A few photos from our July meeting

We had a good turnout for our July meeting, held at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday July 16; I counted at least 34 people in attendance, including newcomers Chris, Daphne, and Sam L! It was just a casual get-together with lots of pen, ink and statoinery chats going on, so I had a bit of time to take a few photos of the items our members brought to show others....

(photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

That's Andrii's new Enigma notebook by Taroko (with fountain-pen-friendly Tomoe River paper) and a Waterman 'Hemisphere' fountain pen he got from a pen friend.

Andrii told me that when he got it, the pen wouldn't write, so he removed the feed and discovered it was inserted incorrectly at some point; apparently, the feed is keyed (but very subtly so) and has to be put into the section at exactly the right orientation or the incorrect nib-feed alignment won't allow for the ink to flow. Well done, Andrii!

Stuart's brand-new Sheaffer '300' "Coffee Edition" in Matt Brown with Regal Brown Trims.

From Sheaffer's official website: "This beautiful pen features a rich dark coffee brown hue, accented with a refined cup and heart emblem on the cap." 😊 Stuart recently bought the pen from the Vancouver Pen Shop downtown. Sheaffer was sold to William Penn (an Indian luxury writing instruments retailer) in 2022 and it's good to see its new owners coming out with cool new stuff like this special edition fountain pen.

Jerred recently acquired a red and black marbled Filcao 'Columbia' fountain pen, shown above next to its larger counterpart, the Filcao 'Atlantica' "Lapis". The 'Columbia' model came out in 2004 and was followed by the 'Atlantica'; both pens use a button-filling mechanism. Jerred did a nice review of the 'Atlantica' on our club's website a few years back (posted here).

One of our newer members, Richard P, brought two lovely Pelikan fountain pens he recently acquired--the M200 'Orange Delight' and a M205 'Star Ruby'!

(I took this photo on the hood of my car, in the library parking lot, after the meeting lol)

I purchased the beautiful Galen Leather x NOCK Lookout pen case in Deep Cognac (part of their Legacy Collection) from Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery earlier this month, and I love it! The leather is supple and gorgeous-looking, and the inside of the case is lined with silk.

The three fountain pens I had inside the case are (left to right) a wonderful Stipula fountain pen with a Titanium nib that I bought from Mark & Sharon (in our pen club) of PenDen.ca, a Levenger 'Plumpster' in "Tides" resin, and a Narwhal (Nahvalur) Voyage Cult Pens exclusive (made specially for the well-known UK retailer) that I got from a dear pen friend (that you so much, Bonnie! 🙌)

Our thanks to everyone who came to our July meeting at the Renfrew VPL branch this month!
Information about our August meeting is in this post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2026/07/august-2026-meeting-meet-up-at.html

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Thoughtfulness

A few days before the U.S-Canada border closed to all non-essential traffic due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, I received three parcels from the U.S. I'd been eagerly awaiting. Since I dodn't have any March meeting photos to post, I thought I'd snap a couple of shots and share them with you on our pen club blog...

(please click on images to enlarge)

The first parcel to arrive was from Teri Morris of Peyton Street Pens in Santa Cruz, California. Inside the box was my beautiful new purple Levenger 'Facets' fountain pen (a hard-to-find discontinued model) and two unexpected gifts--a black Sheaffer 'Imperial 330' mechanical pencil and a Pentel eraser! It's not the first example of Teri's thoughtfulness - my previous order contained a lovely Sheaffer '300' ballpoint (which I really enjoy using---thanks again, Teri!).

The second package contained another Levenger writing instrument---a 'True Writer' ballpoint in the cool "Purple Mosaic" pattern. The pen came from Shawn Newton of Newton Pens (located in Hot Springs, Arkansas), a talented penmaker who has been raising scholarship money for high school students by selling writing instruments and art through his website and eBay (he's raised over $58,000 USD since he started in 2012). My new ballpoint was one of several charity auctions Shawn was running on eBay that week, so I was happy to add to my "True Writer" collection, and help a worthy cause at the same time.

