Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 307

 From one modern red fountain pen to another! This is Lawrence's lovely acquisition...

Lawrence writes: "This is my Parker Red Sonnet (....almost typed in "Red Sonja..." LOL). I can't say this pen is "feminine" like, for example, my Waterman Elegance, because most of my pens are basically neutral. It's like with birds. I used to have ten budgies and I know that some of them are "male" and some are "female"...but visually it's hard to tell so I do treat them as neutral cute creatures and that's that. So same thing with most of my pens. Anyway, here are some pictures of the pen:

(all photos courtesy of Lawrence ~ please click on images to enlarge)

I got the F point nib and here is the nib:

The thing that was a bit annoying in the end for me was the converter. It's not a twist converter, but a sliding one. Supposedly this is to help fill the pen with one hand, but the mechanism is not smooth and it gets jammed often...so in the end what seems like a good idea became something of an annoyance.

This converter also has a ball-bearing inside that "shakes" the ink up a bit while you use it, supposedly to help the flow (well it didn't...LOL..more on that later).

I got this pen as an "update" of my beloved vintage Parker, and I wanted this Sonnet to act as a "proxy" for my vintage pen (I know it sounds crazy...but sort of like an "ambassador" for my vintage Parkers LOL).

The pen is beautiful to look at, the gold / black / red is a great combo.

(According to this page, the date code on the cap band --the single vertical line,  followed by the letter "I" seen above-- represents the first quarter of the year 1994)

It has a made in France / Parker name on the cap.

I know this is not really a "big deal" as Waterman (a French company) has acquired Parker, or is it the other way around ? (Ed. note: Both companies are owned by Newell Brands). Anyway, this takes me back to my elementary years, when my vintage Parkers were still actively being used. Most of the Parker pens everyone had were made in the USA, but I had this classmate who had a French Parker. She called it "My French Parker" in capital letters LOL. Anyway, it struck me as quite unusual and, as a kid, I wanted my own "French Parker"...and now I do....in red no doubt.

Now we get to the writing part. I have owned pens with diva vibes (eg. my POY 2008) but most of these diva pens don't behave that way when writing; they are mostly very well-behaved and totally proletariat. But this Parker looks diva-ish and plays the part; it does not like any ink I put in it except Parker black. It skips like crazy until it got to the Parker black, then it worked fine, wrote smoothly, and is happy. Which is totally fine because I had this OCD thing with black/red combos -- black pen / red ink--and so this Red Sonnet will naturally "need" to have black ink anyway. So it worked out in a way."

Our thanks to Lawrence for his photos & review of this classic modern fountain pen--a perennial favourite-- as well as his ongoing contributions to our pen club's virtual "show & tell :)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 107

Today's newest acquisition is courtesy of VPC member Armando! Here is his write-up....

THE SONNET GAMBIT 

Siegbert Tarrasch, considered to be the Master of Chess, once said: "Chess, like music, like love, has the power to make people happy". 

(please click on images to enlarge)

Can we say the same thing with a fountain pen? 

In my opinion, the answer is yes, we can. 

Introducing the Parker Sonnet ....

When Geoff Hollington created the Parker Sonnet, he intended it to be the classic Parker, a truly timeless product. He went for a really well proportioned cigar shape, clear but updated arrow clip, a generously sized nib, and from the engineer's perspective, state of the art writing experience. Many models and designs have been created in the Sonnet series since 1994. 

 

The Sonnet featured here is the model with the chiseled sterling silver finish, the Sonnet Ciselé in 18k gold nib. The pen is hefty, given that it is sterling. Holding the pen gives the impression that it is durable. Posted or unposted, the pen has nearly perfect balance and sits in the hand well. Whilst this pen is quite old (1995, based on code IIT on the cap), it still looks great after years of use. The silver has developed a patina which adds to its character. 

 

Writing with the pen gives a hint of a feedback, but not scratchy. The 18k gold gives it some spring. I am using the Waterman Blue Black ink, and it pairs very well with the pen. 

In closing, I can say that when I ordered the pen, I had some concern due to its age (approx. 25 years), and not being sure of the condition. However, when I unboxed it, saw it, felt it, inked it, and wrote with it, the first word that came to mind was:   CHECKMATE!!!

 Armando, congratulations on your beautiful Parker Sonnet fountain pen---a true modern classic---and many thanks for the great photos and entertaining review :)

A few photos from our October meeting

Our October 2019 meeting was held at the Kitsilano Yacht Club located on Vancouver's beautiful English Bay. Many thanks to Daryl for booking this venue for us again!

There were 23 members (including newcomers Thomas and Yugo) at the meeting, whose theme was "Textured Fountain Pens" (Jerred's idea). I was having camera problems, so my apologies for this abbreviated blog post!

