======================================================================== Nib Noise * Volume 12 Number 11 * February 2014 ======================================================================== 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 Schedule for February *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We will be out of the shop -- but still open for business -- from Friday, February 7 through the weekend. We'll be back and open as usual on Monday, February 10. Here are the days on which we'll be shipping during February: Wednesday, February 5 Wednesday, February 12 Saturday, February 15 Wednesday, February 19 Saturday, February 22 Wednesday, February 26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Edelstein Display Cabinets Are Being Discontinued *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When you went into a stationer's shop 70 or 80 years ago to buy a pen, you made your choice from ranks of pens in luxurious dark hardwood countertop display cabinets. If you can find vintage cabinets like those today, they're either prohibitively expensive or reduced to a near shambles by age and wear. Edelstein cabinets have been the answer to the "Where can I find one?" question, but unfortunately these fine U.S.A.-made solid hardwood cabinets are going out of production. Once remaining stock is sold, there will be no more. Get yours now, or you'll wish you had. http://www.richardspens.com/?acc=edelstein ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** No Shows for Us This Month, But There Will Be TWO in March! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This year, the Baltimore Pen Show will be in a NEW LOCATION, the BWI Marriott Hotel. It'll be just a two-day show this year, on Saturday, March 1, and Sunday, March 2. We will be there both days, enjoying the crowd and the hospitality of the hotel and nearby restaurants. There are plenty of restaurants close to the hotel, and even more in Baltimore itself, offering everything from barbecue to seafood, and everything in betweent. Two weeks later, we'll be at the Long Island Show. Not too big, not too small, it draws a good crowd of dealers and attendees. Mark your calendar for Saturday and Sunday, March 15 and 16, on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island. The show is in the student center. I'll be working on nibs both weekends as I do at every show we attend, and Barbara will manage the table, handling sales and making sure I keep my nose to the grindstone. PLEASE READ OUR "TABLE TALK" FAQ TO LEARN HOW WE OPERATE AT A SHOW: http://www.richardspens.com/?info=shows 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 shows' Web sites: http://www.baltimorepenshow.com/ http://www.lipenshow.com/ We'll have a selection of new pens from Bexley, Edison, Gate City, Pilot/Namiki, Onoto, and Pelikan. THESE CAN HAVE THEIR NIBS CUSTOMIZED WHILE YOU WAIT. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Five Things: The Old and the New from Bexley *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ First: We really like Bexley Admirals (especially Black and Cow Hide ones). We’ve made a special quantity buy from Bexley so that we can offer you a super bargain. With prices this low, you really can’t afford not to buy two or three! Second: The Corona is being discontinued. When present stock is gone, there will be no more. Bexley says that Summer Storm is already entirely sold out, but there are still small supplies of the other three colors. If you haven't added this historic piston filler to your collection, now is definitely the time. Third: Ditto on the Jitterbug! Savoy Swing Purple is sold out -- but we still have three pens in this color -- and stocks are very low on all the other colors. Get your '40s on while you still can. Fourth: With the Corona going away, there's a hole in Bexley's piston- filler lineup. But not for long! There's an exciting new piston filler brewing on Bexley's workbench, and it will be showing up on our site as soon as the elves in Ohio can get it to us. Fifth: Just in case you're not aware of this, the 2014 Owner's Club pen is now available to everybody, not just people who have already bought and registered Bexley pens. This new pen is really special; it's the premiere offering in a new U.S.-made material called Flexigran that's so tough you can bounce it off a concrete wall without breaking it. (We don't recommend trying it, though, because the converter inside the pen might break!) Keep your eye on our Bexley page! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=bex ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pens Without Nibs? Yes, and Here's Why! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since I began making flexible nibs using 14K No. 6 nibs from JoWo and fitting them to Bexley, Edison, and Gate City pens, more and more people have been asking how they can buy one of these pens without its standard nib so they can add a flexie. Ask, and we'll answer. As of this week, all Bexley, Edison, and Gage City pens that use No. 6 nibs (as of this writing, that's everything except the Edison Pearlette) are available nibless. Choose your body, choose your flexie from the NIBARAMA page, and have yourself one heckofa pen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan Getting Less Oblique *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pelikan has discontinued making oblique nibs. Stocks are gone for some models, but we still have a fairly broad selection, especially for the M1000. Check 'em out, and don't be left in the lurch. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel+nibs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Pelikan M200 Clear Demonstrator *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you've been waiting to get your M200 Clear Demonstrator, you'd really better not sit on your backside any longer. The Clear Demonstrator has been discontinued, and Chartpak has no more. We still have four of them. If somebody beats you to one of them, you'll have only yourself to blame. http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=pel+m200 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** A Change in What We Will Be Bringing to Shows *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beginning with the Philadelphia show last 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 have room for in our small car. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** New Month, New Tray! *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As always, there's great stuff on the RichardsPens "Pen Show" Tray. We've got some seriously exciting pens this month! http://www.richardspens.com/?pens=tray ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Broad Strokes *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From George Rimakis and Daniel Kirchheimer: In the latter part of the 19th century, a working man grew frustrated by the skipping and blotting of the early stylographic and fountain pens he tried. He declared that a fortune awaited the person who could develop a practical fountain pen... There is, however, one detail of this true story that may come as a surprise. That man was not Lewis Edson Waterman. http://www.richardspens.com/?history=blotting ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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. 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