BTW in my report the Dark Lord=David I.
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I always know when it's time for the LA Pen show. You spend the latter part of the year saving a pool of money for the show and then just weeks before the show, all kinds of pens come into the market to tempt you into spending you show stake. It's kind of like bears coming out of the holiday hibernation. This year was no exception but thankfully, Marc Shiman was kind enough to announce ahead of time that he was bringing a huge load of Italian pens the show for sale. So I resisted temptation and headed to the show. More on this later
The weather was cooperating this year. Two years ago, the east coast was snowed in and a lot of dealers missed the show and last year it rained all weekend. But the weather was good and we were good to go.
As usual, I don't show up very early on Thursday since very few dealers set-up on Thursday. I was eating a leisurely breakfast at 9:00 am and checked FPN. Loren posted two hours earlier that he had already sold an entire collection of pens and bought another collection. What!!!!! :yikes: I told the waitress, "Give the me the check! I need to get to LA!" So I hopped into my car and made it to LA city limits in 4.5 hours then I hit the 405. :doh: More on the 405 later.
When I got to the show, the room was already a third full and very active. It felt more like Friday morning rather than Thursday afternoon.
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The outer areas, as usual, were like empty fields awaiting planting.
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Pen Posse members Teri Morris and Fred (sketchy) setting up
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Two of the special events at the show this year was the unveiling of Andreas Lambrou's new "Fountain Pens of Japan" and Michael Sull demonstrating beautiful calligraphy.
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I'll have a bit more to say about the book in the section of Friday.
Michael Sull was hosted by Greg Minuskin and doing demonstration of some of the most beautiful calligraphy. He spent the weekend writing people's name on request as well as a seminar. At the end of the report I'll have a special segment with photos of his technique.
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Michael's gorgeous pen holders for sale
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As I mentioned earlier, Marc Shiman brought a huge collection of vintage Italian pens to the show. He contacted me the week before and sent me a list of the pens he was bringing. As I posted on FPN, I told him "You bring the pens, I'll bring the cash". As promised, I did clean him out of his best pens. Actually, Marc and I could have just hung out in the lobby exchanging pens for money.
Marc Shiman-my drug dealer
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Some of Marc's pens
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Some of the most beautiful modern pens to have been introduced recently are the handpainted Artus pens from Russia. The artwork is out of this world and done in the classic Russian style.
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