What Did You Buy At The 2015 San Francisco Pen Show?

[zaddick]

I know today (Friday) is only open to the folks with a trader pass or attending a class, but I am already eager to hear what people are bringing home. I'll be there on Saturday to get some pens worked on, and I am sure there will be a fair amount of temptation.

 

Please use this thread to share what you bought, from pens to inks to paper or ephemera. I am sure many people would be interested to see what moved you or what got away from them.

[da vinci]

I do hope that FPN'ers contribute to this thread. It would be great to see some of the exotic pens that are available at this fantastic show.

 

If only I wasn't a continent away

[zaddick]

Alright, where are the responses?

 

I'm too tired to take decent quality picutres right now, but it was a lovely day of shopping with some great finds.

 

I had Mike Masuyama work on three nibs. Always money well spent.

 

From the lovely couple from Stylo Art pens, an amazing raden and egg shell pen. The pen was packed in a pouch made from vintage fabric.

 

From Syd I pick up, er I mean preordered, the new deco band with the large "superflex" nib. I got the rosewood ebonite with the crazy red feed. If you have the chance to order one, and you like big pens, jump on it. It's a fantastic pen from a great firm. A solid choice.

 

From Dayne I picked up a Danitrio hyotan (aka Mae West) in a red urushi. It had the flex stub nib I like so much. I had a hard time passing up some vintage pens he had also.

 

From Andy I picked up a one of a kind Classic Pen large size Legend made by Paul Rossi. It feels great in the hand and had subtle sheen. Too tempting to pass up for me. I already got the nib customized to a cursive italic.

 

I am happy with the purchases. Pictures to follow.

[da vinci]

Alright, where are the responses?

 

I'm too tired to take decent quality picutres right now, but it was a lovely day of shopping with some great finds.

 

I had Mike Masuyama work on three nibs. Always money well spent.

 

From the lovely couple from Stylo Art pens, an amazing raden and egg shell pen. The pen was packed in a pouch made from vintage fabric.

 

From Syd I pick up, er I mean preordered, the new deco band with the large "superflex" nib. I got the rosewood ebonite with the crazy red feed. If you have the chance to order one, and you like big pens, jump on it. It's a fantastic pen from a great firm. A solid choice.

 

From Dayne I picked up a Danitrio hyotan (aka Mae West) in a red urushi. It had the flex stub nib I like so much. I had a hard time passing up some vintage pens he had also.

 

From Andy I picked up a one of a kind Classic Pen large size Legend made by Paul Rossi. It feels great in the hand and had subtle sheen. Too tempting to pass up for me. I already got the nib customized to a cursive italic.

 

I am happy with the purchases. Pictures to follow.

Sounds like a great haul zaddick

[Ana_]

