Saturday, November 03, 2007

It's Showtime!

We're here and, it seems, so is everyone else. Here, in case you don't know, is the Ohio Pen Show, just outside of Columbus, Ohio. It's billed as the fourth largest show in the United States and while I can't verify the claim, it would come as no surprise given all the activity I've seen since yesterday.

Craig and I arrived yesterday around noon. When we wallked into the bourse, the trading activity already seemed to be going full swing and the excitement was palpable. Within a few minutes, we had come across a number of people we've met at previous shows, and were finally able to put faces with the names of dozens of those with whom we've communicated either on the telephone or email. Friends from the Zoss list, The Fountain Pen Network and Pentrace were all present and accounted for.

There's a lot of work involved in attending a pen show, at least from the vendor side, so we spent the next few hours arranging and organizing our tables to best highlight the hundreds of pens and accessories we brought along. Among were them wre the new Lamy Ocean Blue Al-Star and Lamy Studio in Pearl White, which arrived just in time for the show. We also just received a shipment of the cotton resin version of the Omas Bologna. Although our Omas shipment was incomplete, we did get a fair sampling of fountain pens, ballpoints and even a mechanical pencil.

The new Lamy Al-Star is, without a doubt, my favorite of the Al-Star colors. The clip and nib are a brightly polished chrome, which is a nice complement to the bright and vibrant blue. Being a Lamy, the quality is a given and one of these will definitely make it into my pocket. The Studio is no slouch, either and the new pearlized white reminds me of an extra-cost option on some of the luxury cars I've seen on the road. Very nice indeed!

More to come later. It's Saturday morning now and the show begins in earnest with the first public day. I'll try to update the blog a little later tonight after I set up the Fifth of Sumgai Sundai sale.

Thanks for stopping by.

James

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