| This was my first visit to the Cologne show, held this year on April 5
in the boathouse of the ‘Germania’ rowing club, along the Rhine river.
Veerle and I drove the two hours from Brussels to meet Johan, Ronald and Mirijam
who came down from nearby Netherlands, and of course also to join our ‘local’
Pentracer Michael R.
Being a Pelikan fan, I was really looking forward to this event and wasn’t
disappointed – a real German piston-filler fest.
This was also a chance to meet in person some German dealers one usually only
gets to communicate with by e-mail:
Tom Westerich, who has a new lathe for precision-turning piston corks; Regina
Martini, displaying her new own-brand, solid silver ‘art deco’ style
pen; and Juergen Kuehse, with his broad range of great value vintage Pelikans.
The meeting lasted only one afternoon so it was essential to move fast; indeed
we all came away with something:
Veerle (‘no more black pens’) bought an impossibly small CS
Le Tigre Dinkie lever filler in blue marble; and a red marble Penol – both
gorgeous even before polishing
.
Michael R., an emerald green Parker Vacumatic, with the vac filler replaced
with a home-made button filling system. He plans to reconvert it back to a vac,
not something a beginner like myself would attempt!
Johan, a green-stiped Pelikan 400NN with very flexible, sharp and smooth OB nib
(‘plain’ decorated nib from very early ‘50s), superb writer.
Ronald, a green marble Pelikan 100N with medium nib – so smooth you couldn’t
tell it was touching the writing pad until you saw the blue line appear.
I purchased a brown-striped Pelikan 400N with flexible fine nib – I’d
have preferred green-striped, but I’ve never seen one; and a vintage Pelikan
450 mechanical pencil.
Having spent our money, we gathered in the restaurant to ‘show and tell’
and also to test other pens we had purchased prior to this meeting and since our
last gathering in Tilburg in September:
Stipula-collector Ronald showed his Iris, larger and more imposing than in photos,
a real gasp provoker. I wish I’d bought one when I had the chance of a deal
two years ago!
Veerle displayed a gorgeous silver and black Visconti Ragtime from the Ashford
sale; and two vintages: a CS 58 and a Burhnam, both marbled celluloid.
Michael R. had with him a vintage Pelikan 400 with unusual stenographic nib (mega-flex
EEF); and a wonderful concotion made up of modern, Sheaffer Balance II roller
ball cap and barrel in jade; No Nonsense section; vintage Lifetime two-tone, very
smooth nib. Frankenpens are often ugly, this one really ‘works’!
I brought a small collection of vintage Sheaffer pencils for a mini Saturday quiz
with the group – which in the event lasted only seconds! So instead we ogled
the near-mint vintage Sheaffer Titan jade Flat Top pencil Michael R. had with
him.
Then it was time to head home.......
The next regular meeting will be at Tilburg (The Netherlands) in September
– although trips to the Tropen pen factory in Germany and to Akkerman’s
pen shop in The Hague are also being planned and may occur before then. Everyone
is of course welcome.
For my part, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have once again met
with such a friendly and expert group of Pentracers, who’ve so freely and
regularly shared with me their knowledge of vintage pens and pencils.
Michael S.
Photos by Miroslav Tischler April 5, 2003
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