Last, but not least, was a parcel from Hyatt's, an art supply store in Buffalo, N.Y. Inside it was a limited edition Retro 51 'Tornado' rollerball in the "Gone Fishing" design, one of only 777 pieces made by this Richardson, Texas-based writing instrument company. I narrowly missed the opportunity to buy one---they sold out very quickly---but thanks to one of the good folks at Retro 51 (who spent a fair amount of time helping me track one down), I was able to find a dealer who still had some left for sale. It's a great-looking rollerball with a clever design made by a company that pays attention to small details... and its customers.

(L-R: Sheaffer 'Imperial 330' mechanical pencil, Levenger 'True Writer' ballpoint, Levenger 'Facets' fountain pen, Retro 51 'Tornado' rollerball & Pentel 'Tri Eraser')

Many thanks to all three of you for your thoughtfulness and generosity towards me and to others - they brightened my days during a rough patch :)

It saddens me that our common border is now no longer open...well, not as open as it once was. The Peace Arch monument which straddles the U.S-Canada border at Blaine, Washington and Surrey, B.C, has the words "May these gates never be closed" inscribed on its east gate. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the gates between our two countries are closed...not completely, but to the vast majority of us. I believe, though, that this global crisis is one that we can overcome if we think not only of ourselves, but of others as well.

Stay safe, everyone, and (at the risk of sounding preachy) please try your best to slow the spread of the virus by practicing social distancing, staying home when sick (or if you suspect you're sick), and washing hands frequently.

Take care,
~Maja

Photos from our February meeting (Theme: Multi-coloured Fountain Pens)

We had a full house for our February meeting, with 26 VPC members (including two newcomers--Jaime and Gary) in attendence! Our meeting theme was "Multi-coloured Fountain Pens" (including crazy colour combos & shimmery, iridescent pens), and we saw a lovely array of them that night.
I snapped some photos during & after the meeting, so without further ado, here we go!

(~please click on images to enlarge~)

(Standing, L-R): Isaac, Glenn and Jim. (Seated, L-R, clockwise around the table): Ben (lower left corner of photo), Daryl, Armando,Chuck, Jerred, Christopher, Tony, Julienne, Natasha, Louise, Melodie, Nathan, Tristan, Justin, Stuart, me (Maja), René, Dave, Jaime and Gary (photo taken by Candice)

(L-R, clockwise around the table, L-R): Natasha (lower left corner of photo), Louise, Melodie, Nathan, Tristan, Justin, Stuart, Maja, René, Dave, Jaime, Isaac, Jim, Armando, Chuck, Glenn (standing), Jerred, Christopher, Tony and Julienne (photo by Candice)

(Above) A lovely selection of colour-shifting fountain pens belonging to Candice (L-R): three inexpensive Chinese-made fountain pens (Lamy Safari clones/"tributes") from AliExpress.com, the aptly-named Benu 'Chameleon' and a LIY 'MITU' fountain pen.

(Above) More cool-looking iridescent fountain pens belonging to Candice (L-R): three Waterman 'Kultur Reflectics', a Diplomat 'Magnum' and a Parker 'Frontier' "Chromaflair".

(Above) "Newest Acquisitions" is always our secondary theme, so Isaac brought his new Pilot 'Vanishing Point' fountain pen in "Blue Carbonesque" pattern to show us. It's a great fountain pen---a modern classic---and one that's well-suited to those who don't want to worry about losing their fountain pen's cap.

(Above) Glenn's new fountain pen made by Leonardo Officina Italiana---the "Messenger" model in orange ("arancio" in Italian). This large-but-well-balanced fountain pen (approximately the same length as the 'Momento Zero Grande' model) is made of a beautiful semi-translucent resin and currently comes in five colours. With 2020 being a leap year (366 days in length), the Leonardo pen company created 366 pens of each colour. Glenn posted a review---with much better photos than mine---of his 'Messenger' here on his website.

(Above) A fine collection of colourful fountain pens by PenBBS, owned by Dana.

(Above) Some new vintage acquisitions belonging to Christopher--a handsome black & cream no-name fountain pen, a black vintage fountain pen and a green Sheaffer 'Cadet' fountain pen.

(Above) A mix of new purchases and pens René brought in for our topic (top to bottom): vintage Parker Striped 'Duofold' (a/k/a the 'Duovac' because of its vacuum-filling mechanism), vintage Eagle fountain, vintage President fountain pen, vintage Traveler fountain pen, and a gorgeous modern fountain pen--the Edison 'Beaumont' in "Bedrock Flake".

