Jump to content

Has Anyone Heard Of Henry Simpole 2016


RMN

Recommended Posts

Nice thought Ghost Plane, but I very much doubt it!

I left there just before the Duke and Duchess left there to go and live in the South of France, and the Marquis and Marchioness of Tavistock took over the running of Woburn Abbey.

What brought you to the Woburn area then? Not the Chicksands air-base, was it? If it was then our paths might have crossed.

Very interesting place though.

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Ahh! The memories!!! Nostalgia's not what it used to be!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 660
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Truffle Finder

    302

  • esterbex

    84

  • Ghost Plane

    74

  • billydo

    27

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Well, I've spent most of my time this week in the workshop repairing and restoring some vintage fountain pens which have been waiting patiently for quite a long time for my attentions, so I will have quite a few 'new' old pens to put out on display tomorrow morning at my stand at Portobello Road.

I have no idea whether I will be busy or not, but I live in hope!

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice thought Ghost Plane, but I very much doubt it!

I left there just before the Duke and Duchess left there to go and live in the South of France, and the Marquis and Marchioness of Tavistock took over the running of Woburn Abbey.

What brought you to the Woburn area then? Not the Chicksands air-base, was it? If it was then our paths might have crossed.

Very interesting place though.

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Ahh! The memories!!! Nostalgia's not what it used to be!

 

Never actually made it onto Chicksands tho' I handled things involving it. I was wreaking havoc, er, stationed at Lakenheath and Dad had been 8th Air Force and knew people I never realized he knew until the parents decided to wander over and use my place in Norfolk as their home base. I acted chauffeur in the Mazda estate Mom insisted I get for hauling her endless shopping and let Dad play navigator. Always a shock to realize one's parents were "somebodies" decades and multiple military actions before one's birth. :yikes:

 

With age and perfect hindsight, I'm forever grateful they decided to be "nobodies" when I was born and give me an entirely normal and well-grounded upbringing. :wub:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I appreciate the honesty Ghost Plane! I feel as though I now know so much more about you than I did before.

 

I am pleased to say that I came up trumps today [no connection, I can assure you, it's just an expression we British use!!!] at Portobello Road, which was quite a surprise as it is both a Bank Holiday Weekend, and also it is the start of the summer season, which normally makes things quieter than at other times of the year.

About a year ago, a gentleman came to me with a Limited Edition Mont Blanc 'Henry Tate' Safety Pen, boxed and certificated, in perfect un-inked condition, which he told me he had been given as a leaving present when he left his last job 'in the city'. But he told me that he had never used it, and he felt that it was about time that he sold it.

Needless to say that I bought it from him, and it has languished in my display cabinet for over a year now, and to be quite honest, I was a bit fed up with seeing it there with only rarely being asked by people if they could have a look at it!

Anyway, an American gentleman arrived this morning, and asked me if I had any Mont Blanc limited edition pens! I told him that indeed I did! He asked if he could look at it, which he did, then he asked me for a price, and then he told me that he wanted to buy it! Hooray!!!! [i thought! But I didn't let on how I felt!]

We then walked up the road to sort out the deal on his credit card, with my friend a few arcades along the road, and we 'did the deal'!

So, all in all, it was a very good day!

Truffle Finder. :) :D :P :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday was Bank Holiday Monday, so I was pottering around in the workshop doing odd jobs on fountain pens that have been waiting for my attention for a while, and at one point I had reason to delve into the Esterbrook, and Stephen's 'spares' draw. [i should point out that this particular draw is so full that it was becoming difficult to close it after I have done any 'delving' in there!] So, I decided to have have a 'sorting out' session!

This took me a little while, but I did it, and I ended up with a dozen assorted coloured Esterbrook fountain pens, which have all been cleaned and re-sacked, and are now ready to be displayed amongst my stock at Portobello Road.

These great little fountain pens are easily 'side-lined' by most collectors, as they are very often considered 2nd or 3rd tiered writing instruments, but in fact they were made with as much care and attention as many of the giant pen companies who dominated the pen market for so many years. They were of course designed to be used by school boys and girls, which means that they had to withstand the rigours of misuse that school children tend to be so good at, [particularly the boys!]

Some 20 years ago, I had the good fortune to meet Jean Esterbrook while I was at an American pen show, and having got to know her, was invited to spend a week with her, at her home in Bronxville, on the outskirts of New York. As a consequence of this meeting, and getting to know her quite well, I soon discovered that the manufacturing principals of the company were based on her family's Quaker origins. Good quality, and exceptional value being the corner-stones of the company's aims. [it might be considered to be an over-statement, but in my opinion that these pens are as good in terms of quality of manufacture and integrity as the Classic Parker 51 fountain pen!]

Fortunately, I did find quite a number of Esterbrook nib units in the spares draw, and they have been cleaned in the sonic cleaner, so I will be taking them along with me this Saturday, so that I can offer a choice of nib styes to any potential customers.

Needless to say, that the Esterbrook spares draw shuts quite easily now!

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We really need to teach you the joys of phone pics so you can upload some of your finds here and give the overseas contingent more shots at your drawer pens. :eureka:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wishful thinking Ghost Plane!

It might help if I bought myself a mobile phone first though!!!

Truffle Finder, [the anachronism!] :blush: :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We'll drag you kicking and screaming into the early 20th century any day now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We'll drag you kicking and screaming into the early 20th century any day now.

