Welcome
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Well, the hot July news is that The PENguin will be on vacation for almost the entire month. We will be making our annual pilgrimage to Oregon for the Portland Pen Show, which is one of the best in the known universe, and Shakespeare at Ashland. In addition we will be touring north to British Columbia. It should be a great trip and you can follow it on the new PENguin blog. After that, it's off to Chicago to hang with buddies and to work with my good friend Keith Zaransky at the Sachs/Fultz Collection. While I'm away, you may still order pens, in fact, please do! However, I will not, except in extraordinary instances, be able to ship until the 20th. At that time all US orders will go out via FedEx two-day shipping at no cost to you; non-US orders will be shipped at a discount. Below, you will find a small album of random images from earlier Oregon trips. This year, with the new S5 in hand, expect some great images from BC, Oregon and the Portland show. |
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 The PENguin pen is complete!! |
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The first two batches of The PENguin pen are complete and have been shipped to their happy owners. We can still make two more lots. E-mail me if you are interested.
Last year was another record year for pen sales at The PENguin. As always, thank you!
At a personal level, 2007 was a superb year for me and my family. The highlight of the year was seeing Anna graduate from Colorado State in May, and that was followed by the Denver wedding of my nephew Lorin and the chance to reconnect with many friends. Colorado was good to us.
Once her degree was dry, Anna also decided that the website needed a new look and so she undertook a massive redesign. Everyone seems to like the new look and feels that the site continues to offer easy browsing. Thanks to all for your positive feedback.
The broader response to this enterprise continues to astound me. Once again last year, we were able to put more pens into people's hands than the year before. Thank you for that.
For me, this past year saw no acquisitions as spectacular as last year's Pelikan 75th Anniversary and the lapis 101, but a few good pens came my way, and not just Pelikans, though I found my share there too. Highlights included a "grail" pen for me, the MontBlanc Lorenzo deMedici:
I was greatly pleased by the stunning rose marbled Pelikan Ibis. Along with it, quite literally, there came a gorgeous red Pelikan 100 that was an upgrade of an already nice red.
This past year also saw a rekindling of my old love for Vacumatics and their ilk. A stub Golden Arrow set--
--became one of the cornerstones of the collection, and two pristine black sets, an Oversize and a Maxima, were great finds:
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My German safety pen collection also saw a stellar addition in the form of a pristine Salamander 770.
Interestingly, all these pens came from members of the pen community, as opposed to anonymous pensellers.
In all, it was a stellar year. I can only hope that all of you had one as good and that 2008 continues to bring us all good health and good fortune and a few good pens.
As always, I will have pens that are not listed, so if you need something in our area of concentration and do not see it here, contact me. I can probably find it.
This year marks twenty-two years of pen collecting for me. I began with Sheaffers and Parkers and then looked to the classical "big four," of American pendom, Parker, Sheaffer, Watermans and Eversharp. In the mid-1990s, I decided to focus narrowly on Parkers. Then in 1997, I became interested in Pelikans. More recently I have added an interest in oversize German pens, modern Italian pens and a handful of the classical American greats. Today my collection is probably smaller than it was a decade ago, but far more coherent. For more see the About Me page.
If you wish to learn more about Pelikan pens please follow this link to the illustrated Pelikan History article I wrote for PenTrace.
The purpose of PENguin is to offer other collectors, and anyone else who is interested, first rate, fully restored pens to add to your collection or for daily use.
All pens offered here have been fully restored by me or by German craftsmen who I trust and are guaranteed to you for two years. (Please note that this guarantee is not transferrable.) I want you to be able to use or enjoy your pens as much as I do.
Once again, thanks for all the support.
Last updated: Saturday, June 28, 2008