Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.
I would get so tired of having arguments with people who know more about a subject than I do, it would wear me down. What is the point?
Sympathies to Sarj. a good man who puts on a good display, he helps make a good pen show, he must be feeling really let down at the moment.
I do not want to think that another vendor could have stolen his stock, I would hope that it is just an opportunist sneak thief who thought he could make some easy money, such thefts are going to be very difficult to prevent in the future whilst allowing easy access to the pens for prospective buyers.
More heat than light and statements taken out of context. I certainly didn’t discount everything SG was suggesting, and in fact did not see one of the later responses. As I’ve been bopping between work locations, this has been a bit scattered. If nothing else, I would hope that the information that a friend suffered the loss makes me to be more intent on solutions than not. I’ll look these thoughts over again as dispassionately as I can. It would be wonderful to work towards a solution.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
And now, home after work, it really becomes clear that this was not a thread for me to be involved with, and I've done a poor job of it. Maybe the rest of you can figure it out.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
My second thought would have been 'hotel employee.'
Weren't there some valuable pens stolen from a show a few years back? Would there be a way to find commonalities between the thefts?
Someone would have to keep an eye on sales, but those stolen pens could also have been sold privately...we were assuming instead that they'd show up on fleabay.
My other pen is a Montblanc.
And my other blog is a tumblr!
And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD
sgphoto (February 22nd, 2020)
When it is mentioned that it could be an inside job hence higher end pens where targeted please remember in this day and age it is very easy to get up to speed on what is valuable and not valuable
As mentioned my Expierence is working the very largest custom knife shows where a single knife just like a pen can be thousands of dollars
Regretfully we have had to resort to glass cases and handing items to people that want to see them and if we are going to display high end items on top of the case it is kept to a few examples and than the table/case watcher is on high alert .....plus if we catch you stealing we cut your finger off
I went to my first pen show this year and really enjoyed it
It was very much like the smaller custom knife shows and it’s a wonderful community
If openly displaying in these small shows you need someone to sit your table even when you take a bathroom break
Pens knives it’s all the same
Small high end items and a wonderful community that can be preyed on by scum because of the openness and trust in the community ....very sad
Jon Szanto (February 24th, 2020), Sailor Kenshin (February 22nd, 2020), sgphoto (February 22nd, 2020)
I think there should be more cameras. The locked cases is a good idea also. I have been to shows where people just nudge other people to get a look at pens on a table. Too many people at one time is uncontrollable if the pens are just laid out in the open. My condolence to Sarj. I hope they catch the theif!
My other pen is a Montblanc.
And my other blog is a tumblr!
And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD
I’m sure there are certain people that target trade shows etc but in reality as any show platform grows it draws more people and regretfully as the numbers rise the number of unethical people in the room rises
A show like Blade when they open the front door gets thousands of people moving throughout the room
Setup Blade show Atlanta
This is half the room
This is the line forming to get in on opening day
This is what we have resorted to for booths
a controlled cube with glass for high end items
This is set up
Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of open tables but they are where the theft happens
Bottom line is as your shows grow and hopefully they will the odds of thieves just grows with it
There are a few large knife shows around the country similar to pen shows just much larger and many many more items that are a lot more expensive on average than the pen shows
It’s like The pen shows with a great core group that works the shows
we all meet and hang out after show hours etc
It’s like the pen community on steroids
We have learned that if we are going to leave open tables unattended or not watched closely there will be losses
Last edited by JParanee; February 24th, 2020 at 08:01 PM.
Jon Szanto (February 24th, 2020), Sailor Kenshin (February 25th, 2020)
Somewhere in the vicinity of 4-8 weeks prior to the LA theft, there was a theft of a long-time dealer, approximately twice as many pens, at a show in Munich. There was small theft in Philly just before LA. And a few pens walked on the last day of LA, 3 days after Sarj's case of appr. 10 pens was nabbed. Whether it is a short-term bump or a trend, it is still troubling and will need to be addressed.
I really appreciate JP's insights from the knife shows.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
Wow...that knife show is HUGE. When I lived in CA, we used to attend gem and mineral shows. They were far larger than the LIPS, held, if I remember, in a hotel or convention center, but dinky compared to that knife show.
My other pen is a Montblanc.
And my other blog is a tumblr!
And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD
Here are videos from 18 and 19
They are long but you can see how people display
Very similar to a pen show but much larger
For anyone interested, noted vintage penman David Nishimura has a good recap of the LA pen show and situation on his blog. Worth a visit.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
AzJon (February 26th, 2020), da vinci (March 1st, 2020), silverlifter (February 26th, 2020), sospiro (February 26th, 2020)
Someone a few pages back lamented about the crushing financial burden vendors would be staggering under if they had to put a plexiglass cover ($15? $20?) over trays containing $15,000 or $20,000 worth of high-end fountain pens, plus the back-breaking labor of transporting the additional weight of that piece (or several pieces) of plexiglass. Somehow, poignant as that must have seemed to whoever said it, it failed to bring me to tears. I must be an insensitive lout, I suppose.
Nevertheless, I was a jeweler and lapidary for many years, and even as a starving hippie (living hand to mouth, as the saying goes) was able to afford locking display cases for selling my wares at gem shows and fairs. The display cases were attractive and not terribly expensive, although pricier ones are also available, of course.
Last edited by calamus; February 26th, 2020 at 01:37 PM.
Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
(What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)
sgphoto (February 26th, 2020)
The issue for someone like Sarj is that they fly in from the UK, so transporting the plexiglass with them is not an option.
If, however, the organisers of the show got their shit together, they could arrange for producers of said plexiglass covers to lease them to stall holders as part of the set-up fee (or some similar sort of arrangement). I have been to numerous trade shows and purchasing a booth/table always came with multiple additional options (TV screens, lighting, potted plants for fucks sake...).
Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.
Chrissy (February 26th, 2020), Jon Szanto (February 26th, 2020), sjssf (February 26th, 2020)
...
Last edited by LeFreak; February 26th, 2020 at 04:04 PM.
wasting time on tapatalk
Some interesting ideas for the future. For this particular theft, you might ask here and in FPN for people who might have been videoing at the time it happened, to check their videos or photos. Tell where your table was in relation to the room and in relation to other tables. Post a picture of your table. Good luck. Chances are slim but not zero.
This is galling.
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