Give it up GP....He's a dinosaur by choice. :wacko:

God is seldom early, never late, and always on time.

~~Larry Brown

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have only had one message from a gentleman who is coming to see me tomorrow at Portobello Road. But whilst I realise that one Swallow does not make a Summer, it's a start!

Sadly it also happens to be 'the dreaded rent-day'!

Even we dinosaurs have to pay our rent!!!

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Give it up GP....He's a dinosaur by choice. :wacko:

Maybe if we put some pen porn on the home screen?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

............and I thought that butter wouldn't melt in your mouth Ghost Plane!!!

Anyway, the customer who I thought was coming to see me didn't actually turn up, which was a shame, but there seemed to be a fairly steady flow of 'potential' customers who came and wanted to look at the pens that were on display, sadly only one of them bought a pen!

Right near the end of the day, a couple of very pretty young ladies approached my stand telling me that a dealer right up at the far end of Portobello Road had advised them that I was the man to see about fountain pens! Which was very heartening to hear, although I have for some time been aware that I seem to be the only pen dealer up there who is prepared to let people 'try' the pens, before purchasing them!

The long and short of it was, that they ended up buying two pens, [they had told me originally that they were looking for one pen!] I got the impression that each young lady bought a pen as a present for the other one! They both left me very happy with their purchases!

Not a bad day really!

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had been looking forward to a lunch date in Sloane Square in London with an old friend of mine who was over here from San Fransisco, his name is David Coyle, who used to be the executive chef to their graces the Duke and Duchess of Bedford [while I worked there, in my catering days!]

It was at a beautifully appointed restaurant right on the Square, but the food was an absolute let-down. The only thing that I quite enjoyed was the sweet, which in view of my starter and main course standard, I chose the lemon Pancakes. [i thought that nobody could muck that up!]

Anyway, I had a very good conversation with one of David's friends, who had heard about my overlaid pens from David, who had obviously waxed lyrically about them. [Thankfully, I had taken a few to show him, as David had asked me to!]

Well, it was a day out, I suppose!

Truffle Finder. :blush: :unsure: :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've no idea why I thought about this when I woke up this morning, but I was thinking about the Spirit of Life overlaid pen which I made a few years ago.

Ghost Plane, do you still have your SOL pen? If you do, do you still use it, I wonder?

Is there any chance that you could post a few pictures on this thread? Bearing in mind that I actually don't have one, but as you know, even if I did own one, I still do not know how to post pictures here!!!

Many thanks in anticipation.

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one of the SOL pens that goes in and out of rotation all the time. So it is still quite used and proudly displayed. I can also post some pictures if you like. Funnily enough, at the Toronto Pen and Pints meeting last night I was sitting by one of the people who helped design the writing on the pen. I looked on my Flickr stream and realized that I didn't have any pictures of the SOL so now I am inspired to rectify that today.

 

Philip

www.scriptusinc.com



Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do and that's the impetus I needed to ink it today. So glad I asked for a low maintenance c/c filler when we designed it because it lets me use pretty inks like KWZ and not have to worry about piston seals or staining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Seville!

Am I right in assuming that you are the kind gentleman who went to a great deal of trouble writing out all the script for the prayer that goes around the pen in a spiral?

[No, I've just re-read your posting about your friend being the one who helped with the script!]

Anyway, if you could rustle up a few pictures to post on here that would be great to see the pen again!

I can't remember exactly how many of them I made up, but it was quite a surprise when all these people suddenly appeared saying that they wanted one! I do know that it certainly stretched my abilities at that time in terms of 'pen-smithing'! It must have been about 5 or more years ago that I did them.

Incidentally, if anybody reading this thread has any of my overlaid pens from a while back, [and you feel inspired to post a few pictures on here, please feel free to do so!] it would be a very welcome addition.

Truffle Finder. :) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it got over 20. We weren't numbering them, since that wasn't the point of the pen.

 

Here are the words again, if anyone forgot: O SON OF MAN! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.

 

The verse is in Arabic since that's the language in which Baha'u'llah wrote the verse originally. I'll post pictures of mine when I have a moment.

 

Calligraphy was by Salman Khattak, who also figured out how to make it fit in the space allotted by means of the very apt double wrap similar to the DNA helix. The B is for both Baha'u'llah and my name since I designed it for myself originally. Henry took the picture I sent him of a gate from Baha'u'llah's Shrine and extrapolated the vines into morning glory, which is also appropriate to the subject.

 

It took about a year going back and forth as I recall and the more people watched the process, the more the pen and the verse spoke to them and they wanted one. The whole idea of the project was to have a pen used for creation based on a verse whose topic was creation and Henry and Salman caught the spirit of the thing beautifully. It's oversized because I hold my pens back on the body as if they were reeds used for calligraphy, tho' I'd never actually seen one until we began on the calligraphy. Henry had to find a gentleman who could use a laser to engrave the verse, which created an entire new technique, so that was also appropriate to the verse. Somewhere in the archives on this board, we kept the entire thread if you ever want to go back and read it and see how the Spirit of Life pen evolved.

 

I consider it Henry's triumph in customized pen design, since he pushed the envelope on what was available and possible to meet my design parameters. We kept it as simple as possible to avoid maintenance issues over a lifetime of use, never dreaming that Conway Stewart would go under so soon afterwards, confirming my final choice of c/c filler.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...