Ohio Pen Show Report

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2014 Ohio Pen Show Report

Full Show gallery here:
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I was not planning on attending this pen show. I had already gone to the Chicago and Michigan shows and this one wasn't even on my radar. HOWEVER, I am very enthusiastic about calligraphy. Both the Chicago and Michigan shows lacked any calligraphy classes, the Ohio show had not one, but two classes by the very talented Deborah Basel. As an added bonus Michael Sull was going to be there. Since it was relatively close I decided to go for the classes and to meet Michael Sull. Not to buy pens. Just to have fun with calligraphy. I took Friday off from work and got the family up at 0300 (they were so happy!) :P. We packed all 20,000 pounds of my camera gear and sweater vests into the car and left by 0400. It was so fun I am considering getting up at 0300 every morning.

We got to the show between 0900 and 1000. I'm not sure exactly when as I was sleeping. Thank goodness for self driving cars. The show was pretty easy to find thanks to the huge banner!

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Since check in for the hotel wasn't until the afternoon we immediately dove into the pen show. To just look. At this point I'm not planning on buying a pen. I am a listener to the Anderson Pens podcasts so I knew there would be two rooms of vendors but what I wasn't expecting were all the vendors in the hallways between the two rooms! There were literally pen people EVERYWHERE! In the rooms, in the hallways, every where you looked! It was a sight to behold. The first thing we encountered were the super friendly check in staff who turned out to be the organizer as well, Terry Mawhorter!

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At the Michign Pen Show I made up a family contest. See who can find the coolest pen for $20 or less. This way we can get a pen "for the challenge" and I can still claim I didn't buy a pen HAHAHA.

We got our super official badges and started to oogle. Day one, room one, vendor one: Anderson Pens. Of course!

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True to my word we chatted with the Anderson's and even after being tempted with a Noodler's Neponset, we left their table penless. As we made our way around vendor after vendor I realize I have made a serious tactical error. Most of the pens at this show are priced to sell. I am seeing awesome deals everywhere! I remind myself I am saving up for a blue Visconti Divina Elegance and force myself to keep moving. If the show had contest for sexiest shirts the next guy would have won hands down. Ryan Krusac always looks like he is modeling for a harlequin romance novel cover. His pens are just as sexy. I really like the scrimshaw ones.

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Gerry Berg and his wife were awesome and Gerry had some SPECTACULAR examples of Sheaffer's with awesome Minuskin stub nibs at what I thought were great prices. At this time the camera was still packed in the car. I must not have been the only one impressed because by the time I got the camera out the next day, THEY WERE ALL GONE. If you look at this photo the back row, third tray over was full of beautiful and wonderous pens on Friday. In this photo that tray is empty save for one lone barrel. They were amazing and now you can only see the empty tray LOL.

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Michael Sull was also in the first room! He arrived late and we were literally the first ones at his table. He is a super nice and wrote our names for us. I walked away with several items that should be fun to work on this winter.

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There were soooooo many awesome people and pens there is was mind boggling. I can't possibly highlight everyone but I definately wish I could. There were soo many great stories, great pens, and fun had that day. A couple of the highlights for me were:

Roger Cromwell's table. The last time I saw Roger he sold be a custom Taccia with a dip pen nib. I wrote him a thank you letter (I try to write everyone thank you letters). He tells us about some cool projects he's working on, and oh yea, check this pen out. He hands us a Waterman 13 Stanhope Viewer! Now, if you don't know what that is, it is a Waterman 13, a plain-ish looking eyedropper with a couple holes in the cap. If you look thru the hole you can see the Waterman's Pen Corner in downtown New York City. Legend has it the pens were never sold, but given as gifts by Mr. Waterman. These pens are rarer than Unicorn tears and looking at one was exceptionally cool to me.

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Jim Rouse and Franklin Christoph. I bought a Sheaffer Legacy Fantasy in Orange. It is epic. I love that pen.
http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/6685-Sheaffer-Legacy-Fantasy-It-s-Epic
I did some research and it turns out the man responsible for that pen is Jim Rouse. I got to meet Jim and shake his hand and tell him how much I love that pen. He then lets me know that he's been working on a little something something in his spare time and at some point he is hoping to make another awesome pen! While we were there he let me play with his personal pen with the Christoph music nib. Ok, that nib is awesome. I might have to buy one. But not today because I'm not buying any pens this weekend. Jim is a cool guy and his love of pens really shows.

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John Corwin from http://flexinibpens.com . John is an evil genius. If you are a flex nib junky and you are in a room FULL of pens, how on earth could you possible find some flex nib pens? How about a giant ballon?

