Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 548

Our thanks to Christopher for sending in this write up about his latest vintage treasure!

Christopher writes:
"With the migration of Brits from the UK to British Columbia during the 1950s and well into the 60s, it is not out of the question to find fine British made fountain pens, especially in the city of Vancouver. And I, for one, am always on the lookout for such wonderful treasures. Along these lines, a lovely early 1940s Swan, Mabie Todd came my way and, needless to say, I was thrilled."

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

"But let me relate the makeup of this super vintage writing instrument. The finish of this pen is an attractive blue pearl and black marbling over all on the barrel and cap. The 14K Gold filled cap clip presents a fashionable Swan branding logo at its top, followed vertically down to a ball end, with a black cap ring top and screw, well inserted, to hold the clip and top ring in place. At the open end of the cap is a triple 14K Gold filled banding, signifying that this is a standard top of the model line deluxe model. Under this cap is a well-made black grip section sporting a good-sized No.4, 14K Gold Swan marked nib. The barrel below is quite substantial and, for that matter, well marked, with not only the pen's manufacturer but the model, 1042. And I should mention having handled this pen that it sits extremely well balanced in the hand.

At the other end of this fine writer is a unique filling system, which says quite a bit for the Mabie Todd company's engineering department. The filling mechanism is branded 'Leverless' and works extremely smoothly with a black barrel end knob. Turned clockwise, it inks the pen and in turn, rotated the other way, empties the ink sack in the barrel. With a clean leverless barrel, the effect is quite stunning and I for one intend to add this super British trooper to my vintage pen collection." 

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 543

Today we're featuring another one of Christopher's vintage finds, but this one has a surprising Canadian twist! Intrigued? Read on .... 

Christopher writes:

"In the last decade and a half, I have not had the good luck to find and secure a Mabie Todd fountain pen much earlier than the 1920s, but just the other day a lovely relic from the company's past came my way..."

 

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

 

 

"Well noted and inscribed on the barrel are the words 'MABIE TODD & CO.' and above 'THE SWAN PEN' with the early Swan logo just before it. But let me say that the finish on both the barrel and cap is a well-defined black chased vulcanized rubber. The cap is a long flat top, featuring the original early patent 1915 14K Gold filled tapered to a ball end clip. And to add further character to this covering and just above the clip, are the words inscribed, 'SCREW CAP TIGHTLY' with an instructional arrow indicating which way to screw the cap back onto the barrel --a wise directive in anyone's books. The barrel also is well marked on its flat bottom with the Mabie Todd pen model identification as C3 LSF. I am not too sure what the 'C' refers to but the 3 definitely relates to the size of nib and for that matter probably the overall size of the pen, which to my mind is quite substantial. The letters to follow could well identify this writing instrument as a lever self-filler which indeed it is.

The nib, which is supported in a good-sized grip, is most impressive both in size and writing ability. Plus, it is inscribed 14K Gold No.3 Mabie Todd Toronto. Yes, this was a pen sold out of the Mabie Todd. Toronto Canada office. Probably produced in the UK and shipped to Canada just after the Great War to be retailed. I have made comments about the size of this pen but, to be more exact, it posts at a full 6 ½ inches to sit well balanced in the hand, but caps back responsibly to a pocketable 5 ½ inches, just perfect for a breast pocket. All and all a perfect candidate for my vintage pen collection and one I am definitely looking forward to using."

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~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 481

Here's a lovely vintage (actually, it's now an antique as it's 100 years old!) fountain pen that Christopher showed at our March meeting (and speaking of meetings -- don't forget our April meeting on Thursday April 20--full details here)...

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

And here's Christopher's write-up about it:

"In Chicago during 1902, The United Drug Company was founded with the trademark branding, “Rexall”. What followed was the blossoming and spreading of what we now know as the ‘Drug Store’ all over North America. There were many different drugstore companies that followed, but it was Rexall that started the ball rolling. And one of their first quality fountain pens was the Signet. Unlike their lesser quality pens, the Signet was made by the De Witt – La France Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts with a focus on the best of the best.

This Signet is of remarkable quality for a house brand pen. The finish on the barrel and cap is 1/20th 14K Gold Filled and beautifully chased with inverted chevrons between groups of vertical lines. This is a flat top and bottom pen, and a snapfil lever filler. The cap clip looks ever so much like a Wahl clip and sports a patent on the top that attaches it to the cap. The section is long and thin and is finished in jet black plastic. Atop this grip is a stunning 14K Gold No.2 Mabie Todd flexy nib. This fine pen posts at all of 6 ¼ inches, but caps back to 5 inches. Still, to my mind, what is the best thing about this pen and really had me scooping it up was what is engraved at the top of the barrel, “Sold Only at the Rexall Stores.” I close by adding that this pen has a certain elegance which just will not let you put it down!"

Our thanks to Christopher for shining a spotlight on this beautiful antique fountain pen --- it still looks fantastic at age 100! ;)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 432

Ok, we're back to vintage pens today with a lovely set recently acquired by VPCer Christopher!

