Happy 15th Anniversary to Us!

Wow.

I can't believe it's been 15 years since the very first Vancouver Pen Club meeting. Time flies!

It's also hard to believe we started out with just five members and now have over 200 members on our group email list.

Now, this is going to read like a very long Academy Awards acceptance speech, but our club has a lot of folks to thank, so I hope you'll indulge me :)

--First and foremost, huge thanks to our founders, Tim Conklin and Bill Kempton, for coming up with the idea of forming a fountain pen club in Vancouver (they jointly came up with the idea after an open water swim club meeting) and then bringing it to life; Tim organized our first meeting (held at Moxie's Classic Grill in Vancouver's West End) and Bill actually hosted the second VPC meeting at his home!

--Many thanks to everyone who joined our club over the years, whether it was in its infancy or more recently, during this global pandemic. I know it's been tough not meeting in person, but thank you for sticking with our little club and keeping its spirit alive :)

--Thank you to everyone who came to our meetings, whether you came with items for our "show & tell" and spoke about them... or just listened patiently and asked lots of good questions; I've learned so much from the answers to questions posed by both newcomers to our hobby and long-time fountain pen users/collectors.

--Thank you also to the friendly pen folks from out of town (including some overseas visitors) who came to our meetings with pens to show and pen stories to share. It was lovely having you as our guests...and please do come back and visit us again :)

--Thank you to the heads (both past and present) of the Calgary, London (Ontario), Ottawa and Seattle pen clubs for their friendship and fellowship, for all the emails we've traded over the years about how to best run our respective pen clubs, and for all the ideas we've shared about new meeting topics lol. 

--A special shout out to the Seattle Pen Club's presidents (past president George and current president Susan) for organizing the twice-annual SPC meetings held in Bellingham, WA and inviting our club members to them. Thank you to everyone in the Seattle Pen Club for the warm reception you've always given us at your Bellingham meetings, as well as the meetings in Seattle that some of our members have attended.

--Special thanks to our club members who did some great presentations at our meetings over the years---Michael's presentation on "Industrial Designers & 20th Century Pens", Jerred's Powerpoint demo on nib tuning, Mark's pen maintenance seminar, the talks on "Iconic Pens" done by Armando, Christopher, Glenn M., Jerred, Ray & Stuart, Brian's talk on vintage Waterman pens, Glenn's overview of modern Italian pens and Rene's presentation on finding & buying vintage pens on eBay (I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!). We truly appreciate the time and effort you took to educate us on these topics...and to do it in a fun and engaging way.

--Thank you to everyone in our club who submitted material for our pen club blog/website since we started it back in 2008; your pen, ink and paper reviews, as well as all the lovely photos of your pen-related items are all very much appreciated!

--More recently, thank you to everyone in our club who sent in photos and reviews for our virtual "newest acquisitions show & tell", here on our club's blog. Though we haven't been able to meet in person for a while, it's so nice to see close-ups of the new items you've acquired since our last in-person meeting (and please keep those great photos & write-ups coming!) If you haven't sent in anything for the online show & tell--no worries! But if you are thinking of sending something in, please don't worry about your photography skills ...or the monetary value of the pens; in all the "Welcome to our pen club" emails I've sent over the years, I've always said that it doesn't matter if you own one pen or a thousand---it's your interest in and enthusiasm for the hobby that counts :)

--Special thanks to Glenn Marcus for his tireless efforts in getting not one but two beautiful Vancouver Pen Club special edition fountain pens made for our pen club--the first pen, made by the Delta pen company in 2014 and, more recently, the one made by Leonardo Officina Italiana in 2019. Glenn was involved in nearly every step of the way, except for the actual manufacturing of these two gorgeous pens. Our thanks, of course, also go out to Delta and Leonardo for making these wonderful pens for our pen club members.

