Charals store new closing date! (**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th**)

Yes, Charals' closing date (and SALE!) has been extended to the end of AUGUST! 😀

(**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th -- STORE NOW CLOSING ON SEPTEMBER 9th**)

This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

Check out their official Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en for more information. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 549

An early birthday gift that Christopher got from a fellow vintage fountain pen aficionado!

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ click on image to enlarge)

Christopher writes:
 "To celebrate my day of days, a good vintage pen-collecting friend passed on this remarkable Parker 'Shadow Wave' set. It appears to be new old store stock from the late 1930s as the Parker date coding on the barrels indicates. Better still, it was gifted to me in the extremely attractive Parker Vacumatic 'Clam Shell' presentation box with suitable ephemera. This is a Second Generation Vacumatic Debutante set, thus it sports a Parker 'Speedline' filler. Being an unused set, the barrel of the fountain has brilliant transparency, and the overall condition of the pen and mechanical pencil is absolutely mint. Both writing instruments sport the new-at-the-time Parker 'Blue Diamond' warranty, and this fine set hails from the Canadian Parker works in Eastern Canada. In closing, I plan to be the first person to use this set on my up and coming birthday and will, in turn, add it gladly to my vintage pen collection."

Happy birthday (in advance), Christopher, and thanks for sharing your wonderful vintage Parker set with us!

Some photos from July's meeting!

There were 34 of us in attendance at our club's July meeting, which was held on Thursday July 17th at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch; among those present were two brand-new members, Francisco and Rob (welcome to our club!)

The meeting featured a special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (by our fellow VPCer Grant) ... and many door prizes (tons of ink, courtesy of VPC member Godwin)! Here are some photos taken during the meeting...

 (~click on images to enlarge~)

Grant gave an excellent talk on the repair of vintage fountain pens, as well as a demonstration on how to change the latex ink sac in a vintage Waterman fountain pen with a lever-filling mechanism

Before getting to the demo, Grant gave us a good overview of things to consider when a pen repair opportunity presents itself -- the pen's material, the tools required for the job, repair techniques, as well as a reminder about the limitations of some repairs. Thank you, Grant, for explaining things in such an engaging and concise manner! 

(*photos above taken by Catherine; photos below taken by Maja, except where noted*)

The meeting was very busy, so I didn't have time to take many photos of the pen-related items that members brought to show each other (we didn't have a "show & tell" at this meeting, though). Some of our members (esp. the folks in the foreground of the photo above) used the casual format of this meeting to do some ink-swatching...

… and here's a quick shot of some nice ink swatches done by Catherine (lower left), Lisa (upper left) and Audrey (right side of photo)...

After his presentation, Grant took the time to look at some vintage fountain pens brought in by our members…

Above (left to right): Grant, Stuart, David C, and Allan.

Grant also brought some of his own wonderful vintage writing instruments to show others. The other side of his pen case (which you can't see--sorry!) had restored vintage pens that Grant brought to sell at the meeting...

That's me next to Stuart, who joined our club way back in September 2013 - time flies! (photo taken by Audrey)

Above photo (left to right): Grant, Shawn and brand-new member Francis.

(** all photos below courtesy of Sherman ~ click on images to enlarge **)

Sherman was kind enough to send me some photos he took during our July meeting, including a couple of his famous selfies! In the background of the photo above are (L-R): James, Grant, Alejandra, newer member Steve K, and Allan.

I was busy calling out door prize ticket numbers (above), so I didn't have time to take any selfies during the draws...but Sherman did (lol); he's holding up the bottle of Diamine 'Platinum Jubilee Ink' that he won.

Here's a closeup of the Diamine ink that Sherman won. The ink was an exclusive made for well-known UK retailer Cult Pens, and it was created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Cult Pens describes the ink as "a rich, regal purple symbolising Royalty with a platinum shimmer."

Sherman brought some of his nice writing instruments to show -- (left to right): a Golf Propelling Pencil 0.5mm, his élysée Damascene Sports (40 Line) fountain pen, and a Pilot Custom 743 Black fountain pen with 14K Gold F nib. His single-pen sleeves (above) were made by Rickshaw Bagworks of San Francisco.

Sherman's door prize ink and some inks he brought to trade. Members are free to bring ink and pen-related items to trade/sell during any of our meetings :)  

Thank you to everyone who came to our July meeting, special thanks to Audrey, Catherine & Sherman for taking some photos for this blog post, and to Audrey & Michelle for helping with the door prize draws 😊. Many thanks, once again, to Grant for his informative vintage pen repair presentation & demo 👏, and to Godwin for his immense generosity in donating so many ink door prizes! 🙌

⚡ Our August meeting will be held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on Saturday August 23rd ~ details in this recent blog post: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/august-meeting-at-vancouver-pen-shop.html 

(~Blog post by Maja~)

August meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop (*Saturday* Aug. 23) !!

