
Registration on the Fountain Pen Network
Due to the enormous influx of spammers, it is no longer possible to handle valditions in the traditional way. For registrations we therefore kindly and respectfully request you to send an email with your request to our especially created email address. This email address is register at fountainpennetwork dot com. Please include your desired user name, and after validation we will send you a return email containing the validation key, normally wiithin a week.
Thank you very much in advance!
The FPN Admin Team
FPN Quick Navigation
- Our New FPN 2015 LE Pen!
- - FPN Blue Pearl Celebration LE
- Contact the Admin Team
- - Contact Info
- - Reporting Adverts
- FPN Forums & Forum Categories
- - FPN News forum
- - The Mall forum
- - FPN World forums
- - The Marketplace Forums
- - Writing Instruments forums
- - Brand Focus forums
- - Regional Focus forums
- - Inks, Inc. forums
- - Paper, & Pen Acc. forums
- - Creative Expressions forums
- FPN Store, Donations, Accounts & Advertising
- - Store Home
- - FPN Ink Store
- - Advertise on FPN - Info
- - FPN Marketing & Advertising
- - Variable Amount Donations - Iridium, Rhodium & Platinum
- - Fixed Amount FPN Rhodium & Platinum Supporters, & FPN without Ads Donations
- - Premium (Trader/Retailer) Accounts
- - Straight PayPal Anonymous Donations
- - FPN Without Ads Donation, Annual Subscription
- - FPN Without Ads Donation, Monthly Subscription
- - The FPN Café Press Shop
- FPN Apps & Modules
- - Blogs
- - Classifieds
- - Gallery
- - Downloads
- - Home Page
- - Members
- - Pen Events Calendar
- - FPN's RSS Feeds
- - Shoutbox
- - Upload
- Manuals
- - Classifieds: Browsing
- - Classifieds: Creation
- - Classifieds: Questions & Answers
- - Upload: How-to
- Rules & Guidelines
- - FPN Rules, Guidelines, TOU
- - Classifieds Rules
- - Premium Accounts: Rules
- - Market Watch Rules

2011 La Pen Show Report
#21
Posted 21 February 2011 - 19:24

Sponsored Content
#22
Posted 21 February 2011 - 19:39
#23
Posted 21 February 2011 - 20:00

#24
Posted 21 February 2011 - 20:28
Saturday is usually a bit busier than Friday. I got up a bit late (~8:00 am) and missed some big deals going down. The pen activities start pretty early and traders were already out in force before 8:00 am.


David Nishimura unpacks a box of goodies



While I was sleeping, the Dark Lord (aka D. Issacson) scored 50 Parker 51's including these gems. Let's just say he got a good deal. The show was really good for collectors like David. I actually noticed it too since so many of the pens on my to buy list were just there. David said this was one of the best shows in years for collectors.
A tray of Parker 51's including a mustard set with an Empire cap, a Demonstrator 51, and a flighter. Not all Parker 51's cost $50.


Sarj at work

SoCal Pen Posse

Kernan sans kilt. Kernan joined me on Friday night for the 500 ft. drive to dinner.

Greg Mckinney

Carmen and John

More pens
A nice group of Conklins

A nice trio of Conklins

Pens from the Bonhams auction

Red Mottled Waterman 20

Nassau Green Parker 51 with Empire cap. Another Parker 51 that does not cost $50.


LeBoeuf Tiger Eye

More Danitrio Maki-e
The four seasons

As usual on Saturdays, the bigger companies start to set-up and there are more modern pens.
Kenro was located on the side corridor near winedoc
Some Aurora Pen

Conway Stewart had a good presence at the show. They seem to have really good traffic and Mary was really busy during the whole show. They showed some nice pens as well has their collaboration with Metalrite



The Visconti guys were out in the front. Visconti is pretty hot right now and the Declaration of Independence pens are flying off the shelves. From comments I heard, this is one of the hotter modern pens around. People were doing comparison shopping on Sunday for the lowest edition numbers.




Greg Minuskin

Denise of Penscapes painting while running a high fever.


