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Hi Everyone, I'm thinking about getting my first Indian ebonite pen and the Gama Eyas seems perfect for me. The only problem is that I want the glossy finish instead of the matte black. AsaPens only has the latter, so where online can I order the glossy version? Thanks for any suggestions!

Accidentally found this nice store in Estes Park, CO. Coffee, Stationary, Ink and Pens. https://inkwellbrew.com/ The coffee was excellent, staff very friendly. They carried a nice selection of notebooks, journals, and assorted things, in FP friendly paper. They also had a selection of J Herbin inks and Retro pens. Have a room upstairs to sit and play board games, drink coffee, and I suppose write. I wanted to sit and write my journal there, but didn't have time. Nice, different shop.

Does anyone know of an online pen retailer that tests a pen and specifically the nib before sending out a pen. I am looking for a Pilot Vanishing Point in Fine and don't want to purchase a pen that is scratchy out of the box. Thank you

Has anyone bought from this website and if so how was the experience?

Hey Guys, I am looking to pick up a Lamy 2000 as my first gold nib pen. I have had a Lamy Aion (M) for a while and really like it (except for the cap rattle, but I've been able to fix that with some tinkering. With the Aion, the medium is good when writing on quality paper (i.e. Rhodia), but when I write on lesser quality (I write on medical charts all day), I find it slightly too bold. I'm really torn as to if I should get it in a Fine or Medium nib because it is an investment. I have been searching all over the DFW metroplex for a place where I could test both to see which one I prefer before buying. Im normally willing to take the risk, but I really would like this pen to be my daily workhorse. I have found few places in DFW that carry fountain pens in general and none that carry the Lamy 2000. I am also aware of the Dallas Pen Collectors Club, but it doesn't look like their next meeting is until June! I am also driving to Austin this Friday, so any places there would also be appreciated! If anybody knows a place where I could test one out, it would be a miracle. If not, any opinions on the Lamy 2000 nibs would be amazing! Y'all are the best!

Hello all. I got an email notice today that Scottsdale Pen and Knife is closing today. For us here in Arizona that's a big loss of one of the few actual pen stores you can go to. It was run by Jay and his wife, Karen. I'd never met his wife, but the times I'd stopped by Jay was always talking and showing stuff to customers. Sad times.

Lamy has opened a physical boutique store in San Francisco. It just opened this weekend, and has been in business for two days. I found out about the boutique from the Goulet Pens feed on Facebook. According to Goulet: So I braved the steady downpour of rain here in San Francisco today to pay the store a visit. A giant shrine to the Safari family occupies one wall, including Safari, and Al-Star in fountain pen, rollerball and ballpoint versions. The Lamy store is well stocked, and seems as if it carries the entire Lamy product line, including some pens like the Accent which I have not seen available from U.S. dealers. Display cases in the back hold the more upscale pens, such as the Scala, Accent, Studio, Dialog, and Imporium. The Aion and Lx are also in these cases. Near the entrance are inks, as well as Joy calligraphy/art pens. The store also sells replacement nibs and stubs of different sizes for the Joy. Behind the register are more inks including cartridges, and special color-matched gift boxes customers can purchase for gift-giving. I purchased a bottle of Lamy Black ink, as well as a package of violet ink cartridges. I know more visits to the store will be in my future!!! The Lamy store is at 645 Market Street in San Francisco, for those who would like to visit when they are in town. Hours of operation: 10-7 Monday through Friday 11-6 Saturday 12-5 Sunday

I've been told this is the Mount Everest of fountain pen aficionados. From the posts/threads I've read thus far, I'd say that statement is true. My name is Matthew Brockbank (Brock for short). Besides being a lover of fountain pens, I have a dream of one day becoming a Nibmeister and opening up Brock's Pen Shoppe, here in upstate NY. When I was younger, I was always fascinated by penmanship, font, and calligraphy. When I recently decided to buy my first fountain pen, everything changed. Writing with a fountain pen for the first time is like eating fast-food steak and then one day eating steak in a 3 Michelin Star restaurant. It was heaven. So, ever since then it's been an obsession and love affair with fountain pens that has evolved into pens, paper, inks, and the art of writing, in general. I hope I can contribute my fair share to this community and give back as much as you all already have to me. Cheers, Brock

I am new to the fountain pen community, and I have only purchased one pen before, the Jinhao x750. I bought this pen on gouletpens.com, seeing their YouTube videos and other people buying from them made me decide they were a trustworthy retailer. I am looking for a Parker Vector for my next pen. However, gouletpen.com does not carry Parker pens, I cannot find any Parker Vectors on the Parker website, and there are none at my local office supply stores. What is a trustworthy retailer I can buy the Parker Vector from?

