Monthly Archives: April 2016

Visit Us at The Chicago Pen Show

By on April 28, 2016
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Big changes this year in Chicago! New venue. New management. More entertainment.

This year ThePenMarket.com is hosting a Lamy table at the Chicago Pen Show...in addition to its usual vintage/modern pens table. These Lamys are part of the special new nib-testing station for Lamy.

This year ThePenMarket.com is hosting a Lamy table at the Chicago Pen Show…in addition to its usual vintage/modern pens table. These Lamys are part of the special new nib-testing station for Lamy.

Some of you might know that I’m this year’s marketing director for the Chicago Pen Show. The new management team of the show has been working overtime for the past year to reverse the declining appeal of the show.

This year we have a new hotel: the Marriott Chicago Northwest in Hoffman Estates, IL. It is much cleaner, nicer and more well organized for hosting a show than our past two venues. PLUS, there will be NO tearing down mid-show for weddings and such. Your table is your table Friday through Sunday!

We’ve been adding more fun things for people to do other than just buy and sell pens, too. This year we’ll have several courses on penmanship, history lessons on brands (such as Wahl-Eversharp by the CEO of the modern incarnation of Wahl), repair workshops for lever-fillers, button-fillers, Esterbrooks and the always tricky Sheaffer Snorkel. We’ll have podcasting sensation Brad Dowdy. Plus, we’ll have nearly 300 inks available to test in individual pens at an ink-testing station.

ThePenMarket.com is hosting a new Lamy nib testing station, where anybody and everybody can test Lamy nibs sized extra fine, fine, medium, broad, 1.1mm, 1.5mm and 1.9mm! We also have a limited number of the new Dark Lilac colored Lamy Safari at steep discounts. Lamy 2000s will be on sale for up to 40% OFF!

Fans of our vintage pens and preowned luxury pens will be excited to find 50 pens that are not yet on our website! It is a special treat for those who can attend the show. (Not to worry, they’ll be online soon after the show.)

What do you think of our 2016 Chicago Pen Show mug?

What do you think of our 2016 Chicago Pen Show mug?

As marketing director of the show, I commissioned our 2016 Chicago Pen Show logo and had it put onto coffee mugs. These will be available at the registration desk for only $10 a piece. Supplies are limited. I also organized and wrote the bulk of our new Chicago Pen Show Facebook page. Please give us a like.

Unlike past years, the entire management team has been reaching out the media, social networks and community calendars to attract more pen lovers to the show. Chicago has thousands of writers, doctors, lawyers, journalists and myriad others who love the experience of writing with a good pen. More than anything, we hope we attract more pen lovers than we’ve attracted in years…and we hope to give them a damned-good time.

See you there!

Atlanta Pen Show 2016: Final Analysis

By on April 21, 2016
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Wow! What a show this year in Atlanta! Tons of pen lovers, just as many young as old, all sharing in the inky goodness!

We had a heck-of-a-time. It was so much fun seeing our old friends like the great Texas pen trader Joe Lowe and making many new friends. And there was so much to learn.

I loved finding these great pens at the Atlanta Pen Show in 2016: a Pelikan 800, a Dunn Pen and a Twsbi Eco. Each is an absolute treat with which to write.

I loved finding these great pens at the Atlanta Pen Show in 2016: a Pelikan 800, a Dunn Pen and a Twsbi Eco. Each is an absolute treat with which to write.

My table neighbors were The Southern Scribe, Rick Horne, and An Tran, who has more pens than any 7 people I know. Both were as personable and fun to talk to as ever. Rick shared tons of great stories and advice that will help immensely as we move forward as a business and repair hub.

The pens this year at the show were unbelievable. For our own pleasure we picked up an incredible bargain on this “burnt orange” Pelikan 800, which I’ve been coveting since its release. From Rick, I bought this incredible–fully restored–Dunn Pen with a pump filler. As many of you know, I got into pens partly because of my love of obscure filling systems. This Dunn needs to be pumped 20 or 30 times like a bicycle pump to get a full fill. Awesome 1920s tech at work.

And my last little find is a Twsbi Eco. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been a bit of a snob with regard to these new-fangled cheap pens out of Asia. Well, now that I’ve used one, I’m hooked. It has a 1.1mm nib that writes exceedingly well for a steel nib and is just plain fun to play with. That crystal clear barrel with Adventurine green ink…too cool. I’m sold.

All three days of the show were packed with trading and stories. I wasn’t sure I was going to survive that first day, as I was running on no sleep for 36 hours. Work, packing, early flight, pen show…. I almost fell asleep during the Friday night cookout. I barely made it back to my room before collapsing and sleeping the sleep of the dead until sunrise. Although I missed some good cigars and drinks, every ounce of sleep was wonderful.

And now it is time to unpack, repair at least 50 more pens and pack up for our home show next week in Chicago! Can’t wait to see you at the 2016 Chicago Pen Show.