(~click on images to enlarge~)

A lovely array of fountain pens (counterclockwise from far left): a Pilot 'Decimo' & a Pilot 'Vanishing Point' both owned (& recently-hand-decorated using nail art supplies) by Candice (great job, Candice!), Jim's new Pelikan M205 in the sparkly "Star Ruby" colour, Ricardo's two Otto Hutt model '04' fountain pens in the "Pinstriped Guilloché Sterling Silver" and "Black Square Guilloché" pattern and his Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloché" in the lovely 'Burned Orange colour. The pen drawings were all done by Ricardo, who somehow manages to both draw *and* photograph pens!

I usually forget to photograph my own pens at meetings (because I'm too busy scribbling notes and/or taking photos of other peoples' pens for this blog :) but I remembered to snap a couple of very quick shots this time. The ones I brought for our October topic (textured fountain pens) are shown below (from L-R): Parker '105' in the "Rolled Gold Bark" pattern, a Parker '75' "Ciselé" model, Parker 75 "Diamante", Parker 'Sonnet' "Ciselé" model, a Parker 'Sonnet' in the "Tartan" pattern, Sheaffer 'Imperial' "Sovereign" (gold-filled), Sheaffer 'Intensity' in the "Medici" pattern, a vintage Waterman 'CF' set in the attractive "Crocodile" pattern, a vintage Wahl-Eversharp "All-Metal" fountain pen in the "Dart" machine-turned pattern from the 1920s (there are some gorgeous photos of the "All-Metal' fountain pens on this Penhero.com page) and two vintage aluminum (or vanadium??) no-name pens with two different machined patterns:

(~click on images to enlarge~)

More fountain pens I brought for our monthly theme (from L-R): Faber-Castell "WRITink" fountain pen with fingerprint pattern, two Creeks n' Creeks fountain pens with textured finishes, a Sheaffer 'Lady' fountain pen in a pretty "Paisley White" pattern and another pen marketed towards women by Wearever called the "Lady Fair" in orange (there's a nice little writeup on the Wearever model here), a small Eclipse fountain pen and two no-name (possibly Eclipse??) fountain pens all with black chased plastic patterns, a German-made Matador fountain pen and a vintage Wahl-Eversharp "All-Metal" fountain pen in the "Niagara" machine-turned pattern. The last two fountain pens are my newest acquisitions (which is always our secondary meeting theme)- two plastic Zebra fountain pens from my local Staples store:

Many thanks to all who came to our October meeting, whether you brought anything for our topics or not; our club is all about having fun learning about fountain pens and other writing instruments in a very casual atmosphere. If this is of interest to you, please drop in and see what our club is all about! (no need to RSVP for any VPC meeting not held in a restaurant).

Our next meeting will be held on THURSDAY November 21 at a brand-new location---all details in this very recent post.
Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com
Hope you can make it to our next meeting!
Cheers ~Maja

March Meeting Photos

Note: This post was written by Ricardo.

This month's Vancouver Pen Club meet was held at the Oakridge branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

This month's topics were the Parker 45, the Parker Sonnet, and the Pelikan m800.



Jerred started off with his presentation on the Parker 45. This was Parker's first cartridge-converter pen, and a huge success, being sold for four decades.



Armando then proceeded with his presentation on another Parker model, the Sonnet.

The Parker Sonnet is a more recent model, designed by Geoff Hollington to replace the then declining 75.

Jim, Glenn, Dana and René

Then Glenn presented on the Pelikan m800. He even brought information sheets for everyone.

Pelikan was the first company to introduce piston-filler pens, due to their earlier acquisition of the differential-piston patent. Their first piston-filler was launched in 1925 to great success, due to its ease of use along with the larger ink capacity.

Parker 45

Christopher's Parker 45 set

Multiple Parker 45, with a guilloche Parker Sonnet snuck in

Ricardo's m805 Vibrant Blue, Glenn's m800 Black, Brown Tortoise, Burnt Orange, Green Stripe, Red Stripe, Renaissance Brown, Blue Stripe, René's M805 Stresemann, and Sabrina's m205 Aquamarine

Glenn's Pelikan M800 Burnt Orange (2015's Special Edition)

Glenn's Pelikan m800 Renaissance Brown (2017's Special Edition)

René's Pelikan m805 Anthracite Stresemann (available since 2015)

Jerred's three PenBBS 308 and a 309.

Sabrina's limited edition Lamy Safari

Armando's Parker Sonnet pens

René's Arnold pens

Mark's Parker 61

Dana's black Pilot Custom Heritage 91, and Platinum 3776

Dana's Pilot Custom Heritage 91

Dana's Parker Vacumatic

Stuart's Parker 51

Barry's Mabie Todd Swan

The Mabie Todd Swan's flexible nib

Tony's Montblanc 149

Glenn, Dana, René, Alejandra, Mindy, and Carmen

Above: Tony, Natasha, Grace, Jerred, Mindy, Glenn and Alejandra

Above: René, Mark, Barry, Christopher, Stuart and Tony. Below: Sabrina and Carmen

Thanks to the people who prepared presentations, and to everyone who came to the meeting!