Next meeting ~ Thursday May 17th !

Many thanks to all who attended our April meeting and brought small fountain pens for our monthly theme. Here are the details re: our next meeting:

Date: Thursday May 17, 2012
Place: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).

Theme: Pens from Exotic Places! If you have any fountain pens made in exotic places (e.g. India, Argentina, Australia, China, Taiwan, etc), please bring them to the meeting. We had Chinese & Taiwanese pens as our January 2012 theme, but the meeting venue (White Spot) wasn't ideal for a show & tell, so we will redo this theme in May. As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too.

Oh, and no RSVPs are necessary for any meetings held at Perks. Hope to see a good turnout!

April meeting photos

Nineteen members showed up last Thursday to see & learn about some lovely small fountain pens, our theme for the month of April. We saw some amazing fountain pens, from the tiny Peter Pan fountain pens made by Salz & the all-metal ringtops made by Wahl in the 1920s, to their modern counterparts, such as the Filcao "Kika", Waterman Lady Patricia & Delta Capri. Many thanks to all who attended, and to Richard for the group photos below! Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday May 17th at Perks pen store (our usual venue on Cambie Street & usual start time--6:30pm) and our theme will be "Pens From Exotic Places". Hope you can make it!

 

 If you are interested in seeing some nice close-up photos of some cool small vintage pens, check out London Pen Club member Lisa's pen photo album here. Thanks to Lisa for sharing the link! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I forgot to bring my own camera to the meeting, so I snapped a couple of quick shots of the pens I brought when I got back home (click on photos to enlarge):

 

In the photo above (Left to Right): two tiny Wahl all-metal ringtops, Sheaffer ringtop, Wirt eyedropper filler, tiny Favorit lever-filler, larger Wahl all-metal ringtop, two Conway Stewart 'Dinkies', a nice marbled Burnham lever-filler, Sheaffer Tuckaway, Biltwell lever-filler, a Diamond Point lever-filler in cool striped plastic and a green Wahl Oxford (Wahl made a much smaller model, called the "Bantam", but I forgot to bring it to the meeting!)

In the photo above (Left to Right): Stipula Passaporto Limited Edition made for the FPN (Fountain Pen Network) cartridge/eyedropper-filler, Jinhao "Pocket Rocket", small Guider pen (made in India), Jean-Pierre Lepine Mini Indigo, Sheaffer Agio Compact (in a prototype colour, I was told by the friend who gave it to me), Pilot Birdie, Sailor Chalana, Platinum '22', Rotring Esprit (Special Edition), Pilot Prera, Sailor Sapporo, Pelikan M200.

Made in Canada

(click on photos to enlarge)

I received this lovely pen in the mail a few days ago and wanted to shine a spotlight on the pen maker who made it---Chris Hughes from Brampton, Ontario. Chris has been making really nice custom fountain pens & ballpoint pens for several years and this isn't the first pen of his I own...but I think it's my all-time favourite. It's nicely balanced, posts very well and is a real looker (note that the section matches the cap and barrel---a nice touch).

Chris sells pens on his website (Appleman Pen Creations) and is very easy to work with. He can even build a new pen for you using your existing nib-feed-section unit, if you have a favourite nib you'd like to have put into a new fountain pen. Many thanks for this newest pen, Chris!
(review by ~Maja~)

Waterman's March Meeting.

Here's a 52 with a gold filled overlay, a 20 and a baby safety pen.

Big things come in small packages---April meeting details!

Date: Thursday April 19, 2012
Place: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Small Fountain Pens (they don't have to be miniature pens, but the smaller the better!). We had "Big Pens" as our October 2009 topic, so I thought we'd shine a light on the little guys this month :)
As always, "New Acquisitions" are our secondary topic.

Hope you can make it!
Cheers,
~Maja

A few more March meeting photos!

I grabbed a few photos at the March meeting as well...

Waterman's largest pen at the time (I've forgotten the model name, alas) next to the Doll Pen in its case:

Here it is next to an even bigger Waterman 20, which is a real monster:

A whole bunch of pens! I'm not going to try to name all of these...

Some very nice overlay pens, among other beauties:

Some of Brian's Waterman collection, showing a real range of colors:

March meeting photos

We had an excellent turnout for our meeting last night---19 of us showed up to see and hear about Waterman fountain pens---and I'm happy to report that both vintage and modern Waterman pens were well-represented.

Special thanks to Brian for bringing so many great pens, as well as some rare Waterman company literature to share with us. Brian was also kind enough to donate a door prize (an impressive 'no-name' fountain pen) for our draw, which was won by Glenn C. Many thanks to everyone (too many people to name!) who brought their Waterman fountain pens for us to see--- your participation is invaluable! ---and to all who showed up for the March meeting. Next meeting date: Thursday April 19th (Theme: TBA)

Now, here are some quick photos that Richard snapped using his camera phone (click on individual photos to enlarge) :


(Brian---in foreground, with his back to the camera---gave a nice talk on various Waterman fountain pens, from the world's smallest---the Waterman 'Doll' pen, roughly the size of a matchstick---to the gorgeous '100 Year' pen, and everything in between!)


