Another one from our July meeting!

Those of you who were at our July meeting saw this adorable vintage pen in person, but if you didn't, here's Christopher's photo of it (I love how he posed the cap and barrel in the photo :)

(please click on images to enlarge)

At the meeting, Christopher said his Mickey Mouse fountain pen was made by Ingersoll, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was, in fact, made by Inkograph. Christopher said that there was a Mickey Mouse fountain pen made by Ingersoll, but that it was made much later (in the late 1940s) than the Inkograph one. Here's the advertisement for this later model that Christopher sent, along with this information:

Earlier this year, the original version of Mickey (seen in the Disney short "Steamboat Willie") entered the public domain ... and sure enough, a fountain pen was immediately produced with him on it --- the Benu 'Euphoria' "Steamboat Master"! Mickey's dog Pluto will enter the public domain in 2026, and Mickey's pal Donald Duck will follow suit in 2030, so hopefully we'll see them on some fountain pens, too.

Our thanks to Christopher for the photos. We'll be featuring a few vintage Waterman fountain pens of his in the coming days, so watch for them here!

Photos from our July meeting!

Our July meeting was held at the Vancouver Public Library's Terry Salman branch on Thursday July 18th. There were 22 members in attendance that night, including one brand-new member (Esther) and two visitors from India and Japan (Abhijit and CY)!

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

L-R (standing): Stuart, Abhijit, Asifa, David C, James, Rene, Glenn M, Shona. myself (Maja); L-R (seated): Jerred, MMina, Esther, Grant, Christopher, Phil, Paul, Rumi and Vladan. Not pictured: Dana, CY, Yugo. Many thanks to Liz for taking the photos!

Our meeting topic was "Birthday Pens" and we saw some very nice examples. The topic was inspired by the recent birthday of our youngest pen club member, who turned 10 years old last month😊

I didn't get a photo of her birthday pen, but newcomer Esther showed us a Caran d'Ache 849 ballpoint that she got for her birthday (love those ballpoints!). Esther told us that her first fountain pen was a Lamy 'Safari', but that she subsequently bought others, including a Platinum 'Preppy' and a MUJI fountain pen. Her most recent purchase was a Sailor dip pen.

Stuart brought this handsome Montblanc '146' fountain for our primary meeting topic; he later told me that it was given to him on his 21st birthday. Stuart has brought this fountain pen to our meetings a few times (for various topics) and it's obvious how much he cherishes it :)

Our secondary topic is always "Newest Acquisitions" so Stuart showed us his new vintage black Parker '51' with Lustraloy cap. The shiny golden Sheaffer 'Imperial Triumph' Touchdown fountain pen was given to Stuart's maternal Grandfather on his 65th birthday, in 1963.  His Grandmother purchased it at Woodward’s Oakridge, and paid $35 for it, a high price at the time!

A couple of Asifa's recent purchases--a TWSBI 'Eco' Indigo Bronze (filled with Robert Oster's wonderful "Blue Denim" ink) and a purple Pilot 'Metropolitan' with a Pilot "Calligraphy Medium" (marked "CM") stub/italic steel nib on it. I can't remember what ink was in the 'Metro', but I know that Asifa likes to match inks with pens of the same/similar colour :)

Vladan's handsome green-striped Pelikan M800 was a recent acquisition....

...as was his new Retro 51 'Tornado' 'Tesla' fountain pen. This model was a tribute to the famous Serbian engineer/inventor and the pattern was inspired by Tesla's spiral coil, used in his wireless power experiments. Vladan also showed us his new Pilot Custom '912' (not pictured).

David (who’s a really big vintage Parker fan) used a birthday gift card to the Vancouver Pen Shop to purchase this Platinum '3776 Century' fountain pen (you can't go wrong with a modern classic like this pen!)

...and speaking of David's love of old Parkers---he recently bought the "Blue Pearl" striped Parker 'Vacumatic' above. The top pen in the photo is another classic vintage Parker fountain pen--a Parker 'Duofold' in "Chinese Red" belonging to Grant... and it's the first fountain pen he restored himself (yay, Grant!).

