I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[Penguincollector]

  I was ordering some Badtz-Maru memory foam floor mats for the kitchen and needed to make free Choice shipping on AliExpress, so I added some Sanrio sticker/memo pads and cream Korean stationery in blank and dot grid A5 to my order. 

[Runnin_Ute]

Might have to do some shopping. Unless you count the two Parker converters and Lamy Crystal ink(Periodot)

 

Might need to check my stock of Clairefontaine Neo Deco notebooks. The one I am using has only got a few pages left.

[Misfit]

I neglected to post a photo of my second Levenger item. This time it’s the Circa in compact size. I included a Lamy pen for size comparison. This pattern is called kaleidoscope. 
 

[essayfaire]

I've been AWOL, but I do have a new journal.  Not sure I will buy this again as the faux leather cover bothers me when I touch it.  First impressions in the pix below. The brand is Offigift.

[DilettanteG]

1 hour ago, essayfaire said:

I've been AWOL, but I do have a new journal.  Not sure I will buy this again as the faux leather cover bothers me when I touch it.  First impressions in the pix below. The brand is Offigift.

Nice design, I like the pen loop and the elastic to hold it closed. 

[Misfit]

@essayfaire are you going to use the stencil?  The weather stencils could be useful. Now I’m going to look up OffiGift

 

Edit: sigh of relief. I can pass on this notebook. I’m bidding on a Circa notebook on eBay, so I need to focus on that for another Sad, Pathetic purchase. 

[Misfit]

There is a story here. I’ve been looking on eBay for the Levenger True Writer Kyoto. The search brings up fountain pens, rollerballs and ballpoints, and other Levenger products. One that was in the search was what Levenger calls a Pocket Briefcase. The starting bid was $8.99, and the item had RFB monogrammed on it. I also bid on an International Pocket Briefcase that had a pen slot, and room for credit or business cards, and folds like a book. I won the auction on the simpler version as the only bidder. It shipped from a town in my state called Cuba. 
 

My Mom had received a similar item sometime in the past. Levenger’s cards fit it. So I called it a Pocket Briefcase. The Levenger product has an extra pocket. 

I looked up RFB to see if there was an acronym.  For me, RFB stands for Radio Frequency Band. In the photo, the cards that came with the one my Mom got are shown. It was a credit card giveaway. I had bought some Levenger 3” x 5” cards earlier on sale. They are fountain pen friendly. Today, Levenger Pocket Briefcases are $59.50. 
 

[Runnin_Ute]

Have to look at those. I follow Levenger on Instagram, and pretty regularly get sucked into clicking through to the website. The last time was in the last few days, and the photo was of the no room for a table tables. At $300+ I passed.

 

I did buy my lapdesk from their ebay store. It was something that had been bought and returned - but was still in almost perfect shape and I saved a few bucks. The dark cherry. I use it ALL THE TIME.

 

https://www.levenger.com/collections/desks-lap-desks/products/levenger-lap-desk?variant=42494047027349

 

I think I paid around $50 shipped, but that was probably 8-10 years ago.

[Misfit]

I think the Pocket Briefcases are leather, which explains the current price. The box and inside information makes the one I got look older. The inside card has a phone number but no website. Plus two of the cards are about a 7am to 5pm day, hourly. There is also a card on missed phone messages. The product could be from before the Internet.  The current cards are heavier card stock than the ones in mine. Levenger has been around since 1987. 

[Misfit]

I did a search for Levenger on eBay. I’ve seen two of the International Pocket Briefcases (one labeled differently) so far. The prices are in the $45-$55 range, so not the deals I saw.  The international Pocket Briefcase I bid on, and lost, went to $20.50 plus shipping.  

[DilettanteG]

I think Graphic Image makes the pocket briefcase for Levenger. If you search for “Graphic Image Leather Jotter” on ebay you’ll find dozens, new, in several colors. Downside is you can’t get it monogrammed from Levenger, otherwise they seem to be the same. I have one in red.

 

If you search “graphic image leather” on ebay you’ll find a ton of stuff. They supply leather goods to a lot of nice brands. 

