======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 9 Number 3 * June 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Go Postal -- in a Good Way! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the more interesting pen companies in the 1920s was the Postal Pen Company. Postal pens were bulb fillers, and they were sold only by mail. They were good pens, but with their clear celluloid barrels they were too fragile, and most have not survived. Now, the Gate City Pen and Ink Company brings this classic back! The New Postal Reservoir Pen is made using the original Postal design, and it gives you the best of both worlds: the great usability and huge ink capacity of the original Postal married with the durability and practicality of modern acrylic resins. We'll be introducing the New Postal Pen at the Triangle Pen Show this coming weekend (see below); but it's available for purchase NOW on our site. Until Monday, the day after the show, we're offering these pens at a special introductory price, so don't delay! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pst ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** At Last! Fermo Is Here! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Pilot introduced the world to retractable Capless pens in 1963, the new pens didn't go click-click. They were virtually silent because they operated with a twist. A year later, the twist knob gave way to the famous pushbutton. It's taken more than 40 years to come full circle, but the new twist-operated Fermo does it with style and panache. And we've got 'em in stock, in all three currently available colors. Check out the Fermo today! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=nam+fermo ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** June Is for Brides -- and PEN SHOWS! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In less than a week we'll be taking off for the Seventh Annual Triangle Pen Show in Cary, North Carolina (within spittin' distance of Raleigh). We're looking forward to getting in the car to head south. North Carolina is a pretty nice place any time, but with a pen show in the offing, it's even more attractive. The show begins Thursday, June 3, at the truly deluxe Embassy Suites (free breakfast and Happy Hour, woo hoo!), and it runs through Sunday the 6th. Public days are Friday afternoon (starting at 1 p.m), and Saturday, and Sunday. Mawhorter-run shows have always been extraordinary -- and the 2010 show should be no exception. With some really luscious properties being offered in the auction (check out the photos on the show's site), this is one not to miss. It's looking to be one of the best shows ever, for both old-time experienced troops and pen show virgins. 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 (and auction pix), visit the show's Web site: http://www.raleighpenshow.com/ Barbara and I will also have a selection of new pens from Aurora, Bexley, Namiki and Pilot, New Postal, and Pelikan, as well as a couple of mugs of those delightful little Merlins and a stock of my pre-ground Pelikan M200 and Vanishing Point specialty nibs, along with demonstrators of them all for you to try before you buy. If you don't have a pen to go with your new nib, we'll be happy to fit your nib with a new pen body in your choice of colors. I'll be bent over my Dremel, regrinding and tweaking nibs. Bring a pen or two, and share some chatter at my table while I jazz up your writing experience. 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 the Nashua Pen Spa. Just a reminder: We bring most of our normal pen stock to shows, but we can't bring everything. If there's a special pen you've been thinking of, please feel free to send us an email to ask us to be sure we bring it for you. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Calendar Check *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ June is a complicated month for RichardsPens.com. We will have some unavoidable shipping delays this month, and we want to make sure you know what it looks like. As the month opens, we're heading out the door for the Triangle show. After the show, we're going to take a few extra days on the way home. Here is our shipping schedule for June: You'll notice that this issue of Nib Noise is a day early. This is so we can offer you one last shipping day before we go. Order by Mon 5/31, we will ship on Tue 6/1. Our next shipping day will be Wed 6/16. This is a TWO WEEK break. As always, we'll acknowledge purchases made while we're on the road. We are still hoping and expecting to meet our estimated turnaround times for repair work that we have in house, but we might be a day or two slow in communicating with you. We hope you'll forgive us if we're not as prompt as usual in answering your email messages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Don's Pen Boxes: Summer's Here, and Deals are Hotter'n Usual! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don's cool hand-made cigar box pen chests aren't taking a vacation this month. They're back, with some new stuff -- and some real budget-saving bargains! http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=dons_boxes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pen Repairers take Note *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ last month we mentioned that we were adding a new basic resacking kit to our expanding line of pen tools. Our Pen Tool Starter Kit kit is here now, ready for harvesting: http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=starter_kit If there's a particular tool you've been looking for, let us know. We'll see if we can work out a way to stock it. (But I can't promise it will happen -- the Managing Partner has veto power!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the factors that led to the eventual demise of the original L. E. Waterman Company was its reluctance to abandon the manufacture of hard rubber pens in the late 1920s. When the company introduced its new No. 7 model in 1927, the pen was made of hard rubber. But it wasn't ordinary hard rubber; it was a beautiful two-tone material with the unique "Ripple" pattern... http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=no7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This month Don continues his deep dive into a pen book to find some great obscure facts. Up in the batter's box is the Babe Ruth of pen books, Andreas Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World. http://www.richardspens.com/?xf=1006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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.