Christopher writes: "When it comes to British vintage pens, those made by the Mabie Todd Company out of London were exceptional. Exceptional in just so many ways. For me, personally, the fountain pens produced in the mid 1920s (before Mabie Todd moved to plastic in 1929) over the hard vulcanized rubber just seem to tick off all of the boxes. To start with, I do not think that very many of the pen manufactures of the day could match Mabie Todd’s deep rosewood finish, married with brilliant 14K Gold filled fittings and a big, impressive flexy number 6 nib, just has to add up to an outstanding writing instrument. Add to this the fact that even the grip is in the same matching rosewood finish and I think there is a ton of outstanding ‘Wow’ factor available. But most would have to agree that it was the styling and designs of these pens and pencils that just takes your breath away."

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ click on image to enlarge)

He continues: "Mabie Todd went one step further, using the branding ‘Eternal’ to indicate a life time warranty and like Waterman with their pen numbering, the Mabie Todd nib size was used for part of the numbering of the pen. So number 6 nib, branded the pen a number 46. As for size, the pen in my Mabie Todd No.46 set, posted at all of 8 ½ inches but caps back to an even 5 inches for the pocket. 

The mechanical self propelled pencil in this Mabie Todd set is beautifully designed with a twist top knob mechanism to both extend and retract the leads. Over and above the matching rosewood finish, there are two 14K Gold Filled bands -one located below the knob mechanism, and the other at the mid point of the pencil. The fittings are all 14K Gold Filled and the ball ended humpback clip has the words ‘Fyne Poynt’ engraved at the top. Otherwise, other than the fact that it matches the fountain pen, there is no other identification on this pencil.

This brings me to a very interesting observation, in that the barrel of the fountain pen is imprinted ‘Swan, Mabie Todd Co. Ltd. Made in England’, but the number 6 nib is engraved, Mabie Todd & Co. New York. Actually, the Mabie Todd company was active in the pen business in both countries. Evidently, the New York operation did make both pens and nibs which were, in turn, shipped to the London Mabie Todd location for selling. But what is just very unusual is the clip on the fountain and the reality that unlike other Mabie Todd Eternal 46 pens, this pen has no evidence of ever having a cap band. In fact, the placement of the clip just does not allow enough room for the wide cap band usually found on Mabie Todd 46 Eternal fountain pens. Plus, the clip has no Mabie Todd or Swan branding on it whatsoever. And it is fastened without rivets, like the other Mabie Todd 46 Eternals I have viewed. The Clip is 100% Mabie Todd and original, matching the pencil clip save its larger size, perfectly. The only identification on the fountain pen cap is the Swan logo on the flat top of this covering. As for overall condition of the set, it is just brilliant and looks to have been hardly used. I am just thrilled to add this fine vintage UK set to my collection and can’t wait to use it." 

Christopher, many thanks for sharing this wonderful vintage set with us! Congratulations on another great find :) 

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 138

Today's featured newest acquisition is this beautiful American vintage fountain pen, a Mabie Todd 'Swallow' owned by Christopher...

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

Christopher: "Just added a lovely American pen to my collection, a pen I was not actually familiar with. I have a number of nice Swan pens and at least one Blackbird, but the Swallow was a pen I knew nothing of until just recently."

"This is truly a magnificent fountain pen, from its rather attractive golden pearl and jet mottled finish to its 14K gold fittings, it really stands out. Plus the design, in my view, is truly Deco. A lever filler with a typical mid 1930s ball-ended humpback clip. But the nib is the true essence of this pen. As smooth and as even in laying down the ink as they come. I just fell in love with this fine trooper the second I started writing with it. In closing, I think the Mabie Todd Company had a lot to be proud of, and this pen will remain in my favourite category for quite some time."

Christopher notes that "Mabie Todd's 'Swallow' is US-made, not from the British Mabie Todd. Their equivalent pen was the 'Jackdaw', produced in the UK." 

Interestingly, after the American branch of Mabie Todd shut down in 1941, it was resurrected in the very early 21st century and produced a modern version of the "Swallow" fountain pen (which bears no resemblance to Christopher's lovely vintage pen). For a short history of the vintage Mabie Todd pen company, check out this webpage. Many thanks to Christopher for his photo and write-up :)

November meeting pics

Our November meeting saw our pen club at a brand-new venue---a nice, cozy meeting room near Vancouver City Hall! Nineteen VPC members (including newcomer Nathan) were in attendance to see and hear about the items brought in for our "Open Format" theme...

The purpose of this open-ended theme was to allow members to bring in writing-instrument-related items that didn't fit in with previous topics. Our secondary topic is always "Newest Acquisitions" and we were lucky to see some great new pens, such as the ones René brought in... (~click on images to enlarge~)

(Photo above) René's haul included some nice vintage fountain pens (maroon Parker '45', a woodgrain ringtop, a Lady Sheaffer Skripsert' in the "Balicon Red on Gold" fishnet pattern, a swirly Morgan lever-filler, and a Waterman cartridge-converter fountain pen--all in the bottom row) and some lovely modern ones (the Montblanc 'Petit Prince" LE and a Lamy 'LX' in "Maron" at the top of the photo). Another recent acquisition was René's all-black Lamy 'Studio', also shown above.