--Last, but certainly not least, many thanks to Richard Clarke of Perks pen shop for hosting our pen club meetings for nine years (from November 2007 to October 2016!) at his beautiful store on Cambie Street (and then his strata's multi-purpose room, after Perks permanently closed in late 2016), and to Daryl and Tony for finding us wonderful new spaces to use for our meetings in more recent years. Our thanks also to the Vancouver Public Library for the free use of their meeting rooms--at various VPL branches--- after Perks closed.

On a personal note, I just wanted to add my thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported me since I took the presidential reins from Tim back in 2008. Your friendship, kind words and thoughtful emails have meant more to me than you will ever know. Thank you all so very much!

I thought I'd end this blog post by reposting a write-up I did a few years ago about the very first meeting of our club on December 7, 2006. Hope you enjoy the little trip down Memory Lane!

Warmest wishes,
~Maja

(The blog post below was originally posted here on June 12, 2012)

'Pen Club 101 and a bit of VPC history'

I've been having fun checking out the articles and forum posts on Fountain Pen Geeks (they of the informative & humorous weekly podcasts of which I blogged earlier here ). A few days ago, Eric Schneider (who runs the site, along with Dan Smith) asked if I could do a short write-up on how to start a local pen club. I put something together and they posted it on their site. After I wrote the article, my mind drifted back to the early days of our own pen club, so I thought I'd share this bit of history with the readers of our club's blog (yes, both of you... I jest ;)

The Vancouver Pen Club was started by Tim Conklin, who posted a query on the Zoss List back on October 1, 2006 asking if there were any people in the Vancouver, B.C. area who were interested in forming a local pen club. I missed this post, but saw a later (Nov. 2) Zoss post by Tim, whose subject line was "Announcing the Vancouver Pen Club". I think there were only a couple of members at this point (Tim and his fellow swim club member Bill K.) but at least they were off to a start! My pen friend Brian asked if I was interested in joining, so both he and I wrote to Tim, informing him of our interest. I told Ryan I. (who was also on the Fountain Pen Network, as was original member Bill S.) about the club, and the first meeting was set for December 7, 2006 at Moxie's Classic Grill, a restaurant in Vancouver's West End.

Five of us showed up that night (Brian had just flown back from a trip to Europe and couldn't make it) and we were shown to a very large circular table (with a privacy curtain, no less!) near the front of the restaurant. With the dance music blaring in the background, we managed to introduce ourselves and talked about our love of fountain pens and how we came to be fountain pen users and/or collectors. I don't remember what I ate that night, but I will never forget how friendly and welcoming everyone was. From that date, our club has grown by leaps and bounds and now has over 90 people on our membership list. I hope that some of you reading this will be inspired to start your own local pen club; it's not as difficult as you might think. Many thanks to Tim for taking the initiative to start this wonderful pen club; hope you can make it to another meeting soon, Tim---we miss you!

(photo taken at the first VPC meeting on December 7, 2006---from L to R: Bill S, me (Maja), Ryan I, Bill K and Tim)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 294

Here's a student fountain pen I acquired a few months ago at a charity thrift store in Surrey for eight dollars. The pen and case were displayed in a locked glass cabinet, and at first glance, I thought the pen was a 1970s Pelikan 'Pelikano'. It turned out, however, to be a much more obscure German student fountain pen -- a  Laurin model 867 :

 ( ~ please click on photos to enlarge ~ )

It was a real challenge finding information on the Laurin pen company. The most valuable information came from one source-- this page on Dominic Rothemel's amazing Pelikan reference guide Pelikan-Collectibles.com. From it, I found out that Laurin was a company located in Waiblingen, Germany that sold lower-cost fountain pens, ballpoints, rollerballs and mechanical pencils. These writing instruments, however, were actually made by the company Mutschler (who also made writing instruments for other companies such as Reform) in Heidelberg, Germany.

