London Pen Show 2003

One of the most important pen shows in Europe is the London Pen Show.
Traditionally, it's in October at Kensington Town Hall. This was my 4th show in
London and I never miss it.

The organizer, Simon Gray, made this show a great success.
The London Pen Shows has three parts. The first part starts at Friday with the auction, the second part is flea market and shopping on Portobello Road, and third part is the big show on Sunday. So we have three days of exciting fun in many beautiful places in London.

The Showroom Floor

At the show, 49 exhibitors attended from the UK, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, USA, Switzerland and Croatia and I can't forget our faithful friend Eizo Fujii from Japan. Around 500 visitors enjoyed their time looking at vintage pens from all over the world. From the U.S. was Gary and Myrna Lehrer and also Cliff Harrington and his wife Elizabeth and some others I did not meet.

Cliff Harrington and his wife Elizabeth

Pen shows are places where everybody can find something for their collection.
Pens and pencils are not the only interesting things for pen lovers, many people are collecting nibs, inks, ink blotters, postcards and old advertising.

Boxes of nibs

The show started at 8 am for dealers and exhibitors, and opens for the public at 10 am, and it was closed at 5 pm.
At the Show I found some nice advertising for wooden pencils and my friend Duncan Sewell found nice advertising made at the beginning of the 20th Century, a beautiful enamel metal sign for Swan pens. This nice example Duncan bought for his own collection. Duncan also had a nice table with a large selection of vintage pens and pencils.

Duncan Sewell and his son

I can't write about all the nice things I saw on the show, but I will try to remember some. One important thing is the promotion of the new book in writing instruments by Mr. Jim Marshall, this new book is all about dip pens. The name of the book is Collectible Dip Pens. This book is a nice example for my book collection. Another dealers shows a large collection of Parker Carltonware pen holders, very beautiful colors and very nice decoration.

Parker Carltonware pen holders

Pencil collector David Parisi showed a large selection of great pencils.
I was very lucky. I found one nice silver automatic Penkala pencil.

Walking around tables, I saw fantastic and beautiful writing instruments and
accessories. Fantastic Namiki pen holders, also an Osmia dealer sample bag fitted with original vintage pencils. I really enjoyed my time in London. This is a fantastic destination for vintage pens.

Osmia display

We all enjoyed our time on the show. This year the show was better then last year, with more exhibitors, more collectors and visitors. I must say again that Simon Gray made a great job with the organization of the show. We can be sure that next year the show will be even better.

Ephemera

Around 5 pm the show was over. We packed our pens and pencils, said our farewells to others and then decided which pub has the best beer for a last farewell.<G>.<G>

If you are not lucky to find something for your collection on the pen show, at least you can be sure that you will find a good party with pen friends in a nice pub or restaurant.

London is the "must come" place for many reasons...one of them is for nice vintage writing instruments.

Photos by Miroslav Tischler Zagreb, Croatia
You can visit Miroslav Tischler at the Penkala web site