I made it!! My first pen show 😊😊😊 Yay!!! I attended the SF pen show yesterday, Friday, from 7 am- 4:30 pm. I feel like I did it right considering it was my first fp show ever, I was mentally short circuited with excitement, and I was only able to attend one day then dash out of town before 5 pm or turn into a pumpkin. I worked the registration desk from 7 til noon. This was good because I got to wrap my head around the idea I was in a place where every pen I could dream of was being held... I purchased my first FP at the registration desk, an Eagle with nice flex & variation from John Shumaker. And then... I entered nirvana... The first thing I did was to have a nib cut into a left oblique by the amazing nib guru Mike Masuyama. I also left him a Waterman Ideal to repair which I will receive in the mail in a bit. Next, I went right over to Greg Minuskin's table to peruse his flex pens. I have been surfing his web page for ages trying to figure in pen availability so it was a fantastic opportunity for me to meet him in person & test the flexie goodness of his pens myself. I purchased a black & gold celluloid Waterman Ideal from him with great flex and variation. Writing samples to follow. After that I found a box of spare pen body parts & found caps for 2 of my BCHR fp's that came to me capless. Now I can finally ink them! Next I made my way to the lobby where I just tried to breathe & take it all in. It's overwhelming being at ones 1st pen show. My senses were truly short circuited! After lunch & some recovery I went back in, wrote with 40 out of 500 ink sample fp's (there was a twisted part of me that wanted to try ALL 500 but in the end stamina won out..) and just marveled at the clever & modern high tech FP Setup! All those pens all those inks! Truly impressive. Then I spotted a table in the back that for some time I thought might be a mirage, the elusive Akkerman inks straight out of the Nederlands?! Here?! In my bay?? I have had my eye on these since 1st learning about them a year ago & now here it was before me all those pretty inks in that unique gorgeous bottle! I bought myself a bottle of #3 Blue from Vaness Pen Shop and am super happy to finally own it. From there, I needed one more item... I had flex pens, expertly tuned tines & ink.. I went on a hunt for paper, this led me to Curnow's Bookbinding & Leatherwork where I purchased a 3 pack of Standard Midori sized Tomoe River Edition backpack journal paper. *Whew!* I'm including a picture of my first Fp show EVER treasures. There was only one time I saw a pen I wanted and faced a dilemma. One is drama enough! My heart break story is this, I saw an amazing MT Swan BHR with 2 gold rings & clip. It was just beautiful. It was at the table of the esteemed Susan Wirth who btw I loved talking to. The pen was 4 things: beautiful!, worth the price, with great flex, & out of my budget. If I'd have bought it, it would've been my only treasured purchase. And while I struggled with temptation of taking out the plastic and taking it home, I followed fellow SF pen posse member AC12's advice (thank you Gary!) in the end, take a set amount of cash and once it's gone it's gone. So while I felt the heat of walking away from that black beauty, in retrospect I'm SO happy with every wonderful pen, ink & paper I did get AND working the registration desk I got to put the faces to names of many I have online purchased from or emailed for advice and that was truly fun. The SF Pen Show was perfect. It was big but not overkill huge, there were so many who's who's from the FP world, the venue was beautiful, and the people were so happy to talk shop. I hope to be back next year for more than one day. I'm going to start saving right now...

(Photo: 3 pens Top: Eagle, Middle: Waterman Ideal Flex, Bottom: I know it's capped, but nib by Mike Masuyama)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Ana_

[da vinci]

I made it!! My first pen show Yay!!! I attended the SF pen show yesterday, Friday, from 7 am- 4:30 pm. I feel like I did it right considering it was my first fp show ever, I was mentally short circuited with excitement, and I was only able to attend one day then dash out of town before 5 pm or turn into a pumpkin. I worked the registration desk from 7 til noon. This was good because I got to wrap my head around the idea I was in a place where every pen I could dream of was being held... I purchased my first FP at the registration desk, an Eagle with nice flex & variation from John Shumaker. And then... I entered nirvana... The first thing I did was to have a nib cut into a left oblique by the amazing nib guru Mike Masuyama. I also left him a Waterman Ideal to repair which I will receive in the mail in a bit. Next, I went right over to Greg Minuskin's table to peruse his flex pens. I have been surfing his web page for ages trying to figure in pen availability so it was a fantastic opportunity for me to meet him in person & test the flexie goodness of his pens myself. I purchased a black & gold celluloid Waterman Ideal from him with great flex and variation. Writing samples to follow. After that I found a box of spare pen body parts & found caps for 2 of my BCHR fp's that came to me capless. Now I can finally ink them! Next I made my way to the lobby where I just tried to breathe & take it all in. It's overwhelming being at ones 1st pen show. My senses were truly short circuited! After lunch & some recovery I went back in, wrote with 40 out of 500 ink sample fp's (there was a twisted part of me that wanted to try ALL 500 but in the end stamina won out..) and just marveled at the clever & modern high tech FP Setup! All those pens all those inks! Truly impressive. Then I spotted a table in the back that for some time I thought might be a mirage, the elusive Akkerman inks straight out of the Nederlands?! Here?! In my bay?? I have had my eye on these since 1st learning about them a year ago & now here it was before me all those pretty inks in that unique gorgeous bottle! I bought myself a bottle of #3 Blue from Vaness Pen Shop and am super happy to finally own it. From there, I needed one more item... I had flex pens, expertly tuned tines & ink.. I went on a hunt for paper, this led me to Curnow's Bookbinding & Leatherwork where I purchased a 3 pack of Standard Midori sized Tomoe River Edition backpack journal paper. *Whew!* I'm including a picture of my first Fp show EVER treasures. There was only one time I saw a pen I wanted and faced a dilemma. One is drama enough! My heart break story is this, I saw an amazing MT Swan BHR with 2 gold rings & clip. It was just beautiful. It was at the table of the esteemed Susan Wirth who btw I loved talking to. The pen was 4 things: beautiful!, worth the price, with great flex, & out of my budget. If I'd have bought it, it would've been my only treasured purchase. And while I struggled with temptation of taking out the plastic and taking it home, I followed fellow SF pen posse member AC12's advice (thank you Gary!) in the end, take a set amount of cash and once it's gone it's gone. So while I felt the heat of walking away from that black beauty, in retrospect I'm SO happy with every wonderful pen, ink & paper I did get AND working the registration desk I got to put the faces to names of many I have online purchased from or emailed for advice and that was truly fun. The SF Pen Show was perfect. It was big but not overkill huge, there were so many who's who's from the FP world, the venue was beautiful, and the people were so happy to talk shop. I hope to be back next year for more than one day. I'm going to start saving right now...