(Above) More of René's great fountain pens! From top to bottom: a classic Waterman '54' in red ripple (red and black hard rubber), a Onoto de la Rue 4601 B8 plunger-filler (the prototype for the vacuum-fillers later produced by Sheaffer et al), a vintage Sheaffer 'Balance', a Sheaffer 'Imperial' model "444", an attractive Eclipse fountain pen in gorgeous green marbled plastic, and an unmarked ringtop in chased black plastic (most likely an Eclipse).

(Above) You can't see it in this photo, but Liz's Kaweco 'AL Sport' in "Petrol" finish *does* change colour depending on the light! This particular material finish was a Benelux Special Edition (made for retailers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) as well as a Limited Edtion (only 500 pieces were made world-wide).

(Above) Two wonderful pens belonging to Melodie. The large one is a beautiful custom-made fountain pen made by 18111.com featuring two rabbits, and the smaller one is an Opus 88 'Fantasia' eyedropper-filler.

(Above) Jerred's nice collection of PenBBS fountain pens on the left side of the pen case (and one Campo Marzio fountain pen in blue and yellow---last pen in top row), and on the right side (L-R) are his compact LIY "Future" fountain pen in the "Blue Coral Sea" material, a PenBBS '456' model in "Tiny Happiness" resin material, a Moonman N3, and one of Jerred' newest acquisitions--a Delta 'Fusion 82'.

(Above) A lovely pocket Sailor half-demonstrator fountain pen-Jaime's Sailor 'Pro Gear Classic' "Angel's Delight" Limited Edition (LE). The "Angel's Delight" was the eighth in Sailor's popular "Cocktail" series of LEs and was made for the Japanese domestic market only.

Jim's newest pen-related acquisition---a ensso "XS" minimalist pocket fountain pen made of black aluminum. When posted, this 12-sided pen becomes the size of a regular fountain pen (it also makes a delightful popping sound when you take its cap off ;)

(Below) Two of Nathan's newest pen purchases---a modern Fuliwen '017' fountain pen (with cool snake clip) in the "Starry Night" material, and a vintage Esterbrook 'J' fountain pen:

(Below) Some pens brought in by Stuart for our topics -- a colourful vintage Arnold lever-filling fountain pen and some Muji ballpoints he recently acquired:

Natasha's gorgeous Tailored Pen Company (formerly JRLPens) 'Churchill' model in "Lava Explosion". My photos don't do this lovely fountain pen justice...

(Below) New VPC member Gary's fountain pens. Gary just started collecting a few months ago, but he already has a really nice collection of fountain pens! In the top row of his pen case are (Left to Right) a nine-function Monteverde 'Tool Pen', a Franklin-Christoph model '02' in "Antique Ice" material, a J. Herbin 'Clear' fountain pen, a Lamy 'Safari', a Lamy 'Lx' Marron brown (special edition) and a Lamy 'Lx Studio' "All Black" (special edition). In the bottom row are (L-R) two Kaweco 'Liliput' fountain pens, a vintage Sheaffer Lady Skripsert 'VI' (Paisley) model, a Kaweco 'Sport', a Kaweco Brass 'Sport', a Kaweco 'Supra', a Graf von Faber-Castell (GvFC) 'Classic' "Guilloche Rhodium" . a GvFC 'Classic' "Sterling Silver", and two Pilot 'Vanishing Point' fountain pens:

Gary's very first fountain pen---a Kaweco 'Liliput', pictured next to a Hershey's "Kiss" candy (for scale):

I've been collecting colourful modern fountain pen for many years, and here are some I brought for our topic...Top row (L-R): ThINK fountain pens in the "Shag", "Punch Bowl", "Bee Bop", "Bayou", "Tigerlilly", "Iceland", "Sahara", "Mojito", "Poolside" and "Lobster" patterns, and two Levenger 'True Writer' fountain pens in "Carnval" and "Sea Glass". Bottom row (L-R): Levenger 'True Writer' in "Kyoto" material, Laban 'Mento' fountain pens in "Autumn Flake", "Celebration Red", "Celebration Blue", "Pumpkin Seed" and "Terazzo Pumpkin", a handcrafted fountain pen in swirly red, black & white made by Chris "Appleman" Hughes , a Noodler's 'Naponset' "Jersey Devil", a Conklin 'All-American' in "Yellowstone", a Parker 'Frontier' "Chromaflair" in purple & red, and a Sheaffer 'Mini Agio' in iridescent dark purple shades:

