September meeting photos (part 2)

 (⭐Information about our October meeting⭐ is in this blog post -
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html )

We had record-setting attendance (at least 40 people!) for our September meeting at the VPL's Champlain Heights branch on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th, and both Sherman & I took photos during the meeting. I posted my photos a few days ago (link to post) as part 1 of the photos taken, so here are the photos Sherman wanted to share - part 2! (thanks, Sherman :):

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

 Bird's-eye-views of the hustle and bustle of this busy gathering...

(I'm so glad the library meeting room's official capacity was 40 people -- we needed the space!)

We didn't have a themed meeting with a "show & tell", but the two-and-a-half hours flew by as our members talked pens, inks and all things pen-related :)

VPC member Godwin (who wasn't present) had very generously donated a whole bunch of inks and Chinese-made fountain pens for our door prize draws, so we gave away the last of the ink & a good chunk of the pens at our September meeting. That's Grant helping me (Maja) with the draws that afternoon (I just realized how tired I looked lol); thank you so much for your help, Grant!

This is the Jinhao '992' fountain pen that Sherman won in the door prize draws. The Jinhao is essentially a clone of the Sailor ProColor 500, but it's a nice little fountain pen in its own right.

Sherman wound up trading fountain pens with Audrey (above); for his Jinhao '992', he got Audrey's Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue model with Dragon design. 

Sherman with Abhijit, who came from India to attend our meeting! Abhijit came to our July 2024 meeting and had so much fun that he decided to come back for this one while he was in Vancouver :)


Sherman also sent in some photos of his newest acquisitions that he took after the meeting ended. Here here they are, starting with...

...his Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue with Dragon design fountain pen...

Sherman writes: "The blue paint on the Jinhao 950 Ceramic Blue is quite unique, and I couldn’t find a good match with my current inventories. I inked it with Namiki Blue and this EF nib writes quite okay."

Sherman's new Snowhite 'FP20' disposable fountain pen (link), one of many that our fellow VPCer Steve G. gave away during the meeting. For a modest pocket fountain pen, Sherman was impressed with how smoothly it wrote (and I agree).

Sherman got this lovely notecard from longtime VPC member Mark Harcourt, who created a very nice pen sales & restoration website (PenDen.ca) earlier this year. 

Sherman's Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pen collection (including his Hero 1921 90th Year Commemorative Red fountain pen, with its impressive display stand). The four pens on the extreme right side of the case are (L-R) two of Sherman's beloved élysée fountain pens and his two VPC Limited Edition fountain pens by Leonardo and Radius 1934. Sherman reviewed his very special Hero fountain pen here on our website in 2023.

Many thanks, once again, to all who attended our September meeting, to Godwin for the wonderful pen and ink door prizes, Steve G. for the fountain pens and ballpoints he gave out, and VPCer Sam L. for the many notebooks & other stuff he donated for our de-stashing table! 

(~blog post by Maja~)

September meeting photos (part 1) *New record for attendance set! *

Happy Autumn!🍂 Our September meeting was held on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th at the Champlain Heights branch of the Vancouver Public Library. There were at least 40 of us in attendance, including brand-new member Tim S. and two out-of-town (actually, out-of-country) guests - Abhijit from India and Glenn G. from Australia. Incidentally, this meeting smashed the attendance record previously set in January of this year, when we had 36 people present! 😮

The meeting didn't feature a "show & tell", but was a fun gathering where folks could chat about all things pen-related, swap inks, and trade stories about their latest finds. We also had door prize draws for the many inks and Chinese fountain pens donated by our fellow VPCer Godwin (thank you so much, Godwin! 👏 ) Steve G. was kind enough to hand out some cool disposable fountain pens by Snowhite and multi-colour ballpoints--thanks, Steve!

I snapped some photos during the meeting (part 2 of this meeting report --which features Sherman's photos--- was later posted here), so without further ado, here they are ...

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

(Above - clockwise from bottom left corner) Abhijit (👍), Monika, Kimberly, Sherman, Catherine, Audrey, Tony, Michelle, Andrii and Lisa (✌️).

(Above photo - left to right) Allan, Stuart, Mark, James, new member Tim S., Leo, Shona, Ben and Grant.

(Clockwise from bottom left corner) Stuart, Jerred, Amy, Rebecca, Grant, Phil, David C, and Francis.

That's me (Maja) on the left and our pen club's co-founder Bill K. on the right. Sandwiched in the middle is Glenn, our mutual (and dear) friend, who came all the way from Australia to attend our meeting. This wasn't Glenn's first VPC meeting, though; he attended our September 2019 one, as well - Good onya! 😁

I didn't take many pen photos -- it was a very busy meeting! -- but I was glad I snapped a photo of this bright yellow pocket fountain pen belonging to Phil, as I hadn't heard of the brand before. It's a Maruzen 'Lapita', and Phil acquired it during a recent trip to Japan.

(Above) A lovely Sailor 'Pro Gear' "Kure Azur" fountain pen (part of Sailor's cocktail-themed series) that Phil bought at the Marui Shoten store in Tokyo's Ameyoko Shopping Center (in Ueno).

According to Sailor's website: "The Cocktail Series is a collection of fountain pens themed around cocktails, which began in 2011. The 2020 edition, marking the 10th release in the series, is named "Cray Azure," meaning "Clear Blue of Kure and Seto Inland Sea." This pen is inspired by the Seto Inland Sea and Seto lemons from Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture, where Sailor Pen originated."

Abhijit (who came all the way from India) brought several fountain pens from his collection to show us, including this handsome red and black "Carbon Fiber" model made by Lotus Pens in India.

While the pen's body is made of carbon fiber (a very strong, yet lightweight material), the accents are made of red Nikko ebonite -- a very attractive combination of materials and colours.

The glossy black fountain pen above is another fountain pen that Abhijit brought - the all-black dark edition of the Kanwrite Ebony Heritage. Kanwrite, an Indian manufacturer, make their own nibs and feeds in-house. Both Abhijit and I are big fans of their nibs, and I reviewed several Kanwrite pens here on our website.

Last, but not least, a swirly black and cream ebonite fountain pen made by Ranga, a well-known Indian pen company. Ranga offer a dizzying array of models and materials to choose from on their official website/webstore.

A big "thank you" to everyone who gave up part of their Saturday to come to our September meeting this month!
🌟Details about our October meeting are posted here: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html

(~blog post by Maja~)