September Update

Hi everyone! As summer draws to a close, I just wanted to update you as to what’s been happening in the world of pens.

July was probably one of the most exciting and action-packed months that I can remember! The drama really started several months earlier as I heard the news of Fine Writing’s struggles with Visconti, one of Italy’s flagship pen makers. It seems as though all good things must come to an end. So on July 15th, 2009 Fine Writing of Brooklyn, NY is no longer the distributor of Visconti in the United States. We wish Don and Steve (the former principles) continued success in their endeavors.

Dante Delveccio, owner and founder of Visconti, was inundated with emails, and phone calls from dealers across the country (myself included) to the surprise of this decision. But with his mind made up, Dante has appointed a new distributor – Mark Cole of Coles of London. Mark is a new player in the U.S. market. You may recognize two brands that he started with: Online from Germany, an innovative collection of pens ranging in price from $30 to $500. The Online collection is probably the first pen line to hit the U.S. that competes directly with Lamy. Another pen that Coles of London offers is the Yoropen. I’m always amazed at the simple little display on my counter of this bent pen that is optimized for your writing comfort and ergonomic design that works great for both left handed and right handed folks. Mark, I wish you the best of luck with Visconti and I look forward to my successful continuation with the brand.

Many of you may be asking right about now: What about Ken Jones?!?
Ken has accepted a position at Yafa (distributors of Delta, and manufacturers of Conklin and Monteverde). Wait a minute! Did I just say Conklin? Yes, that’s right! Conklin was purchased by Jerry Greenberg of Yafa this past summer. See I told you this summer was full of exciting new changes! So, to Ken all the best success at Yafa, and we look forward to growing the Conklin brand with you and continued success with Delta and Monteverde.

Did I just say Monteverde? I’m telling you, it just keeps coming! Bertram’s Inkwell and Monteverde are launching the first refill recycling program. This exciting project promotes green thinking when it comes to disposal of ball points, gels, roller balls and ink cartridges.

July also means my favorite pen show of the year! I am speaking, of course, of the Miami show. I started out Wednesday the 15th, at 4:30am with all 3 of my daughters, Carol, Cathryn, and Chloe in tow. We had a great drive, a great trip altogether, and an awesome show!

This year was no different in terms of diversity in vendors and a great crowd of local pen collectors.

Alan Shaw of Shaw Pens in Pennsylvania created a series of pens called South Beach. One of which was given away in our Saturday drawing. The South Beach pen has the bright and flashy colors as well as trimwork in silver and gold, making it one of the better theme pens that I’ve seen. Good job Alan, and thanks for your support!

Sailor Pen was a welcomed vendor that we haven’t seen in a couple years at this show. Karen and Chris displayed the new transparent Pro Gear and limited edition Maki-e pens.

Chuck Swisher and his wife Lu of Swisher Pens put on a display of literally “soup to nuts”, with everything from little give-aways for kids to the finest of fountain pens. Chuck and his wife were thoroughly spoiled by the Biltmore as were we all!

Jimmy Dolive and Jimmy Jr. were on hand with a collection of pens like no other! While I don’t know how he did at the show, I do know that the Biltmore is Jimmy’s favorite as well.

Attending for the second time, Terry Mawhorter displayed a collection he was selling for a customer of his. For those of you who don’t know Terry, he is the promoter of the Columbus and Raleigh shows.

The Miami show has got to be the best of boutique shows in the circuit – small and intimate with a great following of loyal pen enthusiasts.
Thank you one and all for coming to the show!


And that’s just what happened in July! Moving into August, I received a letter from MontBlanc informing me that they were no longer distributing Montegrappa, another leading and innovative Italian pen maker. Montegrappa’s claim to fame came in the early ‘90’s with the introduction of the Silver Dragon. This oversized sterling silver fountain pen took the entire industry by storm with its introduction. A virtually unknown company at that time selling a fountain pen for over $2000! And today these pens (if you can find one) are commanding premium prices. And since then, Montegrappa has continued to produce the most eye-popping, decorative, intricate pens made from sterling silver, celluloid, and solid gold. So that leaves the question: Who is selling them now? One of our key partners, Kenro Industries, whom you know for bringing Aurora into the U.S. and making it the success that it is today, will bring Montegrappa into the premier spotlight here in the U.S.
Kenro, under the direction of Joel Blumberg, is a tightly run organization that also distributes Omas, Aurora, Libelle, Tibaldi, and Aquila brands. Kenro is always a big sponsor of the national pen show circuit. You’ve probably met Dick Krane, Kenro’s front man a.k.a. Energizer Bunny at one of these shows.