Some of the new fountain pens I brought to the meeting: (L-R) a green-yellow Yiren (Lamy Safari clone/"tribute") whose section and nib are both multicoloured, a Pelkan "Level" 'L65' model, a Schneider "Ray", a Visconti 'Saturno' "Black Rhea" (a Limited Edition--only 88 pieces made), a ThINK 'Gatsby' model in "Derby" material (which is the official name; others call it "Chaplin"), and a pink "Tornado" rollerball by Retro 51:

I was saddened to hear about the uncertain future of Retro 51 on their official blog but decided it would be wise to acquire a few more now (before the prices went up!), so here are my most recent Retro 51 purchases-(L-R): 'Tornado' rollerballs in the "Birthday Greetings-Yellow", "California" (special edition made for Goldspot Pens), "Elephant and Rhino Rescue" (first version) and "Lincoln" designs, "Lincoln" fountain pen and a "Santa Jaws" fountain pen (special edition made for Goulet Pens...and yes, it's an image of a Great White Shark wearing an ugly Christmas sweater ;):

I forgot to snap a photo of my new leather 12-pen case by Four Pines Supply company as well as the two great inks (Leonardo Officina Italiana "Purple" and Diamine "Skull & Roses", a shimmer ink made for the German market) I bought from Louise at the meeting, so I took a quick pic of them at home (photo below):

(Below) Last, but certainly not least, a few photos sent to me by newcomer Jaime, who brought some wonderful fountain pens for us to see. It was such a busy meeting that I forgot to take photos of them, but Jaime was kind enough to send me her own photos after I contacted her:

(~click on images to enlarge~)

Jaime's diminuative "Pocket 6" fountain pens in the "Unicorn" and "Dark Unicorn" by Schon:

Jaime's handcrafted 'Norsemen' fountain pen in "Raven Black", made by Genesis, a team of penmakers located in Hong Kong:

Jaime's "Westminster" model fountain pen made of "Oil Slick" resin, handcrafted by The Tailored Pen Company in Kentucky :

March meeting pics

The VPC welcomed three new members (Chuck, Neil and Sasha) to our March meeting, held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on March 21st! Attendance was down a bit (perhaps due to Spring Break holidays) but those who came to the meeting had fun chatting and seeing some wonderful & unusual fountain pens.

Group pic (clockwise from bottom left): Sasha, Joie (hiding), Julienne, Jenny, Dana, Jimmy, Daryl, Justin, Jerred (leaning in), Christopher, Maja, Tristan, and Neil:

All pen photos below are courtesy of Dana (~click on images to enlarge~)

Our theme/topic for the meeting was "Non-Round Fountain Pens". The topic (which we've never used before) was Jerred's idea and he kicked it off by showing us a great example---his Visconti Van Gogh in the "Sunflowers" pattern (inspired by the Van Gogh paintings of the same name), an 18-sided fountain pen:

A Levenger 'Facets'- a twisty, six-sided fountain pen owned by Jerred (sadly, this model was discontinued a few years ago):

Another cool pen belonging to Jerred--his new PenBBS '380', an eight-sided aluminum fountain pen, also with a twist design:

A vintage classic--Christopher's lovely twelve-sided Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric' with adjustable nib (there's some excellent info on this model here)

A Visconti Divina Elegance Maxi in Blue belonging to Jimmy. This spiral, five-sided pen is made of swirly blue vegetal resin with a Sterling Silver inlay spiraling around the pen's cap and barrel. Visconti designed the Divina models based on the Golden Ratio and you can read about those design features here:

Jimmy's wonderful Montblanc Jonathan Swift Limited Edition fountain pen, which features a triangular cap:

Montblanc Jonathan Swift LE-nib and cap closeup. From Montblanc's official description: "Its design is inspired by his novel “Gulliver’s Travels”. The barrel is made of black lacquer and decorated with multi-layered inlays reminiscent of the ropes that were used to bind Gulliver on the beach of Lilliput island. The cap is made of precious black resin and shaped like Gulliver’s tricorn. It bears the signature of Jonathan Swift. The clip depicts the staircase the mayor of Lilliput had to climb to be able to talk to Gulliver. Both clip and fittings are platinum-plated. The rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib is decorated with an elaborate engraving showing the imperial army of Lilliput marching between Gulliver’s legs."

