======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 8 Number 10 * January 2010 ======================================================================== 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Happy New Year! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2010 is here, and we're excited. We're looking forward to a year of fun with pens and people as we travel to pen shows, repair and customize nibs, rescue and restore ancient relics of writing history that come our way from flea markets, antique stores, family treasure chests, and more. Join us for our 365-days' adventure! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** And Speaking of the New Year *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yay! The first pen show of the year is coming up this month, and it's a goodie. From January 22 to 24, 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 M640 Beauties of Nature 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 Vanishing Point bodies, too, if you haven't yet succumbed to this pen's techno-cool appeal. 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. PLEASE READ OUR "TABLE TALK" FAQ TO LEARN HOW WE OPERATE AT A SHOW: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=tabletalk If you have pens that need repairs other than nib work, we'll be happy to save you some you shipping costs by collecting them at the show and bringing them home to my studio -- or you can hand them to Ron Zorn of Main Street Pens, one of the best repair guys I know, and have them fixed right there. To find Ron, just look for the traffic light! 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens, Pens, and More Pens! Where Ya Gonna Keep 'Em? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AULD LANG STORAGE: Make good on your New Year's resolution to organize all those loose pens in your collection with Don's bargain-priced Cigar Box Pen Chests. Choose from Single-, Double-, and even Triple-Decker options, tailored to every budget and desktop. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes If you're looking for pen storage that's a little more along classical lines, you need a Girologio pen cabinet. Hand fitted, assembled, and oil finished, these cabinets are some serious quality in heavyweight solid rosewood. They're pure elegance, with a restrained sensibility that doesn't try to wow you with extra useless glitz like marquetry or burled veneers that can peel in hot weather. Girologio cabinets do exactly what a pen cabinet is supposed to: take care of your pens with dignity and style. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=girologio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan Style in Black and White -- and Now Red (and Blue)! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pelikan's new Black & White M205s are a great success, and we've added the underpublicized Red version to offer you a great trio. Choose one, two, or three -- you can never have too many Birds! Oh yes, we also have the lovely sky-blue M205 demonstrator. And remember, the 5 in M205 means silver-colored furniture! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel+m205 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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. 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! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=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. Bexley has held the price line as long as it can. With everything else going up, Howard Levy and his crew have had to nudge prices up on some of their pens. Our site reflects the new pricing. Remember, registered Bexley owners, now is the time to purchase your 2010 Owner's Club pen. Reports coming back from our clients are very positive -- these are delightful pens! See below for more info. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=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/?pens=cla Although we can't represent the Merlin company (because it went out of business about 50 years ago), we came into a nice cache of NOS Merlins and Merlinas last June, and for now we're just treating them as another of our great brands. These are small pens, made of real celluloid in the same manner as back in the Golden Age, and they all have 14K nibs -- some of them delightfully flexible. Are they restored? Of course they are, with new sacs and a complete going-over to ensure that they're ready for you! Calligraphers and the rest of us alike can appreciate a bargain on a good flexie! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=mer Namiki and Pilot are actually the same company. You knew that, right? 94-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 Custom 74 and the Falcon, excellent 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 most of its models. One of them is the Vanishing Point -- but because our Vanishing Point nibs are so popular, we've held the line on Vanishing Point nibs. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=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 these pens 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. Oh, by the way, in case you hadn't noticed, we're now offering most of the standard Pelikans without nibs as well as with -- if you have a pile of spare nibs for your M800, you can snag a body without having to toss yet another nib on the "unused" heap. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The 2010 Bexley Owners Club Pen Is Available for Purchase *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 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. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=nam+falcon ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Speaking of the New Year, Do You Have Your Calendar Yet? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** We Have a Very Special Tray of Consignment Pens This Month! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The pens on this month's NB Consignment Tray page came to us on consignment from one of our clients. We've known this person for many years, and we're very excited to have this opportunity to make these great pens available to you to in this New Year. More than excited, really -- we're pleased and flattered that this discriminating collector has asked us for help in a careful paring of the collection. All have been thoroughly checked and, where necessary, tuned up. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=spl ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Our January Pen Show Tray... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...features something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. (No, we're not getting married but I like the sound of that old jingle.) This month, we have a few great pens that you might have missed in the past, liberally seasoned with many truly exciting new offerings. No purple pens this month, but do check out the other colors! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=vint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Brrr! It's Cold Outside! Better to Jot Notes on JUST BELOW ZERO *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We still have some of the 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back in the day, however, there were no “one size fits all” pieces of apparel, and no “one size fits all” pens, either. Read all about it: http://www.richardspens.com/?desn=one_size ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A number of readers responded last month on what pens they carry and why they carry them—and how value factors in to what they’re willing to pack in their pockets. And what kind of value is important, sentimental value? Monetary value? Collector rarity (i.e. a pen might be rare but it might be a one of a kind or unusual variation)? http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=1001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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.