January meeting photos

We had a good turnout for our January meeting last night (Jan. 19th)---15 VPC members braved the chilly winter conditions to come to the Oakridge White Spot restaurant. Many thanks to all who attended, to Wai for the cookies and Chinese New Year tokens, and to those who brought pens for the anonymous pen swap!

We are back at Perks for our next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday February 16th (but check this website for last-minute updates/changes). Theme/topic for the February meeting: "Complete the Set" (see post above with full meeting details)

Now, here are some photos taken by Bill K. last night at the meeting (thanks, Bill!):


(the long table at White Spot wasn't ideal for a group discussion, but the food and company were excellent!


(in the photo directly above & seated clockwise from bottom left: Ralph, Glenn C., new member Greg, Bob M., Christopher, Sam, Tristan, Graham, Michael, Dexter)



(photo above---Bruce and Wai discussing pens; Dexter is in the background)



(I had a good time catching up with my good friend Brian--seated to my left in the photo above--- who came to our meeting last night, after a long absence. Welcome back, Brian!)


(me with a nice pen set I got from a good pen friend in Australia--sent to me via a mutual friend in our pen club)

Venue change for January 2012 meeting!

The venue for our meeting on Thursday January 19, 2012 has been moved from Perks (our regular place), due to store owner Richard's vacation plans. The meeting will be held at the White Spot restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. VPC members, please RSVP me re: your attendance (Yes or No) for this meeting before Saturday Jan 14th so I can re-confirm our reservation a few days beforehand.

Our January topic will be Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pens, so please bring some examples if you have any. As always, new acquisitions are our secondary topic, so if you received some pen-related Christmas gifts, please bring them along as well!

Wishing you & yours all the very best in the New Year 2012! ~Maja

Christmas presents!

My lovely new Lamy Safari Al-star fountain pen in Ruby Red (a limited edition colour) and a bottle of Yard-O-Led blue-black ink---gifts I got from my parents for Christmas this year.

Many thanks to Perks (on Cambie Street) and the Vancouver Pen Shop for having these lovely items for sale! Cheers ~Maja

Waterman Ad. 119 years old.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year!

Season's Greetings! (please note: venue change for January 2012 meeting!)

As there is no December meeting, our next meeting is Thurs. January 19, 2012, however,
please note, the meeting venue has been moved from Perks (our regular place), due to store owner Richard's vacation plans. The meeting will be held at the White Spot restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. VPC members, please RSVP me re: your attendance (Yes or No) for this meeting before Saturday Jan 14th so I can re-confirm our reservation a few days beforehand.

The theme of the January meeting will be Chinese & Taiwanese Pens (in honour of the Chinese New Year), so I hope you can make it.

Many thanks to all members who took the time to come to our meetings in 2011. Your participation is what makes this group the fun club that it is :) As well, many thanks to Richard of Perks for his hospitality & support throughout the year!
Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season....See you in 2012!

(P.S. The pen in the photo above is my Retro 51 Scriptmaster)

Vintage Ballpoints--November meeting topic

(click on photo to enlarge)

Many thanks to all who attended our meeting yesterday! Special kudos to Michael for giving an excellent talk on the history of the ballpoint. Our meeting theme was well-represented with various examples of vintage ballpoints from the mid-1940s to the late 1970s.

I took a quick shot of my collection during the meeting (see above), which includes a Reynolds "Packet" ballpoint ca. 1948 (pen #1 in upper LH row), three Eversharp CA ballpoints ca. 1946-1947 (pens # 2-4 in the same row) as well as a Sheaffer Stratowriter ca. 1946--Sheaffer's first ballpoint (pen #10 in same row). The pens are in the lovely Sheaffer 48-pen case that Richard presented to me at the last meeting---I forgot to mention that earlier. Many thanks, once again, for the gift!

