======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 12 Number 9 * December 2013 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The RichardsPens Christmas Holiday Schedule *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We take this opportunity to thank you for the good year you've given us in 2013, and we look forward to serving you in 2014. We will close for the Christmas holidays at 9 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, December 20, and we'll reopen on the evening of Wednesday, January 1, when we put up our monthly Pen Show Tray. (As we always do for January, we'll delay the tray one day to avoid interfering with your New Year's Eve party!) While we're closed, our Web store will not accept orders, and we'll not be available to answer the phone. Here are the days on which we'll be shipping during December: Wednesday, December 4 Saturday, December 7 Wednesday, December 11 Saturday, December 14 Wednesday, December 17 Saturday, December 21 Because of the holiday rush, we can't promise that domestic package shipped on Saturday, December 21, will arrive in time for Christmas. We recommend that you make your Christmas gift purchases before 9 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, December 16, for shipment the next day. Please note that international shipping takes longer; for international clients, we recommend that you make your gift purchases by 9 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, December 10. (This is our best guess; we can't guarantee timely delivery to other countries.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Not Sure What to Get for That Pen Lover? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remember, if you find yourself unable to choose just the right gift for the pen lover on your list, we offer PayPal gift certificates in a wide range of values: http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=giftcert This is also a handy suggestion that you can drop as a hint to others who might be trying to figure out what pen you'd like to receive! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The 2014 Bexley Owners Club Pen Is Available NOW! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This year, Bexley has created its 9th annual Owners Club Pen, a Limited Edition of 100 pens in each of two swirled colors, red/gold and blue/silver. We have seen the prototypes, and they are GORGEOUS! They're built of Flexigran, a wonderfully vibrant and astonishingly durable ultraviolet-stabilized American-made polyurethane resin compound. The pens fill with a cartridge or converter and feature Bexley's special “B” style faceted clips and Bexley's excellent German steel nib in F, M, or B. We don't have these pens up on our site yet, but we will get them up ASAP. In the meantime, we do have a photo, here: http:/www.richardspens.com/images/pens/bexley/bex_oc_14.jpg Our price is $236.00 plus shipping. Registered owners of Bexley products will be notified by email from Bexley; to request a certificate that you can send to us to purchase your pen, please contact the Bexley Pen Company by telephone at 614-351-9988 or by email at . Once you have your certificate, please fill it out and send it to us either by postal mail or by scanning it and sending it to us as an attachment to an email message. If you own a Bexley pen but have never filed the warranty registration, you won't get an email unless you fill out the warranty slip and send it to Bexley. This Owners Club edition is definitely worth the time it'll take you to file the warranty on your existing pen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Pilot 50th Anniversary Vanishing Point Limited Edition *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pilot has a real treat in store for us all with last month's release of the 2013 Vanishing Point Limited Edition. Because 2013 is the 50th Anniversary of the Vanishing Point (born in 1963 as the Pilot Capless), this year's pen is a doozy. It has a body of maple wood, and it comes in a special oversize maple wood box lined in luxurious deep blue velvet, with a maple serial number plate and a small maple box containing five ink cartridges. The edition is limited to 900 pens world wide, and we have been allocated eight of them. As of this moment, we have two left. Order your 2013 50th Anniversary Vanishing Point while you still can: http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=nam+vp ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Torelli, Torelli, Wherefore Art Thou Torelli? *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ That Shakespeare misquote is actually meaningless given that "wherefore" means "why" -- but the point is, where are all the Torelli pens? The ones we've been ordering sell in what seems like no time. We have some new ones just waiting for me to assemble them, and when that's done they will make their appearance on our site's Torelli page: http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=tor Keep[ your eye on that page, these handcrafted masterpieces do NOT last long! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Back in Stock! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you've been aching to snag a Parker converter, or a pair of our section pliers, or one of our pen tool starter kits (which include the section pliers) but have been frustrated because these items were out of stock, we'd like to let you know that they're back in stock and ready for you. And we will be adding WATERMAN converters to our offering as soon as I can get them up on the site! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Philadelphia Is Coming Up Next Month *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Plan now for your visit to the City of Brotherly Love to enjoy the Philadelphia Pen Show, which will run from Thursday, January 16, through Sunday, January 19. This is one of the better shows on the circuit, not as big and crazy as Washington but still plenty big enough to boast a great list of excellent dealers. Visit the show's site now to learn more and to start your planning: http://www.philadelphiapenshow.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** A Change in What We Will Bring to Future Shows *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beginning with the Philadelphia show net month, we will not be bringing accessories to shows; we'll stick to what we do best, which is fountain pens, and leave accessory sales to other dealers, who have broader accessory selections than we can muster. If you're going to be at a show and would like us to bring some specific accessories for you, please let us know by email a week or so before the show, and we'll pack your selections especially for you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** The Monthly "Pen Show Tray" *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As always, our "Pen Show Tray" features a brand-new selection of 20 excellent vintage writing instruments. They're all fountain pens this month, and the tray is up and available as you read this newsletter. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=tray ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Broad Strokes *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Digging through a box of junker pens or parts is sort of like making an archaeological dig: sometimes you discover some interesting, if not necessarily showroom ready, artifacts. Some of these artifacts deserve more than a quick look and a flip into the trash. Read about how one such ugly duckling got a new lease on life: http://www.richardspens.com/?misc=lc_bf ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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 Bexley, Edison, Gate City Pen, Namiki and Pilot, Onoto, 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! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Follow Us on the Internet with RSS, Facebook, and Twitter *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Follow us on the Internet by subscribing to our RSS feed. Click the orange RSS button at the top of our site -- or plug the following URI into your browser or RSS reader: http://www.richardspens.com/richardspens.rss We'd like to be liked on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NashuaPenSpa And you're invited to follow us on Twitter: @RichardsPens ======================================================================== 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 our 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.