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Seeking A Pen Store In Wollongong, Australia


stephanos

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Calling all Aussies and Aussophiles (if that's a word)...

 

I'll be in Wollongong in just over a month's time and want to visit a pen shop whilst there: is there one in Wollongong, and if so, how can I find it? A search of this site (and via Google) yields nothing, but perhaps there is some local knowledge...

 

If there isn't a physical store there, which Australian online store(s) can you suggest?

 

I'm looking specifically for Wollongong-based suggestions, as I don't expect to be able to spend any time at all in Sydney (except for passing through the airport). Wherever possible I like to get something FP-related from a place, if I'm vitising for the first time.

 

Suggestions gratefully accepted...

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Calling all Aussies and Aussophiles (if that's a word)...

 

I'll be in Wollongong in just over a month's time and want to visit a pen shop whilst there: is there one in Wollongong, and if so, how can I find it? A search of this site (and via Google) yields nothing, but perhaps there is some local knowledge...

 

If there isn't a physical store there, which Australian online store(s) can you suggest?

 

I'm looking specifically for Wollongong-based suggestions, as I don't expect to be able to spend any time at all in Sydney (except for passing through the airport). Wherever possible I like to get something FP-related from a place, if I'm vitising for the first time.

 

Suggestions gratefully accepted...

 

I didn't even know Aussies could write! Ya learn something new every day on this forum! :P

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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I didn't even know Aussies could write! Ya learn something new every day on this forum! :P

Of course they can write. Just, upside down.

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fpn_1564185500__screen_shot_2019-07-27_a

Okay - what's worse - that someone took my joke and ran with it, or that I had no problems reading it?

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Okay - what's worse - that someone took my joke and ran with it, or that I had no problems reading it?

 

It means you are an ideal candidate for espionage where you need to rapidly read papers from the wrong side of a desk :lol:

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Worse than that, Bibliophage,I have considered turning my avatar upside down for evermore... :)

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fpn_1564185500__screen_shot_2019-07-27_a

 

 

I too would recommend going to an antique store. Though many of the pens will inevitably be vintage ones (though I see nothing wrong with that; I almost exclusively go to antique stores to hunt for vintage pens) you'll be able to snatch them up for comparatively cheap prices. If you want to go for the online route, go to google and type in Australian Fountain Pen Buyers Resource and click on the link to Reddit and you'll find a list of many websites which have fountain pens and inks at the (?)best(?) prices. I'm not going to link to it as I'm exactly what the forum's rules are about external links, but a google search won't hurt.

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If you do make the trip up the escarpment to the Southern Highlands, antique stores in places like Mittagong, Bundanoon and Robertson may be interesting but have yielded little in the way of pens when I have been there. Try Dirty Jane's Emporium in Bowral. I have seen a small number there, although you will have to wander a warehouse of other stuff to find them and there are no pen specialists so look carefully at displays. The emporium actually comprises a large number of small private sellers in small areas, like a physical ebay. If the real seller is available then haggle. If you take goods to the front desk (as you are supposed to do) then the price is unlikely to shift.

 

Text inverted for your convenience.

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Praxim,

 

Being down under means that we read "from underneath". I think mirror image is more like our style of reading.

 

Upside down is only for the benefit of those above to equator who think that they are looking down at us but in reality are really looking up.

 

Hope you get it because i am too confused to understand this myself.

 

I also concur that antique stores are the best bet in Wollongong. But watch prices - most of the antique store operators can read cost guides and the pens are often fully priced.

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Thank you all for your suggestions, both inverted and otherwise. I'll start by looking for antique shops.

 

My experience of antique shops in Germany has been varied: sometimes you can find something good, but often the owner thinks they have a treasure because a pen has a Gold Nib! and won't shift on the price.

 

Incidentally, one of the comments mentioned an emporium with different small sellers. I encountered one of those in Yeovil (south-west England) and found it interesting, charming and not over-priced.

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But watch prices - most of the antique store operators can read cost guides and the pens are often fully priced.

 

They can read as well?!?! :yikes:

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Thank you all for your suggestions, both inverted and otherwise. I'll start by looking for antique shops.

 

My experience of antique shops in Germany has been varied: sometimes you can find something good, but often the owner thinks they have a treasure because a pen has a Gold Nib! and won't shift on the price.

 

Incidentally, one of the comments mentioned an emporium with different small sellers. I encountered one of those in Yeovil (south-west England) and found it interesting, charming and not over-priced.

 

The type of 'emporium' you mention is extremely common throughout the UK. You were fortunate to find one that wasn't over-priced, however, at least as far as FPs are concerned! The vast majority of sellers here are now savvy to the value of our Objects of Desire!! :happyberet:

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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