I fitted the Eversharp CA pens with replacement Bic refills (scavenged from those cheap Bic pens you find in hotels) and the Stratowriter with a modern Sheaffer refill with the help of a brass 'widget' purchased from www.pendemonium.com. All of my vintage Papermate pens work using modern Papermate refills---a wise move on that company's part! The Esterbrook "Scribe" pens work using a shaved-down Lamy M16 refill (thanks to Michael for the idea). If anyone knows of a modern refill that will fit the Esterbrook "J" series ballpoint, please let me know (contact email at top of homepage). It's a great feeling when you can get an old, neglected & forgotten pen---ballpoint or fountain pen---working again :)

~~~~ Our next VPC meeting won't be 'til Thurs January 19, 2012~~~~

~~~~Best wishes for a happy holiday season!~~~~

Last meeting of 2011! (details re: November meeting)

Since we don't have meetings in December, this will be our last meeting of 2011 . (fear not, though---VPC meetings will resume in January 2012!)

Now, for the details of our upcoming meeting.....
Time: Thursday November 17, 2011
Place: The usual place---Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Avenue), Vancouver, B. C.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm "Meet & Greet"..... 6:30pm-8:30pm Meeting.
Theme: Vintage Ballpoint Pens (as always, "New Acquisitions" is our secondary topic)

This is the first time we've had ballpoints as our meeting theme, so if you have any older ballpoints to show (let's say pre-1980), please bring them along to the meeting (and it doesn't matter if they work or not!). I have some from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to show, and a few from the 1970s (which is when I first started using ballpoints myself).

Many thanks to all who attended the October meeting---I posted some photos taken by Richard a couple of post down from this one (Richard apologizes for the blurry photos :)

Blue Peak fountain pen (made in Wales)

Here is some information on the "Blue Peak" fountain pen that VPC member Derek L. brought to our meeting last week (our topic was Non-Parker British fountain pens). I truthfully didn't expect to see any fountain pens made in countries other than England, so it was a nice surprise to see this Welsh pen show up.

Here is Derek's photo of his "Blue Peak" fountain pen, posted with his permission (click on photo to enlarge):


This pen was made and exclusively distributed by Copigraph Ltd, Treforest, Glamorgan, Wales. It is made of Hard Rubber and has a 14ct gold nib. Treforest is a small town in Wales with a current population of around 5,000.
There is a photo of the Copigraph factory, taken in 1976, posted on this page.

Derek did some more research on the pen and found that many of the companies on the town's industrial estate (Treforest Trading estate, later renamed Treforest Industrial Estate), which played a major role in the war effort during WWII, were established by refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. He suspects that this pen might have been made by German immigrants who moved to the area. The pen certainly looks like some vintage German-made pens I've seen. If anyone has any more info on this brand, they are welcome to contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

October meeting photos

Here are some photos taken by Richard at our last meeting on October 20th (click photos to enlarge).
The topic was "Non-Parker British Pens" and, as you can see, it was well-represented with examples of many different brands, including Conway Stewart (modern & vintage), Onoto (modern & vintage), Swan, Burnham, Boots, Strand, Mabie-Todd, Summit, Osmiroid and Platignum. One of our members (Derek) brought along a "Blue Peak" fountain pen, made in Wales (update: see our Oct. 28th blog entry for more info on this pen!).



A couple of our members (Bill S---pictured below at far left---and his wife Suzanne--not in photo) handed out back issues of "Pen World" and "Stylophiles" to club members. Many thanks to Suzanne and Bill for their generous gifts!


New VPC member Dexter brought along a few A4 notebooks to give out as well (Dexter is pictured in the photo below, talking to me) Many thanks, Dexter!




(Glenn M. and Tristan)


I was surprised and touched by the special presentation of a lovely Sheaffer "salesman's" 48-pen case, given to me by Perks' owner Richard (pictured to my right) on behalf of the club, as a thank you for all my work with the VPC over the years. Many thanks for this great gift---it will be put to good use, I can assure you! :)

October meeting details

Many thanks to all who attended the September meeting! Here are the details re: our next meeting:
Time: Thursday October 20, 2011
Place: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Avenue), Vancouver, B. C.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm "Meet & Greet"..... 6:30pm-8:30pm Meeting.
Theme: Non-Parker British Fountain Pens.
(e.g. modern/vintage Conway Stewarts, Onotos & Yard-o-Led pens, as well as vintage pen-makers Burnham, Croxley, Kingswood, Mabie-Todd, Mentmore, Osmiroid, Platignum, Stephens, Summit, Wyvern & others). Thanks to our friends at the London Pen Club in Ontario for this theme idea!
As always, "New Acquisitions" is our secondary topic.

Hope to see you there!