Köln Pen Show 21 March

[dneal]

Anyone going?

http://www.collectiblestars.de/treffen_mein2015.html

[Jeph]

It is tempting but the timing pretty much sucks for me. It is only a 4 hour drive (without warp drive) but it is still a stretch with work and other things going on at home. Of course I want to go, and every year I forget about it until after it is over and I swear to myself that I will go the next year. But I do not think it will ahppen this year either. But thank you for the reminder.

[dneal]

...I want to go, and every year I forget about it until after it is over...

I missed the last two for this exact reason...

I'm in Wiesbaden. Get here and I'll drive you the rest of the way...

[Jeph]

That's no fair, you can just hop on A3 and be there in 90 minutes easy. Less if there are any significant unrestricted zones. More with traffic and construction. Still it is an easy day trip of less than 2 hours each way.

Do they still have that interchange torn apart in Wiesbaden? I saw that on the news and I am still not sure what happened. Other than a massive Stau.

[dneal]

90 minutes is just theoretical. Once you hit the outskirts and the 100km zones, Koln sucks... The drive from Wurzburg to Frankfurt is much easier

RE: Wiesbaden - They found a WWII bomb in the river while they were digging pilings for the new A643 bridge. While messing around with that, they noticed bits of the old bridge were broken and had fallen into the river and on the banks. It's been closed for weeks, and apparently everybody lives on the wrong side of the river. Mainzer folk need to get to Wiesbaden and vice versa...

[dneal]

Jeph - Well, you didn't miss too much and I think the Nürnberg show will be better for you. I did get to see Maxpens' "new" green striated 146 in person, Fountainbel's various bulk fillers (lord that Giraffe is big), and put some faces to names I've done internet business with (Rolf Thiel and Tom Westerich, for example).

Surprisingly, I didn't really bring anything home. I made a small profit off a Nakaya I sold, and ended up buying a Dolcevita mid from Fontoplumo (where I also got a few bottles of the 150th Diamine inks); and that's about it. Oh, I did grab this early 50's 100N. 150 euros? no brainer...

[Jon Szanto]

Nice pen.

[da vinci]

Jeph - Well, you didn't miss too much and I think the Nürnberg show will be better for you. I did get to see Maxpens' "new" green striated 146 in person, Fountainbel's various bulk fillers (lord that Giraffe is big), and put some faces to names I've done internet business with (Rolf Thiel and Tom Westerich, for example).

Surprisingly, I didn't really bring anything home. I made a small profit off a Nakaya I sold, and ended up buying a Dolcevita mid from Fontoplumo (where I also got a few bottles of the 150th Diamine inks); and that's about it. Oh, I did grab this early 50's 100N. 150 euros? no brainer...

Thanks for the report.

Is this show fairly small then, maybe 10 vendors (all of very high quality from the names mentioned!)?

[dneal]

Yeah, it was pretty small. I wasn't counting, but I'd say 20-25 vendors or so...

The well known folks were there, but quite a few "mom and pop" (or "oma und opa") operations. There was one table with stacks of trays of off-name vintage pens. 30 euro each or 10 for 250 euros.