(Above) Another new acquisition of René's - this ornate Cross 'Sauvage' 2020 Year of the Rat Special Edition fountain pen

A closer look at René's vintage Morgan lever-filler. The Morgan Pen and Pencil Co had was located at 116 Nassau Street in New York City and made second/third-tier writing instruments in the 1930's/1940's. Some were made of interesting plastics, such as this caramel-y swirly example shown above

Stuart brought in some interesting items for us to see, including the book "The Art of Cursive Penmanship" by master penman Michael Sull.

(Above) Stuart's vintage (aluminum? vanadium?) lever-filler (possibly made by Morrison) and a handsome black Parker '51' used by his maternal grandfather at his job at Vancouver's City Hall:

(Below) A few more pens brought in by Stuart for our November meeting (L-R); Platinum Century 3776 in "Chartres Blue", Pilot 'Vanishing Point' in "Blue Carbonesque", yellow Lamy 'Safari' and a modern Conklin 'Duragraph' in the cool (heh) "Cracked Ice" pattern.

Candice's lovely collection of short Japanese fountain pens made by Pilot. Actually, these are examples of long-short pens---short pens that, when capped, become full-sized pens:

Mindy's vintage Esterbrook 'J series' fountain pen in pastel grey:

Modern and vintage----Jerred's Cross 'Verve' in dark navy blue (a new purchase) and Christopher's vintage black Swan fountain pen:

Three Deltas---(top to bottom) a Delta '366' (cs. 2003-2004), a pink Delta 'Unica' and a bright yellow Delta 'Nabi'--all owned by Jerred:

A classic vintage fountain pen - the Sheaffer 'Balance'. This one was recently acquired by Alejandra:

Tony's Moonman 'Wancai Mini' fountain pen. This diminutive pen measurs 3.4 inches long when capped but a comfortable 4.7 inches long when posted. The fountain pen is filled using bottled ink and has a generous capacity of 2ml:

Dana's "Old-Style" Pelikan M250 fountain pen. After 1997, the cap top and cap rings were changed, and a trim ring was added to the turning/filling knob:

Another classic vintage Sheaffer---Christopher's lovely striated green Sheaffer 'Triumph' fountain pen:

(Photo below) Longtime VPC member Glenn Marcus brought in three gorgeous fountain pens from two Italian pen companies-one old and one new. The fountain pen on the far right is a Scribo 'Feel', made by the newly-formed Scribo pen company of Bologna, which was started by former employees of OMAS. This blue-black 'Feel' model was part of their regular production line, whereas the lime-green version on the far left (in the "Verde Prato" colour) was a limited edition of only 219 pieces . The nibs were made on machinery owned by the late-lamented OMAS pen company. Glenn has a great review (and much nicer photos) of the Scribo pens on his website here.

The pen in the middle has a very interesting story. It was made by the Cervinia fountain pen company (founded in 1936) in its factory in Turin. This pen and many others were hidden during WWII but were eventually found, and then acquired by the Stipula pen factory, who started refurbishing them---essentially bringing them back to life---in 2014 (!). This particular model is the Cervinia 'Transparente', a piston-filler which has a semi-clear celluloid body, an ebonite feed and a 14kt gold nib. Glenn talks about this fascinating wartime story on his pen blog here.

Brand-new VPC member Nathan brought a few pens to his first meeting, including the two classic modern fountain pens below---a blue-striped Pelikan M805 and a Montblanc '149. The two-pen leather case is by Girologio:

Nathan's Leonardo 'Momento Zero' fountain pen in the gorgeous "Hawaii" pattern:

Two recent acquisitions. The iridescent fountain pen is my (Maja's) Parker 'Frontier' "Chromaflair" model in purple and red. This pen was made in the last quarter of 2006, which was the very end of its production run. How do I know this? Because the back of its cap (like many Parkers, both vintage and modern) is stamped with a date code (in this case, a "Y" - see this page for a very useful reference list). Below the Parker is a very unusual pencil (one of a lot recently acquired by Justin) - a Dur-O-Lite wooden pencil fitted with a plastic mechanical pencil mechanism! (thanks for the pencil, Justin :)

A few other other pens I brought in for our November meeting (from L-R): a pink Platinum 'Cool' fountain pen, a sterling silver Waterman LeMan 200 fountain pen, a ThINK rollerball in the "Poolside" pattern, and a Retro 51 'Cioppino' rollerball made of polished pieces of genuine seashell:

Well, that's all the photos from our November meeting! Congrats to Dana on winning the door prize draw, a two-pack of Zebra fountain pens (like the ones in the last phoro of this older blog post)

Don't forget---our next meeting is this Thursday (December 19th)--same place and time as our November meeting (link to info about our December meeting)!.