Speaking of pen shows, the D.C. Supershow really was just that: a super show. It all started bright and early on Friday morning with everyone getting set up and ready for the show. You could really feel the anticipation building as it got closer to opening time. By late Friday we were set and ready to roll.

In setting up, we put up my latest creation, a brand new addition to pen shows. I built a refill wall that holds literally hundreds of refills. This 4x12 foot long wall that I introduced to the world at our Miami pen show in July created quite a buzz during both shows.

On Saturday morning (opening day), the show was fast-paced as the pen fanciers came pouring in the doors! Business at Bertram’s Inkwell was steady throughout the day. 5pm came quickly and we quickly realized that we were out of stock. Adam went back to the store that night and loaded up with more pens, more refills, and more Whitelines notepaper. We’re selling a ton of this stuff! Sunday business was good, and when 4pm rolled around we were ready to go home.

Moving in to the Fall, in September, we will launch our refill exchange program. For every ball point, roller ball or gel that you send or bring in Bertram’s Inkwell will give you a credit of $1.00 towards the purchase of a new refill. I’ll even give you $.15 credit for an empty ink cartridge! We will be launching this program September 25th and 26th here in the store. Ken Jones will be on hand with thousands of Monteverde refills to make sure we find the right one for you. Hope you can make it!

Also, in October, Adam and I will be heading to New York for the New York pen show. Finally, the New York pen show is back in the city which it belongs!

In November, we have our biggest event of the year – our Bertram’s Inkwell annual pen fair which is on Saturday the 7th from 11-5pm. Pen manufacturers and distributors from the world over will be represented. Hourly drawings and prizes will be awarded. Stop by and see the latest and greatest that these companies have to offer!

That’s it for now, folks! We’ll update you again after the New York Show.

Miami Pen Show Just Around The Corner!

Time is fast approaching for the 2009 Miami Pen Show, taking place at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida. The show runs Friday July 17th through Sunday July 19th. I do still have tables available for those who wish to display or sell their pens/watches/related merchandise. The room rate is $159 until July 9th. This is a 5-star hotel, which at one point had the largest swimming pool in the United States. I don’t know who holds that title now, though!

I have scheduled pen seminars on collecting, buying, selling, and simple repairs for Saturday and Sunday. Speakers will be Susan Wirth (highly regarded for her knowledge of older pens and specialty nibs), Roger Cromwell (from San Francisco) will host a seminar on collecting pens. In addition to the show on Saturday and Sunday, I still have openings for Deborah Basil’s calligraphy class. This 2 hour course goes over the basics of beginning calligraphy. The course is offered at no charge – just the cost of admission to the show (which is $8). For that you get a one-day pass to the show, a $10 Sheaffer calligraphy pen, and 2 hours of calligraphy instruction.

Pen World Magazine will be handing out past and current issues to all attendees. Stylus Magazine will also be on hand contributing their publication as well. Stylus Magazine is generously offering door prizes of their annual magazine (a $24.95 value)! Kenro Industries, a sponsor of the show, are distributors of Omas, Aurora, Tibaldi, Libelle, and Atelier Simoni and are creators of the post card that we are sending out to over 10,000 folks in the Coral Gables area. It’s sure to bring in lots of customers! Ken Jones of Visconti Pens will be on hand with an incredibly massive assortment of current and past limited edition and collectible fountain pens. The assortment he is bringing was a special purchase from Italy, which was designed for promotion at the DC Pen Show, but we were able to get our hands on it before them! Bertram’s Inkwell is in the process of constructing a Monteverde Refill Wall. This 4x12 wall of refills will assure you that just about anyone can find a refill for their pen! It features gel refills in black, blue, and blue-black for MontBlanc ballpoint refills, Parker style ballpoint pens (Parker style means that it will fit just about everything) in colors from black, blue, blue-black, turquoise, brown, orange, pink, and purple. These are just two styles of the 50+ other styles represented on Monteverde’s refill wall!

