London Writing Equipment Show 2007

[twdpens]

Wow, what a day! It was non-stop from arrival, setting up, opening time all the way until 5 o'clock. A complete contrast to the ghost-town of 2005. So busy, in fact, that we didn't have time to look round the show at all, apart from very brief visits to a couple of dealers! I was hoping to look at Charles Whitehead's Swans and have a nose at Laurence's repairs, but never mind.

 

A big Thank You to all those who came to our table. It was good to put some faces to names and talk face-to-face.

 

@andyk (hello again ) - I agree about the hall being crowded. It helped the atmosphere but at the expense of practicality. I will make sure that the organisers are aware of this and any other comments, both positive and negative.

 

Did anyone manage to get to any of the seminars? It would be interesting to get some feedback for the organisers.

 

Martin

[Col]

Col,

Did you buy anything interesting?

No pens, only some ink from Martin & Anna, plus a sealed bottle of Pelikan 4001 from that table selling the vintage inks. I did get my VP fine nib adjusted and smoothed though, which was good. And I had the opportunity to handle some pens in which I had an interest: Bexley, and a few Omas 360s, including a Wild LE (£350). My interest has moved away from English pens somewhat of late, but in previous years I've bought some nice Conway Stewarts there.

 

I spent a fair bit of time chatting to various people - Henry Simpole, Jim Marshall, Simon Gray (Battersea Pen Home) - and it's always good to see David Nishimura back in town. I felt tempted to follow him around, just to see what pens he was homing in on!

Edited October 8, 2007 by Col

[Sciopod]

A good show. Very crowded at times in the trade hall, but you'd whinge if it wasn't. Got a couple of nice P51s (NOS) from Henry Simpole, and an expensive but very nice Vac, some ink from TWD, and a new VP from Ian at Cathedral pens. Hope it runs again next year!

[Sarj]

A good show. Very crowded at times in the trade hall, but you'd whinge if it wasn't. Got a couple of nice P51s (NOS) from Henry Simpole, and an expensive but very nice Vac, some ink from TWD, and a new VP from Ian at Cathedral pens. Hope it runs again next year!

 

Hi, I think it was me that you bought the burgundy senior maxima vac from. I hope you enjoy it.

The show was great. I had a constant stream of visitors at my table and had a very successful selling day.

There was a very healthy mix of seasoned FP enthusiasts from the UK and oversas.

It was very heartening to meet and talk with so many newer potential collectors. This hobby is alive and kicking!

 

The organisation was excellent. Ian Williamson, David Wells and the rest of the WES crew should be congratulated on their superb marketing and communications.

 

I'll try an d post a fuller review with some photos later in the week once I have had time to get over the "M1 lag" and the sensory overload!

 

 

[jd50ae]

What is whinge...?

[Will]

I was really sad to have missed out on yesterday. I had hoped to come but I couldn't come due to work commitments yesterday - maybe next year!

 

JD - Whinge is to moan and complain in an ongoing manner (you might often use it of young children whingeing about something not being right).

[Col]

What is whinge...?

To complain petulantly - similar to whine.

 

[Fafnir]

Sarj,

 

I didn't realise you were a FPNer or I would have introduced myself. I spent a lot of time at your table browsing your lovely pens and was very tempted to buy.

 

I was the woman looking at all the burgundy pens (you made a comment that I seemed to be interested in that shade!).

 

Hope to catch up with you at another show!

[jd50ae]

Where are the photos................?

[Sciopod]

 

Hi, I think it was me that you bought the burgundy senior maxima vac from. I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

You are correct, and very nice it is to.

[andyk]

Bought a very nice Visofil from the very pleasant gentleman who was doing the repairs near the entrance.

 

Got various bits and bobs to complete pens I have.

 

Was insulted by the attitude of of some woman stall holder, who was selling pens as restored, when from what I saw, they patently had not been. Come on, I expect as a minimum a restored pen to be clean.

