======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 8 Number 9 * December 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/?info=nibnoise ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Surprise! It's December! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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,if gifts are part of your celebration, we'd love to help you make it a 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 16; that means you should have placed your order by 12:00 noon Eastern time the day before. We'll ship on Saturday, December 19, and Wednesday, December 23, 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/?pens= For smaller gifts and stocking stuffers, be sure to check out or selection of accessories and supplies. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc= And don't forget to check out our CafePress shop. We have some great stocking stuffers there, including our 2010 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. Our gift certificates come directly from PayPal, so they're easy to give and easy to use. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=giftcert ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The 2010 Bexley Owners Club Pen Is Available for Pre-Order *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The 2010 Bexley Owners Club pen is created from an unusual material that, up to now, has not been used to make fountain pens. Called G-10, it has multiple layers of laminated fiberglass that have been impregnated with epoxy resins. The result is a highly stable, durable material that is often used as a substrate for printed circuit boards. The G-10 material is used for the cap, barrel, end caps, and gripping section. The surface has a checked pattern reminiscent of carbon fiber, but with a more subtle pattern. The color and pattern are all the way through the material, contributing to its depth of color and durability. It is polished to a smooth semi-gloss finish and is warm and inviting to the hand, with a tactile feel similar to that of hard rubber. The 2010 Bexley Owners Club pen is available only as a fountain pen. In recognition of Bexley's seventeenth year, there are 117 fountain pens in black, and 117 in orange. The pen also features Bexley's unique "violin" clip, hand cast in solid coin silver (.900) that is alloyed for extra strength. Furniture is plated in your choice of rhodium or 23-carat yellow gold. The pens are equipped with Bexley's two-tone 18K solid gold nibs in fine, medium, broad, or broad stub widths. Cartridge/converter filling. Our price for this gorgeous and innovative pen is $380.00. (Remember, Until February 1, 2010, the 2010 Owners Club pen is available only to registered owners of Bexley pens.) http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=bex+oc2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The 2009 Bexley Owners Club Pen: We Shouldn'ta Did This! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The 2009 Owner's Club Edition, a hand-filling tribute to the Wahl Equi-Poised of 1931. Available in three colors of ebonite, this is one sweet handler. Suggested retail price: $395.00. Our regular price: $335.00. Our Christmas discount price: $265.00! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=bex+oc2009 We still have a few of Barbara's Pen, the 2009 edition, our own red pearl Submariner SE. This is the pen that Barbara hands people to demonstrate what Bexleys are like, and it's sold more pens for us than we can count. Our regular price: $250.00. Our year-end discount price: $225.00. Think about how great this one would look hanging from your Christmas tree! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=bex+subse ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Pilot Falcon: Tradition Made New *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Character is the key to the Falcon. From its 14K nib to its slightly domed cap crown, the Falcon is a dignified pen that will lend a little extra character to your handwriting. A serious writer’s pen that is both elegant and delightful to handle, the exciting new Pilot Falcon features a lacquered metal body with a selection of fine, medium, or broad nibs. We have it in stock now, just in time for Christmas. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=nam+falcon ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speaking of the Year's End, There's Always Next Year *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our 2010 fountain pen wall calendar is ready, and it's available for purchase now at our CafePress shop. At only $16.99, it's little bit classic, a little bit nostalgic, a little bit kinky (the lizard), and a lot of just right for your den or cubicle wall. Don't be left on New Year's day with no pix of pens to ogle, snag your calendar now! http://www.cafepress.com/richardspens.417997229 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Cool Tray Pens Don't Disappear over the Christmas Season! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We’d love to help you put an old-fashioned fountain pen under the tree for that very special person! Our exciting December Pen Show Tray even comes with a Christmas theme: red and green! Yup, there's other stuff, too: http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=vint NOTICE TO TRAY-WATCHERS: remember my warning last month about a nice surprise? Did you miss out on the appearance of Jim Baer's Apprentice Tray? It's still there, and it's not sold out yet... http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=app ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Leaves Have Fallen, and... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We have some new seasonal limited-edition Field Notes, decked out in JUST BELOW ZERO colors of Winter Night Charcoal, Frozen Pond Blue, and Cold, Cold Grey. These are the usual great Field Notes graph-paper notebooks, in a three-pack with one book in each color. See 'em -- and order 'em -- today, before they're gone. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=field_notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens, Pens, and More Pens! Where Ya Gonna Keep 'Em? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If your pen pals are festooning you with a very merry holiday, chances are you'll need more storage for all these gifts. Don's inexpensive cigar box pen chests won't put a huge dent in your holiday budget, and they make great gifts for your collector friends, too! http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes If you're looking for pen storage that's a little more along classical lines, you should be looking at our Girologio pen cabinets. Hand fitted, assembled, and oil finished, they're heavyweight solid rosewood. These cabinets are pure elegance without the unnecessary flash you see on other brands that are more interested in wowing you than in doing right by your pens. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=girologio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan Style in Black and White *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pelikan's new Black & White M205s could be great wedding gifts, but let's face it, this is the Christmas season. And these pens will look just as great under the Christmas tree as in the pile of bridal gifts. On the other hand, if gift-giving isn't in your immediate future, you could also put a set of these babies in your own pocket. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel+m205 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Vanishing Point and Bexley Prices Rising in January *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We've been advised that Pilot will be raising the price of the Vanishing Point in January. Bexley will also have to raise prices on some of its gold-nibbed pens by an average of 8%. For the best bargains, take advantage of this 41-day warning: buy now! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I had so much fun doing the Camel profile last month that I couldn't resist giving you another profile for Christmas. So for this month I've added a profile of the daddy of Sheaffer's Snorkel, the Touchdown TM: http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=td_tm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don rethinks risk versus reward in terms of what pens he carries. There's an opportunity for you to chime in with your own opinions. http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=0912 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens That Write Right! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, we tune each new pen or nib at no extra charge before shipment. We 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., 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/?info=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/?info=nibnoise Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.