(Photo: 3 pens Top: Eagle, Middle: Waterman Ideal Flex, Bottom: I know it's capped, but nib by Mike Masuyama)

Thanks so much for your post. I enjoyed reading it, felt almost like I had been there. Congrats on your lovely purchases and your will power too

[Ana_]

Thank you Da Vinci, I'm happy to share my experience and grateful I wasn't found lacking in willpower lol it's not easy!

[saalipio]

I went to the pen show yesterday but I was only able to spend around an hour there since my parents had set a lunch reservation haha. BUT! I did get the one pen I was aiming for, which was the Franklin-Christoph Model 40 Pocket with the 18k fine nib. I really like that it came with a little leather pouch and lifetime warranty!!! Since I didn't get to spend too much time there, my boyfriend and I plan to go again to check out inks and paper!

http://i.imgur.com/4gjdpGT.png

 

I'm in loooooove haha.

 

http://i.imgur.com/oofAk11.png

[Ana_]

Saalipio, it's a gorgeous fountain pen. It's amazing to have a pen you love. You'll no doubt enjoy countless pleasure writing.

[da vinci]

I went to the pen show yesterday but I was only able to spend around an hour there since my parents had set a lunch reservation haha. BUT! I did get the one pen I was aiming for, which was the Franklin-Christoph Model 40 Pocket with the 18k fine nib. I really like that it came with a little leather pouch and lifetime warranty!!! Since I didn't get to spend too much time there, my boyfriend and I plan to go again to check out inks and paper!

http://i.imgur.com/4gjdpGT.png

 

I'm in loooooove haha.

 

http://i.imgur.com/oofAk11.png

Congrats on your purchase, I like that the pen comes with a leather pouch. Looks great

[zaddick]

Here are a few pictures of the Danitrio Hyotan (AKA Mae West) with a Hana-nuri Shu finish. As far as I can tell from my research, this is a pen that Kevin Cheng posted for sale at the end of 2008 as a "warehouse find" and was sold to another member here. It does not have a signature on the pen and I am guessing it is one created before the artists were signing all the pens or it was a prototype to test the color. I know there is at least one more of these colors out there in this shape with a signature.

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who may not be familiar, the Hana-nuri finish is intentionally meant to be less glossy and have points of show through for the black finish below. It is preferred by Japanese customers as it invokes a vintage look. I amslo enjoy the look and find it a nice compliment to some of my more highly polished Roiro-migaki.

