======================================================================== Nib Noise Volume 6 Number 2 ======================================================================== 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 To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Bexley Submariner Grande in Aspen *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We were conducting a physical inventory last week, and we discovered one last Aspen Grande, a pen that we had thought we sold. The Aspen Grande, with its rich blue and golden-brown coloring, is a gorgeous pen. It was a special edition that Bexley made exclusively for us last year, and there are fewer than 25 of them in existence -- including this one. We will never have any more. So now we're going to sell this one. To give everybody a fair chance at this desirable special pen, we are auctioning it off on eBay. The auction will run for seven days. Follow this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200105555782 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** All Three New Pelikans Are IN STOCK! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We are now shipping all three of the new Pelikan Tradition and Souveraen pens that were announced at Paperworld: * M625 Transparent Dark Red * M640 Niagara Falls * M215 Lozenge These are lovely pens -- my favorite is the M625, but the Managing Part- ner was quick to inform me that I do not need another pen. The Niagara Falls, as the first of the new M640 pens, is surprisingly handsome, with a sleek new profile and bit more heft in the hand than the M620 series. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/newp_pel.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Update: The Pharaoh Limited Edition *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The latest email from David Broadwell arrived with a subject line of "WRITE LIKE AN EGYPTIAN"! David has finished the first group of caps, and they are headed to Nashua by Registered Mail. We expect to begin shipping The Pharaoh early in May. When each pen is ready to ship, we will contact its owner. For more information, and to read what else David said in his email, please visit our page on The Pharaoh: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/pharaoh.htm The price of $900.00 includes nib customization and shipment to anywhere in the world except Antarctica. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** New Bexleys Coming Down the Pike *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Howard Levy just announced that Bexley will be introducing not one, but TWO new collections at the Chicago Pen Show. Nib Noise's behind-the- scenes reporter has gleaned the following information. The first collection is called Poseidon, to be available in three translucent marbled colors with opaque ends: Tortoise, Red, and Yellow. The Poseidon fountain pen features an 18K nib and is just under 5-1/4" long. Furniture will be gold plated on the tortoise and yellow, rhodium plated on the red. We expect to sell these pens at a price of $240.00. The second collection is the BX701. (Don't ask!) This new collection uses Bexley's reliable Schmidt steel nibs. Available in three colors, BX701 will introduce a totally new clip design for Bexley, and the pens have outstanding eye appeal. We expect to sell these pens at a price of $90.00. More information will become available on our site as soon as we receive it. Pens should be available for shipment around the beginning of June. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Come to the Richard's Pens Pen Show *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We're back in the vintage pen business again. Instead of the carefully massaged Web-style sales pages we've had in the past, however, we're now offering a selection of 20 pens like you might see at a pen show, in a real Sheaffer's display tray. And just like pen show, when the show is over (at the end of the month), these pens will be packed up and taken home. Next month, we'll have another tray for you. Check out our vintage pen tray: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/vint_txt.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** We Get a Month Without a Show -- But Don't Forget Raleigh! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We won't be going to any shows in May, but the first week of June will see us driving south. North Carolina is a pretty nice place any time, but with the prospect of a pen show, it's even more attractive. The Raleigh show begins Thursday, June 7, and runs through Sunday, June 10. Public days are Saturday and Sunday. This show is run by Terry and Sonia Mawhorter, who also run the terrific Ohio show every November. We found out last year that they do every bit as good a job a little farther south. And as if a good show weren't enticement enough, the Embassy Suites is a great hotel, offering registered show attendees a free buffet breakfast and a free before-dinner happy hour with *real booze*. Check it all out here: http://www.raleighpenshow.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** We Have the 2007 Stylus Annual Available *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But we have only two copies, and we won't have any more. One can be yours for $20.00 -- that's $25.00 including Priority Mail shipping anywhere in the U.S.A. If you're outside the U.S.A. please contact us to give us your location so we can compute shipping costs. Only two copies... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens That Write Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, I fill-test each new pen at no extra charge before shipment, aligning and smoothing the nib and ensuring that it has good flow. If you order a new pen with a customized nib, I will modify the nib and ship the pen immediately instead of putting it into my regular queue. Remember, we are authorized retailers for Bexley, Conway Stewart, Namiki and Pilot, Pelikan, Signum, and Taccia. We don't always have a complete line up on the site, but we can get anything our manufacturers offer -- if you don't see it, just ask! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Last Month's Calendar Page Is This Month's Wallpaper *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The April Richard's Pens calendar page featured a ladies' model Snapfil, made around 1920 by the General Manufacturing Company. There's already a 1600x1200 wallpaper version of this design on our site. For something a little different, I've made a new 1600x1200 wallpaper featuring the Nettuno Barracuda. This is one weird pen, with a square body and a magnetic cap closure. Have fun! http://www.richardspens.com/?page=wallpapers.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A real triumph for Sheaffer was the company's courageous introduction in 1942, only months after the U.S.A. went to war, of its "TRIUMPH" line, with a whole new concept in nibs. Read a profile here: http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=triumph ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When is brassing good? Our columnist lays out the argument for a 100% brassed pen being a phenomenal find. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=extrafine/xf0705.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** What's All This, Then? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Like any other specialized item, the fountain pen has amassed a lexicon of terms that are unique. If you haven't visited our site's glossary recently, take a look. The number of entries has grown to more than 600: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/glossary/A.htm And do, please, feel welcome to make suggestions for terms that should be there but aren't. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** In the Reader's Corner *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My Pick of the Month is an open invitation to the calligraphers in the crowd to try some new (old) styles, as only the inimitable George Bickham could present them. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=bks_txt.htm#potm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Subscribe to our RSS Feed *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSS means Really Simple Syndication. You can subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking the orange RSS button at the top of any page on our site or by plugging the following URI into your browser or RSS reader: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=richardspens.rss If you're not already hooked up to RSS and what it can do for you, take a peek at our introductory page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=rsshelp.htm ======================================================================== If you received this newsletter from Richard Binder, you are a Nib Noise subscriber. If it came from someone else, I invite you to subscribe. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise.htm Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.