Hey PayPal, Thanks for Nothing!

I recently found out that PayPal is offering a rebate of $15.00 on purchases of $30.00 or more. That sounded like a good deal to me, so I did a little checking and ended up upgrading the The Pear Tree Pen Company account so my customers could take advantage of that offer.

Then, I discovered that not everyone is eligible for this rebate. From what I've been able to learn, this promotion was open to everyone until last week, when PayPal changed the terms and conditions of their offer to require an express invitation.

So, to make it up to you, my loyal customer (you know who you are), here's what I'm going to do - I'll make up part of the promotion by offering 10% off any purchase of $30.00 or more until March 31. Enter coupon code "YNotMe" at check out to receive your discount.

And, just to tick off PayPal, use your American Express!

Ya know, it just occurred to me that this discount, coupled with the free shipping on the Monteverde Mega is one heck of a deal!

Happy Shopping!

Spring Break

The Pear Tree Pen Company will be taking a brief holiday from February 23rd through March 5, 2007. Any orders received after 5:00 pm on February 22nd will be filled when we open up again on March 6, 2007. It is unlikely that I will have cell phone access and even less likely that I will have (or want, frankly) access to the internet while I'm away.

So get your order in now if you want it to go out before Friday!

I apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause. I wish I could have someone working to fill orders, answer the telephone, or answer email while I'm gone, but my business isn't quite there yet. Yet.

But it's only a week. Y'all can wait a week, can't you?

Thanks everyone and play nice while I'm gone!

I Like the Cut of Your Nib, Sailor

I don't think I've made much of a secret how much I enjoy using Sailor pens. In fact, because I like the way they perform so much, when I opened the Pear Tree Pen Company, Sailor was the very first pen line I signed up with.

There does seem to be a little bit of confusion regarding this brand, however, and one of my customers recently wrote me, stating "Also, am considering a Sailor pen. I must admit I am confused about this line of FPs. Have heard they come in piston filler, but never seen them. Also, some seem to have the anchor logo, some don't. Some are medium, some are full, some are "older design.

Can you tell me what you have available in black, clarifying the above?"

I guess he liked my response, and he encouraged me to post it, figuring others may be equally confused. So, here it is, with some minor modifications. :)

[Ahem]

To celebrate its 95th anniversary, Sailor made a limited edition pen, called the Realo. That was Sailor's first and only piston-filler, and it was limited to 600 units (500 for the Asian market, numbered xxx/500, and 100 for the European and North American market, numbered xxx/100), all of which are sold out (at least on the retail level).

The Realo is based on Sailor's King of Pen. Primary differences included the filling system (Realo is piston-filled, K.O.P. is cartridge/converter), and material (Realo is resin, K.O.P. is ebonite). The Realo also had gold trim, whereas the K.O.P. is generally unadorned.

The full-size 1911 pens with the anchor logo on the cap were imported into the US before 2006. In early 2006, Sailor's US distributor split up, and there was a 2-3 month period where it was almost impossible to get a 1911 here in the States. From what I've been told, only the US-imported 1911s had the anchor logo on them (they also had a "blind cap" that matched the barrel color). In an effort to stave off a price increase, the new US distributor and Sailor agreed to produce the same 1911 around the world, rather than have a slightly different pen in the US market. As a result, the end caps are now universally black, and the anchor logo on the cap has also been replaced with a black domed cap, giving an overall torpedo-like shape. The other change to the design involves the trim ring - in previous iterations, there was a metal trim ring at the end of the section nearest the nib. The new edition has a thinner trim ring moved up on the section and is now situated just below the barrel threads.

At that time, Sailor also discontinued the burgundy and green version of the 1911.

There is also a smaller version of the 1911 that is available, called the 1911M (for mid-sized). It used to be known as the "colors" series pens, but that doesn't fit anymore, since the full-size 1911 is now available in the same colors. The full-size 1911 (or FS) has a 21K gold nib that 's somewhat larger than that on the M. The M's nib is 14K gold. The M is shorter in length and smaller in circumference than its larger sibling.

They come in the same colors -- Red, Blue, Yellow and the clear Demonstrator. In the full-size, black is also available, but black isn't offered in the M-sized version. The black version comes in either gold-plated or rhodium trim. Both are in stock.

Also, the M doesn't have a zoom nib or a medium-fine. In the FS version, the demonstrator is also available in gold or rhodium trim, but the M's demonstrator is only available in gold.

I have the black 1911 FS in black in all nib sizes - EF, F, MF, M, Music and Zoom. I don't have any broad nibs in stock, but they can be ordered and delivered very quickly if necessary.

