======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 7 Number 9 ======================================================================== 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Holiday Season Is Upon Us! Really! It's Here! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It's December. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday over, it's really the Winter Holiday season. And, if you've been putting it off, right now is definitely the time to start purchasing seasonal gifts for the special people in your life. It doesn't matter whether you observe Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or Eid-al-Adha or yet another festival, gifts are part of it, and we'd love to help you make it great holiday. We're an Internet business, so we're especially conscious of the need to be forehanded in making your purchases of pens and accessories -- especially given that not all December holidays happen at the end of the month. For Christmas delivery in the U.S., we suggest that you order for shipping no later than Wednesday, December 17; that means you should have placed your order by 12:00 noon Eastern time the day before. We'll ship on Saturday, December 20, and Wednesday, December 24, but with the Christmas rush we can't promise packages shipped that late will arrive for Christmas. For big presents, we have a selection of excellent fountain pens at many price levels. We don't try to offer every pen in the world, just those we like and believe you can rely on to perform well. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/sales For smaller gifts and stocking stuffers, be sure to check out or selection of accessories and supplies. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=accessories And don't forget to check out our CafePress shop. We have some great stocking stuffers there, including our 2009 calendar (see below). http://www.cafepress.com/richardspens/ Remember, CafePress makes and ships each item as it's ordered - we don't keep these items in stock -- so you should check shipping times as you place your CafePress order. For the gifts you can't be sure of, we offer RichardsPens.com Gift Certificates in any denomination. We can deliver Gift Certificates either in printed form or electronically as PDF files that will look just the same as our printed certificates when you print them on your own system. Electronic Gift Certificates are sent free -- no shipping charges -- and orders received as late as 12:00 noon Eastern time on Tuesday, December 23, will go out in time for you to print them and give them on Christmas. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=giftcert ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Bexley's 2009 Owner's Club Pen Is Now Available for Ordering *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For 2009, Bexley has created a modern reinterpretation of the great Oversize Wahl-Eversharp Equi-Poised. I really mean "reinterpretation," because Bexley has chosen to make this year's pens in three brand-new colors of mottled hard rubber: blue/black, brown/black, and olive/black. This isn't recycled material that came out of the back room, it's brand new, never before used on a Bexley pen. And what a pen this year's Owner's Club is! I have the original prototype, made of black acrylic, and this thing handles like a dream. For more info, check it out at Bexley's site: http://www.bexleypen.com/Products/ownersclub.htm If you're already a registered Bexley owner, you'll be receiving your Owner's Club code number soon. So that you can secure your pens as early as possible, we've set up a special purchase link on our own Bexley page: http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=bex+oc2009 If you own Bexley pens that you haven't registered, I recommend that you register them *immediately* so you'll be on the Owner's Club list this year. If you don't yet own even one Bexley pen, what are you waiting for? http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=bex Remember, when your code number arrives, you'll need to decide on nib size, color, and issue number -- and PLACE YOUR ORDER WITH US, NOT WITH BEXLEY (which doesn't accept orders directly), as soon as you can for the best chance of securing the issue number you'd like. The Owner's Club series is a guaranteed sellout. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pssst, Santa: Don't forget Cigar Box Pen Chests *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If the economy's pinching your holiday gift-giving budget, our cigar box pen chests are still one of the hobby's best bargains. Don's got a great lineup for December. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** For the Vintage Collector on Your List *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This month we've put together a special selection of vintage pens for you, including ten, count 'em TEN, pens with interesting nibs. And to help you spot those interesting nibs we've added a "Nib Alert" icon to the table entries for pens with flexible, stub italic, or other italic nibs. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The 2009 Richard's Pens Calendar Is Here! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you're looking around for the perfect 2009 wall calendar, look no further. Our all-new 2009 calendar is available in our CafePress shop. At 11"17", it's plenty big enough to see from across the room -- and there's room to write some actual useful reminders into each day's space. The illustrations feature twelve different vintage and modern pens larger than life, styled to look like still-life photos. Here's a link to our calendar page, with more information and a direct one-click link to purchase your own copy. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=calendar ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** It's Going to Cost More to Be a Pilot... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...or at least to be a Pilot user. Pilot has announced that after holding the line for three full years, it will be increasing prices on January 1, 2009. Our price for standard Vanishing Point nibs, for example, will rise from $30.00 to $53.00. My preground specialty nibs will rise accordingly. Save some of that long green by making your Pilot and Namiki purchases this month. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=nam ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speaking of 2009, January Is Philadelphia Pen Show Month! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Philadelphia Pen Show will descend on Philly's Sheraton City Center Hotel over the weekend of January 23-25. This midwinter festival of writing instruments, fun people, and warm times (everywhere except in the hotel lobby) should be on your calendar. It's on ours, and we'll be doing our regular thing all day, all three days. More info in next month's Nib Noise, but you can get an early look -- and get registered -- by visiting the show's Web site: http://www.philadelphiapenshow.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Even Pen People Take Holidays *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We'll be closed for business beginning Wednesday, December 24, reopening on Friday, January 2. We'll acknowledge purchases made during that time so that you won't be left wondering, and we'll ship your purchases on Saturday, January 3. We won't be available to answer other emails or phone calls during that week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THE JANUARY NIB NOISE *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Year's Eve just isn't the time to send out Nib Noise. So we'll delay sending the email until 12:00 noon Eastern time, January 1, 2009. This is about 14 hours later than normal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. In about 1953, with the capillary-filling 61 well along the path to its 1956 release, the G. S. Parker Pen Company's engineers went back to work to create a truly different pen... http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=vp ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don's note to Santa comprises a fountain pen wish list that, in effect, reflect his priorities for 2009 for pen shows and online auction surfing. His list has a silver and blue tint to it; read the article... http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=0812 ... and chime in with your own pen wishes in a special entry in Richard's blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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 Aurora, Bexley, Classic Pens Inc., Conway Stewart, Namiki and Pilot, and Pelikan. 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! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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.