Vintage Ballpoints--November meeting topic

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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!

Vancouver Pen Shop's 25th anniversary (and sales!)--October 1st and the rest of October

We are fortunate to have so many nice pen stores in Vancouver, and one of them is having its 25th Anniversary Sale on Saturday October 1st. The Vancouver Pen Shop on 512 West Hastings Street will feature "special pricing" on nearly all items (*except* Montblancs, I believe) on this date (late edit: the "special pricing" applies to non-Montblanc items priced at $25 or more only) Additionally, each subsequent week in October will feature special pricing on a selected pen company brand. I believe the four brands featured will be: Lamy, Faber-Castell, Parker and Waterman (late edit: Week #1 will feature Sheaffer--not Lamy--week #2 will be Faber-Castell, week #3 will be Parker and week #4 will be Waterman. Turns out I won't be able to make it to the sale on Saturday, but I hope that you will come and take advantage of these great deals!).

Belated congratulations to Al Charania, owner of Charals pen store on his own store's 25th anniversary, back in August! I picked up a bottle of nice Montegrappa blue ink there (thanks, Al!) when I stopped to chat with Al about his shop a few weeks ago.

Fellow VPC member Glenn Marcus wrote about these two anniversaries
in this blog entry and individually about Charals' anniversary here, in this article and Vancouver Pen Shop's 25th on this page.

Best wishes to both the Vancouver Pen Shop and Charals on 25 successful years in business. In this tough economy, that's quite an achievement!

Some photos from our September meeting

Great turnout for the September 15th meeting---14 VPC members (including two new members--Sam and Dexter) and two guests (Tim & Elena Sawyer, who came all the way from Hawaii!). Tim and Elena brought macadamia nut treats, and even remembered to bring some "long-short"-style Japanese fountain pens for our theme's show & tell! We saw many examples of beautiful pens made by Nakaya, Pilot, Platinum & Sailor brought in by our members. Many thanks to all who attended!

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 20th at Perks pen store (usual place & time). Theme: Non-Parker British Pens (some examples are: modern/vintage Conway Stewart, Onoto & Yard-o-Led pens, as well as pens by vintage 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 the theme idea!



(Photo above shows---clockwise from extreme left--- Graham, Wai, David S., Sam, Bill K., May, Maja, Bruce R., Louise, Elena Sawyer(hidden from view), Tim Sawyer, Dexter, Christopher R., Norm & Ian. Not pictured: Richard (photographer))






(photos courtesy of Richard C.)

In the spotlight---Japanese Pens! (September meeting details)

Please note that we are back to our usual venue (Perks) for the September meeting.
I thought it was about time we had a theme devoted to Japanese pens, so here you go!

Time: Thursday September 15, 2011
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:00-6:30pm "Meet & Greet"..... 6:30pm-8:30pm Meeting.
Theme: Japanese Pens! (modern & vintage)-- Sailor, Pilot, Platinum & more!
As always, "New Acquisitions" are our secondary topic.

Everyone is welcome to attend and no RSVPs are necessary for this meeting as it is being held at a pen store. Meetings are held monthly, on the third Thursday of each month, *except for* December....Please check our blog for last-minute schedule changes/updates.

VPC annual summer dinner at Moxie's!

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What a great time at the VPC annual summer dinner at Moxie's tonight! Many thanks to everyone for chipping in for my meal, as well as our pen club host Richard's; the sentiment was much appreciated, and the food (and company, of course!) was excellent. Our waiter Adam snapped this photo of us and it turned out to be the very last photo saved on my camera's memory card---good timing!
Next meeting: Thursday September 15th (6:30pm-8:30pm) at Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver (our usual place). Meeting theme/topic will be Japanese Pens.

For trade Nakaya portable writer

Hello Folks, well I am going to put my Nakaya up for trade again, would prefer a straight trade but would consider a sale as well.

I am sure most of you have seen my Nakaya, purchased from John Mottishaw with his lovely custom double broad stub flexible nib. My pen is in the very dark black/red finish and comes with the kimono but no box.

I am looking for a Cartier fountain pen, preferably the Diablo but will consider others and must be in good to mint condition.

thanks so much, hope your all having a lovely summer!