Friday, May 8, 2026

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 567

Another great vintage Parker find by Christopher! (thanks, Christopher :)

He writes:
"During the early 1940s, if you were in the market for a very good fountain pen, the Parker Duofold, which had been duly brought back, could well have had your name on it. In a lot of ways, it ran neck and neck with Parker's Vacumatic, but seemed to have a lot more available options in its general make up. But let me get right down to outlining the pen in question..."

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)"This is a Canadian Junior Duofold with a green, gold and pearl finish with 14K gold filled fittings. The pearl, being the clear transparent plastic, allowed the user to check out exactly how much available ink there was in the pen at any given time. The actual finish of this pen was referred to by the manufacturer as Laidtone and, unlike the Vacumatic with its horizontal stripes, its stripes were vertical. If you take a careful look at the finish on this pen, it looks like a mix of the colours mentioned with black vertical lines running on the surface. Very effective and certainly very attractive. This pen supports the Parker 'Speedline' filler under a long matching blind cap. It is a double black jeweled pen and at the end of the blind cap is a tassy held in place with one of the black jewels. 

Moving north to the business end of the pen, the cap sports both a split banding and quite an attractive tapered ring clip. Running vertically on the surface of this clip is the company branding. If the cap is removed and set aside, there is a short but workable black section that, in turn, sports a small but definitely commendable 14K Gold Parker marked nib. As for writing, I would have to classify this point as a general writing medium flex nib. Still, it tends to lay down the ink consistently and is a very smooth writer. As for dimensions, it posts well at a full 6 inches, but with the cap screwed back on, it measures 5 ¼ inches accordingly. I am extremely happy with this pen. Happy enough to add it to my vintage pen collection."

Friday, May 1, 2026

April meeting photos

Happy May Day! 😄
Apologies for the slight delay in posting these photos from our April meeting, which was held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Saturday April 18th. It was a well-attended casual gathering (ie. a non-themed meeting with no "show & tell") with 31 members in attendance, including newcomers Hyein, Kathleen, Mein, Richard and Ruslan. Many thanks to all who attended!

I was busy welcoming new members during the meeting, so I only had time to snap a few pen photos; I hope to take some "people photos" at our next meeting, which will be held on Thursday May 21 at the VPL's Renfrew branch (and which *will* have a meeting theme and "show & tell" - full details here). Without further ado, here are the photos I took at our April meeting...

(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)
Our fellow pen club member Anson of Springfield Pens brought a plethora of his handmade kitless fountain pens to the meeting, including two brand-new fountain pens --one with a matte finish and one shiny example (which was purchased by Phil)-- made of cocobolo wood (near the bottom of the photo above). Fantastic work, Anson!


David C brought some lovely second-hand fountain pens to sell, and this one was purchased by his friend Sean. It's a handsome vintage Parker '51' fountain pen -- a true classic!




Stuart's recent acquisitions ---a Hongdian M2 fountain pen, a passport-sized Traveler's Notebook in blue leather, and some gifts from fellow VPCer Asifa from her recent trip!

The pocket-sized aluminum Hongdian M2 fits perfectly in the leather TN loop after Stuart stretched it out a bit...

It was nice to see Matthew at a non-pen-store meeting (lol--just kidding, Matthew!); he brought his Sailor 'Pro Color' demonstrator fountain pen, seen in the photo above resting on my Natami pen pouch. The Natami case opens and closes like an eyeglasses case and was very reasonably priced (around $19 CAD)...

That's my new Visconti 'Mythos' fountain pen (the "Aphrodite" model) atop a wonderful fabric pen case made by our fellow pen club member Amy H. Amy has a new Etsy store (link) where you, too, can buy/custom order one for yourself :)

Last, but not least, a classy Montblanc ballpoint I purchased from David C. at the March meeting. When you hold it up to a bright light, you can see Montblanc's precious resin's dark red tint...

We will be having another Saturday afternoon meeting sometime this Fall (date & time: TBA later). Hope to see you at one of our meetings! If you have any questions about joining our pen club, please drop us a line at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

(~ blog post by Maja ~)