00Photo
May 5th, 2014, 11:11 PM
2014 Chicago Pen Show Report
This was my second pen show and my second time at the Chicago Pen Show. I had a great time and met quite the cast of characters. It always amazes me just how nice pen people are. With all the differing opinions on collecting and distinct personalities, you would have at least SOME drama of some sort, but everyone was pleasant and always ready with a story and a smile. Last year I went with a laser beam like focus of obtaining a wide variety of vintage flex pens so that I could try an assortment and see which I preferred. Thanks to last years show I know now that I have a fondness for Waterman's and Mabie Todd Swan's.
The Gatekeepers (they'll let anyone in)
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/13924246688_f1f5d5022a_b.jpg
This year I attended with the mindset that I wasn't really looking for ANYTHING, rather, I wanted to just examine and play with EVERYTHING. I wanted to listen to stories, learn some history, and just absorb the wealth of knowledge that is available at the show. Thanks to all the FPgeeks podcasts and interviews it felt like I already knew most of the people there. Sarj the one man pen show , Susan Wirth, Brian Gray, Ryan Krusac, the list went on and on. I chatted with just about every pen guy there and had a blast. Last year my wife and I were in and out in no time, and visited downtown Chicago's Montblanc boutique, Gino's Pizza, the Omega boutique and generally just frolicked like ballers on a budget. This year we arrived as everyone was setting up in the morning and only found ourselves halfway through the room by late afternoon! We stopped for a coffee and a snack and rested our feet for a bit at that point. I had really wanted to visit the Montblanc boutique again this year but we found there just wasn't enough time to make it downtown. Instead we just lingered a bit at Bertram's Inkwell, he probably had more Montlbanc's than the boutique anyway :D.
Bert from Bertram's Inkwell!
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/13924226040_8012109cc1_b.jpg
My plan was working wonderfully. I was pen free and absorbing knowledge by the second. I know I like the way a Pelikan M1000 fits my hand and dazzles my eyes with it's nibbage. I know the Waterman 20 is just too darn big for me (I didn't think too big existed, it does). I know what a Screaming Souls in Purgatory pen looks like (creepy).
Screaming Souls in Purgatory:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/14107742842_b514a73630_b.jpg
Happily I skipped around here and there looking at whatever caught my eye, content with the fact that I wasn't getting a pen today. Then I happened upon Roger Cromwell hiding out in the corner.
Roger Cromwell. He's using his Jedi mind tricks here:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5239/14087726086_e810540308_b.jpg
Like a predator peeking out of the tall grass, or one of those spiders that hides in a hole, and jumps out at unsuspecting prey that wanders by, he was tucked into the back corner. We started a short and pleasant conversation about pens and that's when he used his jedi mind tricks on me. We weren't having a conversation at all. He was interrogating me, analyzing my weaknesses so that he could bludgeon me with the pen of my dreams and leave me powerless to resist buying something. He had me try a few flex pens and then made a bold claim. If I stayed right where I was and watched his booth for a minute he would return with something magical and awesome. I agreed and scrawled some random doodles with some of the flexy desk pens he left out and made sure no one walked off with his $250,000 jade 9 dragons baseball bat that was supposedly a pen. A minute later he returned with a dip pen and proceeded to magic together the dip pen nib into what I found out later was a hand made Taccia Savanna pen made from bison horn. All the time regaling me with stories of how this is the same kind of pen that John Sable, VP of Disney had hoodwinked him into making by sandbagging about his calligraphy skills, and later used at a dinner party to customize journals for guests (it clicked and I remembered that story from an issue of Pen World, the same story is available on Roger's website here http://penopolypens.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-post.html ) . It had a peculiar curve that fits the hand perfectly. The material was perfectly polished and very comfortable to hold. He had me ink it up and try it. It was indeed awesome. As a flex junky I was in heaven. He let me write a bit and then adjusted the pen to my writing style until it was truly epic. Well that did it. The hairlines were whisper thin, the swells were wide and juicy. I HAD to have this pen. It was organic looking and had vintage flex goodness shooting out of the end, like a sparkler on a dark night. I asked the price and it didn't have any commas in it. SOLD. I had my wife pay the man (I am not allowed to hold money at a pen show :D) I left bewildered and confused as to how my carefully laid plan to not buy any pens was so quickly smashed by one man, but I left with a big grin and one hell of a pen.
Awesome Taccia Savanna with a dip pen nib:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2914/14115644781_6e1ac5174d_b.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5596/14118936325_fb1754c1d2_b.jpg
Now that my plan was ruined I bought several bottles of Montblanc ink from Bertram's Inkwell, Pilot Parallels and Clairefontaine paper from the Anderson's, and some Diamine ink from Indy Pen Dance.
LOOT!
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2914/14095768296_5a64c80248_b.jpg
There were several other stand out pens that tempted me greatly but at that point I was flat broke. The standouts to me were, in no particular order: A gorgeous Visconti Millennium Arc, with the box, the eyedropper, and the traveling inkwell, for $250 (by the time I came back with my camera it was gone), Awesome Parker Vacumatics with brass fillers from Jack Lynch, Susan Wirth also had a Parker with a super flex wet noodle firehose of inky destruction, Bert had a Omas Arco in that crazy sexy celluloid, And someone (I don't recall :( ) had a vintage 14C flex nib Celluloid Montblanc 149 I wanted SO BAD, but I didn't have $2,300, and a full, brand new in box (it was a tin actually) Sheaffer Targa calligraphy SET, complete with dried up cartridges in all colors and 3 italic nib sections, for $85. GAHHHHH I am still kicking myself for not picking that up.