Please refer to the website http://www.miamipenshow.com/ for all the latest updates and vendor information, or contact us at the store. Look forward to seeing you in Miami!

Miami Pen Show Update

Hey folks! Just to let you know, the Miami Pen Show is just around the corner! It's taking place on July 18-20th at the beautiful, world-renowned Biltmore Hotel. This will be the 6th year that Bertram's Inkwell will have the honor of running the show. Advertising will begin in June in the Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald newspapers as well as Miami Today, which is the Herald's web site. We will be promoting the free calligraphy class as we have in the past. How this helps vendors is that it's a virtual guarantee of 100+ paid entries to the show! Pen turners, and custom makers (such as Allan Shaw) have done very well in the past. Pen repair and nib restoration vendors are welcome as well! This is not just a show for new pens, either! Vintage dealers do very well at the show too! With only 80 tables available, we will be selling out quickly (again)!! One of the things that keeps bringing people back is the relaxed and luxurious atmosphere at the hotel. We don't run late, giving you plenty of time to relax around one of the largest swimming pools in the U.S.! The Biltmore is the only 5 star hotel in the U.S. pen show circuit. We'd love to have you come down because if you do, you'll be sure to come back to the show year after year!! Check us out at miamipenshow.com or give us a call at the store!

The New Pilot M90 is here!

The newest pen has arrived from Pilot! The M90 has certainly generated a lot of buzz amongst all fountain pen lovers! For Pilot's 90th anniversary, they chose a very sleek, innovative design where the steel nib is built in to the steel body of the pen. The nib is available in fine or medium. The cap is almost as long as the rest of the pen, and is rather compact when closed, but is a full-sized pen when the cap is posted. Also noteworthy is the royal blue stone that is set in the top of the cap. This pen uses a convertor or cartridges, giving you the option of using Pilot brand cartridges or your favorite color of bottled ink. With 9000 available worldwide, and no more than 1200 available in the U.S., this pen is sure to go quickly. The M90 retails at $190, and our price is $159. As usual with their pens, this is a smooth writer! Call, email us, or visit our site to get yours.

New Whitelines paper at Bertram's Inkwell

Bertram’s Inkwell is pleased to introduce a new writing concept called Whitelines! Whitelines is exactly as the name suggests: instead of black lines or a grid on white paper, Whitelines has white lines on a soft, grey background. The concept behind this paper is that the guiding lines that we use when writing are white on a soft, grey background as opposed to the dark black lines that we are used to. By using these white lines, we don't distract ourselves or our audience from the message. For example, when faxing this Whitelines paper, the lines won't show up, but your neat and orderly message will!

Notice in the sample below how distracting the black lines on white paper is to the eyesight.

Now we show how pleasant and pleasing to the eyes the Whitelines writing system is, and how much more clear of a picture you get when implementing this paper.

And don’t forget about the environmental impact that using this paper has on our planet! Whitelines truly cares about offsetting the use of trees by planting trees in Uganda. They also have a zero carbon footprint, which makes the production of this paper less harmful to the environment.


The calculation of their carbon footprint has been carried out in collaboration with the North Environment & Weather Agency. N.E.W.A. is one of the initiators behind the Swedish industry’s climate roll calls, initiated March ’07. NEWA has worked since 2002 with climate change analysis and its effect on different industries. In 2009, Whitelines will start to offset the low, yet remaining CO2 by planting trees in Uganda. This process will be handled by U & W, a “change to green” consultancy with a 15 year track record.








This paper is taking Europe on by storm, with several stationary shops over there already having Whitelines displays in their store.

And here’s our display…






These guys all look like Bert! Hey, maybe he has a future at this place!

Above, you will find an order form of what’s available from Whitelines at Bertram’s Inkwell. We will continue to add new items as they become available. I highly recommend this paper. I’ve been using the perfect bound, lined, pocket notebook to keep track of daily business, using a fountain pen, ball point, and even a mechanical pencil, and enjoyed it greatly! If you’re one to use Moleskine’s cahiers pocket notebooks, the Whiteline’s perfect bound books are perfect for you! At this writing, I only have a few testimonials on the paper; with more to come I’m sure!

