Photos from our July meeting!

Our July meeting was held on the 20th at a new location -- the Terry Salman branch of the Vancouver Public Library -- and eighteen members were on hand. We had three brand-new members in attendance (Bronson, St.John and Yang), and a good time was had by all talking about our topics - White Fountain Pens (our primary theme) and Newest Acquisitions (our secondary topic). Here are some photos I snapped during our meeting...

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

It was Yang's first meeting and she brought some lovely modern fountain pens for us to see (left to right) -- her Esterbrook 'Estie - Gold Rush' Limited Edition in the Diamondcast "Frontier Green" resin, a Kilk 'Camera Laterna', and a fountain pen handmade by Sean Allot of the London Pen Company (in London, Ontario) using Jonathon Brooks' "Primary Manipulation" resin. The lined boxes in the photo were purchased from a Muji store.

Some information about the Kilk pen from their official website: "Camera Laterna means “Bright Room” in Latin. We can find the first cores of cinema in ancient times in images reflected from a lighted box. Our Camera Laterna model, which is presented to the likes of cinema lovers, resembles a camera lens with its stepped and flat body form. On the top of the cover, we are greeted by a mechanically operable film reel.The film strip on the body both aesthetically supports the visual show of the pen and takes the balance of writing from the tip of the pen to the middle."

Brand-new member St.John brought some cool pens to the meeting, including (top to bottom): a black Waterman 'Etalon' fountain pen, a TWSBI 'Vac Mini' clear demonstrator fountain pen, a Platinum 'Curidas' capless clear demonstrator fountain pen, and two ballpoints by the Fisher Space Pen company-- a 'Shuttle' chrome model with a clicker mechanism (knock) and a clipless 'Bullet' model in black.

With their pressurized cartridges, Fisher Space Pens are capable of writing at any angle-- including upside down-- or in zero gravity (a bit of pen trivia: the first Fisher Space Pen--the AG7-- was first used in space on NASA's Apollo 7 mission in 1968, and has been used on all manned space flights since then).

Above: A familiar-looking fountain pen model belonging to newcomer Bronson -- his trusty Platinum 'Plaisir'! Bronson's 'Plaisir' sports a 0.2mm steel nib (Extra Fine), the narrowest of the nib options for this model and its cousin, the ever-popular Platinum 'Preppy'.

Our secondary topic is always newest pen-related acquisitions and Phil brought several of them, starting with this modern Franklin Christoph 'Pocket 20' fountain pen (love those Franklin-Christoph nibs!). The pen was a special edition, made in collaboration with Wonder Pens, a brick & mortar/ online store in Toronto.

Phil also showed us his newest vintage finds (left to right) - a black Sheaffer 'Balance' vacuum-filler, a mystery fountain pen stamped "With the Compliments of United Distillers Limited - Vancouver", a Parker 'Vacumatic Junior' fountain pen and pencil, and an Esterbrook 'LJ' fountain pen in red (Dubonnet Red).

There is no manufacturer or model name on the mustard-coloured mystery pen, but its nib imprint says "Warranted - Non-rust nib"; if you have any info on the pen, please write to us at the email address at the top of our homepage (thanks in advance!).

Stuart brought his gorgeous ivory-coloured Graf von Faber-Castell 'Intuition' fountain pen and his white Lamy "Safari' with red clip for our meeting's primary theme...

...and for our secondary theme, Stuart brought this wonderfully eclectic group--- his new Fisher Space Pen 'Bullet' ballpoint in the lovely "Tahitian Blue" colour plus a brand-new TWSBI 'Eco' in the "Heat" colour and an eye-catching Platinum Maki-e "Red Mount Fuji" fountain pen that he purchased recently (all purchased at The Vancouver Pen Shop).

Here's a look at the other side of the Platinum's barrel, showing the world's most famous stratovolcano! This beautiful fountain pen features hand-applied gold and silver leaf from the traditional craft center of Kanazawa on the west coast of Japan.

From Nibs.com: "The motif depicts a red Mount Fuji at sunrise - gold leaf is used for the mountain itself, silver leaf for its snow-capped peak, and gold and silver leaf combined for the clouds overhead. Kanazawa gold and silver leaf craft has a history stretching back for more than four hundred years, and the region is now responsible for almost all gold and silver leaf production in Japan."

