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In the News
The fall meeting of the Baltimore Fountain Pen Society was held on October 4 and was hosted by Deborah Basel. Pictured in the halloween spirit, from left, are: Deborah Basel (holding club mascot Wendy), Teri Bennett, Mike Meyers, Bob Sweeney, Dana Weckesser and James Moody.
BFPS friend and honorary member Jim Rouse, left, shares a moment with Webmaster James Moody during August's Washington, D.C., Fountain Pen Supershow. (Photo by Donald C. Lewns)
The April 2009 meeting of the Baltimore Fountain Pen Society took place in the Campbell Room of Baltimore's Engineer's Club in the historic Garrett Jacobs Mansion in Mt. Vernon. Pictured are (left to right): Don Lewns, co-founding member Teri Lura Bennett, Michael Myers, Deborah Basel, co-founding member Dana Weckesser, Bob Sweeney, James Moody and co-founding member Paul Walker. Ms. Weckesser hosted the meeting. Ms. Basil displays her "big book," which members inaugurated by writing notes with their favorite fountain pen and Mr. Walker hold's Webmaster Moody's well-used nib cloth. The pen society meets semi-monthly and new members are always welcome to attend. (Additional photos may be found in the album below.)
Members of the Baltimore Fountain Pen Society write a BIG thank you note to Jim Rouse of Bertram's Inkwell with the store's famous huge Sheaffer fountain pen during their February 8 meeting. Jim, Bertram's Baltimore proprietor, played host for the February meeting, as he has each year for many years. (Click on image for larger version.) Several members of the pen society attended this year's Philadelphia Fountain Pen Show, January 25-27 at the Sheraton Center City Hotel. The show was a tremendous success. Be sure to view a gallery of scenes from the show. A Message from one of the founding members Dear all Fountain Pen lovers! Last weekend (August 10 trough 12) was another great DC Fountain
Pen SuperShow. Aren't we lucky to have such an incredible
fountain pen gathering opportunity right in our backyard? Many
thanks to Bob Johnson, our genial host, who makes it all happen. Friday, August 10 began with a workshop in
UNCIAL calligraphy lettering by Ward & Linnea of Atelier
Gargoyle, San Francisco. We learned about and practiced this 4th
century lettering style from two of the best practitioners of
our day. It was an exceptional opportunity & the day flew by,
tho’ I did manage to pop into the show to say “hi” to Jim at
Bertrams and make a trade with Mike Quitt (a pen for a dear
Conklin pen stand adorned with a bronze dog statue). That
evening the hotel treated us to a wine & pizza party, a
wonderful opportunity to get together with familiar and new
pen-folks. A dip in the pool afterwards was a perfect ending to
a full day. Saturday, August 11 opened early for us
traders & dealers as we scurried about to load tables with
wonderful pens & paraphernalia. The atmosphere was electric as
we anticipated a busy day. Deborah & I helped Brenda set up her
tables for “Paper & Ink Arts,” and then I was off to check with
Roger of Penopoly, who had indicated in Philly that he might
have a P51 with a broad italic nib for me. He had remembered and
we were able to work a deal to both of our satisfactions.
After a walk around to catch up with some familiar faces,
it was off to lunch. Some of us from the Baltimore Pen club,
walked to nearby Bombay Tandoor (no way I was moving my car from
the hotel parking lot—they were shuttling folks in!). The
luncheon buffet was excellent. After a bit of “pen show and
tell,” it was back to the show to score some finds!
Bob Sweeney was our SUMGAI, with $5 each for
a silver overlay pencil & pen; needs new nib, but worth it!
Mike Meyers worked a convoluted deal for a custom Parker
Aztec silver pen—beautiful, and only one of Mike’s amazing pen
deals! That afternoon our Third Annual Joint
meeting of the Mid-Atlantic pen clubs—DC Metro, Baltimore, &
Richmond—attracted 20 folks. There were some familiar faces and
some new, with more great show & tell. The report from Gerry of
the Richmond club was a lesson in business-like club meetings
for us DC/Baltimore people. I think we are as organized as we
want to be just now, but we were impressed none the less.