In 1972, Pelikan took over the Laurin company, and Laurin became a subsidiary of Pelikan. Some models existed under both brand names (Laurin and Pelikan), but in the mid-80s, Pelikan took over the production plant in Waiblingen and used its injection-molding equipment to produce inexpensive student/youth writing instruments (based on Laurin models) branded with the Pelikan name on their clips or caps. Eventually, the plant in Waiblingen was closed, and the site was sold in the early 2010s.

Enough about the history! Let's talk about the pen now....

My particular fountain pen is the Laurin '867' which was produced in the early 1970s. It looks very similar to another Laurin model, the '854', except for the cap; the '867' had a stainless steel cap, whereas the '854's was plastic with a wide metal cap band.

Laurin '867' fountain pen specs (courtesy of Pelikan-collectibles.com) :

Weight	Total Length	Barrel Length	Cap Length	Diameter	Ink Capacity
0.43 oz	0.42 in	4.37 in	2.44 in	0.42 in	2 x 0.8 ml (cartridge)
12.05 g	132.5 mm	111.0 mm	62.0 mm	10.6 mm

You can't see it in this photo, but the cap's plastic top is dimpled, though otherwise unremarkable --there are no adornments on it. The cap is a screw-on, which threw me at first because the 1973 Pelikan 'Pelikano' model which it resembles is a snap-cap (Pro tip: when in doubt, unscrew a pen cap--do not pull on it! ;)

 The steel clip has the 'Laurin' logo --the only thing which actually identifies it as a Laurin pen-- stamped sideways on it, and "Germany" stamped vertically at the very top. Some Laurin writing instruments, apparently, didn't come with any branding at all; I'm glad mine did, otherwise I'd have had no idea as to its origin.

The stainless steel nib has no obvious identification or markings. I say "obvious" because I haven't tried to remove the nib on my pen; Pelikan-Collectibles.com shows a blue model '867' like mine with its nib removed, and the words "Reform" (in cursive) and, below that, "Iridium Point" and "F" (both in all caps) stamped on it.

According to Pelikan-Collectibles.com, the orange and blue models had the newer feed (which had more fins), whereas the yellow and green versions had the earlier, shorter feed with fewer fins. The models are otherwise identical, except for their barrel colours.

The pen takes short international cartridges and, after some rinsing out of some old ink, it wrote pretty smoothly (not scratchy, but not buttery-smooth). All in all, at $8 CAD, it was a great deal for a neat vintage student pen in excellent condition and its matching zippered case (which itself was in excellent condition--I was pleasantly surprised to see no ink stains inside the case).

Oh and regarding that blue zippered case... I believe the fountain pen and its case were originally sold together; I found a photo of a Laurin set (fountain pen very similar to a '867' but with a plastic, bandless cap + ballpoint) that came with a matching zippered case. It's hard to tell from my photos, but my case actually has two loops, so I'll keep an eye out for a Laurin '867' fountain pen in one of the other colours to go with my blue one. They don't come up for sale very often, but you never know :)

(~ photos & review by Maja ~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 293

And now, a really nice write-up on a classic vintage fountain pen recently acquired by honourary VPC member Glenn in Australia (many thanks to Glenn for sharing this new pen with us!):

(all text by Glenn)

Pelikan 140 with DEF (extra fine manifold) nib. 

Successor to the IBIS, the Pelikan 140 was produced from April 1952 to July 1965. It is most often found in green stripes, the version with the longest period of production (1954-‘64), but many other colours were made for far briefer periods (3 months to a few years.) It was also sold under various other company names, as well as for third parties, without the Pelikan branding, all of which adds to the extensive range of examples to be found. 

 (all photos courtesy of Glenn ~ please click on images to enlarge)

It is a petite pen, weighing a mere 14.7g and measuring 125mm x 12mm, with an ink capacity of 1.5ml. Cheaper than the 400, its gold plating is said to be of a lesser quality, making it more prone to brassing, as mildly evidenced by the cap band on my own example. The inscription thereon is a simple “Pelikan 140 Germany,” which was introduced from 1954, replacing the initial plain band. Similarly, the narrower clip seen on my pen dates back to 1954, as does the engraved 2-chick logo on the cap head. At the same time, the barrel engraving “Gunther Wagner Pelikan” or “Gunther Wagner Pelikan 140” was deleted, as was the nib size engraving on the filler knob. 