We previously used "White Fountain Pens" as a meeting theme back in January 2020 and I brought 23 white/off-white fountain pens to that meeting (hey, I was on a white pen collecting kick lol) Here's what I brought to our July 2023 meeting for the same topic (L-R): vintage Sheaffer 'Cadet' doctor's/nurse's fountain pen and pencil set (reviewed by me here), Cross 'Bailey Light' (reviewed here), white Lamy Safari with red clip, Stipula 'Etruria Magnifica', Visconti 'Rembrandt' (the latter two pens were brought to that 2020 meeting) and a newer acquisition--a Visconti 'Divina Fashion' that I bought with last year's Christmas money from my generous in-laws :)

Continuing on with the right half of my pen case are (L-R): a white Hongdian '920' with rose gold trim (I reviewed its black counterpart here), a Pirre Paul's '325' in white (reviewed here), a PenBBS '352' in "Cedar" colour (reviewed here), and my three newest acquisitions -- an off-white Nemosine 'Singularity', a Pilot '925S' in burgundy, and a Pilot 'Fermo' in the "Diamond Silver" finish that I won on eBay from Shawn Newton, in support of his registered charity, Newton Pens Scholarships.

Jerred always has something interesting to show at our meetings, and this one was no exception! The tiny bowling pin-shaped item at the top of the photo is a novelty fountain pen that actually writes (and yes, its nib is very small!). The other white fountain pens Jerred brought in were his Delta 'Unica' (middle pen) and a white Cross 'Calais' with rose gold trim and nib.

Another interesting pen belonging to Jerred--a Number72 fountain pen he recently acquired. I hadn't heard of this pen company before but, apparently, they produce a lot of glass-nibbed dip pens.

Jerred bought the pen on Amazon and said that it was made of buffalo horn (the light material) and two types of wood (ebony + another variety).

Rene attended the first Pacific NW Pen Show in Portland earlier this month and brought back several very nice fountain pens (and the Rickshaw pen roll shown above), including (L-R): a beautiful Mabie-Todd gold-filled overlay, a handsome Webster flat top from the 1920s with a chased pattern on it, an Eagle flat top in a red rippled material, a pen/pencil combo in an eye-catching material made by Waltham, a grey Sheaffer 'Imperial VIII' Touchdown filler, and a grey aluminum Taccia 'Pinnacle' fountain pen (bottom pen). It's not in the photo above, but Rene also bought an Esterbook SJ/LJ fountain pen in the grey "icicle" plastic at the pen show (apparently, he just needs the copper variant to complete his "icicle" collection!)

Rene also brought several white fountain pens for our primary meeting topic, including a Jinhao '5000' dragon fountain pen, a Lamy Safari in "Cream" colour, a Fountain Pen Revolution 'Himalaya' model in'"Taj Mahal' acrylic, a white TWSBI 'Eco', a ceramic Jinhao '950' pen, a blue and white non-ceramic fountain pen, and a fountain pen advertising a private school in New Jersey. I didn't photograph those pens at this meeting, but I did photograph some of them in January 2020 and posted a photo here

April brought two very interesting fountain pens to the meeting (both new acquisitions). The first was this glossy black Wing Sung model '630'. It's a large fountain pen with a piston-filling mechaniam, an obvious homage to the iconic Montblanc 149.... but what makes it particularly interesting??

The answer -- a massive #8-sized 14K gold nib that's available with 14 different nib options!

April chose an Extra Fine "heartbeat" nib (so named because its nib slit is the shape of an electrocardiogram/ECG printout--how cool is that? 😁) for her particular pen. The pen was purchased from the official Wing Sung store on Taobao for around $200 CAD, but third-party resellers on AliExpress also sell it (at a higher price, though); April thinks it's currently the lowest-priced fountain pen that comes with a #8 nib gold nib. As an aside, there's an ebonite version with an 18K nib called the Wing Sung '600' model.

The beautiful writing instrument shown above is another very interesting fountain pen that April recently acquired - the Hongdian D5 'Qin Dynasty' with 14K gold nib (late addition to this post: this gold-nibbed pen comes in your choice of two colours, but there is also a steel-nibbed version that comes in four different colours).

This impressive, hefty (52 grams capped weight) piston-filling fountain pen was inspired by the Qin Dynasty, which established the first empire in China. This unification was achieved by China's first emperor (Qin Shi Huang) in the 3rd century B.C, and the pen's design elements reflect the legal authority of this powerful dynasty. The three decorative barrel bands represent the ruler, measure & authority, while the cap finial has an engraving of a Xiezhi, a mythical creature of Chinese origin that symbolizes justice.

