Neat sign!!

 

Any interest in a Vacumatic printers block?

 

I just use the tip of a very small screwdriver to push the "o" ring into place.

A problem can arise when the "c-ring" and the surrounding area corrodes and "sticks" to the side of the barrel ... which requires "digging it out of the slot" in any pen that uses a "c-ring" support the lever  :^ )

 

Glad that wasn't the case with your repair, Rick! 

 

See you in Philly this weekend!!

I saw that listing, also...and, at first, thought that they may have put the decimal point in the wrong place...lol  It's missing the ring at the top of the cap...perhaps it's "prototype"??? :^ )

Michael Quitt

www.charmcitypens.com

Some of the best-known pen professionals have famously long turnaround times that are incontrovertibly "worth the wait," while other folks can seemingly have your pen back to you within a couple weeks...

Aside from name recognition, what separates the "big dogs" from the others?

Hi,

There are not perfect answers. Certainly some of the big names do grand work. Heck, I go back to the beginning with some of them. But, certainly some smaller names do (perhaps just as) grand work too. McD's does more business than Johnny's Burgers but Johnny's might taste at least as good. Fountain Pen Network has more posts than Fountain Pen Board and... cough... cough...

Growing big in business usually requires doing some decent business but it does not mark, per se, the best artisans.

Some guys put less effort into marketing. Some are not full time in the business. Some names I know you might not even know (but maybe you would). Some have not caught fire lacking certain associations. Some are just starting out but do fine work.

BTW, are you in Janesville? We have a pen club there now. Too I will be posting shortly about a major pen hoard I scored there last week.

best regards

david

I think that David spells it out very well. Most of the repair people doing work at the shows do very good work, market themselves in that way and through word of mouth. I include Ron Zorn, Richard Binder, Joel Hamilton, the two Snorkel guys (my synapses aren't firing now...please fill in the blanks) amongst those whose work I really trust. There are one or two, as John Danza mentioned , that may be less "trustworthy" IMHO.

In addition to those mentioned above, there are several other repairers, off the top of my head, that don't promote themselves heavily for a number of reasons, i.e., they have plenty of work to do that they don't need to hustle for any more, they don't want the hassle of being far behind, they may specialize in certain types of repairs...and, it's very easy to burn out in the repair business. That being said, some of these repairers don't frequent the different boards...yes, there is a lot more pen stuff going on outside of the boards..... and, I'd trust these folks with my own pens, in the event that I knew that they could do a better job on a complicated repair or one that I didn't want to take on, myself.
Just my take on this thread....
Michael Quitt
www.charmcitypens.com

The world has always been crazy. And eBay is full of totally bonkers sellers.

Something I'm seeing recently is I'll watch a nice pen I'm interested in. Don't bid cause it gets too expensive for me (but still reasonable for the pen). The auction ends and the next day the SAME pen, same pics, same seller, etc goes up as "Buy It Now" for 100x the closing price. Like I watched a nice Soennecken finish at $250. Suddenly it is BIN for $2k. This has happened enough times for me to wonder what the heck is going on.

Hi Josephine,

Many times, the seller is contacted, offline, and asked if they will sell the item for a particular price, in order to keep others from bidding or letting the auction run to its end. If the buyer and seller can come to and agreed upon price, the seller will, sometimes, edit their description, at that point, to a "buy it now" and immediately allow the buyer to buy the item.

Best,
Michael
www.charmcitypens.com

I'm coming in very late to this. A question...did you send the pen to the repairperson with the cap screwed on it? I don't re-tip, but, when I was doing repairs for the public, I straightened my share of nibs. Most of the time the nibs were removed from the section and put back in after the work was done. I always checked to make sure that there was clearance so that the nib was not bent/twisted when the cap was screwed back on. That's just me, though, doing what I thought was proper. Even if "I" didn't screw up (pun intended), and the problem occurred when the pen was returned, I would usually make it "right", if little time had passed. I was always interested in developing a long term relationship with a customer and not trying to win a "battle". On the other hand, if the problem was due to outright abuse of the pen...that's another story...

Just my take...!!

Michael Quitt
www.charmcitypens.com

Bert and I were friends for over 30 years. We started collecting pens at the same time under the mentorship of Jeff Silverman, an old time collector, who moved from MD to CA many years ago.

Bert and I spoke on the phone 2-3 times a week over much of that time...and, talked about much more than "just pens". I was privileged to attend his and Alice's wedding and to attend his son, Jason's marriage to Lauren. Another great memory was the time that the two of us, with our spouses, surprised Warren Granek on one of his major birthdays... and a good time was had by all.

Over the years we "bailed each other out" with parts and whole pens, whenever either of us needed "help". No money was ever exchanged and we never kept a tab.

We had a ritual, before almost every DC Pen Show, over all of these many years. I'd visit Bert for help in pricing pens. I really didn't need the help, in later years, but we enjoyed the get together, anyway. There are so many Bert stories, that I wouldn't know where to begin telling them. I just know that that my life is a bit empty without him in it and it will feel very strange to not see him at the DC Show, ever again.

Michael Quitt