Saturday at the San Francisco 2014 Pen Show

[Jon Szanto]

Well, someone seems to have had a good time!

Other things learned:
• An azure Parker Vac is in my future at some point. I just know so little about them at this point. Some were $130 and some were $250 - I'm lost on what the differences are.
• There is a HUGE amount of awesome vintage pens for $200 or less.
• I love the Peyton St. Ranga 4C ebonite shape.
• Basically my daughter is an FPGeek for life because of this show.

Those Vacs are hard to get to know, almost as many variants as the 51 it seems, and yes, there are lots of price points, due to rarity, size, etc. Beautiful pens
True on the < $200 bit.
I picked up one of those very Rangas because I already had a nib, looking for a body - a match made in heaven (and I got to work with Teri again).
The last one is the best, and I hope she has a lot of fun with her pens and paper.

Good on you, a very good first pen show, I'd say!

[Farmboy]

That's her!

Next year when I'm paying more attention, she can dig though the pen debris and take something home on me.

I'll also let her use one of my 51s such that she will make you get her one...We need to start them young.

She should also become a member of the BPS. We will speak with the PooBah about this.

[Jon Szanto]

I thought I would pop into this thread, most active, to give just a glimpse of the recent - and wonderful - San Francisco Pen Show of 2014. I'm not going to load it up with too many photos, because I purposely didn't take too many, knowing that there were people who were going to do a much better job of documentation.

While my own pen show attendance is still in it's infancy, I follow the shows both online and in places like The Pennant, which covers many of them. It doesn't take long to realize that each show has it's own, unique personality. After the SF show had a hiatus, with no show in 2013, it was up to a small band of intrepid people to pull it up by the sac straps again and carve a new history.

The three day show took place at the Sofitel in Redwood City, right near the headquarters of Oracle, and on a lagoon of the South Bay (I think). I loved it - for the accommodations, the access to both a fine restaurant as well as nearby other choices, and most of all a spacious and well-lit event room to host in. There is room for growth, which I don't doubt will happen next year. The organizers took very good care of the vendors, sellers, and traders, with breakfasts in the morning, snacks in the afternoon (for all!) and a killer live music event on Friday night with a hosted bar. The Royal Deuces were an inspired choice, and everyone had a good time.

Which is key: there will be pens at all pen shows, but everything else is about people, and how those people interact and enjoy themselves. This show was second to none in human beings having a great time! I was very surprised by the number of people that came on Saturday, and in listening to the conversations, there were a lot of first-time pen people. This can only bode well for the future.

That said, you can't even get in the door without a badge:



What happens when you get in the door? You go look at pens, right? There will be, and have been, many photos of the pens and pen stuff from the show. It often looks like this:



(I took that for the people who like to collect pens like the Waterman Phileas in every possible color) But beyond the hardware of pendom, you find people that aren't anywhere else: Nibmeisters! At SF were John Mottishaw (of Classic Fountain Pens), Mike Masuyama (of Mike It Work), and Greg Minuskin. I hadn't worked with Mike before, but I had purchased a Platinum 3776 Nice with a Broad nib specifically to be ground. We had a nice discussion (on the quieter opening morning), including the difficulties of grinding rose gold plated nibs, and he soon set to work...



One of the treats was being there early enough to watch him assemble his grinding station, which is all custom machined and comes apart for travel! In very little time, he had ground, exactly to my specs, a smooth stub that leans towards an italic edge. Remarkable, and so effortless (on his part):



Just as with Mike (and his charming wife), an irreplaceable component of attending a pen show is meeting and conversing with people who have been doing this for a long time, have deep knowledge, and are passionate and devoted users, collectors, and sellers of fountain pens. When I heard that Paul Erano was going to be there, I almost flipped! I met him in LA in 2013 and was bowled over by his warm generosity and kind sharing of information. I found a number of times to sit with him at his table and talk about not only pens, but life itself. I had hoped I could show him a modest pen to gain entry into the fabled and vaunted Black Pen Society, and sure enough, it worked: I am now a member in good standing (which means that my badge, plus $3.75, will get me a grande latte at Starbucks). As it would turn out, my eye kept falling on a pen at his table, and before I left we made a bargain of money and pen, and I had another elegant black pen. Here is my "ticket to the ball" pen, a stately and underated Mentmore (on the left), with the new purchase, a Goldfink from Germany (Berlin). Any surprise this "brother from another mother" caught my eye?



It's hard if you can't have your favorite person with you, and she had to work. I found something to bring home, a lovely unique ink purchased from Bjor of Refill Monster: here is J. Herbin's Bleu Myosotis:



In the end, this is all too terribly fun, and with the explosion of the online world and social media over the last couple decades, you finally have the chance to meet the people you only type to on a regular basis. Things happen. Gatherings occur. Late night explorations of pens, techniques, inks, and alcohol are inevitable (sparring with Posse member G. Weddig):



My gosh, the infinite variety of humanity, tied together by a love for writing instruments built to deliver colored fluids is a never ending fascination. The spirit in the room, the creativity of the people knows no bounds. Give them plain old advertising postcards and their imaginations will run wild:



My hat is completely tipped to the main organizers and sponsors of this show: Ricky Chau, Todd Eberspracher, and Syd Saperstein (of the Wahl/Eversharp Company). For a maiden voyage, they nailed it, and the future looks bright for this show. I can't wait to come back in a year, and I'll do everything I can to help make it even more of a success. You want pens? You want fun? I know the place.