 

Also, the no room for a table tables are pretty nice. I bought a couple during their Black Friday sale. I’d wanted them for awhile, but every so often Levenger does have some deep discounts.

[Misfit]

I would like one of those tables. Maybe some day. Thank you @DilettanteG for the information on Graphic Image Leather. If anyone wants one after my posting, it would be nice to have one for less money. I’d rather not have the monogram on mine, but it was $15 with shipping, so no complaints. 
 

I took a look on eBay, for the Graphic Image Leather Jotters. They have some that do look like the one I got, plus some that use the corners to hold a card. $20-$22 and $5 shipping is a much better deal if Brad wants one. 

[DilettanteG]

@Misfit my pleasure. I admit that jotter was something I thought I’d use all the time, but I never do. I seem to carry around a purse over stuffed with that sort of thing. Hopefully, it will be more useful for you guys. Nowadays, notes just get typed into my phone.

 

And remember, if you have a weird monogram on something, you can always make up an amusing anecdote about the fictional, but colorful, relative who left it to you.

[N1003U]

2 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

And remember, if you have a weird monogram on something, you can always make up an amusing anecdote about the fictional, but colorful, relative who left it to you.

It might be very amusing to hear about old Aunt “Citi”…

[DilettanteG]

9 hours ago, N1003U said:

It might be very amusing to hear about old Aunt “Citi”…

Short for Ceceila Isadora Thomasina Ivanovitch. She was a dancer for the Ballet Russe. Very scandalous before she sadly contracted Polio while on tour in Europe…

[Misfit]

@DilettanteG that was a marvelous creation of a relative. 

[Mercian]

8 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Short for Ceceila Isadora Thomasina Ivanovitch. She was a dancer for the Ballet Russe. Very scandalous before she sadly contracted Polio while on tour in Europe…

Ah yes, who could forget her? Her beauty was famed and her star shone bright, and for a while her fate became something of a cause célèbre among the Russian emigré community in London!

 

Some say that Citi was deliberately infected with polio by a rival ballerina who coveted her place in the company; others that she was infected by the Okhrana after being (scandalously) romantically-linked to a leading Bolshevist who was living in exile; the relevant operational records were destroyed in the October Revolution, and Citi herself never revealed the truth….

[PJohnP]

14 hours ago, Misfit said:

...Thank you @DilettanteG for the information on Graphic Image Leather. If anyone wants one after my posting, it would be nice to have one for less money. ... I took a look on eBay, for the Graphic Image Leather Jotters.  $20-$22 and $5 shipping is a much better deal if Brad wants one. 

 

I might suggest looking for Oxford At-Hand Note Card Cases.

 

I've had several, all made of leather.  They are pretty durable and usually come with a set of twenty-five cards.  There is an attached pen loop, which I removed on my last one.  The cards are passably good with FP ink.

 

Office Depot used to carry them years back, but they closed them out in a sale, which is where I acquired my cases.  I checked on the great auction site in the ether, and they are available at various price points, all less than the Levenger cases.  When you see the online images, understand that some are not on point with the ones I've referred to - mine have a inner compartment, an outer compartment with curved leather holders, and the opposite side where a card is held at top and bottom for writing.  I can't comment on a couple of the ones I see online as they're not the ones that I've used.

 

For my personal purposes, the Oxford cases have been excellent value.  YMMV, of course...

 

 

 

John P.

[DilettanteG]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Ah yes, who could forget her? Her beauty was famed and her star shone bright, and for a while her fate became something of a cause célèbre among the Russian emigré community in London!

 

Some say that Citi was deliberately infected with polio by a rival ballerina who coveted her place in the company; others that she was infected by the Okhrana after being (scandalously) romantically-linked to a leading Bolshevist who was living in exile; the relevant operational records were destroyed in the October Revolution, and Citi herself never revealed the truth….

And all that intrigue with her involvement with the Tsarina’s missing jewels. Who could forget? I don’t believe the red diamond broach or the Faberge egg were ever found. They say the diamond was as big as a goose egg and the perfect pigeon blood red  of the finest Burmese rubies.

[Misfit]

@DilettanteG I think she left love notes using a red fountain pen filled with an ink the color of Burmese rubies.