Bert,

After using the Whitelines pocket notebook for a couple of weeks I've found it to be very handy. The features I like best are its slim shirt pocket size, no distracting lines, good quality paper that works well with a FP or BP pen, flexible cover, & all my notes are in one place. The only minus is that marking pens bleed thru, but who takes notes with those things anyway. Thanx for letting me be an advanced tester.

Al


Bert,
Thanks for letting me try this really cool paper! Been using it now for just a few weeks, and I’m finding that this stuff about using white lines vs. black lines really makes sense! Whitelines paper is much easier to read than black lines. I’ve also enjoyed the texture of the paper. Not super smooth like the orange guys and not too rough like the legal pads. It was just right! For me, most importantly, was the fact that I could use my Visconti Broad super wet nib on the paper without bleeding through. I love this paper! Please keep me in mind when you need someone to evaluate a new Omas pen! : )
Daniel

Hey Bert,
Despite the fact that I had to buy all my paper, and got no samples (unlike other lucky customers), I am enjoying this paper immensely! I bought the hard cover and soft cover, wire bound in both larger and smaller size. I had to use MY paper to add up the payroll for YOU! The pen I used was my MontBlanc 149 with an extra fine nib, which was loaded with Private Reserve’s Tropical Blue ink! I got a very solid line while writing on this paper. The ink left a nice, neat, consistent line. I was able to organize the numbers a lot easier with the white lines, which guided me, but did not obstruct my view of the payroll. I also had to re-write some notes, and used my green Visconti Wall St. Fp with a broad nib and Private Reserve’s Sherwood Green as well as my Omas blue Bologna celluloid fp with a medium nib and Diamine’s Steel Blue, and neither bled through the paper! It didn’t even root! I love how the different colors I used still stood out brightly and contrasted nicely against the paper. Overall, this paper is awesome!
Adam

New Whitelines paper!!

Hi everyone! I just have to make an announcement about a brand new type of paper to the U.S.A. called Whitelines. This paper is awesome!! The concept behind this paper is that the guiding lines that we use when writing are white on a soft, grey background as opposed to the dark black lines that we are used to. By using these white lines, we don't distract ourselves or our audience from the message. For example, when faxing this Whitelines paper, the lines won't show up, but your neat and orderly message will! Also, the environmental impact that this paper has is amazing. Among other things, they keep track of the carbon footprint of each pad of paper, and are very energy efficient in the production of this paper. This is not even on our website yet, but we've had such a demand from our customers for this, and we just got it in the store, so we figured it would be best to announce it here first and then let our webmaster add it to our website asap! And by now I'm sure you're all wondering how this paper stands up to the test of working with fountain pens, and we've given away several test samples of the paper to our customers. Now we're waiting for their review, but from my use of this paper so far, I LOVE it!! I used one of my broad nibs, and it didn't bleed through or anything!

Here's what we just got in the store:

Hard bound lined: 8 1/2 x 11 3/4 $21.00
6 x 8 1/2 $14.00
4 1/4 x 6 $9.00
Hard wire squared: 8 3/4 x 11 3/4 $21.00
Hard wire lined: 8 1/2 x 11 3/4 $21.00
6 x 8 1/2 $14.00
4 1/4 x 6 $9.00
Wire lined or squared: 8 1/2 x 11 3/4 $9.50
6 x 8 1/2 $7.50
Call the store or email if you have any questions. You won't be dissapointed!