The middle fountain pen is an Inkograph 'Mickey Mouse' fountain pen with images of the iconic cartoon character on the cap band. It belongs to Christopher, who wanted a Mickey Mouse fountain pen ever since he saw one as a kid. I didn't get a chance to photograph it, but Christopher also brought in a tiny Peter Pan fountain pen with a 14K gold overlay (late ed - Christopher sent in a photo and review of the pen and it was posted here a few days later).

Christopher's beautiful vintage OMAS 'Gentlemen' (above) was a recent acquisition (another late edit - this was initially labelled a 'Gentleman' model, but Christopher sent a nice write up about it after the meeting, which I later posted here).

Above: Liz's impressive Namiki 'Emperor', one of pendom's largest fountain pen models…

Another eye-catching pen belonging to Liz--a Schon dsgn fountain pen in Ultem material. The pen sports a very cool Schon-designed Monoc nib. The entire nib and collar are made from a single block of Grade 5 Titanium, and there is no tipping material added to the end of the nib.

I'm sorry I didn't photograph Liz's Opus 88 and the Turnt Pen Co. fountain pen she got/bought for her birthday (I think it was a 'Bardugo 13' model in "Ocarina Abalone"), but she brought them--and other two pens-- all inked up for us to try, along with this note showing what ink was in each pen (thanks, Liz!).

Above: My haul from the recent Pacific Northwest Pen Show, held in Portland, Oregon (I did a report on the pen show & the stuff I got in the blog post before this one)

(Left to right: Nahvalur 'Voyage' Pride 2024 special edition, Zodiac Pen Co. 'Taurus' in "Polar Cenote", Newton Pens 'Moody' (Medium size) in "Ivory Roses", Mike's Pen Fun handmade fountain pen in "Full Tilt Boogie" resin, Karas Pen Co. 'Vertex' Baltimore Pen Show special edition and Waterman Harley- Davidson 'Combusition'. Top: Retro 51 Tornado rollerball "Good Dog Sheldon" special edition made for Dromgoole's pen store. The Zodiac Pen Co. 'Taurus' pen was a belated self-gift for my May birthday. The cool Rickshaw Bagworks six-pen roll features a design by our pen club's own Richardo!

I saw Shona & James at the Portland pen show and at the meeting, Shona told us about the things she bought there--a special nib by The Good Blue (and another by JoWo) and a handmade fountain pen from Mondu Pens (mondupens.com). James showed a lot of restraint (lol) and didn't buy anything at the show.

The most recent acquisition of mine -- a vintage Sheaffer 'Reminder' ballpoint with perpetual calendar, a gift I got from my fellow VPCer Paul just before our meeting.

It's called a 'Reminder' model because you can't clip the pen onto a shirt pocket (and possibly staining the fabric) unless the pen tip is withdrawn by pressing on the clip. Sheaffer came out with a modern version of the 'Reminder' a few years ago, but I prefer the old-style. All my vintage version needed was a modern Sheaffer ballpoint refill (which I had at home) to get it up and running again :) Thanks again, Paul!

It wouldn't be a Vancouver Pen Club meeting if Jerred didn't show us another addition to his wonderful Delta fountain pen collection, and this meeting was no exception. The bright orange model in the middle is a Delta 'Dolce Vita Oro' (mid-size), flanked by his Montblanc '149' and Jerred's new A.G. Spalding pocket fountain pen.

Paul recently acquired some vintage fountain pens, including a Sheaffer 'Fineline' model (top pen) and the vintage Esterbrook 'M2' model below it.



Above: Another vintage Sheaffer that Paul recently acquired...

That's Abhijit trying out the elegant Montblanc 'Noblesse' fountain pen Paul bought for himself as a "self-gift". Abhijit came all the way from Calcutta, India to attend our meeting, and it was a pleasure chatting with him about pens and the pen community in his city/region.

