A major decision? What pen to "wear" at a pen show.

[dms525]

I spend a lot of time deciding what pen(s) to carry conspicuously in my shirt breast pocket at a pen show, and I usually change my mind many times before finally deciding. Do I want to show off a rare and beautiful pen? Do I want to demonstrate an affiliation with a favorite brand or pen maker? Do I want to wear a pen that matches my shirt especially well? Do I want a pen I can grab quickly with one hand to write a note. Well, at least the last is easy. If that's a priority, I carry a Pilot VP.

 

The San Francisco Pen Show is one week away. (Yay!) I don't plan to buy any pens, ink or accessories,  although I fully expect to be tempted and have feeble resistance. But I'm looking forward to chatting with some of my favorite pen people and especially vendors I have patronized who will be at this show for the first time.

 

Anyway, at the moment, I am thinking of wearing a Stipula Etruria, one of 80 made in 2007 in Tibaldi Impero celluloid for Mercury, the now defunct Belgian luxury goods shop. Of course, I may change my mind.

 

Is this a big decision for others?

 

Happy writing!

 

David

 

P.S. Some photos of the current carry candidate:

 

 

 

 

[kestrel]

For the Orlando show in a couple of weeks:

The Nassau Green Parker 51 I hope to sell/swap at the show

Something vintage that is fun to use and different, maybe the Sheaffer's Jade Combo pen.

 

Last year it was a very unusual Bexley that I was hoping some of the Bexley experts could tell me about.  I lost on that one.

 

The pens with nibs that need work will be in a pen case in a butt pack.

[Penguincollector]

Yes on the Stipula, @dms525, or any one of your lovely blue pens. 

[inkstainedruth]

I'll admit that when I go to pen shows, I will have a multi-pen sleeve or case with the pens I want to have worked on, and possibly a second one with the pens I might want to use over the weekend and that second case will have a variety of pens.  

But I often make sure (the same way if I'm going to some good sized antiques mall) to have one of the Decimos (generally the light grey one, which has an F nib) inked up because a click pen is useful for taking quick notes about what I've seen at which table and/or where specific repair people are set up.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dms525]

7 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I'll admit that when I go to pen shows, I will have a multi-pen sleeve or case with the pens I want to have worked on, and possibly a second one with the pens I might want to use over the weekend and that second case will have a variety of pens.  

But I often make sure (the same way if I'm going to some good sized antiques mall) to have one of the Decimos (generally the light grey one, which has an F nib) inked up because a click pen is useful for taking quick notes about what I've seen at which table and/or where specific repair people are set up.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Besides the pens in my shirt pocket, I generally take 12-15 pens when I travel. Usually a couple have very broad italic nibs. I have an assortment of 6-12 slot cases, besides the 3 pen cases I carry for the pens I expect to use the most. For the upcoming show, I have just two pens for nib work. Of course, it's not out of the question that I might acquire a pen (or more) at the show I want custom ground. You know, I have no purchase plans, but they say "past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior." <sigh>

 

David

[PAKMAN]

A pen to write with, a pen to show off, and a pen that I might sell or trade if the opportunity arises. The showoff pen is generally the last wonderful purchase I made from my last pen show.

[inkstainedruth]

13 hours ago, dms525 said:

 

Besides the pens in my shirt pocket, I generally take 12-15 pens when I travel. Usually a couple have very broad italic nibs. I have an assortment of 6-12 slot cases, besides the 3 pen cases I carry for the pens I expect to use the most. For the upcoming show, I have just two pens for nib work. Of course, it's not out of the question that I might acquire a pen (or more) at the show I want custom ground. You know, I have no purchase plans, but they say "past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior." <sigh>

 

David

Oh I quite understand.  My first show was DCSS a few years ago at the old site in Tyson's Corners.  I picked up a friend (FPN's Uncle Red) after having zero sleep after flying back from Spokane, Washington.  My husband was happy because I had someone else in the car with me (especially on no sleep).  Red was happy because he didn't have a car, and I was happy because with us splitting the cost of the hotel room, I had more money to shop.

And then my husband found out what an enabler Red was....   Because two of the 3 pens I bought at my first show was because Red said "If you don't buy them I will...."  And the third one, the Sub-Deb Azure Blue Pearl Vac, he dragged me over to the Indy-Pen-Dance table on Richard Binder's recommendation to have it checked out and see if it needed any repairs (it didn't).  And my husband was NOT so happy....  

Trying to remember now what the three pens I bought at that first show were.  It was the Azure Blue Pearl Vac, a lovely little Morrison gold-fill filigree overlay pen with a very nice stub nib, and I can't remember now what the third pen was.....   Oh, it might have been the Craig ringtop with the music nib.  Maybe.... My eyes are sort of glazing over right about now.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

I always leave a space in my pen case for any surprises. Sometimes there are free pens, you never know.

