======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 7 Number 10 * January 2009 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. This e-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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** We've Saved the Best News for First! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you probably know, the RichardsPens.com family grew in 2008, to the tune of two assistant/apprentices named Jim and Susan. Well, their contributions -- while individually unsung -- have made a big difference in our ability to serve you. A year ago, my repair backlog stood at about 20 weeks (nearly five months). As of today, it's about 13 weeks (three months). This queue snippage has happened while we've also increased sales of new pens and nibs, which means that we owe Jim and Susan a standing ovation and much thanks. What our shorter backlog means to pens needing repair or restoration -- and to their owners -- is simple: visits to the Nashua Pen Spa won't last as long as before. Which ought to make pretty nearly everyone happy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** January Blahs Got You Down? How About a PEN SHOW?? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The first pen show of the year is coming up this month. From January 23 to 25, things will be hopping at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. The Philadelphia Pen Show is famous for some of the weirdest weather around, and it's also famous for being a show that Goldilocks would love: not too big, not too small, but just right. Make it a destination, and start the new year right! 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/?shows=firstshow For more information, visit the show's Web site: http://www.philadelphiapenshow.com/ We'll have a selection of new pens from the companies we represent (see below). THESE CAN HAVE THEIR NIBS CUSTOMIZED WHILE YOU WAIT. We'll have a stock of my preground Pelikan M200 specialty 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 Famous Places series. If you don't have a Pelikan pen to go with your new nib, we'll be happy to fit your nib with a new M200 pen body in your choice of colors. We'll also have preground nibs for Pilot Vanishing point pens -- and bodies, too, if you haven't yet succumbed to the appeal of the Vanishing point. As always, I'll be regrinding and tweaking nibs while their owners wait. Bring a pen, and share some chatter at my table while I jazz up your writing experience. If you've never visited our table before, I encourage you to read our "Table Talk" FAQ, in which you'll find the answer to most of the questions that tend to come up about what happens there: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=tabletalk If you have pens that need repairs other than nib work, we'll be happy to save you some shipping costs by collecting them at the show and bringing them home to my studio. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. In case you've been treading water in Elbonia for the past few years and don't recognize the hotel, the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel used to be known as the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel. Yup, that's right, you won't have to get lost looking for a new hotel; the show is right where it was last time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Year-End Review: Just whom Do We Represent, Anyway? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you haven't been keeping score, you might not know that we adjusted our selection of brand offerings again this year. I thought it might be useful to give you a rundown of the companies we represent, with a little about why we like each one of them. *** THERE IS INFORMATION ABOUT SOME VERY SPECIAL PENS HERE, SO BE SURE TO READ CAREFULLY! Aurora is probably the best known and most respected name in Italian pens. Since 1919, Aurora has combined precious materials and superb craftsmanship to create small masterpieces for writers and collectors like you, all over the world. Aurora makes Made in Italy something you can really be pleased with -- and proud of! (There are some potentially bewildering choices in the Aurora line; see below for a quicklie scorecard.) http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=aur Bexley is the only pen manufacturer now making its pens in the U.S.A. We know the pens are made here; we've had the Cook's Tour of Bexley's small Columbus, Ohio, factory. We like that, and we like the pens themselves. They're modern, well made and reliable, with a sensibility of the Gold- en Age to them. We also like the folks who own and operate the company; they are truly good people. And every Bexley pen is assembled by hand. The hands of Howard Levy are very good at this sort of thing. Remember, registered Bexley owners, now is the time to purchase your 2009 Owner's Club pen. Rports coming back from our clients are very positive -- these are delightful pens! See below for more info. *** We also have a very small number of special BX802 pens in Mandarin Yellow, Duofold Red, and Burgundy. These pens have never been offered in Bexley's standard line! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=bex Classic Pens Inc., is the brainchild and labor of love of Andreas Lambrou, who is one of our oldest and best friends in the pen community. Armen Malikian, the company's veep, is an old friend as well. Put these two guys together and you are bound to get great results. Superb quality, nice lines, exciting materials, what more could you ask of a pen? Oh, you want it to write well? Well, that's what you get from Classic Pens. And there's a new Classic on the way: look for the Mythos, coming this season to your favorite Classic retailer (that's us)! *** Don't forget, we've been able to reduce our prices significantly on the CP8 and LM1 Limited Editions. We never know how long the exchange rate will remain favorable, so there's no time like the present if you're considering one of these pens. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=cla Conway Stewart. Since 1905, that name has signified British excellence, and today's Conway Stewart is dedicated to producing luxurious pens of the sort that British royalty expects and demands. We're not royalty, but that doesn't mean we can't write like them -- and we can also give you that same luxury. There are myriad Royals running around over there in England, and there are myriad variations on the Conway Stewart theme to satisfy their -- and your -- tastes. Rather than guess what you might want, we order each Conway Stewart pen when it's purchased. Knowing the Conway Stewart line is more fun even than knowing the names of all those English kings. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=cny Namiki and Pilot are actually the same company. You knew that, right? 93-year-old Pilot of Japan created the Namiki brand, named for company founder Ryosuki Namiki, to distinguish itself in the U.S. market. And distinguished it is. Namiki offers gorgeous maki-e pens, which we are happy to order, and it also offers the Bamboo and the Falcon, unusual pens that write organically and with superb feel. Then there's the Vanishing Point for those of us who are serious about using real pens but have to work in the rat race, where there might not be time to uncap a pen before using it. Click! To enhance your enjoyment, we offer the Vanishing Point with a broad range of specialty nibs -- which you can purchase with the pen or separately in case you like to change your look. As we announced earlier, Pilot has raised the price on the Vanishing Point. Our nib prices have gone up a bit, but we've been able to hold our line on Vanishing Point bodies. http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=nam Pelikan is so well known, and so popular, and so reliable, that there isn't much else to say except that we like interchangeable nibs and the things I can do with them for you. Playing swapsies with Pelikan nibs is so much fun that we even sell the M200 Esterbrook style, nib and pen body separately. Mix and match your favorite color with round nibs, italics, flexies, needlepoints -- and finer. We can also provide the "big boys" with virtually all of the same nib styles, with the pen or separately. And for the history buffs, let it be recorded that Pelikan was the first brand we took on when we opened for business. *** There was such a flurry over the fabulous M800 clear demonstrators that Chartpak went directly to Pelikan and pretty much held the company over a fire until an agreement was reached to produce more of these pens for us. We have the engraved version in stock now and are expecting the plain version early this month. Nail down your demonstrator, or -- better yet -- a matched pair! http://www.richardspens.com/?newp=pel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Aurora Scorecard *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can't tell the players without a scorecard, and Aurora offers too many variations on trim to keep track of. Here's a handy Who's Who of the Auroras we have for you. All pens marked with an asterisk (*) use the same user-interchangeable nib assembly, and we do have extra nib units in stock. Optima* ------ Black, gold plated furniture Black, chrome plated furniture Blue Auroloide, gold plated furniture Blue Auroloide, chrome plated furniture Burgundy Auroloide, chrome plated furniture Green Auroloide, gold plated furniture 88* -- Black barrel and cap, gold plated furniture Black barrel and cap, chrome plated furniture Black barrel, gold plated cap Black barrel, chrome cap Talentum* -------- Black, gold plated furniture Black, chrome plated furniture Celestial Blue, chrome plated cap Burgundy, gold plated furniture Yellow, chrome plated furniture Yellow, chrome plated cap Black, chrome plated cap Ipsilon Deluxe -------------- Black, gold plated furniture Black, chrome plated furniture Blue, gold plated furniture Red, gold plated furniture Ipsilon ------- Black, gold furniture Burgundy, gold furniture Green, gold furniture Red, gold furniture Yellow, gold furniture ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** As Winter Closes In, You Can Hunker Down with a New Pen Chest! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ January might bring cold temperatures, but the deals Don's got on his post-Christmas cigar box pen chest page will warm you up better than a piping hot mug of mulled cider. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Our January Pen Show Tray... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...features something old, something new, something borrowed, nothing blue. This month, we're offering some pens that you might have missed during 2008, some that we've added for a little spice, and a couple that came to us for restoration. (The owners of these pens changed tneir minds and offered the pens to us.) No blue pens this month, but do check out the other colors! 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Several years ago, I figured out a way to convert an Eversharp CA to take modern Parker refills. The technique I used was better than shoving a BiC Stic's guts up the CA's nose, but it was still very amateurish. This month I'm rolling out a new and solidly professional technique for making this conversion. http://www.richardspens.com/?rep=ca_mod ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you're a fountain pen collector and you've got some Christmas bonus money earmarked for expanding the collection, smoke 'em if you got 'em. Here are Don's favorite bargain-seeking strategies. http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=0901 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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.