 

Generally a mixed day, which on reflection was enjoyable, I did expect the London show to be bigger though, and some of the prurveyors of pens, to be more knowledgable on their wares.

 

The day was made for me by meeting Fountaibelle(sp), an absolute joy, whose love for pens and enjoyment of them, is very obvious.

 

et

 

This was probably Laurence Oldfield (Penpractice), he was pretty much in the corner on the left as you went in. I agree with some of your comments, some pens did look a bit tatty to be restored but I know some people restore the harder bit (the internals and leave the external polishing etc to the buyer).

 

I was disappointed not to speak to fountainbel, but went back four times he was busy three of them and not there the last, he had some nice looking pens as well.

 

Andy

 

[encremental]

Col and Andy - I'm glad you both dithered, because I ended up buying the darker brown Pelikan tortoise 400NN !!

 

I was torn between the light & dark, but after trying the uninked nibs as best as I could on a bit of plain paper, I chose the fine nib, which seemed very smooth (and I was right - now I've got it home it is a joint first with the best nib in my collection). I paid £70, so maybe the guy (Miroslav Tischler?) thought that too many people were looking but not buying just before I came along! I was sorely tempted by the grey marbled 100N (which was £150) but thought I had better spread my bounty, which I did.

 

A day of firsts for me - my first ever "51", a beautifully writer in excellent condition cocoa job for £60, which I thought was a good price, my first VP - again £60 from Cathedral Pens, my first Bexley, a cracked ice Simplicity from The Writing Desk for £55 and a very heavily restored £30 Duofold Senior from some guy who had hundreds of Seniors, Slimfolds and Victories which wore your eyes out they were so shiny!

 

Did anybody else get some of the Penman Sapphire that was going for £5? After the talk of £15 eBay bottles, I snapped one up, but sadly don't see anything that special in the colour as yet - maybe it will grow on me?

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and the novelty of what seemed to a novice like me almost Transatlantic prices for pens, but would have liked to see a few more Pelikans (there was a yellow Citroen 200 which I meant to ask about, but forgot) and maybe even a Lamy of some description - I didn't see one all day. And so many Conway Stewarts ... they seemed to outnumber every other brand by 5-1.

 

John

[twdpens]

my first Bexley, a cracked ice Simplicity from The Writing Desk for £55

 

Thank you for your custom . Hope you enjoy your new pen.

 

Were you the chap with the very helpful and accommodating friend ?

 

Martin

[andyk]

John,

 

Glad I did somebody a favour, wish you hadn't mentioned how much the 100N was, I was looking at the grey one, although pretty much the price I expected (not really too bad with the advantage of seeing the pen up close rather than on an ebay photo).

 

No I didn't see the Penman Sapphire, but still have a fairly full bottle as it only gets outings in the modern Duofolds now and again, but at this price I would have bought a couple.

 

I saw the stall with all the Parkers, they also had some CSs at good prices, but so much choice I ended up not buying any. I wish I could get my pens as shiny as some of the dealers did, but all the best products seem to be for sale in teh USA with no substitute here.

 

You seem to have picked up some nice pens, hope you enjoy them.

 

I am already looking forward to next year, take more money (although I came home with quite a bit anyway), but hopefully more focussed with less gawping,so a better eye for what is there.

 

Andy

[encremental]

It was indeed. I did buy him lunch after I'd been to the cash machine though! Funny how no matter how much cash you take to things like that, you always need at least another tenner ....

 

Good luck with the Bexleys - I think you'll do very well with them, nice pens and excellent prices!

 

John

[encremental]

Andy

 

The "51" and the 400N made my day. Going round and trying a fair few "51"s, I was very struck by how much the nibs varied - a lot were really ropey, and it has rather put me off the idea of buying vintage on the web. I think that as this now looks to be a yearly event, I will save my vintage cash for an October blow out. The 400NN only entered my mind because I had seen pthalo (Laura)'s brown tortoiseshell on here. Sheer naked lust, frankly - and the colour combination is even better when you see it in the resin, isn't it? I was hoping to see Regina Martini - she was down on the WES site for a table, but unless I missed something she didn't appear to be there.