This is Paul holding his newest acquisition---an oversized store "dummy" fountain pen (advertising pen) that he won in our July meeting's door prize draw! (congratulations to Paul and thanks to Christopher for donating the prize). Paul had made some dip pen ink from black walnut and brought samples to give out to our members, so his door prize win was rather karmic lol

Rumi brought some lovely new acquisitions to show us (top to bottom): a beautiful handmade Springfield Crafts (now Springfield Pens) resin fountain pen made by our fellow VPC member Anson, a purple Pilot 'Decimo' and a Leonardo 'Momento Zero' "Hawaii". The 3-pen case at the top (a Rickshaw Bagworks 3-Pen "Coozy" case) was a limited edition, specially made for the Canadian Fountain Pen Enthusiasts (CFPE), a Facebook Group Rumi belongs to.

Phil showed us some newest acquisitions, including two pens he bought in Trondheim, Norway (!)  -- a bright blue Pilot 'Explorer' (Phil said this one takes international cartridges, which is unusual--turns out that versions of this model sold in the EU are like this) and a Lamy 'Safari' Strawberry. I believe the beautiful fountain pen at the bottom is Mmina's Sailor Shikiori (in the "Dragon Palace" colour, I think...).

Another fountain pen Phil recently acquired --this one from a pen shop in Greece!--- a gorgeous new-style OMAS 'Bolonga' in the "Grigio Luminoso" material. The pen is made of Diamondcast resin, and the cap band features the city of Bologna's famous porticoes.

I forgot to photograph another handsome Italian fountain pen that we saw at the meeting--Glenn's amazing Scribo 'Feel' Mosto fountain pen. The pen was a "birthday pen" and was featured on Glenn's excellent website here: https://www.glennspens.com/pensofnote/Scribo-Feel-Mosto.html

Dana came to our meeting with lots of wonderful modern fountain pens, including these soft pastel-coloured Sailor 'Realo' fountain pens that had Zoom/Music nibs on them...

...as well as this elegant vintage Sheafer 'Targa'  with a factory italic/stub nib on it (I tried it and it's a wonderful writer :)

Above: One of Rene's recent acquisitions--a Platinum '3776 Century' "Sands of Komodo" fountain pen. The rose gold trim was inspired by the pink sand beaches (and  the pen’s colour by the tropical waters) surrounding Indonesia's Komodo Island.

And here are some birthday fountain pens Rene showed us--a Cross 'Townsend' "Year of the Rat" Special Edition (in the box) -- every year, Cross comes out with a new pen based on the year of the Chinese Zodiac (hopefully they'll have a Year of the Snake for my birth year!)---as well as a brushed stainless steel Lamy 'Studio' and a handsome Mabie-Todd 'Swan' fountain pen from the 1930s.

Above: More of Rene's recent acquisitions ... but they're playing peek-a-boo (I ran out of time to take them out--it was a really busy meeting). Among other new acquisitions, Rene showed us two pens he got in Switzerland--a Parker 'Vector' "Le Petit Prince" fountain pen and a Waterman 'Laureat' (not pictured).

And last, but not least--two lovely pen cases belonging to Rene that were made by Rickshaw Bagworks specially for the Canadian Fountain Pen Enthusiasts (CFPE) Facebook Group. These are the most recent Rickshaw cases made for the CFPE; Rumi's Rickshaw case (the bright green/yellow Northern Lights case further up this blog post) came out last year.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our July meeting, whether you brought anything for the topics or not! Information about our August meeting will be posted on our website (please check the top of each website for that info in big red letters) as soon as the date/time/venue are finalized!

(~blog post by Maja~)

March meeting photos

Finally, some photos from our March meeting!

We had a good turnout---seventeen VPC members, including newcomers Alejandro, John V, and Stephen---for our meeting on March 16th. Many thanks to Jerred for the door prize --- a Jinhao X750 fountain pen with a great Medium Architect Grind nib (done by Jerred himself) which was won by Bruce. And thank you to Bruce for the evening's topic---Pens with Modified Nibs! Without further ado, here are the photos....

That's me on the left (light green tee), photographing some of the pens brought in by our members. Bruce is to my left and then we have (counter-clockwise around the table) Tim, Alejandro, Lionel, John V, and Jerred (~click on photos to enlarge~):

(photo above courtesy of Christopher R.)