2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#25
Posted 21 February 2011 - 21:00
Oh, to be able to afford that Genkai 4 Seasons set...
To write is to act.
___________________________
Danitrio Fellowship
#26
Posted 21 February 2011 - 21:52
#27
Posted 21 February 2011 - 22:00

#28
Posted 21 February 2011 - 22:57
At lunch time was the Norcal-Socal Pen Posse. We lost a few people to other events and poor communications but we had a great time.

Tom lusting after a Pelikan

Some of Joi's pens




I've been focusing on the more expensive pens. The less expensive pens started appearing on Saturday in anticipation for Sunday. Hey, I try to give equal time.

Fantasy Safaris

Some Esterbrooks





Of course there was TWSBI. I had heard from Pendelton Brown that Speedy was at the show so after lunch I went in search of Speedy to see what was going on with TWSBI and to put a face behind the name. Speedy was not hard to find. Speedy is a really nice guy and really enthusiastic about his products. He was there with his wife whose pen I showed in the Friday section. Speedy was demonstrating the new Vac fill and ink well.

Speedy with Vac-fil demonstrator set-up

New inkwell


Now back to expensive pens.

Here's a huge lot of vintage French pens from the Bonham's auction.




Some typical Mont Blancs hideen under glass and wrapped in plastic making for a not so good photo.


Got some 51's??

You don't see this everyday. A Caran d'Ache testing kit.

Edited by AltecGreen, 22 February 2011 - 06:15.
2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#29
Posted 21 February 2011 - 22:58
Now for some color of the show
Eddy painting


Finally organized?

I don't have one of these.

I helped Kudzu acquire one of those modified pens using a vintage dip nib. This was the pen.
My pen's cool

The pen

No Comment

The Annex

More people
Susan

Bertram Oser

Roger Cromwell

Detlef Bittner

Miroslav Tischler aka Penkala talking to Bob

Farmbaby. David probably already knows more about pens than most on FPN.

Because Sunday was the public day and the room needed to be rearranged for the table holders, the room was closed at 6 pm. So there was no late night action after dinner. However, I was invited to a dinner hosted by Roger Cromwell's mother at her house. It was a wonderful event and I want to thank Marilyn again for the invitation. The Visconti guys were also there as was one of the principals of Penworld magazine, and a retired admiral. The stories about Dante the owner of Visconti were hilarious. All in all a great and memorable evening.
2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#30
Posted 21 February 2011 - 23:54

#31
Posted 21 February 2011 - 23:56
Also, "The Dark Lord" - ha ha ha ha ha!
Also, I've only looked at the first page of photos and report, and I already need a Nakaya Intervention! *Picks up Nakaya Desk Pen kuro tamenuri, writes with it.* Ahhhhhhhhh, that's better. I think I can look at page two, now.
Thanks, Ricky, for your indepth reportage! I'm going to go take a look at your haul before I finish look at this thread. Nakayas are standing by....
#32
Posted 22 February 2011 - 00:01
ARGH!
Also, "The Dark Lord" - ha ha ha ha ha!
Also, I've only looked at the first page of photos and report, and I already need a Nakaya Intervention! *Picks up Nakaya Desk Pen kuro tamenuri, writes with it.* Ahhhhhhhhh, that's better. I think I can look at page two, now.
Thanks, Ricky, for your indepth reportage! I'm going to go take a look at your haul before I finish look at this thread. Nakayas are standing by....
The Dark Lord was rather pleasant. He knew me by my first name. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Loren and I have a ton of stories for Saturday. I can't repeat some of that stuff here.
2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#33
Posted 22 February 2011 - 00:02
Sunday as always is the public day which means the crowds will be in mass. I thought the show for the most part was better this year than the last. The fact that the east coast contingent were not snowed in like last year helped. I expected a good turnout for Sunday. It was even better when the skies parted and the weather returned to the normal awesome SoCal weather. I got up early to capture the action as the dealers set-up for the crowds.
Early morning scene
empty halls

the registration desk

Ready backdrops

Getting Ready




Inside the room





Last minute calm
Kevin and Sarj

Pendelton Brown and Mark


Shu-Jen of Taccia

Tom Cheng

Speedy

Evil Pen Purveyor and his English Counterpart

Frances

Bjor's finally organized


Readying the swag

2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#34
Posted 22 February 2011 - 00:17
The Line
The desk

The first person in line

The line grows



Around the first corner


It's 10:00!