Bert's trip to L.A. the Pen Show and Yafa

A late winter greeting! Make that Hello Spring – which is upon us soon! Making this newsletter a little late. 2009 started out with the Philadelphia Pen Show which broke records in table sales and general attendance. I’ve asked Adam (our resident Pen Guru aka Pen Nut) to write about it.
In February, I flew to L.A. over Valentine’s Day weekend with the approval of my wife Jennifer. I got a 9am flight from Reagan National, making it to LAX by 1pm. This is when the fun started! With the pen show not really starting until Friday, I had most of Thursday to have some fun. I called my friend Jerry Greenberg at Yafa, and he invited me to visit his operation. For those of you who don’t know what Yafa is, they are the distributors of Delta Pens, and the world headquarters of Monteverde USA. These are just two brands of the countless others that Yafa represents. After a hundred dollar cab ride for all of about 30 miles, I arrived at their offices. Jerry and I got right to work with an extended tour of his warehouse and manufacturing facilities, starting with Monteverde brand’s refills. Monteverde produces more refills, in more colors, in more sizes, in more styles, etc. than any other company. To do this, they have teamed up with the best refill makers in Germany, Switzerland, and Asia. Jerry showed me how the refills come in tens of thousands at a time, and his staff of 30+ people, blister card, package, and ship these refills. The line-up consists of, but is not limited too multipoint refills in 10 colors, international European ink cartridges in 10 colors, Parker style ballpoint refills, rollerball refills, and most notably: MontBlanc style gel refills for their ballpoint pens. My favorite is the Blue/Black Medium for the MontBlanc. And it doesn’t stop there! Speaking of blue/black, how about a Parker Style ballpoint refill in a double broad (or 1.4mm to get technical) in blue/black?! I can’t even list the hundreds of pens that this Parker Style refill will fit, but I’m sure you’ve got plenty.

After leaving the refill facility, we went to the building next door where Yafa’s ad specialty division is housed. Here I saw literally hundreds upon hundreds of promotional items – mostly pens of course – to environmentally friendly tote bags that this division of Yafa will print with a company’s name for promotional purposes. While there, the staff was working on printing 2000 bicycle bells – yeah, the one you put on the handle of a bike and pushed with your thumb when you were a kid.

Saving the best for last, we went to the Delta warehouse. This of course is where all the Delta pens are stored. It was a pen aficionado’s dream come true to see stacks upon stacks of Indigenous People’s Pens, the all new Capri series, and the ever-fun Dolcevita collection. I tried to get Jerry to give me one of the new Dolcevita piston fillers, but in a word, he said “No”. Later we went to Jerry’s office to discuss strategies, and to discuss what’s going on in the pen industry. After only a few minutes of talking, I could see Jerry’s passion for pens had not been hampered by the economic plague gripping our country. Sales not included, watch out for many new and exciting products to be launched by Monteverde and Delta in 2009. To Jerry: Many thanks, my friend, for giving up your afternoon and spending so much time with me. It was a blast! And for
my private black sedan to make my ride on the 405 a pleasure!

Adam's Philadelphia Pen Show 2009 Review

Well folks, it’s been a while since our last update in the world of pens. We’ve had quite a bit of changes in the meantime. We’ve worked a few pen shows, and many new pens have come out too!


We hosted this year’s Philadelphia Pen Show, which was great! It was the first time I’ve gotten to go to the Philly Show, and I got to meet many fun people that shared my enthusiasm in all writing instruments – both vintage and new! Bert and I got to go to a couple of restaurants that were packed full of people (which made the atmosphere all the more fun). The first night Bert, Renn (the security guy), and I went to The Happy Rooster which is a small restaurant, with great food, that happened to have a karaoke night while we were there. And no, I couldn’t get Bert to go up there and sing (maybe if we had a few more drinks…)! The next night we went to a very nice restaurant called Table 31, with Dave MacDougal (who represents Curtis of Australia), Jimmy Dolive, Jimmy Dolive Jr., Chuck Swisher, and his wife. The food was incredibly delicious, and the server was very friendly. On Saturday night we enjoyed the company of the crew from Fountain Pen Hospital (Steve Wederlight, Ed Fingerman, and Ricky), and the crew from Kenro Industries (Dick Krane, and Bryan H.) who represents Aurora, Omas, Libelle, and Aquila, as well as Nancy Olsen (with Stylus Magazine). We all went to Maggianno’s Restaurant and had a great Italian meal. During the show I managed to pick up a few great finds! Ken Jones of Visconti Pens helped me acquire a totally awesome Gold Nugget Ltd. Fountain Pen with a stub nib that writes beautifully! Joel Allison was also generous in my acquisition of 4 of his limited Cross ballpoint pens, as well as two of his limited Zippo lighters. Overall, the show was a lot of fun, and a great experience, and was also filled with non-stop excitement!