All we can do is thank them for putting it on. This happened to one of the three. I tried to whip it out quickly, but I'm getting old, so I missed the opening bars:



Here's to next year, the 2015 San Francisco International Pen Show!

[Crazyorange]

Thanks Jon. Great review and pics. Pen shows are just big social events with beautiful pens. Your review show cased that.

[dms]

Here's to next year, the 2015 San Francisco International Pen Show!

I'll drink to that!

Nice account, Jon! And I agree with Crazyorange. The best part was the people. .... Of course, the people had pens ...

David

[orfew]

Thanks very much for the great photos and stories. I have never been to a pen show and so I am enjoying all of the different posts relating people's experiences. I hope to get to my first show in Toronto in November.

[Jon Szanto]

Thanks very much for the great photos and stories. I have never been to a pen show and so I am enjoying all of the different posts relating people's experiences. I hope to get to my first show in Toronto in November.

Oh, man, you will have such a good time!

Hector, I thought of you *totally* while there: I met Jim Rouse at the Franklin-Christoph area, and on display was a set of the Fantasy Legacy pens that he has made, including another orange one (like yours)! I mentioned the thread where you took such great photos of the pen, along with your calligraphy, and plan on sending a note to him with a link (or something... I want him to see it!)

It was terribly good fun this last weekend.

[Finalist]

Thanks very much for the great photos and stories. I have never been to a pen show and so I am enjoying all of the different posts relating people's experiences. I hope to get to my first show in Toronto in November.

Oh, man, you will have such a good time!

Hector, I thought of you *totally* while there: I met Jim Rouse at the Franklin-Christoph area, and on display was a set of the Fantasy Legacy pens that he has made, including another orange one (like yours)! I mentioned the thread where you took such great photos of the pen, along with your calligraphy, and plan on sending a note to him with a link (or something... I want him to see it!)

It was terribly good fun this last weekend.

SAME HERE!! lol

I saw that orange FP at the FC table and thought the exact same thing! I picked it up and felt an urge to draw a bird! It was an awesome pen.

[youstruckgold]

Backpocket tomoes rule!

[youstruckgold]

oooooo, love those Nakayas all in a row!!

[penultress]

Thank you for the post! I really hope to make it next year. I love San Francisco as well!

[franzdimson]

Awesome photos! Great review Jon. It was great meeting everyone. I miss it already.

I should bring my camera next year and possibly help contribute to documenting the show.

[Jon Szanto]

I should bring my camera next year and possibly help contribute to documenting the show.

Please do, Franz. All I had was my phone, I don't take good pics anyway, and the more the merrier. Dan has posted the review on the FPG blog, and there is a link to a nice set of photos from Gerald Lieu at the bottom of the article.

Really, though, I hope Ricky gets over his hesitation for posting his (he feels a conflict of interest), because I've never seen anyone do a better job of capturing a pen show in all its glory.

BTW: have you officially changed your name to "Moneybags" Dimson?

[franzdimson]

aw man... Gerald's photos were very good as well. =) I'm missing the show already.

Moneybags? I have no idea what you are referring to. All I bought was a Vanishing Point nib unit from Detlef, ink from Bjor and 2 BPS pins from Paul Erano...

I plead the 5th... ;-P

[Jon Szanto]

Dude, you damn well better post pics of that other thing. You know. THAT one.

[lsmith42]

I heard Franz owns a bank... could be just a rumor...

[franzdimson]

Dude, you damn well better post pics of that other thing. You know. THAT one.

Okay, okay, you got me. =P Once I get the chance over the weekend, I will take some nicer photos of it.

I heard Franz owns a bank... could be just a rumor...

Well, that isn't a rumor at all.
I used to own two banks.

But right before the pen show, I had to break both of them open... so now, the bank owns me. ;-)

[dannzeman]

[QUOTE=Jon Szanto;93925]

...

Really, though, I hope Ricky gets over his hesitation for posting his (he feels a conflict of interest), because I've never seen anyone do a better job of capturing a pen show in all its glory.

...

Ricky has a pen show report and he's holding out? WTH?!

Seriously, though, where's the conflict of interest?

[AltecGreen]

Really, though, I hope Ricky gets over his hesitation for posting his (he feels a conflict of interest), because I've never seen anyone do a better job of capturing a pen show in all its glory.

It's not so much a hesitation. The three of us discussed this and agreed that none of us would post a review. It is absolutely a conflict of interest. A few of my pictures are up on the show website as of yesterday.
I may post some pen show stories and pictures that have no direct connection to how the show went.



Many of my pictures will be used by others to supplement their own in their pen show reports.

[Finalist]

How about another in six months? Why wait a year?