Has Anyone Heard Of Henry Simpole 2016

[Barkingpig]

"You are NOT alone!"

 

When I left work more than 3 years ago I turned in my I Phone & happily have never replaced it. I had used, as you do, a cell phone for many years, but only in the "OFF" mode, to the disdain of my friends. I kept it charged but merely wanted it for MY emergency use; I have no desire to have a personal conversation in public. Those are reserved for when I am in house.

 

I did encounter a woman @ the desk when I was leaving my car for service,express her total disbelief when I said I did not have a cell phone. She actually exclaimed, "Who ever heard of anyone NOT having a cell phone?" If I had only had one of your Overlaid pens, I could have asked,"Do YOU have one of THESE?" Sadly I did not, but it is the thought that counts! And yes, I know it is possible since I received my 2 electronic messages today from British Bespoke Pens, offering me the opportunity of acquisition; sadly today the Plumber offered to replace my suddenly "no longer working," hot water heater & I am afraid I desire hot water more than a new pen, however beautiful they are!

[Truffle Finder]

Yesterday's trip up to Portobello Road was not exactly 'brisk'! I did a bit of business, and received a Vacumatic Parker for repair, but the big thing that happened was when the photographer arrived, and took oodles of images of 'yours truly', and he has promised me that he will send me copies of them in the next week, so hopefully they will appear here very soon.

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

As a rule I don't normally buy anything on E-bay, but Neal very kindly told me about a couple of vintage fountain pens that had come up recently, and asked me if I was interested in going for them.

One was a rather unusual Swan 'visifil' in a peculiar blue patterned plastic, the other one was an Onoto Magna [lever filler] so, he kindly put the bids on for me, and we waited until the end of the auction, and sadly I didn't bid high enough to get the Onoto, but I was successful with the Swan, so now I am waiting for it to arrive, so that I can repair it, and put with my other pens in my collection.

Truffle Finder.

[da vinci]

As a rule I don't normally buy anything on E-bay, but Neal very kindly told me about a couple of vintage fountain pens that had come up recently, and asked me if I was interested in going for them.

One was a rather unusual Swan 'visifil' in a peculiar blue patterned plastic, the other one was an Onoto Magna [lever filler] so, he kindly put the bids on for me, and we waited until the end of the auction, and sadly I didn't bid high enough to get the Onoto, but I was successful with the Swan, so now I am waiting for it to arrive, so that I can repair it, and put with my other pens in my collection.

Truffle Finder.

The start of a slippery slope! I find eBay far to addictive!

[billydo]

Many will already know that it was back in 1997 when Henry begun his foray into pen making, and it all started with a series of his now trademark overlays on 1920's Conklin Crescent Filling pens, all on commission for The Battersea Pen Home. I don't know how many pens were made in total, but it's clear that they came in different model sizes and in both solid Gold and sterling silver overlays.

 

Fast forward to 2017 and low and behold I spotted one of these originals up for auction at a well known auction house. In fact there were three Simpole overlay pens available; an 18ct Gold Snake pen and a Conway Stewart "The Henry Simpole Pen" pen making up the trio. I had to bid, and was lucky enough to secure both the Conklin and The Snake! Henry gladly took possession of both pens, keeping the Snake and servicing the Conklin for me... thank you Henry.

 

I've dug deep into my pen memorabilia and found the original BPH pen catalogues, and the earliest mention of the Simpole pens was in February 1998. In the December 1998 edition I found my new pen featured, number 16, a big model 50 Conklin for sale at £1350. I'm pleased about finding this pen, and the associated info!

 

I know some regulars on hear are probably already saying "where's the pictures?!".... so here you go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what's like to write with? It's a great, wet flexible nib!

 

 

And yes, this all of course leads to the fact that this is Henry's 20th year anniversary of pen making! Bravo and congratulations Henry!

 

Now what do you have in store for us to mark this anniversary?!

 

Thank you for these pieces of art that you have given me the pleasure of photographing over all these years....

 

 

Neal.

Edited February 18, 2017 by billydo

[Truffle Finder]

As always Neal, your photography is exemplary!

Regarding how long I've been making overlays for fountain pens, I hadn't really given it much thought!

I will give it some thought as regards to making a 20th anniversary overlaid pen, but so far nothing has come to mind with that as the subject.

I'm really pleased that you are enjoying the Conklin Pen.

Truffle Finder.

[esterbex]

 

Happy Anniversary indeed!!!

 

Thank you billydo for the pics and the post!

[Truffle Finder]

It's really 'stranger than fiction', I've just come on here to post a sentence or two about how things went yesterday up at Portobello Road, and I've just noticed that this thread is just about to turn over to 20,000 'views'!

20 years of overlay pen making! Extraordinary!

 

I think that I should mention that the house where I live [on the outskirts of London] is being completely re-wired, and as a consequence my workshop needs to be turned upside down, in preparation for the men to get on with their work. As usual when I have to do this sort of 'sifting through' things, I come across all sorts of treasures which have been just waiting to be discovered, and this turned out to be no exception! First off was a jiffy postal bag, which contained a few Conway Stewart pens inside, two of which needed their levers replacing, [one was a C/S 58, and the other was a C/S 286 in green marble plastic] so, I took a while 'off duty', and did the work required.

A little later, I found a boxed National Security pen called a 'Double Tank Pen', in hard rubber with a very broad italic nib, so that one was quickly re-sacked, and put with the other two in my bag ready to go up to Portobello on Saturday.

