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~)

Photos from our Vancouver Pen Shop get-together/November meeting ~ Part 2

Here's the second set of photos taken during our pen club's recent get-together hosted by the good folks at the Vancouver Pen Shop on November 17th (* see previous blog post for other photos *). This event was held at their store's old location on West Hastings; since then, the store has moved to its new location at 555 Howe Street!

This get-together wasn't like a regular meeting of our club, but a couple of meeting themes were suggested and implemented --"Green Fountain Pens" (store manager Shannon's idea) and "Your Favourite Pen Purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop", which was suggested by a longtime member of our pen club and one of the Vancouver Pen Shop's most loyal customers -- the gentleman you see below... Stuart!

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

If you've been following the virtual "show & tell" here on our blog, you know that Stuart has purchased many pens and pen-related items from the Vancouver Pen Shop over the years. For our meeting themes, he brought along a few green fountain pens and his very favourite pen purchase from the Pen Shop - the gorgeous Graf von Faber-Castell 'Intuition' fountain pen on the extreme right of the photo below...

Above: (L-R) Sheaffer Levenger Connaisseur in the "Aegean Sea" colour, vintage Sheaffer 'Craftsman', vintage Sheaffer 'Balance', Parker 'Classic' fountain pen (the first pen Stuart purchased from Van Pen... way back in 1988!), Lamy 'Studio' in "Racing Green"(another Van Pen purchase) and the Graf von F-C 'Intuition'. Stuart's adorable cat & bird pen roll was bought at the Pen Shop as well.

(~ photo courtesy of Sherman ~)

Many thanks to Sherman for sending in this photograph of the pens he brought to the meeting! He was busy taking those great selfies (which I posted in Part 1 of this blog post) and I was busy mingling with our members and the Van Pen staff, so I never got around to photographing them. Along with the photo, Sherman added: "Enclosed please find the green pens that I brought to the event. The Platinium 3776 was for the 2nd theme, to remind that I have bought a Black one there and they wrapped it so nice as I was gifting it. Was so impressed how kind they were."

Photo above (L-R): Platinum President Wine Red, Kaweco Student 60’s Swing, Pelikan Souverän® M400 Black-Green, Visconti Rembrandt Special Ops Limited Edition, LAMY AL-Star Turmaline Special Edition 2020, Franklin-Christoph Model 02 Intrinsic Retro Emerald & Ice, élysée Lyric Rouge (30 Line), élysée Laque Jade (80 Line - Design Line), Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler™ Spring Green/Gold Leaf Marble.

Above: Louise's beautiful Rickshaw Bags 8-pen roll (featuring the famous "Great Wave" print by Hokusai)  with some lovely fountain pens peeking out from it, like her new Leonardo 'Momento Zero Grande 2.0' in "Angel Skin" resin (the third pen from the left), and a couple of cheery green TWSBI 'Eco' fountain pens - a "Glow Green" (which glows in the dark!) and a "Jade" model.

Above: A sampling of some green fountain pens that I own---(left to right): a UK-made Parker 'Duofold', Parker '17 Super Duofold', Parker 'Insignia', Sheaffer Lifetime flat top Jr. (ca. 1924-26), Sheaffer 'Triumph 1000 Lifetime'-Vac-Fil, Sheaffer 'Tuckaway', Pelikan M200 matching fountain pen & ballpoint in marbled green, Parker 'Vector XL', Waterman 'Allure', Yiren '405' (an iridescent Lamy Safari "tribute") and a Lamy 'Accent' (with Karelia Wood grip section) that I purchased from Amy that night (thanks, Amy!)

Side note: I purchased the Pelikan M200 fountain pen on April 16, 2002 from the Vancouver Pen Shop (I still have the receipt!) from the late Mrs. Margaret Leveque, who was the store's first owner. She and her husband Paul (who did pen repairs) ran the store for many years, and I clearly remember buying the pen from her and how she mentioned liking broad nibs. The pen has an OB (Oblique Broad) nib, but it's not an italic oblique---it's a round oblique...not something you see every day. I liked the pen so much that I bought its matching ballpoint from Van Pen three months later. Memories!

Rene always has a lot of interesting vintage pens to show during our meetings and these are no exception. From left to right, we have: an Oversized Sheaffer 'Balance' , a colorful pen by E. Faber, a Parker 'Geometric Duofold' (nicknamed the "Toothbrush Duofold" because of its pattern), an attractive Eclipse, a Waterman '4' model, an Esterbrook 'LJ' in the harder-to-find "Icicle" material, a Parker 'Moderne, a Sheaffer WASP 'Clipper' (in a plastic fondly referred to by some as "Circuit board"), a Lamy 'Studio' in "Racing Green" (like Stuart's!) and a Sheaffer ' Pop' Star Wars fountain pen featuring Jedi Master Yoda.

