======================================================================== Nib Noise Volume 3 Number 12 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. This newsletter is a joint effort of Richard Binder and Don Fluckinger. We hope you'll enjoy reading this month's issue. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER! For comments or questions, send email to: richard@richardspens.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Springtime in the South *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Great Southeastern Pen Show is a great show in a great city in a lovely season. Held in Atlanta over the weekend from April 1 through April 3, this year's show promises to be another winner. The sponsors will be presenting exciting products, and the exhibitors of new and vintage pens are always worth spending time with. For more information, visit the show's Web site: http://www.gspenshow.com/ I'll be there to regrind and tweak nibs. Bring a pen or two, and share some chatter at my table while I jazz up your writing experience. If you have pens that need repairs other than nib work, I'll be happy to save you some shipping costs by collecting them at the show and bringing them home to my studio. I'll have a few vintage pens for sale as well as a selection of the new pens from the companies I represent: Bexley, Conway Stewart, Filcao, Pelikan, Signum, and Taccia. I'll have a stock of my preground Pelikan M200 italic, oblique, and stub nibs, with demonstrators of them all for you to try before you buy. These nibs fit M200, M250, M400, and M600 pens, including the M620 City series and the new Piazza Navona. If you don't have a Pelikan pen to go with your new nib, I'll be happy to fit your nib with a new M200 pen body in your choice of colors. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I hope to see you there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speak Now, Says Conway Stewart *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sometimes you just can't find the pen you want on the shelves--or on the Internet. Conway Stewart offers the ultimate luxury of tailor-made writing instrument design and creation: bespoke pens. Your personally created pen can be anything from a standard Conway Stewart model in a nonstandard color to a completely unique pen that you design in direct collaboration with Conway Stewart's designers. For more information, and to see the colors that are available *only* on bespoke pens, check out my Conway Stewart page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=newp_cny.htm#bespoke Keith Grubb chimes in, with his monthly NibLit cartoon, on this very topic: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=niblit.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Nobile Means Noble *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Filcao created a pen to honor Umberto Nobile, the company chose Cracked Ice as a color appropriate to celebrate Italy's great polar explorer and airship captain. But some of us like a more restrained hue, and for these people there is now a Nobile in Basic Black. With all the great features that have made Filcao's Columbia family so successful, this pen is sure to please. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=newp_fil.htm#nobile ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Bexley Specials *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I like Bexley pens. I can't help it. So I keep buying them. But I can't keep them all, either, so I've gradually collected a very interesting group of unusual Bexleys, including Tuck-Aways in unusual colors such as the Celebration's Mardi Gras and Independence, cartridge/converter Sheherazades in unusual colors such as the Tuck-Away pearls (!), and more. I also have a couple red/black woodgrain Tenth Anniversarys and a nice complement of ballpoints in Prometheus and Gold Line dress. These pens are not shown on my site, so please contact me for more information. For other Bexleys, please visit my Bexley page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=newp_bex.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan Nib Specials *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As I expand my selection of preground Pelikan M200 nibs, I inevitebly create a few extras. I currently have the following nibs that I made before the recent Pelikan cost increase--they're yours at last year's prices: 0.7-mm crisp italic, $35.00 1.1-mm left-foot cursive oblique italic (15 degrees), $35.00 0.9-mm left-foot cursive hemi-demi-oblique italic (4 degrees), $35.00 0.7-mm right-foot cursive oblique italic (15 degrees), $35.00 0.6-mm right-foot demi-oblique stub italic (8 degrees), $35.00 Ball point F/XF, $35.00 ItaliFine, 0.7-mm cursive italic with Fine, $55.00 These nibs are not shown on my site, so please contact me for more information. For other preground M150 and M200 nibs, please visit my Pelikan page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=newp_pel.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Subscribe to my RSS Feed *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSS means Really Simple Syndication. You can subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking the link on my site's main page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=main.html If you're not already hooked up to RSS and what it can do for you, take a peek at this introductory page: http://www.popcornpopper.com/rsshelp.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This month I'm featuring a guest article by Susan Wirth, one of the best known veterans of the pen show circuit. If you ever wanted to understand how a show must work in order to survive, check out Susan's explanation: http://www.richardspens.com/?shows=hrules_wirth ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Being one of those lefthanders who also harbor a passion for fountain pens, I've tried my fair share of different nibs. Here's a guide for my fellow lefties, with comments from Richard. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=extrafine/xf0503.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vintage Pens for Sale ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've been busy readying things for the Ohio Pen Show in four days, but I've managed to put up a small number of newly-restored vintage pens. These aren't all the vintage pens I have, just the ones that weren't there last month. Give all my vintage pens a look! Pens are graded according to the following condition scale. Within a grade, I use + or - to indicate shades of variation; for example, a pen that is B+ falls into the B grade and shows so little use that it is only marginally not A2. Condition Description A1 Mint (uninked). Shows no signs of use. A2 Mint (inked). As for A1 but may have been dipped or inked. N New Old Stock (NOS). Unsold dealer or manufacturer stock. Not dipped or inked but may show shop wear. B Excellent. All parts original and showing only very slight signs of use. Very slight surface scratching; very minor discoloration or brassing; crisp imprints; no significant dings. C Fine. All parts original. Some discoloration and brassing; light or worn imprints; small dings to metal or scratching on plastic. D Fair. Some parts possibly not original; significant brassing or discoloration; very worn imprints; dings and scratches. Maybe a good writing pen or usable for parts. Esterbrook ---------- Black squeeze filler ("aerometric"), NOS 2668 nib. Condition: B. Price: $50.00 Gray J, NOS 2556 nib. Condition: B+. Price: $50.00 Black J, NOS 2556 nib. Condition: B. Price: $45.00 Esterbrooks for sale: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sale_est.htm Parker ------ Burgundy aerometric British Duofold Senior, custom-ground 0.9-mm LF cursive oblique italic nib. Condition: B. Price: $140.00 US-made Parker 75 Ciselé, M nib. Condition: B+. Price: $150.00 Olive Green 45, brushed cap, steel M nib. Condition: B. Price: $35.00 Parkers for sale: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sale_pkr.htm Sheaffer -------- 14K GF Imperial, 14K F nib. Condition: B+. Price: $100.00 BCHR No. 2 Self-Filler, SHEAFFER-CLIP cap, very flexible F nib. Condition: B. Price: $135.00 Sheaffers for sale: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sale_she.htm Others ------ Burgundy Marble Conway Stewart 75, semiflexible F nib. Condition: B. Price: $120.00 Pastel Blue Waterman C/F Winner, steel F nib. Condition: A1. Price: $40.00 RHR Star Pen ringtop, semiflexible XF nib. Condition: B+. Price: $65.00 Dubonnet Red Eversharp Skyline Standard, firm wet M nib. Condition: B. Price: $90.00 Others for sale: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sale_oth.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Reader's Corner ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My site's Reader's Corner features a monthly pick, a book that I like and think that you might enjoy, too. This month's pick is an emotional roller-coaster ride. I couldn't put it down, and I'll bet it'll grab you, too: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=acc_txt.htm#readerscorner My monthly pick also appears as a link on my welcome page. ======================================================================== If you received this newsletter from Richard Binder, you are a subscriber. If not, you can subscribe by sending a mail message to richard@richardspens.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line, or by clicking on this link: mailto:richard@richardspens.com?subject=SUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send a mail message to richard@richardspens.com with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line, or click on this link: mailto:richard@richardspens.com?subject=UNSUBSCRIBE Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.