Phew!

I think that about covers it.

Let me know if you have ay more questions and I'll do my best to answer them."

I hope that was helpful and thanks for stopping by!

James

After the Rain

Into every life some rain must fall. Never has that old adage held more true than it did last week.

As many of you probably know, my computer fried itself into oblivion last week when all I was trying to do was fiddle around with its innards to make it better, stronger, faster (I was attempting to make the world's first Bionic computer). That's gratitude for ya!

Luckily, I was able to access the internet to receive orders and respond to emails, but my order processing, inventory tracking and accounting software was all kaplooey (don't worry, it's backed up; I just couldn't access it).

Then the Pear Tree Pen Company had one of the busiest sales weeks in its history, with orders seemingly coming in every few minutes. It got so bad at one point I had to leave the office, because I couldn't take the hearing the little "beep" that signals a new order anymore! On any other week, that wouldn't be so bad, but not being able to process the orders as quickly as they were coming in was making me nuts!

Finally, the piece de resistance (sorry, I can't do accents) - my long-awaited order of Diamine arrived! I received about a hundred pounds of ink on Friday, and the second wave is on the truck scheduled to be delivered later today. So now I get to clear out that long back-log of orders from my ill-fated "Buy-One-Get-One Free Sale."

Let's just say that my weekend was a little busier than normal. I am pleased to say, however, that I did clear out about 80% of those back-orders, and the rest will be going out in the next few days, while at the same time, keeping other orders moving through the system - albeit at a reduced pace.

But the good news is that my new PC is slated to arrive tomorrow (thanks, Dell, for expediting my order!) and I should be up and running at full strength again by Wednesday or Thursday.

Just in time for my "one-year anniversary" sale! Stay tuned . . .

Lamy Price Increase on the Horizon

We recently received word from FiloFax USA that a general price increase will become effective on January 25, 2007. This price hike affects Lamy fountain pens, rollerballs, ballpoints, (including the extremely popular Al-Star and Safari) as well as Lamy refills and fountain pen ink. Other brands FiloFax USA distributes will also be affected, such as Yard-o-Led, Lett's of London and Filofax.

If you've ever been interested in buying any of these quality pens or inks but have hesitated for some reason, you might want to get your order in now to lock in the lowest possible price.

We will ship out all Lamy products in stock on a first-come, first-served basis, and will take pre-orders as long as possible. But orders must be placed soon, so please act quickly if you'd like to take advantage of this before the higher prices take effect.

While we don't have any Yard-O-Led writing instruments in stock, we'll happily place a special order before the price increase takes effect.

New Ink On the Block: Colfer's Imperial InksTM

For the past few weeks, I've been messing around with a couple of inks from the veritable "new kid on the block," Colfer'’s Imperial Inks^TM Having first learned about this start-up venture on the Fountain Pen Network, I contacted Sean Colfer, the inventor, to inquire about becoming a guinea pig and he promptly obliged me with samples of four different colors.

Colfer's Imperial Inks^TM are billed as the "World's Only Adjustable Ink." What this means is that these inks will be available as concentrates - permitting the user to adjust the color density and other attributes by adding more or less distilled water to the concentrate. The concentrates will be sold in varying sizes, including the one-ounce eyedropper bottle, an "EZ-Uze^TM" package, that makes 2-ounces of ink, and an "EZ-Trav^TM" vial, which will yield 1/2 ounce of ink.

Don't have the necessary supplies to mix ink concentrates? Sean has thought of that, so Colfer's Imperial Inks^TM will also be sold in a complete kit, with everything you need to mix your ink - except distilled water, of course. The inks will also be available already mixed in a 2-ounce Redi-2-Uze^TM package. (Sean seems to really enjoy using cute-sy spellings coupled with the ^TM symbol, such as "EZ-Trav^TM" and "Redi-2-Uze^TM," to identify his products - he must have an intellectual property lawyer in the family). As for me, it's getting to be a pain in the posterior to keep coding the superscript, so I think I'll stop now. But to all you would-be trademark infringers out there - you've been put on notice!

As for me, I've got a lot of things on my plate at the moment and I didn't want to fool around with mixing inks so I asked Sean if he'd just send me the pre-mixed inks. This also gave me the opportunity to see the inks as envisioned by their creator.

The inks arrived shortly after Thanksgiving. I received four different colors: Blue Spruce, NY Central Jade, Cotes de Nuit and Sovereign Blue. I've had a chance to put the Blue Spruce and NY Central Jade through their paces, so to speak, but have only dip-tested the other two.

