Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 31

It's always nice when you come across a complete set :)

This handsome pair is one of Stuart's latest acquisitions---a vintage Sheaffer '1000' fountain pen & matching mechanical pencil:

(photos courtesy of Stuart ~ click on images to enlarge)

In Stuart's words: "This one was simply called by Sheaffer the '1000', a digital code for its price of $10.00. It’s a cartridge/converter pen, and the gold nib is firm but smooth, classic Sheaffer. They seem to have been marketed by Sheaffer as a budget line below the Imperial series. So a quality, simple workhorse pen of the first half of the 1960’s."

The nib on the fountain pen is affectionately called "the Dolphin nib", as Stuart explains: "The Dolphin: The name is a nickname retroactively applied by collectors, for the resemblance of the nib and section assembly to the head of a dolphin.

Many thanks to Stuart for sharing his new vintage pen and pencil acquisition with all of us!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 16

Back to featuring fountain pens again now---three, in fact (plus a matching mechanical pencil). They're some of René's recent finds, so I'll let him tell the story....

"In early March, before the pandemic hit in earnest, we went to Victoria for a music festival. I took the opportunity to visit Mike Case (who lived very near where our hotel was!) to get a replacement for the Sheaffer 444 nib unit that I broke. We chatted, and I picked up a few pens and a mechanical pencil from him (why not?), all restored."

From top to bottom:

(~All photos by René ~ please click on images to enlarge)

"Esterbook Purse Pen, peacock blue (1960s). ($20!) This is from the second generation set, which do not have the pale, pastel colours of the first. The purse pens were smaller than the J pens, which they were related to, and made of flimsier plastics, so cracks aren't uncommon. This one has small cracks on the cap lip, but is in otherwise good shape. It also has matching pale blue jewels. The nib is a #9788, flexible medium (semi-flex, really), which I have never seen before."

"Below that is a Canadian Sheaffer Balance pen and pencil set (#300 is marked on the pencil, but not the pen - not sure what that means) in beautiful gold and black stripes, from the late 30s - early 40s. It is a non-white dot set. The Balance comes with a 5-30 ($5, guaranteed for 30 years) duo-tone gold nib in a firm fine, and a visulated section. I am having flow issues with the pen (the nib keeps drying out while writing for some reason), which I'm hoping to get looked into sometime."

"Finally, a Canadian Waterman 3 in lovely green pearl pattern with red spots (like my grey and red-spots Waterman 94, but green) from the 30s. It has a Canadian Waterman #3 flex nib. It has some hard-to-see but significant melt-marks on the barrel, the lever is stiff, and the clip isn't usable as a clip (it comes off if pulled too hard), but is a beautiful writer."

Congrats on these really nice vintage finds, René, and thanks for sending us your photos and descriptions of them!

Some pics from our February meeting

We had a good turnout for our Feb 16th meeting---18 VPC members came to see & talk about their pen collections. Many thanks to Richard of Perks pen store for the photos!


(From L to R) Michael, Ian, Glenn C. and David S. looking at some of the pens brought in for our meeting's theme-"Complete the Set". Michael spoke about his current collecting interest---the stylish Esterbrook 'Scribe' ballpoint. In the foreground of this photo, you can see my brightly-coloured Sheaffer NoNonsense collection in the large pen case.


Glenn C. talking about his current collecting focus, Pelikan pens. Glenn brought along his lovely Pelikan 101N Tortoise reissue for us to see---a gorgeous fountain pen!


Bruce R. (red shirt) brought his amazing collection of Visconti limited edition pens. That's me in the black Parker '51' T-shirt I recently got from www.asimpledaisy.com. To my right are Greg, Dexter and Tristan. Greg is currently collecting blue and orange pens, as well as Lamy Al-Star fountain pens.


Wai and Glenn M. both seemed to enjoy the presentations. Glenn brought his
great Waterman Edson and modern Waterman Patrician collections.


Christopher R. (tan jacket) and Mark H. (to his left) both talked about their pen collections. Mark has recently focused his collecting on Wahl-Eversharp pens.


Newer member Sam (black jacket) brought some very cool pens, including his old-style Rotring 600 collection. Bill K. (to Sam's right) and Julienne (in foreground with yellow shirt) don't have a current collecting focus, but enjoyed the meeting. Bill says he only buys pens that write well---a wise approach!


David S. (wearing glasses) talked about the pens he used to collect; nowdays, he mostly buys and sells pens, but has a special interest in the ever-popular Parker '51'.


Ian (brown sweater) and Graham (light blue T-shirt) listening to a presentation during the "Show & Tell" portion of our meeting.

Many thanks to all who attended our meeting--see you on March 15th at Perks (usual place) when our topic will be "Waterman Pens ~ Vintage & Modern"!

February meeting details---Ink Swap & more!!

We are back to our usual venue---Perks on Cambie Street----for this meeting---details below!

Date: Thursday February 16, 2012
Place: Perks pen store-5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: "Complete the Set" (in-progress, substantially complete, and wannabe fountain pen sets). For example, Parker 51 fountain pens in various colours, Lamy Safari fountain pens in all production colours, etc.
As always, "New Acquisitions" are our secondary topic.

INK SWAP!
By popular demand, we will be doing another INK SWAP at this meeting. Please bring any inks you don't want with you to the meeting, and trade them with a fellow VPC member for ink/inks that you *will* use! No obligation to bring any inks if you love and use *all* your inks, of course :) Bottles and cartridges for trade are both fine for the Ink Swap.

Next meeting: Thursday March 18, 2010

Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm (6:00-6:30pm--informal "meet & greet" for the early birds).

Location: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge mall (and only 1 block from the Oakridge-41st Ave Skytrain stop).

Theme: "PEN & PENCIL SETS". Our fellow VPC member Mike A. came up with the idea, so please bring any of your own examples of Fountain Pens and their matching Pencils (or Ballpoints and/or Rollerballs and their matching Pencils) to the meeting. If you don't have any sets in your collection---no problem; I'm sure we'll get lots of fine examples to see and hear about. Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions", so if you have any new writing-instrument-related acquisitions such as pens, paper, ink, etc. to show the club, please bring them along, too. Hope to see a good turnout!