Speaking of Jerred, here are the fountain pens he brought in for our topic----all nicely reground by himself. They're the top group in the photo below (from L-R): Jinhao X750 with Medium Architect Grind (the door prize!), Noodler's 'The Charlie' with Waverly modified nib, Visol Caseti Rorschach with Cursive Italic nib, Faber-Castell 'Ambition', Pilot 'Metropolitan' with Postal modified nib, $2 special from Daiso with Right-Hand Oblique Round nib, Ohto 'Proud' with Right-hand Oblique Italic nib, Schmidt 'Intrinsic' with Left-Hand Oblique Round nib, Jinhao X450 with Cursive Italic nib, Zebra FP, Sheaffer Prelude with Double Broad Architect Grind, and a Jinhao 599A with an XF (Extra-Fine) Architect Grind nib (I wrote about it in this blog post).

Below Jerred's fountain pens, we have two lovely fountain pens with reground nibs brought in by Bruce--a black Pelikan M805 with an 18K Broad nib that was stubbed by Richard Binder, and a gorgeous Visconti 'Voyager' 25th Anniversary fountain pen with a 23K Palladium 1.3mm stub nib which was narrowed and crisped by John Mottishaw.

In the lower right corner, we have a couple of New Acquisitions (always our secondary topic) of Angela's---a very cool Daniel Defoe fountain pen, and a white Faber-Castell 'WritINK' fountain pen:

From L-R: Alejandro's elegant white Lamy 'Safari', Tim's own Safari in yellow, along with his red Pelikan 'Pelikano Jr', red Pelikan 'Grand Prix' (not a model you see very often---ie. I don't own one...yet lol) and blue vintage Esterbrook.

Below that are a couple of pens brought in by Ricardo---a Monteverde 'Intima' in Glacier Blue (nib worked on by Jerred) and a new acquisition-a very nice Sailor ProGear Slim demonstrator.

Two wonderful new acquisitions belonging to Bill K---a green-striped Pelikan M800 and a Parker Sonnet in the crosshatched 'Cisele' pattern. New member John brought in a Sheaffer 'Snorkel' in the rare Fern Green colour.

David R. brought in six great fountain pens with expertly reground nibs. They're the group at the very bottom of the photo below --(left to right) Sailor Pro Gear Classic, Platinum Nice Pur, Platinum 3776 Century, Pelikan M805 Demonstrator, Pelikan M805 Vibrant Blue and Pelikan M800. The Pro Gear Classic has a medium cursive italic ground by John Mottishaw and the Pelikan Vibrant Blue has a medium stub ground by Dan Smith.

Stuart brought in some pens whose nibs were repaired, adjusted and/or reground by our own Mark Harcourt (I wrote about his pen repair business in this blog post ). They're the top group in photo below: (L-R) a Sheaffer PFM (Pen For Men) V model, a Parker 'Vacumatic', a vintage Wahl-Eversharp 'All-Metal' pen, and a Waterman C/F.

David R's fountain pens and two nifty pen cases by Nock ---the orange 'Lookout' model and a brown 'Sinclair' case. Nock is an American company that makes handmade pen cases in the U.S.A. They raised funds for their first product back in 2013 with a Kickstarter campaign, and have since expanded their line of pen-related accessories. The cases are well-made and I've only heard good things about them, so they're on my wish list!

Below are some new acquisitions that Stuart brought to February's meeting. It was a busy meeting and I missed the chance to photograph the pens, so I asked Stuart to bring them to the March meeting (which he did). From L-R: Campo Marzio 'Ambassador', an Ingersoll all-metal lever-filling pen, and a Faber-Castell 'WritINK'.

I also left without photographing some of Angela's fountain pens that she brought to a previous meeting, but she was nice enough to snap a quick photo of them for our club's blog after I asked her (thanks, Angela!). From L-R: Sheaffer 'Fashion', Parker '51', a couple of Jinhaos, Pilot 'Prera', a vintage Esterbrook and a stylish Montblanc Greta Garbo Limited Edition.