I apologize for the blurry photo above---my camera focused on the pens inside the display case---but this is Rene's Lamy 'Studio' in brushed stainless steel, the first fountain pen he bought from the Vancouver Pen Shop

Here's that stellar new find of Nathan's that I mentioned in Part 1 of our meeting blog post. It's a genuine Montblanc 'M' fountain pen that he recently acquired for a pittance via Facebook. The seller worked on the nib himself, but wound up nearly wrecking it, so rather than paying a small fortune to buy a replacement nib, he decided to sell it. Nathan was the lucky buyer, and after he applied his nib-smoothing/nib-grinding skills to the nib, he made it into a wonderfully-smooth writer.

I love the pen's grooved section and the shape of the 14K gold nib (which is like a semi-wraparound nib). There are knockoffs of this model to be found online, but their nibs don't look anything like the real thing ... and they sure don't write as nicely as the genuine article; this is one stylish fountain pen that's a dream to write with!

Nathan 's leather 6-slot pen case (made of 100% vegetable-tanned leather) that he acquired via Aliexpress...

The pens are separated and well-protected by molded slots so they can't knock against each other and cause damage. The case closes via a hidden magnetic snap, and is available in an assortment of colours.

Here's a closer look at the fountain pens inside Nathan's pen case (bottom to top)---a black  TWSBI 'Eco' that was the first not-cheap pen that Nathan bought on his fountain pen journey (and yes, it was from the Vancouver Pen Shop!), a 3D-printed pen made by Hex Pens in Hong Kong, the aforementioned Montblanc 'M', a vintage OMAS Extra Lucens 556/F, a 'Soyuz' fountain pen made in the U.S.S.R, and a NOS (New Old Stock) 'Chollima Brand' fountain pen from North Korea (!)

Above: a cool 3D-printed ink holder made by Nathan that holds six bottles of Robert Oster ink

And speaking of Robert Oster ink... Here's a writing sample (done by talented calligrapher & Pen Shop staffer Renz) of the special edition Robert Oster ink that was made for the Vancouver Pen Shop's 35th anniversary! The colour's official name is "Vanpen 86", so named because 1986 was the year in which the store opened.

Now for something completely different---two intriguing Delta fountain pens belonging to Jerred (who has an amazing collection of Delta pens--check out his reviews on this site). These new acquisitions are a blue Delta 'Horsepower" (inspired by high-performance European cars) and another car-inspired pen--a grayish-blue Delta 'Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint 50th Anniversary' Limited Edition made for the 50th anniversary of Alfa Romeo's legendary "Giulietta Sprint" model (only 954 of the Limited Edition fountain pens were produced).

The pens have some very interesting design features that make them stand out in a sea of fountain pens. The 'Horsepower's' bulbous cap (seen above) is shaped to mimic the lines of a Formula 1 race car when viewed from above, and the pen's barrel has a wide decorative band made of real black carbon fiber (a material widely used in Formula 1 race cars). The 'Giulietta Sprint's hand-crafted sterling silver clip (seen in the photo above this one) was made to resemble the grill work on the original classic 'Giulietta Spirit' automobile.

Here's a much more familiar-looking fountain pen -- Alvin's Platinum 'Century 3776', which he purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop a while back. It's in the original packaging, which included a Platinum pen pouch. I forgot to photograph the fountain pen that his wife Yen bought at the Pen Shop that night -- a modern Esterbrook 'Estie' fountain pen in the Limited Edition "Maui" material.

I tried to take photos of most of the pens that were brought in by our members, but I apologize to those whose pens I missed. Glenn Marcus (who joined our club a long time ago and was at our club's get-together at Van Pen) has been a regular customer of the Vancouver Pen Shop for many years and wrote a very nice piece on the store on his wonderful website - GlennsPens.com

Last, but not least, is the fountain pen that new Vancouver Pen Club member Phil bought at the Pen Shop during our meeting---a handsome Pilot 'Custom Heritage 91'

As the sign above says, the Vancouver Pen Shop's location is now 555 Howe Street (between Dunsmuir and Pender) --they actually had their grand opening on November 23! By all accounts, the new store looks great (and it's more spacious + has more natural light) and it's conveniently located one block from the Expo Line's Granville Skytrain station and two blocks from the Canada Line's Vancouver City Centre Skytrain station. Check it out if you're in the area -- their store hours are: 10:00am - 6:00pm Monday through Saturday.

Once again, our sincere thanks to owner Margot, manager Shannon, the staff at the Vancouver Pen Shop who were on that night ---Fernie, Marlon and Sunshine---and helper Jacqueline for hosting our meeting. We had a wonderful time! 😊

(~blog post & photos by Maja~)

A few photos from our August 18, 2022 in-person meeting!