Several folks brought amazing collections, like Paul's
incredible Eversharp collection and we even had a visit from
Alain from Detroit, who just wanted to see what pen clubs were
about. Several of us made plans to meet in the lobby to caravan
to Clyde’s of Tyson’s Corner for dinner. We had a great time,
good food & lively conversation. Sunday, August 12 the deal of the day had to
be the one Mike brokered for Deb to get a sailor music nib in a
yellow pen tweaked by legendary nib-meister Mr. Nagahara. It
involved three different vendors to make it happen. I’m
impressed & Deborah is delighted with her new pen, which is even
better than the one she tried out for her article in Pen World.
Doesn't this story sum up why this show is so special, where
else could such a deal be done but the DC show? See you next August! Teri Lura Bennett BTW – Northern Virginia is planning major subway construction for next year right in the area around the hotel. There will probably be some new signs and tricky(er?) traffic so, be aware & plan accordingly!
"There were only four of us at the meeting," member James Moody reports, "but we all had a great time. Dana was the perfect host and we thoroughly enjoyed the lovely surroundings."
Pictured above and looking like they fit
right into the mansion's beautiful drawing room are the April
2007 quartet: (left to right) club Webmaster James Moody, Dana
Weckesser, DC Metro Pen Club and BFPS member In addition to the usual exchange of pen stories, the group participated in an ink exchange. (Thanks to Bob for the idea.) Each member brought in ink that he or she had either grown tired of or had in too great a supply. After passing the inks around the table, each person was able to take a new ink home. The February 2007 meeting of the BFPS was held at Bertram's Inkwell on Friday, February 9. During the meeting, founding members Teri, Dana and Paul were interviewed for the latest episode of the Afterthoughts podcast, hosted by Webmaster James Moody. Jim Rouse, proprietor of Bertram's also shared his insights about fountain pens and their history for the podcast. (To hear the podcast, simply click on the podcast icon included with this posting. The file should play on the audio plug-in associated with your Web browser. On slower connections, a few moments may be required for the file to download. You can download the file to your computer by right-clicking on the icon.) Congratulations to Teri Lura Bennett, who won the night's door prize: a beautiful Omas 1930 pen for which Jim had customized the nib. The prize was also courtesy of Jim from Bertram's. All were surprised that someone other than Paul won for a change; Paul was relieved.
And special thanks to Jim, too, for the
wonderful gift bags he created for each of us who attended the
meeting. You are a great and generous host, Jim!
Gerry Sandusky, WBAL-TV 11 sports
anchor and radio voice of the Ravens, began a love affair with
fine writing instruments when fellow anchor Rod Daniels handed
him a catalog from Levenger’s.
Read more of the article that appeared in the November 28
edition of The Examiner.
The
summer meeting of the Baltimore Fountain Pen Society was held on
April 2 at the Engineer's Club at the historic Garrett Jacobs On Friday, February 10, 2006, pen enthusiast and proprietor Jim Rouse
hosted a special evening at our favorite pen store, Bertram’s Inkwell in downtown Baltimore.
It was a
special treat to be able to visit the store after it was closed.
Jim is a special host and we always learn a lot about what's
going on in the world of fountain pens. During the meeting, he
showed us some of his private collection. And, of course, the
rest of us passed around our latest finds, too.
Congratulations to member Paul Walker, who
won (for the third time!) the great door prize that Bertram's
put together for the meeting. We're thinking of delegating Paul
the task of purchasing our tickets to the next PowerBall
drawing!
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Baltimore Pen Society founding member Dana 
Bob Sweeney, and Felix Tarasco.
Mansion in Mt. Vernon. As usual, we passed around our latest pen
finds and tried a variety of inks. A couple members brought pads
of Rhodia and Clairfontaine papers, so many of us got the
opportunity to enjoy using our fountain pens on some great
paper.