A quick snap of my own reground-nibbed fountain pens in the photo below. From L-R: a "Binderized" (nib tuned Richard Binder of RichardsPens.com) Stipula 'Duetto', a Mottishaw'd (nib reground by John Mottishaw of Nibs.com ) Pelikan M800 with cursive italic nib, a Pilot Vanishing Point (my first pen show purchase) and a Sheaffer 'Award', both with cursive italic nibs ground by former longtime Sheaffer employee Letta of Pendemonium.com, an Italix 'Parson's Essential' with a stub nib from Mr.Pen (I wrote about it here), a Rosetta 'Magellan' with a nice italic nib (not sure who worked on it, though--I bought it from fellow VPCer Bob M.), and then a couple of pens worked on by two young nibmeisters (an ivory Jinhao X450 with a super 0.7mm stub done by Tyler Dahl and a blue Pelikan 'Pelikano' with a nice crisp italic done by Dillon Ang), followed by two pens with great stubs done by Vivek N of Pentrace---a Laban 'Mento' and a red Genius 'Bucky'.

The second-to-last pen on the right is one of my all-time favourite writing instruments; it's a Pelikan M215 with a juicy broad stub, done by a mystery nibmeister. The very last pen on the right is a Sailor Calligraphy pen I reground myself from a Fude nib to a stub.

A closer view of three of my pens mentioned above. My apologies for the blurry photo--it's hard to tell from the photo, but all three are wonderful writers! I highly recommend you consider getting a fountain pen with a regular factory nib (e.g. Fine, Medium, Broad, etc) reground by a competent nibmeister if you're bored with how your fountain pen writes; it will almost certainly improve your writing experience... and in the case of stubs or italics, make your handwriting both nicer and easier to read!

Three new vintage fountain pen acquisitions belonging to longtime VPC member Christopher--a Parker 'Televisor', and a couple of interesting third-tier fountain pens--a Cavalier and a Traveler (all photos below by Christopher). Christopher put a wonderful Wahl-Eversharp "Skyline" nib in the Cavalier (it's a bit difficult to see in the photos):

This is Christopher's newly acquired Parker '51' ballpoint (ca. 1958), a handsome gift from his wife Chris, as well as an original vintage Parker '51' Valentine’s card:

Chris’ classy dark blue with gold cap Parker '61' ballpoint and Christopher's "new" Parker '51' ballpoint, in an original Parker '51' box. Many thanks to Christopher for the photos!

A big "Thank you" to *all* members who came to the March meeting---those who brought in pens to show, and those who came without pens! Our club is all about seeing, talking about, trying out & learning about writing instruments in a fun, casual setting... so even if you don't have any new stuff to show or anything for the monthly topic/theme, please come to the meeting anyway ! Our next meeting is at the Terry Salman branch of the Vancouver Public Library (info here) on Thursday April 20 from 6:00pm to 8:45pm ~~please note the venue change~~and the topic will be "Your Favourite Japanese Fountain Pens". Secondary topic is Newest (pen-related) Acquisitions. Hope you can make it!

August meeting photos!

We had good turnout for our meeting held on August 18, 2016 at Perks pen store on Cambie Street in Vancouver----17 members (including three newcomers---Marzieh, Justin and Terry) showed up, as well as one out-of-town guest (Bill S. from the Seattle Pen Club).
Special thanks to David R for his generous donation of a Kaweco "Liliput" fountain pen for our door prize; the lucky winner was Christopher R!

The evening's topic was "Your Favourite Lesser-Known Fountain Pen Brands".
I snapped a few photos of the pens our members brought in for the theme, but first....these group photos, taken by our pen club host, Richard:
(~CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE~).

Back row (L to R): Glenn M, Terry, David R, Bill S (from Seattle), me (Maja), Justin, Barry K, Bethany, Ralph (in green shirt).
Middle row (L to R): Jerred, June, Bart, Louise.
Front row (L to R): Christopher R, Stuart, Marzieh, Norm.

The theme for August's meeting was Jerred's idea, so I'll start with a quick shot of the fountain pens he brought in. Pictured below (from left to right): Online Campus Red Dragon, Online Academy Soft Pink, Ohto Rook, Ohto Dude, Muji Round Aluminum, Online Vision Nature Rosewood, Online Icone Midnight and Ohto Tasche.