An Sterling Silver octagonal Montegrappa 'Privilege' fountain pen in the "Deco" pattern, owned by Jimmy:

Nib closeup of the Montegrappa:

We always feature newest pen-related acquisitions as our secondary topic. This is Jimmy's new Waterman 'Edson' fountain pen:

The distinctive 'Edson' nib:

Jimmy's new Delta DolceVita Oversize, a classic modern fountain pen:

Delta DolceVita Oversize nib:

Another great new acquisition of Jimmy's---his new Pelikan 'Silver Screen' Limited Edition:

The 'Silver Screen' LE was limited to only 420 pieces worldwide, with the individual piece numbers engraved on the filling knob:

A very nice wood turned ballpoint pen, owned by new VPC member Chuck:

Chuck's Sheaffer '300' fountain pen in glossy black:

A no-name calligraphy fountain pen, also owned by Chuck:

Dana's brand-new Kaweco 'Student' fountain pen in the "70's Soul" (love that name!) colours:

Kaweco 'Student' cap & clip close-up:

A few pics of Dana's cool Sheaffer 'Pop' "Star Wars" fountain pen in the Darth Vader pattern:

Jenny's Visconti Van Gogh in the "Starry Night" pattern (below). Both Jenny and Jerred's (shown in the second photo in this blog post) are the new-style Van Gogh fountain pens which are faceted. The original Van Goghs had round barrels and caps.

Something you don't see every day---a TWSBI 'Eco' Special Edition made for Bungubox, owned by Jenny:

Closeup of the Eco's beautiful hand-painted floral cap:

Joie's Waterman 'Exception' in Raspberry, a elegant, four-sided (ie. square :) fountain pen:

Waterman 'Exception'- nib closeup:

Benu 'Chameleon', a gorgeous three-sided fountain pen belonging to Candice:

The Benu 'Chameleon' in closeup. The model name comes from the fact that the pen changes colors depending on the angle at which it is viewed:

Justin's lovely Benu "Briolette" fountain pen, a faceted fountain pen:

New VPCer Neil's TWSBI 'Eco' (a reliable, economical fountain pen) in clear blue:

Neil's TWSBI '580', a great fountain pen that started out as the '530' model wayyy back in 2010:

TWSBI 'Go'--another pen belonging to Neil:

Two pocket pens owned by Neil---Pilot 'Petit' (clear pen) and Midori 'Traveler's Company' brass fountain pen. The Midori's cap has a ring on it, so you can clip the pen to a bag/key chain or you can unscrew the ring to remove the clip, if you prefer a clipless fountain pen. Handy!

A Hugo Boss fountain pen, owned by Tristan:

The Hugo Boss insignia on the cap top:

A beautiful DuPont fountain pen, also belonging to Tristan:

Tristan's (new-style) OMAS 'Paragon' in the stunning brown Arco celluoid material. This 12-sided fountain pen is many people's (including mine :) Grail Pen:

OMAS Paragon's nib:

A beautiful Namiki 'Impressions' Medley fountain pen made of marbled celluloid, also owned by Tristan:

Namiki side view:

Julienne's Rotring '600', a classic hexagonal pen that (some say) resembles a tactical pen:

Rotring '600' nib:

Julienne's wonderful OMAS 360 fountain pen, a triangular model that was launched in 1996. The triangular shape enhances both the user's grip and comfort while writing with the pen:

OMAS 360 back view:

OMAS 360 nib:

So, there you have it--fountain pens with 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 18 sides! We didn't get a chance to photograph everyone's fountain pens (e.g. I know Sasha brought in a Lamy 'Nexx' for our topic) but many thanks to all who attended, and special thanks to Dana for the great pen photos!

Our next meeting is tomorrow (Thursday April 18) at the Terry Salman branch of the VPL from 6:00pm-8:30pm (all details here in this post) so I hope you can make it! (no RSVP necessary)