(Bill S--slightly left of center, with pale long-sleeved shirt--- brought his dazzling collection of Waterman Directeur Général fountain pens; Glenn C--far right, with pale long-sleeved shirt--- brought a lovely vintage black hard rubber Waterman with a very flexible nib. Bruce and Julienne--- to Glenn C's immediate right---admire a vintage Waterman pen brought in by Brian. Julienne forgot to bring her lovely Waterman Exception, but Bruce remembered to bring his Waterman Charleston; Graham---foreground, with red T-shirt---brought his lone Waterman, a nice Taperite Citation)

(Sam C--standing to Bill's left---brought his collection of Waterman pens, which included a stunning Liaison set, among other great pens; new VPC member John H---standing to Bill's right--- brought his Waterman 100 Yr/Emblem, a WWII-era pen with great sentimental value )




(Glenn M---far left, leaning on table---brought a wonderful collection of Waterman pens, including some modern Patricians and several Edsons; Michael---left foreground, with glasses---brought some classic Waterman pens, including a glossy black Waterman CF set, Waterman's first cartridge pen; Ralph---in lower right hand corner of photo---brought along a Waterman Laureat pen that was given to passengers who flew on Air France's Concorde plane)


(VPCer Mark---extreme left of photo---and I---wearing a black T-shirt---brought our respective Waterman collections, both good representations of Waterman's vintage pens, although Mark's oldest Waterman pen predates mine by several decades :)

(Christopher R---far left, wearing light-coloured jacket---brought a boxed Waterman Phileas "starter" set, a great "First Fountain Pen", now sadly discontinued; David S---to Christopher's right---listens to Brian's presentation; Derek---not pictured---arrived late, but brought along some amazing vintage Watermans)

March meeting details!

February went by so quickly it's hard to believe that it's almost time for another VPC meeting!
Here are the details regarding our next pen club meetup:

Date: Thursday March 15, 2012
Place: Perks pen store --- 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Waterman Fountain Pens ~ Vintage & Modern.
As always, "New Acquisitions" are our secondary topic. If you don't have any Watermans or new pens/ink/paper to show, don't worry---come anyways, and see what other members have brought!

Hope to see a good turnout!
~Maja

A Hawaii Option Well Worth Considering

A pen store review from one of our members.....

A HAWAII OPTION WELL WORTH CONSIDERING

On a recent visit to Hawaii, my wife Chris and I visited the Pele Signature Pen shop, which is located on the Waikiki strip in the Outrigger Mall (2335 Kalakaua Ave.). We actually had visited the store previously, when it first opened and met the wife of the Pele Signature Pen designer. She was most accommodating and gave us a complete history and rundown on her husband’s fine pens. These impressive and most attractive writing instruments are crafted from fine rich woods, re the barrels and caps. To these wooden parts, he adds fittings, nibs and fillers, to make up stunning fountain and ball point pens, in a wide variety of finishes. The store is well stocked and a treat for any pen collector to check out. The staff seemed most eager to relate all points of interest about the their pens and the prices are well within market reality. If you are visiting Hawaii, and in particular Waikiki, don’t miss this option. I believe Pele Pens can also be ordered and there is a great utube video, which will give you a good idea of what is available. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrZL2UYA2yE

Aloha

Christopher M. Robertson

(I added a quick photo--click on photo to enlarge--of the store's business card to Christopher's review as it gives the store's current website, at www.pelesignatures.com/ . The old website mentioned in the YouTube video is out-of-date)

Some pics from our February meeting

We had a good turnout for our Feb 16th meeting---18 VPC members came to see & talk about their pen collections. Many thanks to Richard of Perks pen store for the photos!


(From L to R) Michael, Ian, Glenn C. and David S. looking at some of the pens brought in for our meeting's theme-"Complete the Set". Michael spoke about his current collecting interest---the stylish Esterbrook 'Scribe' ballpoint. In the foreground of this photo, you can see my brightly-coloured Sheaffer NoNonsense collection in the large pen case.


Glenn C. talking about his current collecting focus, Pelikan pens. Glenn brought along his lovely Pelikan 101N Tortoise reissue for us to see---a gorgeous fountain pen!


Bruce R. (red shirt) brought his amazing collection of Visconti limited edition pens. That's me in the black Parker '51' T-shirt I recently got from www.asimpledaisy.com. To my right are Greg, Dexter and Tristan. Greg is currently collecting blue and orange pens, as well as Lamy Al-Star fountain pens.


Wai and Glenn M. both seemed to enjoy the presentations. Glenn brought his
great Waterman Edson and modern Waterman Patrician collections.


Christopher R. (tan jacket) and Mark H. (to his left) both talked about their pen collections. Mark has recently focused his collecting on Wahl-Eversharp pens.


Newer member Sam (black jacket) brought some very cool pens, including his old-style Rotring 600 collection. Bill K. (to Sam's right) and Julienne (in foreground with yellow shirt) don't have a current collecting focus, but enjoyed the meeting. Bill says he only buys pens that write well---a wise approach!


David S. (wearing glasses) talked about the pens he used to collect; nowdays, he mostly buys and sells pens, but has a special interest in the ever-popular Parker '51'.


Ian (brown sweater) and Graham (light blue T-shirt) listening to a presentation during the "Show & Tell" portion of our meeting.

Many thanks to all who attended our meeting--see you on March 15th at Perks (usual place) when our topic will be "Waterman Pens ~ Vintage & Modern"!