The executive summary is that I've been very pleased and impressed with the ink. So pleased, in fact, that I decided become an authorized retailer of Colfer's Imperial Inks.^TM Not that has anything to do with my review; rather, the opposite is true - it was my review of the inks that spurred my interest in becoming a seller.

Surprisingly, my personal favorite turned out the be the NY Central Jade. I filled my Hero 616 with it and the ink started flowing without a hitch (typical of that pen, I have to say). The color is a nice true green, bright without being garish. I wish I could make a good scan, but my cheap HP scanner is notoriously unreliable when it comes to color reproduction. And the color chart I posted on my website seems lighter the ink displays when you're up close and personal. Of course, monitors vary, and you may see it as it really is. The ratio of concentrate to water that Sean used may also explain the variance. In any event, the ink I used was considerably closer to J. Herbin's Lierre Sauvage than to Diamine Woodland Green, if that helps anyone visualize the color.

I tried the ink on several different papers, ranging from good quality to garbage, and it behaved well in every situation. It dried quickly and there was no feathering or bleed-through. It did smear a little when wet, but then again, it's not billed as a waterproof ink.

The next ink I used was the Blue Spruce. I was really hoping to love this color - the Blue Spruce is one of my favorite trees. Confession time: I haven't used this ink in a fountain pen. Instead, I filled my Monteverde Mega Ink Ball with it. The "nib" on the Mega writes a fine-to-medium line, and although the ink flowed really well, the color just didn't grab me at first. In fact, I was downright disappointed. I have to admit, however, that after using it consistently for the past few weeks, it's really starting to grow on me. I still like the Jade better, but I think in a pen with a broader nib, it'll be really nice.

One noteworthy thing: To address mailing labels, I have been alternating using this pen and ink combination with a Pelikan 140 filled with Diamine Woodland Green (my current favorite green ink, by the way). I was astonished to see how badly the Diamine feathered on the Avery labels in comparison to the Colfer's. And Diamine didn't feather all that badly - but feathering was virtually non-existent with the Colfer's.

I have dip-tested two other inks that Sean sent and I'm eager to try these out, too. The Cotes de Nuit is a perfect match for a burgundy pen and appears close to Herbin Pousierre de Lune.

I dipped my Waterman Liaison with a broad nib into the Sovereign Blue and it was an extremely dark blue - not at all what I expected. But I used it on the most inexpensive of papers so it is likely not truly representative of what the ink will look like in actual use. And again, diluting the concentration with more distilled water would likely yield a lighter blue.

I hope to write a review of those inks after I've had a chance to use them more extensively.

Visit the Colfer's section of my website to view the Colfer's color chart. And, if you're so inclined, feel free to pre-order these inks, in any of their various incarnations, at a special pre-introductory price.

Thanks for stopping by!

Buy One Get One Free?

To celebrate the holiday season, the Pear Tree Pen Company would like to offer its customers something special - something rarely seen in the world of online pen retailing. So, it (come on, who are we kidding? I) decided to offer select items at an unheard of "Buy one, Get One Free" price."

The problem is, I have so many wonderful things in stock that I can't decide what to offer at this price! Sure, I'd love to be able to do that for all the items in my store, but I have a family to feed, too!

So I've decided to let YOU choose the items from my inventory to make available at this unbelievable discount.

So - here's how it's gonna work: Each week from now until the week before Christmas, one item from my inventory will be offered on a "2 for 1" basis. All I ask is that you all let me know what you'd like me to put on sale. I'll select the winning item from the votes received, either online or via email, at 2Fer@PearTreePens.com. (All sales prices will be based on MSRP, by the way.)

You would be well-justified in asking, "Is this some sort of marketing gimmick?" Of course it is! But I'm flush with Thanskgiving turkey and a whole lot of liquid lubrication and my otherwise sound judgment may be slightly impaired. But I still think it's a pretty good deal, and the ultimate winner will be you!

So, let's get the ball rolling - visit my website and let me know which of the items I have available you'd like me to put on sale. Beginning Monday, November 27, 2006, the item with the most votes that week will be listed for sale on my website.

While you're poking around the site, check out what else I have to offer - this could be the best time to buy that ink, journal or pen you've always wanted - for a limited time all orders over $100 get free shipping and you can take an additional 10% off all orders over $25 (see my homepage for details).

And don't forget to tell your friends to vote and look around the site. Click here to visit the Pear Tree Pen Company website.