As a reminder, do not quote my posts in your replies because it's brutal for those with lower bandwidths. Be courteous.
I always know when it's time for the LA Pen show. You spend the latter part of the year saving a pool of money for the show and then just weeks before the show, all kinds of pens come into the market to tempt you into spending your show stake. It's kind of like bears coming out of the holiday hibernation. This year was no exception but thankfully, Marc Shiman was kind enough to announce ahead of time that he was bringing a huge load of Italian pens the show for sale. So I resisted temptation and headed to the show. More on this later
The weather was cooperating this year. Two years ago, the east coast was snowed in and a lot of dealers missed the show and last year it rained all weekend. But the weather was good and we were good to go.
As usual, I don't show up very early on Thursday since very few dealers set-up on Thursday. I was eating a leisurely breakfast at 9:00 am and checked FPN. Loren posted two hours earlier that he had already sold an entire collection of pens and bought another collection. What!!!!!


When I got to the show, the room was already a third full and very active. It felt more like Friday morning rather than Thursday afternoon.




The outer areas, as usual, were like empty fields awaiting planting.


Pen Posse members Teri Morris and Fred (sketchy) setting up


Two of the special events at the show this year was the unveiling of Andreas Lambrou's new "Fountain Pens of Japan" and Michael Sull demonstrating beautiful calligraphy.

I'll have a bit more to say about the book in the section of Friday.
Michael Sull was hosted by Greg Minuskin and doing demonstration of some of the most beautiful calligraphy. He spent the weekend writing people's name on request as well as a seminar. At the end of the report I'll have a special segment with photos of his technique.




Michael's gorgeous pen holders for sale

As I mentioned earlier, Marc Shiman brought a huge collection of vintage Italian pens to the show. He contacted me the week before and sent me a list of the pens he was bringing. As I posted on FPN, I told him "You bring the pens, I'll bring the cash". As promised, I did clean him out of his best pens. Actually, Marc and I could have just hung out in the lobby exchanging pens for money.
Marc Shiman-my drug dealer

Some of Marc's pens

Some of the most beautiful modern pens to have been introduced recently are the handpainted Artus pens from Russia. The artwork is out of this world and done in the classic Russian style.


Pendleton Brown's Bad boy



Here are last pics of the closing part of Thursday
Greg Minuskin's pile of pens

Got tools?

Got parts?

It was getting late and I was hungry. We rounded up the SF Pen Posse members and started to look for food. At the risk of a bad meal we decided to give Lido Italian food a try. The restaurant was featured in Gordon Ramsey's "Kitchen Nightmares". I remember watching the episode and saying "Hey I know where that place is!" This could have been bad but it looks like Gordon Ramsey did his magic. The place was full and the food was pretty good. Of course, sticking Gordon Ramsey's name all over your menu helps.
As I always say, pen shows do not end when the official hours end. When we got back from dinner, the show was still abuzz with pen activities.
In the lobby lounge area



Edited by AltecGreen, 21 February 2012 - 01:59.