The cap features familiar Chinese symbols-- black dragons, mountain motifs, and an outline of the Great Wall -- as well as engravings of the mythical Xuan bird. The engravings on the lower cap band and barrel end depict the characters for the lesser seal and currency, respectively. There are militaristic symbols as well--the arrow-shaped clip and the grid-like pattern on the pen's black barrel and gold section which represents lamellar body armour (formed of individual metal plates--lamellae--riveted or laced together). The Qin Dynasty only lasted fiften years, but it saw the creation of the Great Wall and the famous army of Terracotta Warriors (who are depicted wearing lamellar armour), and greatly influenced subsequent Chinese dynasties.

From a very elaborate fountain pen design to one of elegant simplicity --- Luc's uber-cool Gravitas fountain pen! The pen was based on Gravitas' 'Sentry' model and is made of white Delrin, a durable, high-performance acetal resin (plastic). Luc said he swapped out the Gravitas' nib with an Opus 88 nib, which he prefers to the original nib. Luc also brought a Platinum 'Procyon' fountain pen in "Porcelain White" to the meeting (not pictured).

Vladan came back from Europe with some great German fountain pens, including the three above (top to bottom)--a Pelikan '3000 set' (post-2003 version) Silver fountain pen, a Pelikan 'Signum' model P505, and a blue Pelikan 'Pelikano' model 7 P456 (with a longer clip from 1996). The first two pens were featured in a blog post earlier this month (link).

Above: Vladan's all-black Pelikan '140' (less commonly seen than its striped green counterpart) and his green-striped Pelikan '400', which was only produced in this colour from 1954-1956, also making it a harder-to-find model.

Above: a Montblanc III Serie no. 031 fountain pen belonging to Vladan. CollectibleStars.com (a very useful Montblanc reference site) says this piston-filling model was produced between 1946 and 1970.

Here's another great German fountain pen that Vladan also recently acquired -- Diplomat 'Elox Matrix' in green/black! This anodized aluminum pen model was inspired by the very popular Diplomat 'Aero', and named after the German word (‘eloxieren') for anodizing.

If the mystery fountain pen above looks familiar, it's because it was reviewed by its owner --Christopher-- here last week!

Peter brought in this white Pilot 'Parallel' fountain pen (purchased at Charals) ...

...and his white-silver Kaweco ALSport in Raw Aluminum for our main meeting topic.

Peter also showed us this recent acquisition--a very cool-looking copper ballpoint made by a local pen maker (when I get more info about it, I'll post it here).

There were some nice white fountain pens I didn't get around to photographing, including: Mark S's white Pelikan M205  and his Delta 'Dolce Vita' very limited edition (only 2 were made!), Renz's ivory modern Conklin 'Crescent-Filler', Cross Classic 'Wanderlust', Jinhao '82', Sheaffer 'VFM' and Lamy Safari (with black clip) and Asifa's elegant white Cross 'Bailey Light' set with gold-coloured trim. The most interesting pen-acquisition story we heard at the meeting was probably about the Hero '616' fountain pen that Felipe found in a box on the street, abandoned by its former owner (the shock! the horror!). 

Our evening's primary theme was suggested by Joie, who --unfortunately-- wasn't able to attend the meeting, but she sent me this nice photo of the pens she would have brought:
(Photo above, top to bottom: Monteverde 'Walt Disney Collection - Sleeping Beauty' fountain pen and rollerball, Lamy 'Safari', Pelkan 'Pelikano', and Pelikan 'M605' white transparent)

Sherman also wasn't able to make it to our July meeting, but he sent these photos of his own impressive white pen collection:

(left to right) Kaweco 'Student' "60's Swing", LABAN '325' "Wisteria Purple" Ivory & GT Cap, Sailor 1911 Profit Fude Mannen - Daisy White, Sailor 1911 Standard Ivory, élysée Spherical Finial (60 Line) Caprice Pearl, PenBBS ' 352' in "Snow" acrylic/resin, National Design Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck ballpoints, and a Sailor Dreamy Perfume 50 mini Ballpoint Pen #8010.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the meeting this month, whether you had anything to show for either meeting topic or not! (and thanks to Joie and Sherman for their photos, too) We'll most likely be back at the same place for our August meeting, but please check the top of our homepage for meeting info (it's in big red letters, so you can't miss it :)

(~blog post by Maja~)

Seeing red - February meeting report! (with lots of photos)

February's meeting was our second best-attended (31 is the record) --26 VPC members including seven brand-new members (Akemi, Gurmeet, Lisa, Luc, Mandy, Sally, and Syd -- a new record!) -- came to our meeting at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on February 16th. I took lots of photos, so without further ado.....