Vancouver Pen Club August 2025 meeting

When: Saturday August 23 from 5:00pm to ???

Where: The Vancouver Pen Shop, 555 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC.

Theme: "Pens You've Bought from Shannon or Sunshine"

The event will be a celebration of store manager Shannon's 30th anniversary of working at the shop and Sunshine's 15th 🥳 so please bring pens that match the theme (if you can—no worries if you don’t have any) and reminisce with them about your shopping experiences at "The Pen Shop"! 

There will be snacks, soft drinks, door prizes & more! As with our previous get-togethers held at the Pen Shop, attendees can buy stuff from the store during the meeting. Our thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for offering to host our August meeting 😁 (and no RSVPs needed to attend the event)!

➡️Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

Meeting this Thursday!

(all details here !)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 548

Our thanks to Christopher for sending in this write up about his latest vintage treasure!

Christopher writes:
"With the migration of Brits from the UK to British Columbia during the 1950s and well into the 60s, it is not out of the question to find fine British made fountain pens, especially in the city of Vancouver. And I, for one, am always on the lookout for such wonderful treasures. Along these lines, a lovely early 1940s Swan, Mabie Todd came my way and, needless to say, I was thrilled."

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

"But let me relate the makeup of this super vintage writing instrument. The finish of this pen is an attractive blue pearl and black marbling over all on the barrel and cap. The 14K Gold filled cap clip presents a fashionable Swan branding logo at its top, followed vertically down to a ball end, with a black cap ring top and screw, well inserted, to hold the clip and top ring in place. At the open end of the cap is a triple 14K Gold filled banding, signifying that this is a standard top of the model line deluxe model. Under this cap is a well-made black grip section sporting a good-sized No.4, 14K Gold Swan marked nib. The barrel below is quite substantial and, for that matter, well marked, with not only the pen's manufacturer but the model, 1042. And I should mention having handled this pen that it sits extremely well balanced in the hand.

At the other end of this fine writer is a unique filling system, which says quite a bit for the Mabie Todd company's engineering department. The filling mechanism is branded 'Leverless' and works extremely smoothly with a black barrel end knob. Turned clockwise, it inks the pen and in turn, rotated the other way, empties the ink sack in the barrel. With a clean leverless barrel, the effect is quite stunning and I for one intend to add this super British trooper to my vintage pen collection." 

Pen show in Portland *this* coming weekend! (July 11-13)

https://pnwpenshow.com/

July meeting info (special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair!)

July 2025 meeting info: 

When: Thursday July 17, 2025 

Where: The Branch Meeting Room (in the basement) of the Vancouver Public Library's KITSILANO branch at 2425 Macdonald Street (between Broadway & West 8th) in Vancouver. 

Time: 5:00pm - 7:30pm 

Meeting topic: A special presentation on vintage fountain pen repair (and a lever-filler repair demo) by Grant! 🖋️🛠️ Grant has generously volunteered to do a talk on vintage fountain pen repair for our July meeting, and he'll also restore (resac) a vintage Waterman lever-filling fountain pen! 

Please note: 
--We have the use of the room from 5:00pm, but Grant's presentation will start at 6:00pm to allow folks more time to get to the library in time for his talk. 
-- After Grant's talk, you can use the remaining time to socialize and chat amongst yourselves--there will be no "show & tell" at this meeting**

Hope you can make it! No RSVPs required. If you have any questions, please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

June meeting photos (topic: Newest Acquisitions)

There were 26 of us in attendance for our June meeting, which was held on Thursday June 19 at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch. Among those in attendance were three members who attended their very first meeting -- Andrew, Monika and Steve K!

Our evening's topic was "Newest Pen-Related Acquisitions" and we saw lots of really nice fountain pens that night. I snapped a few photos during this busy meeting, so without further ado, here they are...

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

Newcomer Monika brought three fountain pens to show us, starting with this handsome blue Pelikan 'Pura' (above)...

Monika also brought two more (also blue!) German-made fountain pens -- the Kaweco AL Sport in "Stonewashed Blue" (a very nice pocket pen) and a cool Diplomat 'Viper' Blue Guilloche (I love the snakeskin-like etched pattern...)

Some of the cool vintage writing instruments that Mark brought to show, including a really nice boxed vintage Parker '51' set ...

That's Andrew's Pelikan '120' (Merz & Krell version) fountain pen --a "daily driver" pen for Andrew--which was produced from 1973 to 1977.

