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christof
August 29th, 2016, 01:11 PM
Although I am member of FPG since 2010, I would like to introduce myself in a couple of words now, because I have not much contributed here until today:

I am a long time member of fountain pen network (since 2008) and shared there my knowledge and pictures for quite some years (over 1850 posts of which at least the half had substantial pen content and pictures). It is my understanding that the base of every pen board/community is a giving and taking of members and board. For example: I did share my knowledge about vintage German pens, pen restoration and pen photograpy. On the other hand, I did sell a couple of pens from time to time (I have a flawless 100% positive feedback with 28 single feedbacks.)
Now, since classifieds on FPN are ruined, I feel that this giving and taking got out of balance and I am looking for a better place to buy and sell pens and share my knowledge. So, here I am.
My main interests are:

1. Collecting of vintage pens
2. Repair and restoring vintage pens
3. Pen photograpy
4. Fountain pen sketching

1.Collecting of vintage pens.
I mainly collect two brands: Pelikan and Parker. I find Pelikan 100* and 400 the most interesting models, while Parker Duofolds and „51“ are also of great interest for me. Of course there are lots of other models in my collection, but these build the core.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5452/17788534196_c50e3c3358_o.jpg
*(Maybe you know the site pelikan-collectibles (https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Historic-Pens/100/index.html ) by Dominic Rothemel? His Evolution of Pelikan 100 is based on an article I wrote for FPN and FPBoard and most of the pictures shown there are done by me and shows my pens.)
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7128/6874471920_f4648f87ea_o.jpg
Now, this is my private collection only. And there is a second one on which I am working currently – the fountain pen collection oft he Museum of Design Zurich (Museum für Gestaltung Zürich). The collection oft the Museum is completely different than my own. Our goal ist o show selections of matching and design relevant pens. For example the complete evolution of Pelikan Piston fillers, or more specific: the complete evolution of Parker „51“from the first until the last model. Also quite interesting: a selection of Parker „51“ influenced fountain pens. The work with the museum peoples is very interesting for me and I can learn a lot about scientific collecting and history of design. See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30169694@N08/albums/72157658070616546

2.Repair and restoring of vintage pens
I do repair and restore all my fountain pens by myself. I let only a very few very delicate or complicate works do by professionals, Francis Goossens and Tom Westerich to be precise. The only two pen professionals I really trust.
Sometimes, I photograph interesting restoration jobs or function drawings of pens and share them with other pen enthusiasts here and there (hopefully here from now on).
https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8678/16516644059_42a9bd3b0f_o.jpg

3.Pen photography
As said, I love to photograph and catalog my collection and share them with you. (You can’t talk about the beauty of a pen on a pen board without showing a picture of it. Also, I have a flickr account with my complete collection there – all my pictures and albums are public for every one. See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30169694@N08/albums

4.Sketching with pens
I love sketches and sketching in general but specially with fountain pens. Sometimes a sketch says more than words (or is funnier at least…)
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7645/16324072643_5661bdc5f9_o.jpg

I hope to contribute a serious input here in future and to offer a nice pen from time to time. Thank you.

Christof

titrisol
August 29th, 2016, 01:21 PM
Welcome!!
THat is a impressive Pelikan collection!

jar
August 29th, 2016, 01:27 PM
Welcome again. Did you remember to bring your stump?

Wahl
August 29th, 2016, 01:46 PM
:welcome:

Anne
August 29th, 2016, 02:04 PM
An official and belated Welcome to you, Christof! I will echo everyone else's admiration of your beautiful pens as well:D
I can also vouch for the precision restoration work of Mr. Goossens.

Hawk
August 29th, 2016, 08:43 PM
Welcome.
I'm happy you came out of hiding; enjoyable post.

VertOlive
August 29th, 2016, 09:20 PM
Welcome. What exactly changed with FPN's classifieds? I sense a difference but am too much of an outsider to put my finger on it.

Lady Onogaro
August 29th, 2016, 10:33 PM
I think they are referring to the way that one seller, Claudio, basically hijacked the Classified ads. He wants to sell his huge lot of pens in a lot for a gazillion dollars, or something, but rather than creating one ad with a link to a site like Flickr or Imgur, he insists on showing each pen in the collection. And then he pushes them once a week, like 50 at a time. This means its all Claudio, all the time on the Classifieds. Everyone else's pen ads get pushed to the back of his 50 pen push.

christof
August 29th, 2016, 10:49 PM
Welcome. What exactly changed with FPN's classifieds? I sense a difference but am too much of an outsider to put my finger on it.

I will try to answer your question as correct and as fair as possible. Maybe I should be mor precise and saying that Classifieds on FPN doesn't work any longer for me. Since at least two semi professional members are flooding classifieds with mass offers which were bumped periodically, single offers were pushed to the rear pages nearly immediately.
But the main problem is that lots of private sellers stopped posting there and possible buyers stopped visiting classifieds. For me it has become nearly impossible to sell pens there.
C.

jar
August 30th, 2016, 06:39 AM
Welcome. What exactly changed with FPN's classifieds? I sense a difference but am too much of an outsider to put my finger on it.

I will try to answer your question as correct and as fair as possible. Maybe I should be mor precise and saying that Classifieds on FPN doesn't work any longer for me. Since at least two semi professional members are flooding classifieds with mass offers which were bumped periodically, single offers were pushed to the rear pages nearly immediately.
But the main problem is that lots of private sellers stopped posting there and possible buyers stopped visiting classifieds. For me it has become nearly impossible to sell pens there.
C.
As a buyer and not a seller I gave up on FPN's classified myself and only occasionally I will do an advanced search for some specific item I might want. Of course that means I only see those items that meet my search criteria and may miss just what I want but is listed slightly differently. Getting past folk asking truly stupid prices for run of the mill items made the tradeoff worthwhile.

Pelikan-Vera
August 30th, 2016, 01:54 PM
Wellcome here Christof. I will be enjoying your posts here, as they are always very enjoyable. Vera

VertOlive
August 31st, 2016, 08:02 PM
Ok, thanks for the answers and apologies for the hijack.

Frank
September 3rd, 2016, 08:22 PM
:welcome:

Beautiful Collection!!

Frank

Marsilius
September 3rd, 2016, 11:47 PM
Welcome again. I dig the creepy giant pen wooden case!

caribbean_skye
September 7th, 2016, 05:43 AM
welcome welcome. love the sketch, do you primarily sketch using black ink? Off to look at your photos now


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

southpaw52
September 7th, 2016, 09:24 AM
Welcome, thank you for a great post enjoyed it.

inklord
September 7th, 2016, 10:11 AM
Gruezi! Nice Pelis!!!

christof
September 7th, 2016, 11:42 AM
welcome welcome. love the sketch, do you primarily sketch using black ink? Off to look at your photos now


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes, mostly black parker quink...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/16372851760_54efdd1770_o.jpg

but sometimes some vintage blue inks too:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/15780683818_7665905e4d_h.jpg

and I absolutely love my pentel brush pen!

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8311/8028882494_35a700d8db_z.jpg

c.

FredRydr
September 19th, 2016, 02:12 AM
Hello Christof! :clap2:

Fred

christof
September 19th, 2016, 08:20 AM
Hi Fred.
A postcard is on its way to you.
C.

WmEdwards
September 19th, 2016, 10:36 AM
Welcome! Very nice collection of Pelikans!