(~please click on images to enlarge~)

Our meeting theme that night was "Your Favourite Red Fountain Pens and/or Red Inks" and we saw many wonderful examples, including these four Italian-made beauties (top to bottom): Jerred's Filcao 'Roxi' (reviewed by Jerred here),  Glenn's brand-new Leonardo 'Supernova' "Star Light", Jerred's modern Conklin 'Nozac' "Toledo Red" and his Delta 'Oblo' ("oblo" being the Italian word for "porthole").

Brand-new member Akemi brought a bright red Jinhao 'X450' and her uber-cool Benu 'Skull and Roses' "Red Rose" fountain pen for our meeting theme!

(From Benu's official website: "Inspired by one of the most popular motifs that represents the eternal struggle of good vs evil, the Red Rose fountain pen has been crafted in the dramatic red color.")

We also saw several very nice vintage fountain pens at our meeting, including this red Esterbrook 'SJ' model (photo above) belonging to Phil ...




We also saw a modern red Esterbrook fountain pen---Julienne's aptly-named Esterbrook 'Estie Oversize' "Sparkle"! Below it is her new London Pen Company 'Christopher 13' fountain pen, made by Sean Allott, a pen maker located in London, Ontario.




Sally--another brand-new VPC member---brought her own London Pen Company fountain pen to the meeting- a 'Christopher 14' model (which is the same length as the 'Christopher '13', but chunkier) in Jonathon Brooks' amazing "Primary Manipulation" resin. Sally's pen is shown sporting a custom (reground) nib.

Above: Julienne's London Pen Company pen next to a stylish burgundy Pilot 'Elite 95S' fountain pen belonging to new VPC member Mandy. The Pilot is a pocket pen, but when posted, becomes a full-sized pen.

Hadi's handsome Pilot 'Custom 845' (made of ebonite and coated with urushi lacquer) which he purchased in Japan...

Rene brought a multitude of red fountain pens to show us, including this stunning Platinum ' 3776 Century Limited Edition - Kinshu" (which came out in 2021), and a vintage flat-top made of mottled red hard rubber.


More of Rene's red pens (top to bottom): a nice mottled red hard rubber vintage pen with a domed cap, a Jinhao '5000' dragon fountain pen, a mysterious hand-painted fountain pen marked "Secap" and "Made in Japan" that Rene found in Paris several years ago, a Kaweco 'Special Red' (part of Kaweco's 'Collection' line) and a vintage Parker '45'.

Alejandra's elegant Pilot 'Decimo', a slimmer version of Pilot's ever-popular 'Vanishing Point' model...

Above: Chris' Pilot 'Custom 74' "Wine Red" and his new Faber-Castell 'Ambition' "Rhombus" fountain pen

Chris' beautiful 'Platinum '3776 Century' "Bourgogne" and my brand-new Platinum '3776 Balance Maestro' in black below it...

They might look very similar but, unlike the '3776 Century' model, the lower-priced '3776 Balance Maestro' comes with a gold-plated steel nib and doesn't have Platinum's "Slip & Seal" cap closure mechanism to prevent the capped pen from drying out (I'll do a review of it in the near future, but I wanted to show it next to its "rich cousin" in this blog post!)

Peter's gorgeous Nakaya 'Long Cigar' Kuro-tamenuri fountain pen , handmade of urushi lacquer over ebonite. The pen has a double broad nib that was ground to a 0.8 mm stub---nice! (Peter actually did a video review of this beautiful fountain pen on his YouTube Channel a few years ago -- link)

Over time, the semi-transparent natural urushi lacquer matures and becomes more transparent, allowing the base layer colour (in this case, a deep red) to become visible --a wonderful, natural transformation...

Next to my new Jinhao 'X450' (top pen) is a Aurora 'Optima' in "Bordeaux" resin that I brought in for the meeting's primary theme (your favourite red fountain pens/inks). I bought the Aurora from a fellow Fountain Pen Network member in 2010, and it was probably the most I'd spent on a fountain pen up to that time. 