I brought three recently-acquired fountain pens to the meeting - a Kaweco AC Sport in Champagne (bottom pen), a Baoer 507 "Eight Horses" fountain pen (a pen that Stuart "de-stashed" last month -- thanks, Stuart!) , and a Lamy AL-Star "Turmaline' (purchased from Noteworthy Stationery---an online-only stationery store in Burnaby, BC---using a birthday gift certificate from some of my lovely pen club friends --thank you *so* much! 😊). 

Glenn M. recently returned from Europe and brought back three gorgeous Italian-made fountain pens! The pen directly above is a Stipula 'Etruria Magnifica', one of several beautiful 'Etruria' models Glenn owns (you can see the rest of them on his awesome website - https://glennspens.com/pensofnote/Stipula-Etruria.html)

These two stunning fountain pens are prototypes of a new model from Radius 1934 that Glenn brought back from his trip to Italy. Glenn has known the owners of Radius 1934 (who also own Leonardo Pens) for many years, so he was thrilled to receive the pens from them...

Though they might look like beautiful resin pens, they're actually made of highly polished ebonite (they almost glow in the light!)

A nice mix of vintage and modern! The top pen belongs to Phil and it's a vintage Parker 'Duofold Jr'  in the harder-to-find "blue on blue" Permanite plastic (the pen was only produced in this material for about a year). Phil acquired the pen at the famous Fountain Pen Hospital retail store in New York.

The modern Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloche' "Anthracite" below it, the black vintage Craig (which was a sub-brand of the Sheaffer Pen Company) lever-filler, and the sleek black Sheaffer 'Imperial' all belong to Stuart. Stuart got the Craig --which came with its original price tag on it! -- in trade from Mark during our meeting, and he received the Imperial as a gift from a local book store.

Above: A better look at Stuart's new Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloche' "Anthracite" fountain pen. This is the seventh "Graf" Stuart now owns, and he got this one (like many of the others) from the Vancouver Pen Shop.

Paul also brought some interesting vintage fountain pens to show--a vintage LeBoeuf (bottom pen), a swirly red, black and grey Wearever, and a demonstrator (clear) Sheaffer Cartridge Fountain Pen. 

Above: A closeup of Paul's lovely vintage LeBoeuf fountain pen....

And now for something completely different-- an eye-catching modern Conklin 'Duragraph PVD Blue' belonging to Jerred! The pen was made from solid brass with a PVD coating on it. And "What is PVD?", you might ask...
From Conklin's official website: "PVD, which stands for Physical Vapor Deposition, is an environmentally friendly coating process that will protect and prolong the life span of each writing instrument to which it is applied."

I love the use of rose gold-coloured trim, which complements the blue so well. Jerred said the pen originally came with a black nib, but he swapped in the yellow gold-coloured Conklin nib seen above...

Another modern blue fountain pen--David L's dark blue Faber-Castell 'Hexo' (above). This hexagonal fountain pen was made using anodized aluminum and features a clever capping design feature; the cap's facets always line up with the facets on the pen's barrel, no matter how you orient the two parts.

We also saw some new Japanese-made fountain pens, like Vladan's Pilot 'Custom Heritage 912' with FA nib....

Vladan had inked the pen and passed it around for us to try; I had a lot of fun trying out its amazing flexy nib...

Above: Another lovely black fountain pen, but this one is a vintage beauty---Catherine's Eclipse lever-filler, which (like Stuart's Craig vintage fountain pen) came with the original retail price tag --a small paper ring-- on it. The pen was likely made in the 1930s, so it's amazing that the price tag survived after so many years (and the pen itself is in fantastic condition).

Anson of Springfield Pens brought along his newest handmade fountain pen model (the swirly pale blue & green one seen above) to show us. Above it is its full-sized counterpart, the model that Anson first started out making. Both are lovely handmade (in New Westminster, BC !) fountain pens...

I just realized we saw a lot of black fountain pens at our meeting lol. The one on the far right is Vladan's newly-acquired Pelikan M200, while the middle one is a vintage Waterman 7 Red belonging to David C. The reddish-orange fountain pen on the far left is the iconic vintage Parker 'Duofold' "Big Red" (a full-sized vintage Duofold), also belonging to David.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our June meeting, whether you brought new stuff to show or not; the most important thing was that you brought yourself to the meeting! 😁

** Information about our July meeting will be posted here (at the top of each web page, in big red letters, as well as a blog post) very soon! **

The 2025 Pacific Northwest Pen Show is in Portland next month! (July 11-13)

Just a reminder that this year's show is coming up soon! 😃

The show goes from Friday July 11 to Sunday July 13 (inclusive) and everything you need to know about it can be found on the show's official website (https://pnwpenshow.com/) and their official Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/pnwpenshow) !