Thursday and Friday at the 2015 LA Pen Show

Attending the LA Pen Show this year was a big deal for me. The last time I went was in 2012 so I was curious how much, if at all, the show would change in 3 years. I also went to DC last year and was looking forward to comparing my experience at the two largest pen shows in the world.
I’ve gotta give a huge shoutout to Chatterley Luxuries for sponsoring our coverage of the show this year. Without their support I wouldn’t have been able to attend. Chatterley Luxuries consistently has the best prices and their customer service is top notch. Bryant is a pleasure to interact with and their main concern is ensuring your happiness. They’re always my first stop when looking to purchase a pen.
I arrived in LA Thursday morning around 10am and spent several hours around Rodeo Drive before making a quick trip to the beach. I’m a bit of an automotive enthusiast so the area around Rodeo Drive is pretty much heaven. I saw a bright yellow Rolls commissioned by bijan, which is some über high end, by appointment only luxury store. You can see their Rolls Royce next to their Bugatti in front of their store here.

A white Mayback sitting in front of a yellow McClaren P1.

Ferrari LaFerrari

Bugatti Veryon

Yellow Rolls-Royce for bijan.

I also got to see a Bugatti Veryon, a Ferrari LaFerrari, a McClaren P1, and a Maybach all chillin’ on the same street. My trip had just been made without seeing a single pen.
I ended up arriving at the hotel around 3pm and surprised to see a lively bit of action in the main ballroom. I quickly did a stroll through the room and found myself at John Mottishaw’s table perusing their selection of Nakaya’s and trying out all their samplers to get feel for which nib suited me the best.

Being able to see the pens in person and trying out a variety of nibs is such a valuable experience, especially when picking an urushi pen as the colors aren’t always the same as what’s shown on the vendor’s website. Ideally, I wanted a Decapod Twist in Aka-tamenuri but they didn’t have that particular combination. They had one in Ao-tamenuri but I found the blue-green urushi to not be as bright and vibrant as I would have liked. I then could have gone with the Decapod in Aka-tamenuri, but, again, that’s not exactly what I was looking for.
At this point, I decided to wonder around and think about my options. I didn’t have to travel 10 feet before I ran into the Anderson Pen’s table, or tables rather.

Lisa probably thinks I didn’t catch this one, but I always have my finger on the shutter release!

The best part of a pen show is catching up with old friends and making new ones. After attending 5 or 6 shows, pens really have become a secondary concern for me. After the hugs and handshakes we began talking pens and inks which lead to the Montblanc JFK and their new Pink ink. Thankfully, Lisa had a couple of bottles stashed away and I nabbed one without hesitating.
After leaving the Anderson’s table and wondering around s’more I ran into a gentleman from Toronto that I had actually met several years ago at the Ohio Show. He was (still is?) a professional photographer who only shoots medium format film. Needless to say, it was time for a little show and tell of pens and cameras (mostly cameras). I felt completely inadequate bringing my micro four thirds digital camera anywhere near his Rolleiflex TLRs. He taught me a lot about those cameras and film in general, and then we got hungry so we went to El Sombrero near the Manhattan Beach Pier.
I managed to get into the ballroom around 9am Friday morning and just stood near the front doors to allow the ‘pen show presence’ to wash over me. I was ready.
I caught up with Mario Campa of Toys From The Attic and saw some very cool pieces on his table. I watched as he sold my new friend, Franz, a lovely Aurora Optima. After seeing Mario work his magic I hightailed it out there afraid he sell me something next!

After just a few minutes of staring at this set, I began to feel like Mr. Bond.

Mario convincing Franz that he needs this Aurora. Once you test it, you’re done for.

I then made my way to John Colton’s table. If you’re looking for Omas, this is the man to see. He had so many wonderful pieces and was happy to chat away about them. That’s another benefit of attending a show during the trader only days: vendors are relaxed and will happily answer whatever questions you have.

No show would be complete without saying hello to Rick Propras. Not only is he the go-to guys for Pelikans, but he’s also very much into knives. If you share a similar interest, consider joining the Pens and Knives facebook group that Rick started. We spoke for a few minutes about vintage Pelikans, then someone else stepped in to ask a question. Rick is a popular guy and rarely did I not see him interacting with someone at his table.

Rick Propas.

As I made my way out of the ballroom to find nourishment, other than from pens, I ran into Mr. Andy Lambrou. I could talk to this man for hours about pens (and have done so at the Colorado Pen Show). He’s a walking encyclopedia of pen information. He wrote quite literally wrote the book on pens with Fountain Pens of the World and then did so again with Fountain Pens of Japan.

Andy Lambrou

Once in the restaurant area I saw Osman Sümer taking advantage of some poor soul and couldn’t resist witnessing the action. Osman deals almost exclusively in vintage German pens, mostly consisting of Montblanc. He had a #12 safety filler, the largest pen Montblanc has ever made. You can see it, and a couple of baby pens (one a working lever filler, the other a safety) next to a 149 for reference. Those two baby pens and the #12 safety walked off with a very satisfied buyer shortly afterwards for somewhere around $10,000. This kind of exchange happens rather frequently.


Refueled and ready to go, I spotted Detlef Bittner and stared in awe at the number of show-stopping pieces on his table. He had quite a number of high-end limited editions and outstanding maki-e pens.

My last stop of the day was at the Franklin-Christoph table to see the new Model 20 that Tim Hofmann recently reviewed. If you haven’t read that review, I highly recommend you do so. The Model 20 features a slip cap design but instead of putting all the pressure on the lip of the cap, it’s distributed across two points of contact further inside the cap. This reduces the possibilities of cap lip cracks and removes any wiggles or wobbles. Scott then showed me the new black nib on his personal Model 20 that will be available very soon. Franklin-Christoph was also showing off their new Pocket 66 Ice, which is nicely compact when capped but turns into a comfortable writer when posted. All these new items should be hitting their website very soon.

The beginning of the evening festivities started with dinner with the San Francisco Pen Posse at Tin Roof Bistro. There was something like 21 or 22 of us. Joi did a wonderful job arranging the dinner. The food was amazing and the company was even better.

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