 

I was expecting loads of Pelikan special editions, and had actually earmarked most of my cash for a Grand Place or Piazza Navona. Didn't see anything anywhere - the nearest thing was a rather manky green M200 demonstrator that someone wanted a ludicrous price for - £120 or something...

 

Yes, I'm really pleased with all my pens. I line them up and gloat over them in a very unbecoming way. This evening it's ink time. Martin's last bottle of R&K sepia looks very well in the 400NN, and a spot of Squeteague suits the VP. The Penman sapphire is in the Bexley, which has a true fine nib, so maybe I'll get the full glory in something wider. The cocoa "51" is a challenge though ....

 

John

[twdpens]

I was hoping to see Regina Martini - she was down on the WES site for a table, but unless I missed something she didn't appear to be there.

 

Regina was there, on the same row as us but closer to the entrance. I didn't have time to stop at her table though (nor anyone else's ). Maybe she was doing the rounds when you were at her table. She did pop by our table so must stolen some time to "do" the show.

 

Good luck with the Bexleys - I think you'll do very well with them, nice pens and excellent prices!

 

Thanks. Since we import directly we can offer them at a sensible price even after we've added postage costs and the dreaded VAT.

 

Martin

[Nom de Plume]

Did anyone manage to get to any of the seminars? It would be interesting to get some feedback for the organisers.

I went to three of them: Geoff Roe on Ink Reservoir Writing Instruments, Graham Hogg on the British Ballpoint Pen and Geoff Parker's family Q&A at the end.

 

Dr Roe's seminar was excellent. I learnt a lot (I had no idea that there was a collector in a rollerball), and it was very well presented. I wasn't taking notes so I am glad that I was able to buy a copy of the paper afterwards.

 

I only collect fountain pens (and rarely use ball pens) so I was planning to skip the British Ballpoint. However the material in the first seminar had piqued my interest and so I stayed. As it turned out, this was the right decision because it was another very interesting talk -- sufficiently so that I later bought both of Dr Hogg's books from his table ("The Biro Ballpoint Pen" and "50 Years of the Parker Ballpoint Pen"). I haven't had time to read them yet.

 

The talk from the independent financial advisor really didn't sound like fun, so I didn't go to that one. I am not interested in pens because of their investment value, and in any case it sounded from the description like a generic presentation that would apply equally to any sort of collection. Did anyone here attend this?

 

Finally, Geoff Parker's seminar was a bit of a change from the more technical ones, and a nice way to end the day. I was surprised that there weren't more people around for this one.

 

I didn't buy any pens at the show -- I was quite relieved to find that the LE Duofold (way out of my normal price range) wasn't really my cup of tea! In fact I came away with fewer pens than I went in with because I left my favourite Parker 51 with Laurence Oldfield to have a new diaphragm fitted.

 

On the other hand, I have got plenty of new reading material. In addition to the above I also bought the Duofold book from David Shepherd. Again I haven't had time to read much of it yet, but it is another beautiful book. I am looking forward to the next one on the Vacumatic.

 

My first pen show, and I definitely enjoyed it. My thanks to everyone whose hard work made it all possible.

 

[eckiethump]

What is whinge...?

 

What us Brits do with severe aplomb........

 

et

[andyr7]

I agree with the earlier comments about overcrowding which I believe was caused by the wasted space in the first hall. Presumably the manufacturers paid a large sum of money to have the large trade stands (in turn helping the show finances) but the number of people visiting them didn't justify the area allocated, at least while I was there, whereas virtually every table in the vintage hall was crammed all the time. Similarly, the meeting area appeared hugely underused as well - there was plenty of seating up near the cafe for people to arrange to meet up if necessary.

 

Not a whinge, just a measured observation!

 

Andy