When I got there, I very shortly started to label them, and was doing this when an old pen collector friend of mine appeared at my booth, and asked me if he could see the pens that I was handling? He just 'loves' broad italic nib pens, so I got the ink out, and a pad of paper for him to try the pens.

Needless to say, that he 'fell in love' with the National Security pen, and another pen that he had tried out, so that kicked off what would unfortunately be a rather quiet Saturday at Portobello. But I wasn't complaining, because the two pens that he bought were 'found' in my workshop during the past week, and would still be sitting there, but for the fact that I was engaged in the 'cleaning-up' session!

A very satisfying day, if not entirely a financially good one!

Truffle Finder.

[Ghost Plane]

If a certain someone didn't leave his broad italics languishing in his workshop it might be lucrative on a regular basis. Just a thought...

[esterbex]

What GP said....

[billydo]

A month or so ago, I received an E-mail from the people at Clouds House, to tell me that they had decided to use me as the main subject for their 'yearly review'.

After a few exchanges of E-mails, they told me that their photographer would like to come over to see me with a view to doing the photography for their 'review' including my pens, as well as 'yours truly'! So, I suggested that they could come along on any Saturday, at the Arcade, between 9.00am and 2.00pm.

Apparently their photographer is not available on Saturdays, so I assumed that they would use the photographs that they already have of 'me', or they might have to use another subject for their yearly review!

I received another E-mail yesterday from them to say that the photographer 'can' do it this Saturday ['if that would be convenient for me'] so, I wrote back to give them directions about how to find the arcade, and that if I happen to be dealing with a customer when they arrive, where they could go to have a coffee, to 'kill time'!

'Sods Law' says that I will quite possibly be busy this coming Saturday, but I'm sure that we will be able to sort something out!

I might even wear my red jacket for the occasion!

Truffle Finder.

 

 

Here's a few pictures from that very shoot. Credit to the photographer Rik Pennington.

 

[Ghost Plane]

Book jacket classics!

[esterbex]

Again, what GP said!

That red is your colour Truffle!

[View from the Loft]

If a certain someone didn't leave his broad italics languishing in his workshop it might be lucrative on a regular basis. Just a thought...

I agree with the sentiment, but as I'm short of funds for my pen budget, perhaps it's just as well.

 

<<Wanders off to console herself by filling a couple of wonderful broad italics purchased over the years from Truffle>>

[Truffle Finder]

I have spent the best part of this week, working on a De la Rue 'Pelican' pen, which dates back to around the end of the 1800's. It is silver overlaid, and had suffered an accident, in that it was dropped on a hard surface, and the cap sheared off at the point where the barrel meets the cap!

That might sound fairly straight forward to repair, but I can assure you that it was far more difficult than I at first thought.

I started the work on Sunday, and carried on on Monday, and Tuesday, and I kept on saying to myself :- 'I'll keep going 'cos I've already got this far!' I worked through most of Wednesday, and at long last, I think that I have done it. The repair is visually undetectable, and very strong, so I am very happy with the work that I have done.

It is without a doubt the most work-intensive that I have ever carried out!

 

Last night, I received an E-mail from a gentleman who lives in Hong Kong, and he sends me Vintage Dunhill Namiki Pens, all which need restoration to them.

He has found another one! .................. and it has got a crack starting at the mouth of the cap, and goes round for about two thirds of the circumference of the cap! It is going to stretch my micro-surgery skills to restore it, but I can't deny that I am greatly looking forward to seeing it, and then seeing what I can do with it!

I will keep you posted!

Truffle Finder.

[esterbex]

I've found some pics of a Penhome silver overlaid De LaRue found @ this site...http://www.penhome.co.uk/de-la-rue-pelican-in-sterling-silver.html

 

 

 

[esterbex]

Or is it like this gold one? I found this @ https://vintagepens.com/catill_Euro.shtml .

 

 

[Truffle Finder]

Hi Esterbex, thanks for posting the pictures of the silver overlaid De la Rue pen on here, but the gold overlaid one is not actually the same model of pen, it is a plunger filler Onoto.

The Pelican Pen was a very early [and complicated] example of an eye-dropper pen, and I think that the first model dates from the late 1800's.

Still, great to have visual aids on here.

Many thanks!

Truffle Finder.

[Larry Barrieau]

Henry, I may have missed it among all these posts on you that I've been following. Question: How and when did you come into pen repairing? It's not a common thing. And what did you do in your life's work that prepared you for it. Were you or are you an engineer? If these have been asked an answered before, please direct me to them. Thanks.

Larry

[Truffle Finder]

Hi Larry,

I think that if you go to my Website, and click on 'About', on the entry page, that will answer most of your questions.

Ever since I was young, I have always enjoyed working with my hands, and 'fixing things' that were broken gave me great satisfaction. I used to play the Classical Spanish Guitar, and at one point, I used to repair some that I picked up in junk shops, that had been damaged. Once I started to collect fountain pens, it seemed the logical thing to do, to restore them all back to working condition. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that most 'pen people' were only too pleased to answer questions about more complicated repairs. [One of the best things that I did, was to join the Writing Equipment Society, where i met people who knew much more than I did about repairing fountain pens, at that time!]

I have never had any formal engineering training, but just like most things in life, I am self taught. I find that half the satisfaction that I get from repairing something, is to work out how I'm going to approach the problem. Part of the reason that the De La Rue pen took me so long to complete, was that I had to stop and think about how I was going to tackle each obstacle along the way! But having said that the satisfaction was terrific!

I hope that helps.

Truffle Finder.