Many thanks to everyone who turned out for our first in-person meeting since February 2020! It was great to see so many familiar faces (even behind your masks :) We had 14 members in attendance, and I think a very good time was had by all. In fact, in all the excitement, I forgot to get a group shot of us.... but I did snap some photos of what our members brought. Enjoy!

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

(Above) Just some of the pens and inks we saw on Thursday night at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch meeting room. Our meeting topic/theme was "Newest Acquisitions", but because our club hadn't had an in-person meeting in over two years, some members brought a mixture of very recent purchases and older acquisitions for us to see, which was great!

Nathan brought some amazing fountain pens he purchased, including a couple of platinum fountain pens he later anodized himself, and some KWZ sheening inks (in the lower left of the photo) for us to sample (thanks, Nathan!) Kelley also brought some really nice fountain pens for us to see -- her Lamy 'Al-Star' in "Pacific Blue", a black Pilot 'Falcon', an orange Noodler's 'Nib Creaper' and a gorgeous Benu 'Euphoria' "French Poetry" fountain pen (all in the pic's lower right quadrant). The grey marbled pen next to her Lamy is a vintage Parker 'Challenger' that Kelley bought from Christopher, who brought an assortment of vintage fountain pens (the ones with the price tags on them :) to sell.

(Above) Stuart's beautiful Montblanc 'StarWalker Doué' fountain pen that he bought at the Vancouver Pen Shop's annual sale in the Fall of 2020. Every October, the Pen Shop has a month-long anniversary sale with reduced prices for almost all of the brands they carry, so start saving your pen money now!

(Above) The handsome Pelikan M605 Streseman fountain pen that Joie brought to our meeting.

If you're reading this and would like to attend the Vancouver 2022 Pelikan Hub, make sure you register at  https://www.pelikan-hubs.com/ before August 21, 2022. This isn't a Vancouver Pen Club event, but I'm sure a lot of our club members will be there.

(Above) Rene's gorgeous vintage Parker 'Moderne'/'Duette Jr' fountain pen in the amazing "Bronze and Blue" celluloid. Rene also showed us many more great vintage pens, including two large Eclipse flat tops, some Parker 'Vacumatics' and more. We saw a lot of vintage Parkers (belonging to several different members) at the meeting, which attests to their enduring popularity among vintage pen fans.

(Above) Stuart's 1948 Parker '51' Aerometric "Magnetix" desk set (reviewed by Stuart here), which positively glows! Photos cannot do this beautiful vintage desk set justice.

(Above): The wonderful Robert Oster "Australian Shiraz" ink I got from Alejandra (thanks, Alejandra!), and a brand-new Pilot 'Lightive' fountain pen that Stuart bought earlier this week at the Vancouver Pen Shop. From what I've read, the 'Lightive' appears to be the same model as the Pilot 'Explorer', but with a better inner-cap design to prevent the pen from drying out.

(Above) Last, but certainly not least, Christopher's vintage Parker 'Duofold' "Big Red" fountain pen and mechanical pencil that he acquired recently. We'll post Christopher's full review of this set on Sunday, so watch this space...

I was so excited to see everyone that I forgot to take more photos, including any of my own pens (lol) or Jerred's, but happily, the majority of the pens we brought were reviewed by Jerred and myself on this blog already. Jerred brought the highlights from his "pandemic era" Delta acquisitions, including his newest Delta fountain pen --a sterling silver Delta 'Prestige' with a guilloche pattern.

Trevor showed us his brand-new silver-plated Parker '95' ballpoint in the elegant "Fileté'" pattern (purchased the day of our meeting), and a couple of cool Lamy 'Vista' rollerball clones that take fountain pen ink (a piston-filler version + a C/C version) that he got from fellow VPCer Steve. Julienne brought along all the wonderful fountain pens she purchased during the pandemic, including some beautiful Narwhals (including two 'Nautilus' models), a handmade London Pen Company fountain pen, and a couple of amazing Pilots, including one urushi model (if I recall correctly).

Alejandra and Nox brought both modern (Nox's Rotring 600 mechanical pencil, Alejandra's Charles Lethaby 'ION' fountain pen) and vintage writing instruments to our meeting. The latter included some vintage treasures Alejandra found at a local antique store --a Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyline' and a 1970s Pelikan '120'. Peter showed us his own vintage treasure---a black hard rubber Waterman '52' fountain pen that he bought from fellow VPC member Mark (Peter said that the Waterman had one of the most flexible nibs he's ever tried). Ben showed a lot more restraint than any of us, with regard to pen-buying during the pandemic, as he didn't have any new acquisitions (Bravo, Ben!) but he did show us his current daily users - a TWSBI and his trusty Muji fountain pen. 

P.S. Many thanks to Trevor for the wooden pencils he gave away at the meeting! :)

~ Information about future in-person monthly meetings (including location, which may or may not be the VPL Kitsilano branch) will be posted on this blog, and will also appear in the blog header ~