xfountainpen.com's new Pittsburgh retail store is open and is called Birminghampens ****** So I have no affiliation with xfountainpens or their new store Birminghampens but I just came home from my first visit and I wanted to let everyone know that they are now open and tell you about my experience there. So the details for those that don't want to read my whole post and just want to know about the store: The website (looks like its still being working on though) is http://www.Birminghampens.com also his facebook is https://www.facebook.com/BirminghamPens/ The store is in Shadyside (I think that is what the area is called? it was my first time in that area of town) at: Birmingham Pen Company, 813 Copeland Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA Birmingham Pen Company, 813 Copeland Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA Their email address is nicholas@birminghampens.com this is the owner's personal email address. He told me to let anyone I talk to know that you can email him even if the store isn't open that day and he will try to come down and open it up for you, how many people would do that? Personally, I wouldn't make him do that but that he is willing is pretty nice. Currently there temporary hours for their "soft launch?" are: Wednesday: 1:00PM - 7:00PM Friday: 1:00PM - 6:00PM Saturday: 12:00PM - 5:00PM If you are not a local or don't go to that area much it might be important to know there is no parking lot for the store since its in town. There is however a parking garage 1 street down that is about $4 to park at. I had been waiting for this place to open for months now because there just really isn't any fountain pen shops in Pittsburgh and I wanted to have a place to see things in person and touch the pens and feel if I liked the weight and section diameter etc. So when I heard they were open I went down there today after classes. The person tending to the shop was the owner and I have to say he was really nice and we talked for quite some time about my adventures in vintage pen restoration. They have a wall full of Noodler's and Diamine inks with some other brands here and there. They did just open however so they only have that 1 bottle of each ink color in stock until they get on their feet more and see what they need to order. They also have I think the full range of Nemosine pens there and they have quite a few Noodler's pens and some Parker, Cross, Sheaffer, Conklin, Aurora, and Pelikan I think. They also have a good amount of the A5 size Leuchtturm hardcover 1917 notebooks and some rhodia pads and other paper products. Their prices were actually really fair for a brick and mortar store. The pens might have some prices off while they try to nail down what to sell them for but if you think the price is not fair just look the item up online let the owner know so he can fix it ifs a mistake as he is still trying to figure out the prices. The ink prices were great as they are inline with online prices which is rare at a retail store. The parking issue is kind of a bummer for someone from a more country area like me its bad enough driving in town let alone not knowing where to park. You have the benifit of knowing since I told you though that there is a parking garage which is here: 714 Bellefonte Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 THis is a picture of his wall of ink at the moment, so for now what you see there is the ink he has on stock. Just one of each ink, but he said he will be getting more once he fully opens. http://i.imgur.com/8IfuACkm.jpg

Hey hi! Thanks for taking interest. Could anyone help me out with ink stores in India? I would prefer the ones who give an option to order online. (Of course, I cannot travel all of India just for some ink bottles :/ ) I live in a small town & all that is available here is Camlin Blue & Red inks. If you are lucky, you may find Parker Quinky. I'm looking for inkwells up to INR 500 but cannot find stores. I have been swarming the internet since last week but to no good. I've been through pensavenvue.com, pensindia.com & of course snapdeal, flipkart, ebay and amazon. Here's what I've seen: Pelikan inks (32/65ml base colors RGBY) : INR 200-400 : OUT OF STOCK Diamine inks (30-60ml base colors RGY, blue available): INR 375-500: OUT OF STOCK Waterman inks: Same, out of stock. I mean, come on! All they've got of these brands are 850 & above! You name it! Lamy, Diamine, Waterman, J.herbin, etc. Can't find varied colors in any local brands & I'm not going to use camlin. I've tried to shop cross country but the shipping charges are more than the cost of product, obviously. :/ I currently use PILOT NAMIKI IROSHIZUKU - Ku-jaku Peacock Deep Turquoise Blue (50ml) & it cost me 1500 INR. I ordered it from engeika.com. If you buy the same thing from any of the Indian stores, you get it for 2500. Now, I can't afford 1500 for ever color and just for 50ml. So, I'm looking for varied colors & a bit of quality at the same time. So, any suggestion regarding stores / places to buy would be helpful. Also, please let me know if there are any Indian brands who make good inks. Thank you!

Hi! Im going to Malaysia tomorrow particularly in KL, and couldnt find any blogs,articles about calligraphy stores. So im hoping you could help me out here Thanks in advance.

Hello, This is my first time to Bromfield pen shop close to Boston downtown. I bought a Lamy Safari Charcoal Black Medium nib, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki and a Rhodia notepad. The online price for items 1 and 2 is $23.16 and $20.20. Whereas, I had to pay $37.00 and $35.00. I find this as a huge difference. Any advice what should I do with regard to getting a meaningful explanation on this $15.00 average price difference ? Thanks, Abhi.

