to submit your own pen-related reviews for posting here :) Now, without further ado, here is Christopher's latest vintage treasure...

He writes:  

"The Parker 'Striped' Duofold has always been a favourite in its Vacumatic form. It was my dear old mother's pen of choice and one that I kept ship shape for her for a good many years. Unlike the regular Parker Vacumatic line with the horizontal striped finish, what the Parker company called 'Laidtone' had the stripes running vertically. Couple this with vibrant exterior colours and pearl and, my goodness, you have a spectacular finish. The striped Duofold did come with a button filler, but with the Vacumatic filler it gave the user the option (as with the regular Vacumatic) of viewing just how much ink was in the barrel at any given time. Strangely enough, the blind cap cover was the same long length for both the button and Vacumatic fillers on the striped Duofold. Plus, the striped Duofold came with more or less the same-sized range of models as the regular Parker Vacumatic. There was even the option of a double jewel with some of the sizes at one point in time.

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

But let us take a look at a striped Duofold which most recently came my way. The finish on my newly acquired pen is an exquisite 'Dusty Red' and Pearl. This is smartly offset with 14K Gold filled fittings. Being a Junior model, the cap is appointed with an attractive double thin banding, while the conically shaped jet-black clip screw-in jewel secures a Parker split feather arrow clip. This is a Canadian pen well marked with Parker date coding on both the 14K Gold nib and barrel. The former is held in place by a short but adequate grip section, while the jet-black feed is marked 'W' for a wide ink channel, which allows a goodly measure of ink to get to the paper. The matching blind cap at the end of the barrel is both lengthy and conical ended, much like the cap jewel. This blind cap covers a Vacumatic plastic amber button filler with a black button end. The pen itself is in remarkable condition, with a crystal-clear barrel transparency. It, in turn, posts at just under 6 full inches, but caps back to a pocketable 5 inches to stow. I simply love this pen and it will not only be in my suitcase for our annual holiday in Hawaii, but end up in my vintage pen collection as a proud trooper."

Our thanks to Christopher for another nice write up! (and bon voyage, too! 🌞🌴)

Don't forget: our next pen club meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday February 21 at 6:30pm; full meeting information is in the previous blog post!