 

I only dip tested the pen, but the flex stub seems to be a nice compliment for my light hand and will give me plenty of potential for more flair.

[zaddick]

If you are ever at a pen show and have the chance to talk to Andy from Classic Fountain Pens, do yourself a favor and spend some time with him looking at his pens. They are not for everyone, but all are amazingly well made and are of very high quality. (Plus he always has amazing books with him to look though and purchase.) Spending a lot of time at his table can be expensive though, as evidenced by the next purchase I will highlight - the Classic Pens large Legend in Indigo Fire acrylic. This is a very large pen at 6 1/4 inches capped. It was hand made by Paul Rossi for Cssic Pens and has a customized clip that is 2 MM longer than a standard clip. This pen is 1/4 inch longer then the regular legends and was produced for the silver anniversary of Classic Fountain Pens. There was only enough material left to make 1 pen in this size so it is listed as an artist proof. It comes with a soft #8 nib made by Bock to Andy's specifications. He likes the Large Sailor nibs so the Classic Pens #8 nibs are similar in characteristics. In fact, when I took it to Mike Masuyama, at first he thought it was a Sailor nib!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The material drew me to this pen. It is subtle with that great shimmer in two streaks on each side of the pen. One nice feature that Paul built into the the pen was to make it single threaded to ensure the streaks of shimmer always line up properly.

 

Since this was a one-of-a-kind, I was unable to pass it up. I already had the nib ground to an M Cursive Italic by Masuyama. More details to come as I get a chance to use it for more than a dip test.

[pepsiplease69]

Here's what I bought at the show:

 

Friday:

• Michael Sull's Cursive Writing Class
  (awesome experience, great handouts, got to practice cursive, I'm terrible at cursive, and hope to make it better with practice³)
  
• Nibwork with Mike Masuyama
  
• 4 bottles of ink from Vanness
  (KWZI IG Green #3, KWZI IG Red #3, Akkerman Garuda Red, Akkerman Nassau Blau)

 

Saturday:

• A bunch of goodies from Sam and Frank Fiorella of Pendemonium
  (custom ground medium italic Pilot 78G, gorgeous 10x Loupe with battery powered LED light)
  
• Adorable fabric pen-rolls from Brian / Lisa Anderson
  (I heard Lisa's mom makes these. The fabric she chose was gorgeous. One of them was a montage of vintage writing with wax seals and other imagery. I had that one in my mind since friday, I HAD to come back and get it)
  
• More ink bottles from Vanness
  (Aurora Black and Aurora Blue. Thanks Wendy for helping me find the inks and for holding these for me)

 

I skipped sunday because I had to drive for about 1.25 hrs each way to get to the show and wanted to spend sunday at home to rest and recuperate and spend time with my family.

 

But the most valuable thing I took home with me from the show was a happy heart and a smile on my face. I met so many awesome folks at the show, it was uplifting.

 

I felt a bit guilty that I didn't buy a lot at the show but I think I do enough business with the same folks all year round that I didn't feel I had to buy in order to make the experience worth while.

 

I met and chatted with so many awesome folks, Lisa Anderson is just the nicest person. Got to shoot the breeze a bit with Syd the Wahlnut, Scott Franklin and Jim Rouse, Sam and Frank Fiorella. Just the greatest folks to know in he industry.

 

Mike and Emiko were just a pleasure to talk to while I got my nibwork done (two Lamy 2000's ground from 'B' to an everyday stub with good line variation)

 

Had a brief and pleasant encounter with Greg Minuskin. It felt good that he instantly recognized me and gave me a firm handshake and a warm welcome. The guy works miracles with nibs.

 

 

I could keep going on and on about the experience but I think I will stop here..

