A photo from last Thursday's meeting

(photo courtesy of Graham)

Thanks to all who brought Pelikan writing instruments to the March 17th meeting. In the picture above, you can see Julienne's and Glenn M's fine examples, from the trusty Pelikanos & Pelikano Jr fountain pens to the pricier piston-fillers in the Souverän line (M400, M600, M800, M1000) and the lovely Pelikan 'Cities' (Special Edition) "Piazza Novona" pen.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 21st, at the usual place and time (Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC. Meeting from 6:30pm-8:30pm approx.) Our meeting theme will be Stationery (new, different & old standbys) so please bring some examples for us to see. All are welcome! Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Auto Fillers Ads.

Yesterday I picked up a couple of copies of The Nautilus magazine from 1915.

The magazine sub-titled itself 'Self-Help Through Self-Knowledge'. It was published in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Here are a couple of full-page ads for Auto Filler pens, from The Nautilus for your amusement.

Derek

In like a Lion, out like a ....Pelikan???

Well, it's March already---time flies!
Here are the details re: our next VPC meeting:

Time: Thursday March 17th, 2011
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Avenue), Vancouver, B.C
Time: 6:00-6:30pm "Meet & Greet".....6:30pm-8:30pm Meeting.
Theme: PELIKAN WRITING INSTRUMENTS---modern or vintage (fountain pens, pencils, rollerballs or ballpoint pens).

Our secondary theme is always Newest Acquisitions, so please bring along any new pens, inks, paper, accessories, etc. that you want to show. Hope you can make it--no need to RSVP....Newcomers always welcome---just drop in and see what we're all about!

We're famous!!!

(click on photo to enlarge)

Just a heads-up that there's a nice article about the VPC (and several other pen clubs) in the latest issue of "Pen World" magazine! Richard finally got some copies of the February 2011 issue from the distributor today at his Perks store at 5844 Cambie Street (where we usually have our meetings). I sent in the photo and a write-up about our club to the editor last summer, and have been waiting with bated breath for the issue to come out!

VPC's own Glenn Marcus did a nice write-up on the article on his wonderful blog here
Thanks, Glenn!

As you can see, our group shot is the (ahem) lead photo for the article ;)

P.S. A quick shout-out to Mike W of the London (Ontario) Pen Club for his lovely blog post entitled "Great friends are hard to find!" which can be seen here. Thank you for the kind words about our club!

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Thanks to all who showed, and to Bruce for the idea of our theme for the February meeting: lacquered and overlaid pens. Here's Bill S. showing off some ornate examples:

Our other theme was 'ink swap'. What a good idea - bring your unwanted colours, and perhaps take home a prize in return. I know I did!

Large Brass German Desk Set.

Here's an historic desk set.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/05/hitlers-desk-set/

February 2011 meeting details

Many thanks to all who attended January's meeting at the White Spot in Oakridge, including our three new members-- Christopher, David and Mark. We had a nice turnout and saw many lovely examples of Aurora pens, both modern and vintage.

Speaking of Aurora, there is an interesting video (5 minutes long) on YouTube.com from the TV show "How It's Made" that shows how Aurora creates their pens, specifically the beautiful Aurora Optima. Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMQ6oDoFE3w (turn on your computer speakers)

Now, here are the February meeting details:

Date: Thursday February 17, 2011.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (meeting).
Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (at 42nd Avenue), Vancouver.
Theme: "Decorative Pens-Maki-e, Lacquer, Enamel, Overlays & Hand-Painted"......and INK SWAP!

I'm sure we all have at least one bottle of fountain pen ink that sits on the shelf, gathering dust, lonely and unused....Well, bring it (and any other inks you don't want) with you to the meeting this month and trade 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.

The main theme of the evening will be Decorative Pens, specifically ones that were made using the Maki-e process, lacquered or enamel pens, modern & vintage pens with overlays and hand-painted pens. Richard Binder's website (link: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/glossary/A.htm)has an excellent glossary if you aren't 100% familiar with some of terms above. As always, newest pen-related acquisitions are our secondary theme.

Hope to see a good turnout! No need to RSVP as the meeting is at our usual venue (ie. not at a restaurant). Many thanks, as always, to Richard of Perks pen store on Cambie Street for his ongoing support for our club!

Change of venue for January 2011 meeting

Happy New Year 2011!

Richard and his family will be taking a well-deserved holiday in Mexico next week, so the venue for our meeting on Thursday January 20th has been moved from Perks pen store to the WHITE SPOT restaurant inside Oakridge Mall (Oakridge Mall is located on 41st Ave & Cambie St. in central Vancouver). There is ample 4-hour free parking at Oakridge and the "Oakridge-41st Avenue" Skytrain stop is right in front of the mall.

Meeting time: 6:00pm-8:30pm

Richard has booked several tables (that can be pushed together to accommodate a large party of up to 20 people) in a separate dining area of the restaurant, with the agreement that some of us will be ordering food or drinks (which I think it pretty reasonable, given that we'll be in a restaurant :). Many thanks, Richard!

Don't forget to bring any Aurora writing instruments (pens, pencils, rollerballs) for our January theme, as well as any new acquisitions to show. Hope to see you there!
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Update-Oct 30, 2011---Just found a photo taken by Bill K. at the January 2011 meeting above. It was held at the White Spot restaurant in Oakridge Mall and I think we all had a good time---good food, good pens & good company!
(Click on photo to enlarge):

New pen book---Boxing week purchase

Just bought a great new pen book at the downtown Chapters store called "The Ultimate Books of Pens" by Barbro Garenfeld & Dietmar Geyer. It is 496 pages in length, in hardcover, is written in English, German and French (the text is side-by-side) and is lavishly illustrated with photos (many of which I have not seen in any pen book). I heartily recommend this tome, esp. since Chapters had it for $29.95 CAD (it scanned at $40.00 but the sticker said $29.95, so they gave it to me for the cheaper price). Get yours while they are still available! (there was a pile of them on the 2nd floor of the downtown Chapters on Robson, by the gift area). Update: Looks like some members got an even better deal as the hardcover version is now 30% off (ie. only $20.96 + tax!) due to a sale on all hardcover books at Chapters! Update to the Update... Two copies left at the Robson Street store as of January 27th, but the sticker price says $49.99 now

Season's Greetings!

Just a small reminder that there will be no December VPC meeting due to the holidays, but we will return to our regular schedule (meetings on the third Thursday of the month) in January 2011!

Next meeting: Thursday January 20, 2011
Meeting Theme: "A" is for Aurora (Aurora pens ~ Vintage & Modern)
Place: The usual place---Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, B.C.
WHITE SPOT restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, Vancouver, B.C (basically, across the street from Richard's store!)....See new blog post from January 11th for further details.
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm 6:00pm-8:30pm

Have a safe & happy holiday season!
~Maja