Glenn Craig reports from the London 2014 LWES Pen Show.
London Pen Show - first day set up (Part 1)
I always divide
the one day London Pen Show into 2 parts. The dealer set up part
from 8am to 10:30am.and the public part from 10:30am to 5pm.
As soon as Joanne and I reach our table and unzip our cases other
dealers come around and start looking
through our stuff. I do
price my pens on the reasonable side, as Sarj put it , "it is like
bees to honey"!
Jo is taking care of the table...
Everyone sets up and goes to the other dealers tables and snoops for
an hour or so. Time also to chat and pick up a few items you have
been searching for. Once the show opens.... there is not much time
for most dealers to do much browsing. I sell well in that first hour
.....but even better later on.
It was good to see many old dealer pen
friends again and some that we just met. Sarj , Regina, Henry, just
to picture a few. At 10:30 all hell breaks loose so you had better
have had your washroom break or you may be in trouble. In part 2
.....you will see what I mean !
I couldn't
resist this Platinum sterling silver pen at the show.
It was
pricy but it is very nicey!
London Pen Show Part 2
When the doors open to the public
.....hundreds nice, friendly, polite pen folk enter all at once and
away we go!
Never in my all my previous 8 London Shows have
I seen so many dealers, so many pens, and so many people interested
in pens . It was a pure joy to behold! It was nice to see a few
young collectors just starting out also.
One father pictured here said his son has quite a large collection
already...I added a few Lamys to his collection.
Amaya visited us for a while and bought a couple of our hand made
pen kimonos ; she may wish to sell them in her store? We just about
sold out of them. Our friend back in Chemainus who made the pen
kimonos for me will be pleased.
My bamboo pens sold ok ,the dip pens being most popular. Over half
of my other non bamboo vintage and new stock sold. My inventory is
very low. I am glad I had two tables. Next time one table may do
unless I can replenish my stock quickly?
I always use lots of signage and everything item is priced, this I
think ,greatly helps in sales. Many dealers don't price their pens
instead they use a code system and look up prices individually for
an interested customer. Most of these dealers have the most gorgeous
pens you will ever see....outstanding! My meagre collection is pure
ordinary in comparison.
There can be lots of good finds to be had in terms of pen parts,
nibs, sacs, inks ,books, magazines, you name it. Calligraphy demos,
pen repairs, the WES table .....so much going on, to keep people
interested for many hours!
Representatives from several pen companies were present also.
Unfortunately not Conway Stewart. You could find a good selection of
Conway Stewart though in both new and vintage. Same with Onoto and
well .....so many other brands from all over Europe, North America,
Japan , Asia.
This was a good show! I do hope many of you get a chance to attend a
future London Pen Show and to visit the great London pen
shops.....not to mention the Great London itself. I hope you enjoyed
some of my postings.
Joanne and I
will be here for another 6 weeks, so if we come across more pen
related places I will post them....we haven't done Harrods yet!
Cheery bye from London! Glenn