Here they come

2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#35
Posted 22 February 2011 - 01:12
Sunday Pen action
At this point, I'll give the remaining Pen Show snippets.
Pendelton Brown

The Brown Family

Got Maki-e?

An incredible vintage Parker eyedropper. Wow!

Roger and Steven Overbury

Jotter Madness


parker 51 Cartier version (another Parker 51 that does not cost $50)

vintage Sailor ink

The return of Sailor

Interesting Sailor pens

Sailor nib test kit


Sailor is back. Looks like Ito-ya is trying to figure things out. They did bring a nib kit so people can try the various Sailor nibs. Not sure if the reps know enough yet. I held my tongue at the show.
Carmen and son

Montegrappa cufflinks-Like MB, I like their cufflinks more than the pens

Ali and Fraser

I apologize to Kenro and all Omas retailers. But it should be called the leftover.

Bryant's new toy

Speedy demonstrates new vac-fil for Kudzu


David Oscarson in full costume

The Aurora version of the Barracuda

Sakura Rose


Arnie

Come closer


Mary Burke busy at work

The best display of the Declaration of Independence pen. Bryant nailed this one.

That's all folks. That pretty much sums up the 2011 LA Pen Show. It seems the show was healthier than last year (at least for the vintage guys). A lot of vintage pens were moving and I know some big deals got done. It was a great show for me as I checked off a lot of the pens on my list. As always the show was a blast. I can't reiterate the fact that the best part of the show comes from the camaraderie and interactions between people rather than just the pens. The time spent in the show room after hours hanging out with the 'usual suspects' looking at parts, talking about pens and collecting is the reason you go to the show. It was my second LA show and it was good to see the same people each year and build those relationships.
Highlights:
1) Dinner with Roger's mom
2) Watching videos with the Dark Lord
3) 'The ecology of the Jotter Collecor'
4) Watch Rita Carbon sell pens under Ron's tutelage
5) driving 500 ft. to dinner
6) Norcal-Socal pen Posse
7) The Omas Lucens
8) meeting new and old friends
My usual advice for people wanting to go the LA show or any other show. Even if you don't collect vintage pens, try to go on the traders if the show has them. It may seem there is not much traffic but that is a good thing. You can talk to people at length and learn a lot about pens. Bring money and lots of it. I had to go to the plan C budget but it allowed me to pick up a couple of really rare pens. Remember that the show does not necessarily end at the official hours. Pen stuff goes on late at night. We were watching Youtube videos with the Dark Lord at Pendelton's table until well past midnight.
I plan to cover the LA show again next year. I will also cover the San Francisco show later this year. That will be my local show and I have some influence on the show. Expect some Pen Posse madness at the show. I think we may get our own Pen Posse area at the SF show.
Edited by AltecGreen, 22 February 2011 - 06:06.
2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#36
Posted 22 February 2011 - 02:08
I don't think my wallet, marriage and sanity could cope with a pen show like that.
Edited by Siv, 22 February 2011 - 02:21.

Danitrio Fellow, Nakaya Nutter, Sailor Sailor (ret), Visconti Venerator, Montegrappa Molester (in training), ConwayStewart Champion & Diplomat #77
#37
Posted 22 February 2011 - 03:37
What is that cracked golden/yellow/brown Conway Stewart? It's beautiful! And, Brian Edison's trays of pens... I really like his larger windowed squeeze-fill models.
I'm wondering how far out of my price range those Hakumin pens are ... probably way, way out...
Which CS pen? The one without the engraving seems to be a Finesse, a new European model. Although the color at the pen show is not one of the standard colors. The one with the engraving is a new LE. The engraving is done by a gunsmith.
Brian will be sending the Pen Posse some pens to show off at a pen posse. We were not able to get this done before the show. It will happen soon. I need to get back to Brian to iron out the details.
I think Ernest has prices for his pens on his site.
2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065
#38
Posted 22 February 2011 - 03:42
I really need to attend a pen show some day.
#39
Posted 22 February 2011 - 03:50
I am very pleased to say that with a very light touch and writing a sentence several times on the wet mesh has rendered two slightly toothy pens to very very smooth writers now...the third is much much better than pre treatment. (I have never smoothed any nibs before.)
#40
Posted 22 February 2011 - 04:32