======================================================================== Nib Noise Volume 7 Number 4 ======================================================================== 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 our site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 40th ANNIVERSARY SUMMER OF LOVE CELEBRATION *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, we know the Summer of Love happened in 1967, but mind-altering substances were in vogue then, and our math might be a year off. Live with it. This month we have some very special summer specials. * A tray of 20 pens (mostly vintage) with NIBS YOU CAN LOVE * A tray of very lightly used Pelikans * More NIBS YOU CAN LOVE Check out these specials in the articles below! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Special Summer of Love Pen Tray *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All new this month are the pens on our Pen Show tray. I can't say "on our VINTAGE Pen Show tray," because we have several modern pens that are pretty desirable in their own way. All 20 of the pens in this month's tray feature NIBS YOU CAN LOVE -- there are flexies, cursive italics, stubs, and more. A whole tray with nibs like this has never happened before, and we can't promise it'll ever happen again, so get 'em before somebody else thinks they're having a sit-in and rounds 'em up!! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp= While you're there, take a sec to check out the special Summer of Love CD boxed set I found to wax nostalgic over. First thing I did with my copy was to rip it into iTunes -- gotta love 21st-century technology! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Special Birds for the Summer *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We've purchased a few very sweet, and very lightly used, Pelikan pens from some of our clients, and we've re-prepped these pens and put them on a tray to offer for your delectation and selection. Most of these pens, including three M620s, aren't in the catalog anymore; and all of them are being offered at bargain prices. Bird fanciers, you need to see these pens. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=oth ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Special bird beaks *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Over the years we've accumulated a few of my Pelikan specialty nibs that we ended up not selling -- clients changed their minds, I made the nibs on spec, pick a reason. More importantly, pick a nib or two. We've put these nibs on the same page with our tray of Birds. Most of the nibs are 14K gold, and there are some unusual shapes there. Best of all, we've knocked a bit off the prices of these bird beaks! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=oth+asst_nibs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speaking of BIRDS... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flying in this month for a limited engagement is the new Pelikan M910 Toledo in YELLOW! I've seen this pen, and it is gorgeous! We've been able to reserve only a small number of these pens, so you should visit our Pelikan page and catch yours now! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=pel+m910 In September we'll have the new M800 clear demonstrator, both the plain version and the engraved version, with the parts identified in white- filled engraved lettering. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** And speaking of YELLOW... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch our Namiki/Pilot page next month (August) -- we've already ordered a supply of the new yellow Pilot Vanishing Point! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** There's a new entry in Bexley's nameless collection *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last year it was the BX701. This year Howard and the troops have created the BX802, and it's even better than last year. This is a hand-sized, streamlined pen featuring a shape that writes very easily and -- in a nod to the Pearlesse, which is itself a nod to Carter's Pearltex pens of the 1930s -- the BX802 is decked out with some nice Art Deco furniture. It comes in three popular colors. Check it out here: http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=bex+bx802 Oh, and we have a few BX802 prototypes in colors that aren't going to appear in the catalog. (Think Mandarin Yellow, "Big Red" Orange, and Burgundy.) We're offering these pens for only $10.00 more than for the official version, but we have a tiny number of them, so please contact us IMMEDIATAELY to secure yours! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Back for a short return engagement: the Signum Ornamenta *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ if you like superb Italian design and craftsmanship but aren't sure you want to take the step up from lesser pens, now's your chance to spend less money and get more pen! Signum discontinued the lovely Ornamenta collection a year and a half ago, and we snagged the entire remaining stock from Empire Pens, the U.S. importer. We *thought* we'd gotten them all, that is. Empire Pens was turning over their attic, and a very small number of Ornamentas turned up. We got them, and we're again offering this excellent pen, which was selling for about $270.00, for the unbelievable price of $135.00. Fitted with Signum's excellent 18K nib and solid sterling silver furniture (rhodinated or gold plated to prevent tarnish), this could be the deal of the year -- or the decade. Check out the Ornamenta, and check out with one in your shopping basket while you still can. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=sig+ornamenta And while you're there, take a good look at the De Divina Proportione collection. These are a real tribute to the elegance of the ancient Grecian orders, and they're dramatic! They write very nicely, I might add, with the same great 18K nib you'll find in the Ornamenta. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** With July here, we're already thinking about Washington DC! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The organized chaos of the Washington DC SuperShow is only five and a half short weeks away. Collectors from around the world will begin congregating in Tysons Corner, Virginia, on Thursday, August 7. Festivities for weekend traders begin on Friday, and the world's biggest pen show opens its doors to the public on Saturday and Sunday, August 9 and 10. We're already getting ready, and we hope you are, too. If you plan to come and haven't ever been to a show before, you might want to read my article on Your First Pen Show: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/firstshow.htm For more information, visit the show's Web site: http://www.pencentral.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens That Write Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, I tune each new pen or nib at no extra charge before shipment. I fill the pen with Waterman Blue-Black ink and write with it on paper from the same fountain pen friendly pads we sell, adjusting as necessary to bring it up to the RichardsPens.com "factory" standard for smoothness and flow. If you order a new pen with a customized nib, I will modify the nib (for an extra charge) and ship the pen immediately instead of putting it into my regular queue. Remember, we are authorized retailers for Bexley, Classic Pens Inc., Conway Stewart, Namiki and Pilot, Pelikan, and Signum. 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! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Some specials among Don's Boxes *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This month Don has made a nice Summer of Love selection of his great cigar-box pen chests. There are several of his three-box Stacks, and he has two four-drawer Criollo boxes (for twice the storage in half the space). Get 'em while the summer's hot! http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** I saw a Moss-Agate Patrician last week. Did you? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I blogged about that Patrician. If you haven't been reading my blog, I invite you to add it to your list of pages to visit. It's noncommercial, and it's where I muse a little on what I've been up to -- and with what I've been up to whatever it is I've been up to. http://web.mac.com/richardspens/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How much ink do I have left? Once Lewis Waterman had pretty much solved the basic problems of contemporary pens, the worst thing that could happen to a 19th-century user of fountain pens was to have a pen run dry when far from a supply of ink. But how do you tell when you're in danger? http://www.richardspens.com/desn=visible_ink ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just you watch, in a few years the Targa will become the next genera- tion's Parker "51". An unabashed Targamaniac himself, Don sits down with one of the Web's top authorities and discusses this gem of the Sheaffer crown. http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=0807 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Richard's been busy in the Wallpaper Shop *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This month I've made two brandy-new wallpapers for you to drop on your computer desktop: * Bexley Pearlesse * Pelikan M640 Polar Lights I know, last month's calendar page was the Pelikan Sahara, but it's too doggone hot here for me to think about deserts, so I went north instead of south for my M640 inspiration. Both of these are available in 1600x1200 and 1600x1000 "cine" sizes -- and I've also made 480x272 versions to use as splash screens for Garmin nüvi GPS units. For a nostalgia trip I went back and reprocessed my original wallpaper from 2001, the one that started the Wallpaper Shop, to convert it from 1024x768 to 1600x1200 and 1600x1000 sizes. It's actually a little better than it was the first time around because I've done some Photoshop work to improve the picture quality. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=wallpapers ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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/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 ======================================================================== 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 Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.