My wife and I had an awesome time and are looking forward to next year!
This was my second pen show and my second time at the Chicago Pen Show. I had a great time and met quite the cast of characters. It always amazes me just how nice pen people are. With all the differing opinions on collecting and distinct personalities, you would have at least SOME drama of some sort, but everyone was pleasant and always ready with a story and a smile. Last year I went with a laser beam like focus of obtaining a wide variety of vintage flex pens so that I could try an assortment and see which I preferred. Thanks to last years show I know now that I have a fondness for Waterman's and Mabie Todd Swan's.
The Gatekeepers (they'll let anyone in)
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/13924246688_f1f5d5022a_b.jpg
This year I attended with the mindset that I wasn't really looking for ANYTHING, rather, I wanted to just examine and play with EVERYTHING. I wanted to listen to stories, learn some history, and just absorb the wealth of knowledge that is available at the show. Thanks to all the FPgeeks podcasts and interviews it felt like I already knew most of the people there. Sarj the one man pen show , Susan Wirth, Brian Gray, Ryan Krusac, the list went on and on. I chatted with just about every pen guy there and had a blast. Last year my wife and I were in and out in no time, and visited downtown Chicago's Montblanc boutique, Gino's Pizza, the Omega boutique and generally just frolicked like ballers on a budget. This year we arrived as everyone was setting up in the morning and only found ourselves halfway through the room by late afternoon! We stopped for a coffee and a snack and rested our feet for a bit at that point. I had really wanted to visit the Montblanc boutique again this year but we found there just wasn't enough time to make it downtown. Instead we just lingered a bit at Bertram's Inkwell, he probably had more Montlbanc's than the boutique anyway :D.
Bert from Bertram's Inkwell!
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/13924226040_8012109cc1_b.jpg
My plan was working wonderfully. I was pen free and absorbing knowledge by the second. I know I like the way a Pelikan M1000 fits my hand and dazzles my eyes with it's nibbage. I know the Waterman 20 is just too darn big for me (I didn't think too big existed, it does). I know what a Screaming Souls in Purgatory pen looks like (creepy).
Screaming Souls in Purgatory:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/14107742842_b514a73630_b.jpg
Happily I skipped around here and there looking at whatever caught my eye, content with the fact that I wasn't getting a pen today. Then I happened upon Roger Cromwell hiding out in the corner.
Roger Cromwell. He's using his Jedi mind tricks here:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5239/14087726086_e810540308_b.jpg
Like a predator peeking out of the tall grass, or one of those spiders that hides in a hole, and jumps out at unsuspecting prey that wanders by, he was tucked into the back corner. We started a short and pleasant conversation about pens and that's when he used his jedi mind tricks on me. We weren't having a conversation at all. He was interrogating me, analyzing my weaknesses so that he could bludgeon me with the pen of my dreams and leave me powerless to resist buying something. He had me try a few flex pens and then made a bold claim. If I stayed right where I was and watched his booth for a minute he would return with something magical and awesome. I agreed and scrawled some random doodles with some of the flexy desk pens he left out and made sure no one walked off with his $250,000 jade 9 dragons baseball bat that was supposedly a pen. A minute later he returned with a dip pen and proceeded to magic together the dip pen nib into what I found out later was a hand made Taccia Savanna pen made from bison horn. All the time regaling me with stories of how this is the same kind of pen that John Sable, VP of Disney had hoodwinked him into making by sandbagging about his calligraphy skills, and later used at a dinner party to customize journals for guests (it clicked and I remembered that story from an issue of Pen World, the same story is available on Roger's website here http://penopolypens.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-post.html ) . It had a peculiar curve that fits the hand perfectly. The material was perfectly polished and very comfortable to hold. He had me ink it up and try it. It was indeed awesome. As a flex junky I was in heaven. He let me write a bit and then adjusted the pen to my writing style until it was truly epic. Well that did it. The hairlines were whisper thin, the swells were wide and juicy. I HAD to have this pen. It was organic looking and had vintage flex goodness shooting out of the end, like a sparkler on a dark night. I asked the price and it didn't have any commas in it. SOLD. I had my wife pay the man (I am not allowed to hold money at a pen show :D) I left bewildered and confused as to how my carefully laid plan to not buy any pens was so quickly smashed by one man, but I left with a big grin and one hell of a pen.
Awesome Taccia Savanna with a dip pen nib:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2914/14115644781_6e1ac5174d_b.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5596/14118936325_fb1754c1d2_b.jpg
Now that my plan was ruined I bought several bottles of Montblanc ink from Bertram's Inkwell, Pilot Parallels and Clairefontaine paper from the Anderson's, and some Diamine ink from Indy Pen Dance.
LOOT!
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2914/14095768296_5a64c80248_b.jpg
There were several other stand out pens that tempted me greatly but at that point I was flat broke. The standouts to me were, in no particular order: A gorgeous Visconti Millennium Arc, with the box, the eyedropper, and the traveling inkwell, for $250 (by the time I came back with my camera it was gone), Awesome Parker Vacumatics with brass fillers from Jack Lynch, Susan Wirth also had a Parker with a super flex wet noodle firehose of inky destruction, Bert had a Omas Arco in that crazy sexy celluloid, And someone (I don't recall :( ) had a vintage 14C flex nib Celluloid Montblanc 149 I wanted SO BAD, but I didn't have $2,300, and a full, brand new in box (it was a tin actually) Sheaffer Targa calligraphy SET, complete with dried up cartridges in all colors and 3 italic nib sections, for $85. GAHHHHH I am still kicking myself for not picking that up.
My wife and I had an awesome time and are looking forward to next year!