The 2009 Philadelphia Pen Show was sponsored by Visconti Pens. Their generous support of the show makes all of the marketing efforts possible. Of course Ken Jones and his skill as a salesman is about all the marketing effort any pen company needs! It sure was nice for them to donate one of their pens for the raffle (won by Jean Kellerman of Philly, PA)! For those of you, who didn’t get a postcard in the mail, thank you Joel Blumberg of Kenro Industries for producing the Bentley Pen themed postcards.

Alan Shaw of Shaw Pens produced/designed the theme pen for the show. It is called The Cradle of Liberty. It is an ongoing series of pens to highlight the history of Philadelphia and the nation. It was available in a steel nib or gold nib. This was given away on Sat. Jan. 24th, 2009 to Jeffrey Lerner of Merion, PA. We just spoke with Alan a few days ago and learned that he has just re-vamped his website to allow you to create and design your own pen for him to make! Check it out at www.shawpens.com.
This was the fifth year that Bertram’s Inkwell has actually run the Philadelphia Show. Each year the show has grown from an original count of 60 tables to the 95+ tables that we had this year! The amount of people coming through the doors has grown at an equally fast pace with this year’s attendance approaching 700 people! The show was promoted in The Philadelphia Enquirer, and on the radio, in addition to sending out over 5000 postcards. This show is more heavily promoted than most of the other shows out there. So if you’re planning on participating in (or just attending) a show, the Philadelphia Pen Show should be at the top of your list. Next on the list of “must attend” shows (if you’re looking for a more relaxed atmosphere) is the Miami Pen Show. Mark your calendar for July 17th, 18th, 19th, 2009 and stay at the five-star Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida.

MontBlanc Virginia Wolf And William Faulkner Ball Points

Well we got back from Philly on Tuesday and boy oh boy was that a busy show. Friday Saturday and Sunday we were running the whole time. Just a quick post I did manage to get 3 sweet pens...... well more then 3 but these are the ones I'm gonna tell you about.
MontBlanc William Faulkner Ball Point $495.00
MontBlanc Virginia Wolf Ball Point $425.00
MontBlanc Historical Ball Point $295.00

3 Great pens I'm sure will go quick.

I should have pic's on the site soon for the Visconti Stackin pen boxes. Each one holds 12pens and when it's full just stack a new box on top and filler up again till you run out of pens, like thats gonna happen. The boxes have magnets in them so they hold each other together and as you build up teh stack they look like one box. Very cool to store your pens in a small space.

Philadelphia Pen Show 2009

Hello to all!

We have a few rooms left, and I wanted to remind everyone that the deadline for the room rate is Jan. 15th, and after that the rates go up to $179. For the first time this year we are in the main ballroom and not the two-room setup!! There are some tables left, so get them while you can!! Some changes in the works for this year are: We will be offering free breakfast at the hotel restaurant - no need to stand around a coffee & danish bar while you set up. This offer is good for all table holders on Saturday morning of the 24th. I got off the phone with Roger Cromwell of Penopoly and he has agreed to host one of our seminars during the show! Radio ads start next week, and 5000 postcards are in the mail this Friday, with several ads promoting the show, and the free calligraphy class will go to print in the Philadelphia Enquirer. This is a great show that gets a lot of press in the mid-atlantic region! Don't delay any longer - book that table, and we'll see you in Philly!! Please call or email with any questions.


Adam
Bertram's Inkwell
11301 Rockville Pike
Kensington, MD 20895
1-800-782-7680

Lamy Safari Orange Flame Fountain Pen

Well, they are on the way! Finally after several months of trying to convince Lamy to make me more Orange Flame Safari fountain pens, they finally listened. Bertram's Inkwell of Rockville with our first blog is pleased to announce the arrival of this last chance opportunity to get a hold of one of the most sought after Lamy pens. I've got the Orange Flame in fine, med and 1.5 italic. Check out the website for order information. If that doesn't work give us a call or email.

Bert Oser
Bertram's Inkwell
11301 Rockville Pike
Kensington MD 20895
http://www.bertramsinkwell.com/
800-782-7680