[zaddick]

I knew I would be in trouble when I heard Stylo Art pens was coming to the show. they have such lovely wooden pens and a great variety of Japanese nibs that can be fit and custom tuned to your exact needs. (I especially found the buried ash pens to be quite attractive with a soft grey color.) I knew they also had some urushi pens, but i did not know that had maki-e pens. It was only one small tray, perhaps 5% of what they had on display, but I was sucked right in. I waited patiently for my turn to poke around in the tray as others looked at the lovely wooden pens or waited to have their recently purchased pen adjusted. Then I saw the pen I ended up purchasing. It was the first one I looked at and the one I kept coming back to each time. The combo of raden and shell was too much to resist. Once I saw it has a Pilot 15 FA nib already installed, it was time to pull the trigger.

 

The pen deserves better lighting than I could muster in a few minutes this morning, so apologies to the artist.The lovely pen kimono you see is made from vintage kimono fabric and is actually quite lovely in itself. It came with my pen as I was allowed to select from several choices. this was the best, we all agreed.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll add more pictures to a review I will put together for this pen. The artist who did all this work by hand is Ms. Masako NOMURA. I don't think she is well know in the world of pens, but her work is quite amazing. I think this pen coming from a well known manufacturer or artist would have cost 2 or 3 times as much. although it was not cheap, I was happy with the value for such a large and detailed pen.

Edited August 31, 2015 by zaddick

[pepsiplease69]

I knew I would be in trouble when I heard Stylo Art pens was coming to the show. they have such lovely wooden pens and a great variety of Japanese nibs that can be fit and custom tuned to your exact needs. (I especially found the buried ash pens to be quite attractive with a soft grey color.) I knew they also had some urushi pens, but i did not know that had maki-e pens. It was only one small tray, perhaps 5% of what they had on display, but I was sucked right in. I waited patiently for my turn to poke around in the tray as others looked at the lovely wooden pens or waited to have their recently purchased pen adjusted. Then I saw the pen I ended up purchasing. It was the first one I looked at and the one I kept coming back to each time. The combo of raden and shell was too much to resist. Once I saw it has a Pilot 15 FA nib already installed, it was time to pull the trigger.

 

The pen deserves better lighting than I could muster in a few minutes this morning, so apologies to the artist.The lovely pen kimono you see is made from vintage kimono fabric and is actually quite lovely in itself. It came with my pen as I was allowed to select from several choices. this was the best, we all agreed.

 

20150831_084031_resized.jpg

 

20150831_084138_resized.jpg

 

I'll add more pictures to a review I will put together for this pen. The artist who did all this work by hand is Ms. Masako NOMURA. I don't think she is well know in the world of pens, but her work is quite amazing. I think this pen coming from a well known manufacturer or artist would have cost 2 or 3 times as much. although it was not cheap, I was happy with the value for such a large and detailed pen.

 

 

Isn't this the same pen that was pictured in the SF Pen Show flyers?

 

It looks awesome!

[dms525]

I knew I would be in trouble when I heard Stylo Art pens was coming to the show. they have such lovely wooden pens and a great variety of Japanese nibs that can be fit and custom tuned to your exact needs. (I especially found the buried ash pens to be quite attractive with a soft grey color.) I knew they also had some urushi pens, but i did not know that had maki-e pens. It was only one small tray, perhaps 5% of what they had on display, but I was sucked right in. I waited patiently for my turn to poke around in the tray as others looked at the lovely wooden pens or waited to have their recently purchased pen adjusted. Then I saw the pen I ended up purchasing. It was the first one I looked at and the one I kept coming back to each time. The combo of raden and shell was too much to resist. Once I saw it has a Pilot 15 FA nib already installed, it was time to pull the trigger.

 

The pen deserves better lighting than I could muster in a few minutes this morning, so apologies to the artist.The lovely pen kimono you see is made from vintage kimono fabric and is actually quite lovely in itself. It came with my pen as I was allowed to select from several choices. this was the best, we all agreed.