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John had a plethora of flexy nibbed pens. John had a giant Rhodia dot pad. John had ink. John is an evil genius. In addition to flex nibs, I like big pens because I find them more comfortable. So finding a large, flexy nibbed pen would be an ideal situation. John had a boatload of them. One of them caught my eye so I sat down, dipped the nib and scribbled away. Immediately my eyes glazed over and I got that look on my face like I'm in the movie Scanners and i'm trying to make someone's mind explode. I hear a voice from behind me.
"Just buy it." It's my wife. She knows that look. "You know you're going to buy it."
"Oh, I don't know, I just came to look this weekend, you know I'm saving for that Visconti." I reply.
I thanked John for his time and my wife says "We'll be back, he's going to buy that pen tomorrow."

Fat chance. I've got awesome willpower.

I bought that pen the next morning right after breakfast.

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We also found our Challenge pens on Friday. I got a black Esterbrook LJ with Bell System Property stamped on it, My daughter got a Aurora Auretta, and my wife got a Sheaffer Junior in a stunning celluloid. After some deliberation we Declared my wife the winner. It's a cool pen. If you're keeping score I have lost twice now. Doh!

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That weekend there was a pizza party:
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A Dessert Party:
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An Auction:
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This guy:
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Indian Jones:
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Richard Binder spreading some knowledge:
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On both Saturday and Sunday we took Deborah Basel's classes on Italic and Cursive calligraphy
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I got to use a Montblanc italic calligraphy cardboard stick. It was made from precious cardboard.
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On Saturday, just before we were going to leave to go to dinner, we stopped by Bertram's inkwell because something caught my eye. Could it be? A blue Visconti Divina Elegance? I picked it up and started examining it. My precious. I asked Bert what his price was. It was lower than retail. By a lot. I'm not sure...... maybe if I eat ramen the rest of the month...... Bert senses my hesitation and quotes an even lower price. My eyes glazed over and I got that look on my face like I'm in the movie Scanners and i'm trying to make someone's mind explode......... My wife reaches for the credit card LOL. SOLD! My grail pen I was going to buy next year for my birthday is now mine!

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Here is the family's weekend haul:
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I know it seems inconcieveable, but I am missing about 90% of the action in this report. Brian and Andrea from Edison pens are super nice and will chat about anything, not just pens, Sam from Pendemonium, Susan Wirth, Joel Hamilton, the list goes on and on and on. There was shenanigans in the bar. There was shenanigans outside. If you have never been to pen show you are missing out on a serious resource. The people that attend are the nicest, most knowledgable, and fun group you could ever hope to meet.

This report is dedicated to our family member Topper, who was 28 and lost his battle with various medical issues the day after the show.
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[Jon Szanto]

Aw, Hector, you do the *best* show reports! "Precious cardboard"! Thank you so much for bringing the show to life from afar.

And condolences on Topper - losing these members of our family is always difficult.

[caribbean_skye]

Uhm wow, I have been wanting to go to the Ohio show now I will just have to bump it up on the list. Great report! Your wife knows you REALLY well, lol. Kudos on some wonderful pens.

Condolences on Topper.

[david i]

Hey, Dan put a front page article here at FPgeeks about the show thanks to Tim Hofman's nice review.

http://fpgeeks.com/2014/11/ohio-pen-show-2014-heres-what-happened/

On the shameless-shill front, thanks Tim for citing Erano's new pen mag Fountain Pen Journal. Pushing 600 subscriptions (Pennant territory-- a 20 year mag) in just two months of existence


Things calmed down a bit for Sunday. There were fewer attendees and some of the vendors were packing up and heading home. I got to the show early, by myself! I wandered the tables and took very few photos. I had a nice chat with Paul Erano about his new and awesome magazine, and then David Isaacson popped over with his recently-acquired booty (some rare Sheaffer’s Snorkels and such.)

Tim's shot of Paul with The Magazine

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And Tim with your's truly

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Those of you who have not gone to a pen show really should try it sometime. When I'm home next week I'll offer some shots of remarkable pen show booty.

regards

d

[tandaina]

Wonderful pen show report. So sorry about Topper, I too have a grey pony and they are the best, hand down.

[dannzeman]

I knew I should have gone to that show! Really sorry I missed it now.

Great report as always, Hector. Thank you!

[ypsilanti]

Thanks, Hector! You rock. Your report just facilitated the funnest coffee break I've had in quite some time.

[david i]

It really was a fun show and likely the most solid on the circuit for finding old pens.

I often feel a bit sad for serious pen collectors who can't get out there, but I also can't sponsor the trip for others ;)

Next week, I should be able to offer some killer booty shots from the show. I found some nice stuff.

-d

[Sammyo]

Hector strikes again. Another excellent report, another fun read and more beautiful pictures. Thank you again.

SamO