Greetings! I am visiting family in Athens, GA, USA, this week and would love to visit a good store to look for a new pen. Does anyone know of a good store in the area? Michael Burer

Thanks to all for the recommendation of visiting Maido in San Francisco - it is a wonderful store. Located in the Westfield Mall on one of the top floors, it has a breathtaking and entertaining array of pens, pencils, ink, cases, stationary, writing accessories, journals and greeting cards. They even have sushi shaped pencil erasers! They are wonderful, courteous people, and a joy to visit. Here are a few pictures of this week's purchase, including: -Minerva Box handmade leather pen/pencil rool in teal -Sailor inks in blue and orange -Pilot VP fountain pen and cartridges -Leather-bound mini journal (gift wrapped) -Ohto micro pen -Mini panda note pads -A4 1mm grid paper pad -Sushi erasers in Uni, Salmon Nigiri and Tekka Maki

So I was looking for the "address" in the directory of the Parker pen section within the department store when I found this articles: http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/276248/ I'm wondering, whatever happened to the shop in question? I've never seen it before, and am wondering if it's been closed. Could anyone based in Thailand help me with this? Thanks in advance! More pictures on FourSquare: https://foursquare.com/v/parker-boutique-shop--central-world-plaza/4e683c54c65be3a564e08b29

For context, a few words about me first... I grew up writing with fountain pens from kindergarten through graduate school... First using Pelikans then mostly Lamys (For math and engineering)... So I know a thing or two about fountain pens and nibs... I have an ok collection including some Montblancs from that time... Fairly recently I've decided to use fountain pens again at work. So I became first a lurker, then a member here. After much research offline and online - in particular on this forum, I've recently bought a Pelikan M805 in all black. Needless to say that I am totally in love with it!!! That takes us to the topic of this post... Richard Binder I had a very bad prior experience with a very established and reputable store in town, which completely ruined a new Kaweco Elite, that I had bought online and simply wanted to be a bit wetter. They still owe me a replacement after approx 6 months! Decided not to make the same mistake again, I followed the advice read on this forum and ordered the M805 from binderspens. "Binderization" was what attracted me. And indeed, I am so delighted with Richard and Barbara's service that I felt compelled to write this post. First they sent me exactly the pen I had ordered, with a slightly broad M nib due to Binderization. So I contacted them to replace or fix the nib and make it slightly narrower. They both very kindly responded to my many emails asking for advice (e,g., about ink), and prompted me to include writing samples. As a result, they reground a nib to my EXACT specifications, and sent me back not only the nicest pen, but also the best writer I've ever had!! In an age of consumerism and mass online orders, where employees at brick-and-mortar stores often have no idea about fountain pens, Richard and Barbara's services are an island of honesty, kindness and simply good craftsmanship! Thank you! CP

First post on FPN in over a year for me. My life has taken several unexpeced turns, but I am now back! Here's the story: I went antiquing in Québec city last friday, searching for vintage pens and antique bottles. After three unsuccessful attempts I finally find an antique store that has some fountain pens. There were three or four celluloid Watermans (two of them had damaged nibs, a very small streamline Duofold (Lady?) in need of a new sac, a Waterman #12, a Sheaffer Touchdown with stripped blind cap threads, an Esterbrook SJ and last but not least, a Parker set in a black faux-suede pen slip. I was intrigued by the set. I pulled the pen out, only to see the shimmer of the sterling silver grid pattern. Both the pen and the ballpoint were in excellent condition with little tarnish. The price asked was 125$, but after a few minutes of haggling I left the store with the set and my wallet 90$ lighter. Back home, I filled it with water, and it wrote perfectly with the rehydrated ink still in the original converter.

Hello, does anybody have any experience with this Japanese store called Rakuten? I haven't gone through the website thoroughly, but they offer for example Iroshizuku for $13, which looks absurdly cheap to me… Edit: I see, it's something like ebay with sellers having their info written in Japanese. It will be more complicated than I initially thought…

Hey guys! I'm pretty new to fountain pens, but I would love to find a good store nearby me. Does anyone know of any really good pen or ink stores in the greater Boston area? I just don't like purchasing such personal items (how a pen meshes with one's handwriting is, in my opinion, very personal) online. Especially if I were to dish out on an expensive pen; I have a Lamy Safari EF nib now, and I love it, but I was thinking of getting myself something a bit nicer before college, but only if I can purchase it in person. Thank you!

I was wondering if there are any common places (EX: Certain mall shops, stores). I just dislike how in online store I can't see and feel everything and only have the pictures and occasionally video. Not to mention the anxiety attacks waiting for packages to arrive, so any store suggestions?