Although I have many red fountain pens, the Aurora is among my favourites because of its classic, timeless design... and its slightly-toothy 14K gold nib; Aurora makes their own fountain pen nibs and I've always liked writing with this pen because of the feedback you get from the nib. I forgot to bring it with me, but my favourite red ink is Robert Oster's "Australian Shiraz", a gift from my fellow VPCer Alejandra (thanks again, Alejandra! :)


We also saw some really nice red inks...and ink swatches! Our thanks go out to John for bringing in the swatches above; there's nothing like seeing how an ink looks on paper! (the way ink looks on a screen can be very different, as we all know :/

Anna was good enough to fill her new "Mint Blue" TWSBI 'Eco-T' (oops!) with Robert Oster 'Australian Syrah' ink, so I wrote a few words with it. As you can see, it's a lovely, rich colour...

Our secondary meeting theme is always "Newest Acquisitions" so I brought my new Jinhao 'X450' in spiral red lacquer, and my little orange and white Kaigelu '316 Mini' fountain pen (purchased from one of my favourite sellers on Etsy - 'esybuy')

More new acquisitions brought in by our members! (top to bottom): Jerred's brushed stainless steel Sheaffer 'Targa' with factory italic nib, an Italian-made syringe-filler owned by Rene, a Sheaffer Levenger 'Connaisseur' (not sure whose it is, but it's a very nice pen), and two eye-catching fountain pens recently acquired by John--- a cheery TWSBI 'Eco-T' "Saffron" and an iridescent TWSBI 'Diamond 580' "Iris".

More new pens - (above photo, bottom to top) Anna's new Kaweco 'Sport' in "Smooth Sage" and her black vintage Pilot 'Elite' (which she filled with Diamine "Strauss" ink), Alejandra's vintage Eversharp 'Skyline' and a TWSBI '580 ALR' "Punch Pink" (I can't remember who brought it in, but I own one and love mine!)

Above: Some of Rene's newest acquisitions--two tiny vintage fountain pens, a vintage fountain pen with a snake clip, and a vintage Parker 'Duofold Senior' Lapis" that Rene bought as a "self-gift" for his birthday (happy belated birthday, Rene! :)

A closer look at that cool snake clip...

Alvin's classy stainless steel Pilot 'Elite' with crosshatch pattern, which came out in the 1970s. For more info on Japanese pocket fountain pens, check out this superb article on Richard Binder's excellent reference site.

Phil's modern Kaweco 'Original' (top) fountain pen and Anna's vintage Montblanc '32' fountain pen...


The Montblanc '32' has a 14K inset nib and was first produced between 1946 and 1970, according to the informative CollectibleStars.com website...

Last, but certainly not least--a charming miniature silver notebook and mechanical pencil belonging to Stuart! The inscription reads: "Compliments of Bauman-Massa Jewelry Co. Commercial Building St Louis, MO"). Stuart thinks it was made around the turn of the previous century.

Stuart also brought in some items he previously reviewed for this site --a gorgeous Sheaffer desk base made of Norwegian marble (reviewed here), a Sheaffer ballpoint counter set (reviewed here), a handsome Sheaffer 'PFM V' fountain pen in burgundy (shown here), and one of his Faber-Castell 'Ambition' fountain pens (this one) that he filled with his favourite red ink--Graf von Faber-Castell's "India Red". Stuart also showed us two new fountain pens---a brand-new Parker 'Sonnet' in brushed stainless steel he bought from the Vancouver Pen Shop at their new location's grand opening and a vintage Waterman C/F.

Many thanks to all of our new members for coming to your first Vancouver Pen Club meeting, and for bringing some pens for us to see. I didn't photograph them, but I remember Gurmeet's lovely Parker 'Jotter XL' "Rose Gold" ballpoint, the beautiful vintage (ca. 1929) Morrison fountain pen with gold overlay that Lisa showed us, Luc's marvelous red fountain pens (a Penlux, a Conklin 'Duragraph" "Elements - Fire", and a Pilot 'Vanishing Point'), as well as a wonderful vintage Waterman '52' with gold overlay that Syd brought in.

Thank you to everyone who came to our February meeting ... whether you brought in anything for our topics or not! I'll be posting our March meeting info here on our website --as a blog post, and also at the top of each page in big red letters--- as soon as I confirm the venue and date.

(~Blog post and photos by Maja~)