 

20150831_084031_resized.jpg

 

20150831_084138_resized.jpg

 

I'll add more pictures to a review I will put together for this pen. The artist who did all this work by hand is Ms. Masako NOMURA. I don't think she is well know in the world of pens, but her work is quite amazing. I think this pen coming from a well known manufacturer or artist would have cost 2 or 3 times as much. although it was not cheap, I was happy with the value for such a large and detailed pen.

 

Wow! You scored big time, Zaddick! Those pens are all gorgeous and very special. Use them in good health! (The pen wrap in the backgrounds ain't too shabby either.)

 

David

[zaddick]

 

 

Isn't this the same pen that was pictured in the SF Pen Show flyers?

 

It looks awesome!

 

Ricky came over to the table as I was having the nib adjusted and noted that is was a sister to the pens on the flyer. I am not sure what flyer was being referenced, but I did see that there was a poster board with an ad for Taccia pens and they had a similar looking pen shown. (This was to the right as you were facing the doors, near the lounge area.) I went over to see the pen in person, but I did not find the design as engaging for me personally. It was a lovely pen, but I got the sense they are going to produce multiple copies of the pen and there was maybe a 6-8 month wait to get the pen. While each one will be an individual piece with uniqueness, I think the design will be consistent. I don't mean to knock the pens, but I preferred the experience I got from the lovely couple that runs Stylo Art.

[Keyless Works]

Wow that Stylo Art is stunning. I was lucky enough to meet the husband and wife team at a pen fair in Osaka earlier this year and they had nothing like that at their table. I bought a nice buffalo horn pen from them and definitely would like to buy one of their beautiful wood pens in the future...do you know if your pen is a new product for them?

[ac12]

I ended up being too sick to do half the shopping I wanted/planned to do.

 

If any of you guys are Pelikan fans, and if you did not stop by the Straits Pens table, you MISSED OUT big time.

Sunny's prices were GREAT DEALS.

And the $6 bottles of Pelikan ink, including the non-US formulated blue-black, IOW the iron gal ink (goes on gray, dries to black, at least my bottle does). I think I have more than 10 bottles of his ink.

 

It was nice to actually speak to the Anderson's, Anderson's Pens from Wisconsin, and Lisa Vanness, Vanness Pess from Arkansas. People that I had never spoken to before. And these folks are really nice people. I just hope they made enough money that they will return next year (business is business).

[da vinci]

If you are ever at a pen show and have the chance to talk to Andy from Classic Fountain Pens, do yourself a favor and spend some time with him looking at his pens. They are not for everyone, but all are amazingly well made and are of very high quality. (Plus he always has amazing books with him to look though and purchase.) Spending a lot of time at his table can be expensive though, as evidenced by the next purchase I will highlight - the Classic Pens large Legend in Indigo Fire acrylic. This is a very large pen at 6 1/4 inches capped. It was hand made by Paul Rossi for Cssic Pens and has a customized clip that is 2 MM longer than a standard clip. This pen is 1/4 inch longer then the regular legends and was produced for the silver anniversary of Classic Fountain Pens. There was only enough material left to make 1 pen in this size so it is listed as an artist proof. It comes with a soft #8 nib made by Bock to Andy's specifications. He likes the Large Sailor nibs so the Classic Pens #8 nibs are similar in characteristics. In fact, when I took it to Mike Masuyama, at first he thought it was a Sailor nib!

 

 

20150831_084340_resized.jpg

 

20150831_084427_resized.jpg

 

20150831_084532_resized.jpg

 

The material drew me to this pen. It is subtle with that great shimmer in two streaks on each side of the pen. One nice feature that Paul built into the the pen was to make it single threaded to ensure the streaks of shimmer always line up properly.

 

Since this was a one-of-a-kind, I was unable to pass it up. I already had the nib ground to an M Cursive Italic by Masuyama. More details to come as I get a chance to use it for more than a dip test.

Thanks for posting your pen haul zaddick - enjoyed reading about your purchases.

 

This Classic Pens pen is my favourite, although I would be very happy indeed to own anyone of them