Has Anyone Heard Of Henry Simpole 2016

[Ghost Plane]

Having gorged on pistachio bread with gallons of coffee, I might have to fire up the Spirit. What ink to go with a rainy afternoon?

[Truffle Finder]

If it was my choice Ghost Plane, I would go for Green ink, but then that is my favourite colour for all my writing needs!

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

On the last day of the year, I'm nearly ready to leave to go up to Portobello for the day at my booth, and as is usual, I haven't got a clue how things are likely to go.

I suppose that some people might be coming up to town, to buy themselves a Fountain Pen, if they still have some Christmas money left!

Truffle Finder.

Happy New Year.

[esterbex]

Hoping you have a winning day!

[Ghost Plane]

If it was my choice Ghost Plane, I would go for Green ink, but then that is my favourite colour for all my writing needs!

Truffle Finder.

Just got a variety of the intriguing KWZ greens. Good idea!

[esterbex]

Happy New Year to one and all across the Big Pond!

[Truffle Finder]

Well, despite my thoughts of doom and gloom regarding yesterday's trip to Portobello market, it turned out to have been a very good day indeed!

Things kicked off with an Australian couple, who came to get another Parker 51, to replace a mislaid one which his wife had bought for him a couple of years ago, [from me, when she was over here then!]

A few other people came and had a good browse over my selection of vintage fountain pens, and settled on some quite nice purchases.

At about 1.00pm, a German couple came to my stand, and the gentleman started to look at my overlaid pens. It turned out that he had never heard of me, or my work, and asked me who made them. I told him that I did! And got the tray out of the cabinet, and he examined a few of them before deciding that he wanted to buy one. It was the Marilyn Monroe pen that he chose, and after discussing the price, he went away to visit the ATM machine, and returned a while later, and paid me for the pen.

A very good start to the New Year, I think!

Truffle Finder.

[View from the Loft]

An excellent start to 2017, indeed.

 

May 2017 bring comfort to those in pain, courage to those facing obstacles and peace and happiness to all readers and their families.

[Ghost Plane]

Amen!

 

And may we inspire new heights of design that raise Henry's epic skills to ever more stellar heights (while remaining nearly affordable)

[Truffle Finder]

I don't know about "skills to ever more stellar heights", but my Pen restoration skills are still pretty good!

I bought three rather nice vintage fountain pens on Saturday, which were as follows:- A Conway Stewart red herringbone patterned Number 77, with Duro nib. A brown Candy Stripe Parker Victory. And an Onoto Magna [in plain black] with a number 6 two tone nib, which is a rare model of Magna Pen.

Yesterday, I went to an "Antiques Fair" about 25 miles away, and although I wasn't expecting it to be much good in terms of finding vintage pens, I was amazed at how bad it was! You could seriously damage your eyesight if you tried to find an antique there! It was almost completely a "reproduction" fair!!!

Anyway, having bought nothing at the fair, I came home and got straight down to doing the repairs to my recently bought pens. They are all looking very pretty, and are all working well!

A satisfying day I think!

Truffle Finder.

[RMN]

Last year I had to rejuvenate this topic, but seeing we are now at about 330 posts, that is not necessary this year.

 

 

 

 

Happy 2017, Henry et. al.

 

 

 

D.ick

[Truffle Finder]

I had an E-mail from Clouds House this morning, asking me if I would object to them using an article that I wrote for them a few years ago, to be included in their 2016 annual review.

Of course I replied that I would agree to them using it, and because they also asked me to write a few words about the last Re-union that I went to, I put my thinking cap on, and wrote down a few sentences.

It is always a pleasure to be able to help in such matters, but particularly so when the organisation is so close to one's heart!

Truffle Finder.

[esterbex]

That's cool man!

[esterbex]

My emoticons have vanished!

[Truffle Finder]

I've just had a telephone call from an Italian lady who had been recommended to contact me [from Fountain Pen Network users, I might add!] about showing me her father's old fountain pens which she wants to sell.

Anyway, having spoken to her for a little while, she will be coming to see me at my booth at Portobello tomorrow. It remains to be seen whether they will be worth buying, but I am quite looking forward to seeing them.

It was quite gratifying to hear that apparently several people had recommended her to approach me with regards to her selling the pens.

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

Saturday at Portobello Road turned out to be quite good, business-wise. It would appear that there are still people who needed to buy presents for their loved ones! [long may it last!]

The Italian lady did come to see me at my booth, but as I suspected, her father's old fountain pens were not of any particular rarity value, but some of them however were quite large, and had been made of quite attractive plastic patterns.

The long and short of it was, that I made her a fair offer for all the pens [some of which were only good as 'donor' pens] but she has decided to 'have a think about it'. So, there is a possibility that she might return next Saturday!

I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

Whilst I am rarely able to predict how Portobello is going to be before I leave on Saturday morning, I am hoping that it will be a good day today'

There is a possibility that the Italian lady who came to see me last week about her father's old pens, might return today, but that remains to be seen!

All my pen repairs are up to date, so I'm hoping that it will be a good day.

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

I don't know whether it was the weather [which was pretty cold] or possibly some other reason, but it was very quiet yesterday at Portobello Road. But I suspect that most sensible people decided to stay indoors in the warm!

The Italian lady didn't come back to see me, which I was not too concerned about.

I sold a small glass inkwell which had been sitting on the shelf for quite long enough, for the princely sum of £10, but after that nothing happened until about 1.00pm, when a gentleman came along and asked to look at some Conway Stewart vintage pens. He examined quite a few, and chose one which was marked up at £50, and then he went away to get some cash from the 'hole in the wall'! By that time, it was 2.00pm, so I packed up my things, and asked my friend Tim if he would mind waiting for him to return with the money, which he was pleased to do, so I departed back home!

A little like my old school reports, which often said:- "Could do better!"

Truffle Finder.

[Truffle Finder]

Yesterday, I received a reminder E-mail from my old school, asking me for details about the forthcoming Careers Fair to be held at the school, which I have participated in, for the past few years.

They asked me for the following information:-

First name:

Surname:

Organisation:

Industry:

Title:

The first three didn't present any problems, but the job title made me hesitate! What to call myself? In the end I put 'Pensmith' down as an answer! I suppose that 'is' what I do!

Truffle Finder.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Truffle Finder

[Ghost Plane]

Exercising that national tendency toward understatement?

 

Pen artist extraordinaire

 

Sculptor of word artistry

 

Still missing something somehow...