 

 The ‘logo’ nib replaced the ‘script’ nib in December 1954; it has two chevrons that extend from the shoulder and meet at the slit, hence the nickname ‘fir tree’ nib. In 1965 the design changed again, so that the chevrons terminate just before the slit, as seen on my pen. At least this provides a more definitive date of manufacture than the 11-year reign of the previous version; all have the old-style ebonite feed & ring. 

 

Manifold nibs are very hard because they are designed for making multiple copies using carbon paper*, which requires considerably more pressure, akin to writing with a ballpen; the greater the number of copies, the harder the writer must press on the original. The later version of the manifold nib requires the 2nd air hole because it has a shorter slit to further reduce the degree of spring, making it even firmer. 

While this special purpose nib surely was not uncommon in its day, I have seen very few of them in recent times, but unless it comes on a much rarer barrel colour at an amazing price, I am unlikely to buy another. The degree of firmness that made it invaluable in the office means it is, to me at least, not a particularly enjoyable nib to write with. That said, someone who grew up using a ballpen might well find it ideal. I didn’t, my English teacher hated with a vengeance the incursion of cheap ballpens in the early ‘60s, and demanded that we all use a ‘proper’ pen; that must be why I have so many of them! 😊 

Having filled it to test the nib, I’m using the 140 as my daily driver; I am a little more used to the nib now, but it really is a proverbial nail.

* For benefit of the ‘younger generations’: Carbon paper was originally paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, bound with wax, used for making one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of an original document with a typewriter or ballpoint pen. In 1954 ‘solvent carbon paper’ was invented; it uses a solvent-applied coating or set of coatings with polyester or other plastic film as a substrate, instead of actual paper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_paper . (I am a little surprised to see that you can still buy it in this era of printers and photocopiers.)

 References, all accessed Nov 29, 2021: 

https://www-penexchange-de.translate.goog/sites/klassiker/durchschreib.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui,sc 

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Revised-Piston-Fillers/140-Basis/index.html

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Nibs/index.html

https://thepelikansperch.com/2019/02/18/pelikan-140-fountain-pen/ 

Glenn Garside,
Brisbane, Australia.

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 292

It's the first day of December and the 'season of giving' is well upon us! Of course, you don't need a special time of year to show generosity to others; a few months ago, Stuart got some cool vintage desk sets and a vintage inkwell from Joe C. as gifts :) We featured one of them -- a Sheaffer 'Fineline' ballpoint counter set (the kind with a chain attached to the pen)-- here on our pen club's blog back in July. Stuart was very appreciative of Joe's generosity and wanted to share the rest of the items on our blog today, so away we go!

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

Stuart: "The first pic shows three Sheaffer bases, two nice onyx ones, and a two-pen model. The green onyx base has lovely colour, which gets washed-out in the picture."

 
Stuart: "The second shot is a very handsome Parker set with a functioning perpetual calendar. It fits a Jotter BP desk pen - I tried a desk 51 and 45, and neither fit. The sticker on the bottom indicates it sold new for $45, so quite high-end. I’m guessing 70’s-80’s. The stone bases are off-brands, nicely done, but I don’t know if I have any pens that will fit them. The thicker desk BP’s work in them."

"I’m very pleased with the desk sets. Only one FP in the lot, the non-working Snorkel, all of the other pens are generic desk BP’s. Some of them work - one set with a chained pen is now on our kitchen counter! The others need refills, the generic stick type that look like the innards of a BIC."

Stuart: "The last shot is an antique inkwell. The interior is messy, and there’s a loose brass ring which I think originally held the glass insert in place. It makes a handsome display piece."

Many thanks to Stuart for sharing his gifts with us via our pen club's online "show & tell"!