In the photo below, you can see Stuart's examples of his favourite lesser-known fountain pen brands---a couple of Heiko fountain pens (including a model '442') on the far left, a brown marbled Penco fountain pen next to the Heikos, two Ingersoll metal fountain pens in the middle of the photo, and two Esterbrook 'J' pens on the far right. The Wahl "All-Metal fountain pen to the right of the Penco, the Sheaffer "Balance" next to it and the Pelikan MK10 next to the Balance are all new acquisitions of Stuart's.

A shot of the pens Bill brought in for our theme:
From top to bottom: Nettuno "Barracuda", Paper Mate fountain pen (nib made by Montblanc!), Giuliano Mazzuoli fountain pen, Parafernalia "Revolution" fountain pen:

My (Maja's) three favourite lesser-known fountain pen brands--from L-R: two Levenger "True Writer" fountain pens, two ThINK fountain pens (one in the "Confetti" pattern and one in the brown "Gatsby" pattern) and two Retro 51 fountain pens (a "Postmaster", made with real used postage stamps, and the "Double Eight" model in a limited edition brown marble colour):

I often marvel at the enthusiasm of our members. One of our members (Harry) who couldn't attend the August meeting sent in these photos of a Penol 'Ambassador Jr' as one of his favourite lesser-known fountain pen brands. As Harry writes: "I thought I'd share a few photos of one of my pens for the uncommon brands topic. The pen I'd like to share is from the Copenhagen based brand Penol. The name comes from the combination of "Penn" and "Olson", and was made by the Christian Olson factory. Olson was the Parker distributor for Scandinavia from before WW1 until late in the century. The pen model is Ambassador Jr, and was made in November, 1942. I found it in a vintage shop in Denmark. It writes like a dream!".
Thanks for sharing this with us, Harry!

Our secondary topic is always "Newest Acquisitions". Louise and Norm brought in this older-model Delta fountain pen that Louise found (she also found a nice vintage Mabie-Todd "Swan" fountain pen, but I didn't snap a photo of it):

June's lovely collection of modern and vintage fountain pens, including her newest acquisitions, the three vintage Eversharp 'Doric' fountain pens (the 6, 7 & 8th pens from the left) and a Visconti 'Opera' (the last pen on the right-hand side).

In addition to his cool new Franklin-Christoph 6-pen "Penvelope" pen case, Bart brought in his Pelikan M800 in Burnt Orange (a newer acquisition, which he brought to the June meeting, but I forgot to photograph):

The brass Kaweco "Liliput" fountain pen that David R donated as a door prize. You can see how small the pen is, based on the size of the coin next to it.

Bill S was kind enough to bring his amazing collection of rare and hard-to-find Targa fountain fountain pens all the way from Seattle. They're on the left-hand side of the pen case below. His limited edition Sheaffers are on the right-hand side:

My apologies for the quality of the pics---the store's lights were turned off in order to keep the temperature down, as it was a very warm evening. The photo below shows Bill's "daily user" fountain pens. Many thanks, Bill, for bringing your collections for us to see!

One of our brand-new members, Terry, brought in his collection for us to see. It included several nice Waterman fountain pens (a "Laureat", a vintage hard rubber mdoel "94" in the rare blue ripple, and a gorgeous vintage all-sterling-silver model), a Waterford fountain pen, and a fountain pen that doubled as a Holy Water dispenser! Terry left a bit early so I didn't get a chance to photograph his fountain pens. I also meant to photograph Glenn Marcus' newest fountain pen inks, his two bottles of kyo-no-oto ink, but the photographs on his website are infinitely better than anything I could take :) You can find Glenn's review of this ink on this page .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't forget about our September meeting this week! It's on Thursday September 15, 2016 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (members may arrive a little bit early---at 6:00pm---to chat beforehand) at Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC (the usual meeting place). The topic will be BLUE FOUNTAIN PENS! No RSVP's required for meetings held at Perks pen store. Hope to see you there!