The Washington DC 2009 SuperShow

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The Washington Pen Show usually comes toward the end of my pen show year, after Portland and before Columbus. This year, because of our stay in England, it kicked off a short, modified year for me.

Along with Los Angeles, Washington is arguably the largest show in the world. If you are unfamiliar with it and/or interested in learning more, just follow this link to the show’s wildly eclectic website: http://www.pencentral.com/

This was my first show in nine months and it was great to see old friends and meet some new people, most notably Brian and Andrea Gray of Edison Pens, with whom I placed an order.

The show, itself was most excellent in every respect. I was able to put quite a few excellent pens into peoples’ hands and got to meet a couple of people whom I have been selling pens to, in person. I found more good pens, both for myself and for the website than I ever recall at any single show, and I had a great time.

My Washington show went on a day longer, as the Board of Directors of the pen Collectors met on Monday in retreat. It was a productive day in which we were able to assess the work of the last few years, define some mid-course corrections and chart our direction into the future.

It was a grand weekend.

Because of space considerations and baggage restrictions I did not bring along my camera, but in truth, images do not tell the story of a pen show, it really is more than a roomful of pens and people. I am presenting below a couple of images from previous shows taken from the show website and I am showing off my haul of pens, both for others and myself.

Enjoy!

Some images of previous DC Shows taken from the show website.

These are the pens I brought home from the show. Over the next few weeks they will get loaded onto the site. Among the more notable of them are a yellow binde Pelikan 100, lizard Pelikan 101N, a tortoise 100N, a burgundy 140 set, nearly mint, in the pouch, a seagreen 400 set, an M605 in blue and so on. Among the more notable Parkers were Vacuum Fillers in silver stubby and in crystal and an ever-popular Premier.
These, however, are mine. The weekend yielded up two of the pens on my short list, an OMAS Paragon T2 Limited Edition and a bakelite Parker 28. I also scored a lovely Parker 25 1/2 and a delightful Italian nesun nome.
It was a rockin' weekend.

And next week, back to school. While I shall be happy to see colleagues again and meet new students, it will be the most difficult year in my career as a result of the severe budgetary cutbacks, pay cuts, furloughs, student dismissals, the lot.