[inkstainedruth]

True.  When I went to B/W this past spring, there was a talk I went to on the history of Vanishing Points.  The Pilot USA table donated swag for people who signed up for the talk and got their choice of a box of cartridges or a NOS Pilot Plumix (which apparently has been discontinued) and I snagged a Plumix which as an M italic nib on it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dms525]

7 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

I always leave a space in my pen case for any surprises. Sometimes there are free pens, you never know.

 

Of course! And, if that extra space fills up, you can always find someone willing to sell you a bigger pen case! 🤣

 

David

[dms525]

19 hours ago, PAKMAN said:

A pen to write with, a pen to show off, and a pen that I might sell or trade if the opportunity arises. The showoff pen is generally the last wonderful purchase I made from my last pen show.

 

Yes For me, it's usually several in each category. Actually, the pen I bought at last year's show was gifted to a grandchild I am encouraging to learn italic handwriting. 

 

David

[Perk]

For the Orlando Show in two weeks, I will also have my Pilot Decimo for quick notes, a smaller size Pelikan (200 or 400) hoping to trade to larger Pelikan for my hand size, and a comical Mickey Mouse fountain pen with architect grind nib.   Leaving room for a vintage pen purchase...

[Penguincollector]

15 hours ago, dms525 said:

 

Of course! And, if that extra space fills up, you can always find someone willing to sell you a bigger pen case! 🤣

 

David

    This is often how the story ends 😂 

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, Perk said:

and a comical Mickey Mouse fountain pen with architect grind nib.   

Okay, I'll bite.  What company made the Mickey Mouse pen, and do you know if they made other Disney character pens?  I have a friend who is a huge Donald Duck fan and just got her a 12 or 13 inch tall plastic statue at the same estate sale yesterday where I got a Parker 61 (not of course that I NEEDED another black 61... ).  This is the same friend who got the Inoxcrom "Tintin" pen a few years ago in a PiF, BTW.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Perk]

The mouse pen is really Steamboat Willie (the riverboat mouse in the original Disney short cartoon , before Mickey Mouse was branded).

https://www.gouletpens.com/products/benu-euphoria-fountain-pen-steamboat-master?srsltid=AfmBOopuprRP7zD6_REM0UlPrv_-jczZ54fm16lfncl9bSmHsthGG5X-

 

Its a new colorful Benu fountain pen called the Euphoria, has a Schmidt nib.

[inkstainedruth]

Okay thanks.  The designs of the Benu pens have not wowed me in general (they're a little too gaudy for my taste).  And the price of the "Mickey Mouse/Steamboat Willie" pen is a deal-breaker.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[essayfaire]

On 8/15/2024 at 7:22 PM, dms525 said:

I spend a lot of time deciding what pen(s) to carry conspicuously in my shirt breast pocket at a pen show, and I usually change my mind many times before finally deciding. Do I want to show off a rare and beautiful pen? Do I want to demonstrate an affiliation with a favorite brand or pen maker? Do I want to wear a pen that matches my shirt especially well? Do I want a pen I can grab quickly with one hand to write a note. Well, at least the last is easy. If that's a priority, I carry a Pilot VP.

 

The San Francisco Pen Show is one week away. (Yay!) I don't plan to buy any pens, ink or accessories,  although I fully expect to be tempted and have feeble resistance. But I'm looking forward to chatting with some of my favorite pen people and especially vendors I have patronized who will be at this show for the first time.

 

Anyway, at the moment, I am thinking of wearing a Stipula Etruria, one of 80 made in 2007 in Tibaldi Impero celluloid for Mercury, the now defunct Belgian luxury goods shop. Of course, I may change my mind.

 

Is this a big decision for others?

 

Happy writing!

 

David

 

P.S. Some photos of the current carry candidate:

 

 

 

 

Doesn't it depend upon what shirt you pair with it?   Nice pen, BTW!

[dms525]

14 hours ago, essayfaire said:

Doesn't it depend upon what shirt you pair with it?   Nice pen, BTW!

 

Well, yes! But I have enough shirts and enough pens that this is not a problem. FYI, this pen show will be a blue shirt/blue pen affair. (Not counting the pens I'm taking for nib work.)

 

David

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hmm. Given that although I might "accumulate" pens that might have "seemed like a good idea at the time" (and not necessarily to me), I don't "collect" pens (other than in the sense that I collect dust, if I stop moving for long enough), I would show up at a pen show with the same flock of low-end Pelikans as I would show up anyplace else.

[langere]

What I did at the DC Supershow is take the (2)  pens I needed repaired with me in my pocket and then filled up the pocket with new ones I acquired,

 

Erick