Even if things aren’t necessarily “back to normal” (whatever the “new normal” is), this past weekend’s trip to the Baltimore Washington International Pen Show finally had the energy and level of engagement that I remember from 2020. Sure, this past year’s DC Pen Show and San Francisco Pen Shows were good, but they were the first large shows in more than a year, and you could sense the nerves and a degree of (warranted) anxiety not just due to COVID, but how the show circuit would spring back and whether all the various pen shows around the country would even survive. I attended the Chicago Pen Show in October, and saw a lot that gave me concern. After Baltimore, things feel back on track.
Festivities kicked off early with a Friday morning “prototype rush” at the Franklin-Christoph table. Every morning at opening, Franklin-Christoph sets out trays of pens in one-off or experimental prototype materials. These are quite popular!
The Baltimore Pen Show Is a Great Show for Both New and Experienced Attendees
Baltimore is one of my favorite pen shows - in fact, it’s in the running for my overall favorite, up there with San Francisco. It’s not the biggest show, but for its size, Baltimore has an excellent balance of new and vintage vendors, large retailers, custom pen makers, and hobbyists showing off their handmade accessories and other crafts. Best of all, Baltimore attracts a large number of talented nib grinders and pen restorers, so if you fancy a custom nib grind or otherwise need a pen worked on, there’s no shortage of options. There are plenty of seminars on a diverse range of topics from calligraphy classes to nib tuning, as well as organized after-hours events featuring socializing and giveaways.
Dromgoole’s brought the ink this year!
Les at Stylosuite brought his full array of pens fitted with his custom-ground flex and italic nibs. I had the chance to write with all of his various grinds and customizations.
Evan and Julian of Penquisition were in attendance, with their signature Retro 51 “The Susan” decked out in Maryland colors.
Key Vendors in Attendance
The vendors at this year’s Baltimore Pen Show skewed towards the smaller/mid-sized end of the spectrum, meaning that there weren’t many large retailers present but the overall mix was more than adequate. For example, Dromgoole’s, Crazy Alan’s Emporium, and Federalist Pens were the primary “general purpose” retailers stocking pens, inks, and paper, since Vanness Pens and Lemur Ink did not attend this year. Custom makers included Schon DSGN, Kanilea Pen Company, Ryan Krusac Studios, Carolina Pen Company (Jonathon Brooks), Hinze Pens, River City Pens, Ironfeather Creative, and Hardy Penwrights. There were dozens of other eclectic vendors, both vintage and modern, and as usual it would be impossible to name them all here. Highlights included Lucky Star Pens and Toys from the Attic, along with show show stalwarts Franklin-Christoph and distributors like Kenro Industries (Esterbrook, Montegrappa, Tibaldi, etc.).
Cary Yeager of Kenro Industries (Esterbrook, Montegrappa) and the founder of Fountain Pen Day.
Need Nib Work Done? Baltimore’s Your Show
This year, I didn’t purchase so many pens as I had pens modified and/or picked up pens I had sent to various people for nib work. For example, I sent four pens to Gena Salorino at Custom Nib Studio, who delivered some exceptionally good grinds including a medium “Perspective” (Naginata-style) grind, a medium cursive italic, and two 14k flex nibs that I’ll be showing off soon. At the show, I had J.C. Ament (The Nib Tailor) grind a Naginata on a rather boring Parker Duofold Centennial medium nib, and Josh Lax (J.J. Lax Pen Co.) ground an extra-fine architect onto my new Schon Design Full Sized Fountain Pen in an as-yet-unnamed matte-black/magenta pattern.
J.C. Ament of the Nib Tailor hard at work. He stayed busy all weekend!
In addition to the three mentioned above, Kirk Speer (Pen Realm), Damien from All in the Nib, the legendary Richard Binder, Les at Stylosuite, and Jack Hairston (working through Bertram’s Inkwell and also performing vintage pen restoration) were all set up and working. That’s at least eight different vendors offering custom nib grinds, and nine if you count the fact that Franklin-Christoph will tune a pre-ground specialty nib for you at the time of purchase. In my experience, it’s nearly unheard of to have so many quality nib technicians on site at a pen show. While some vendors filled up their time slots (especially on Saturday), many still had walk-up capacity.
Jack Hairston of Bertram’s Inkwell ground a cursive italic nib for me, and also too a couple of my vintage vacumatics for sac replacement and restoration. It was great to see someone doing vintage pen restoration at a show.
Testing out my new nib grinds and my new inks!
Other than nib grinds, I didn’t overdo it on the shopping. I did pick up basically the entire series of Laban “Greek Mythology” inks, since I’m a mythology nerd and the inks are excellent. (The only ink not pictured below is Athena Grey, which I already own.) As mentioned above, I purchased a Schon DSGN Full-Sized Fountain Pen, and two Franklin-Christoph pens (Model 45 and Model 02) in prototype materials. I plan to photograph these pens as soon as
Takeaways and Upcoming 2022 Pen Show Schedule
Once again, the highlight of any pen show is the people. Baltimore saw a great mix of locals and people traveling in from out of town to attend, which gave the show a much better energy than Chicago, the last show I attended. That’s not a knock on the Chicago Show - it speaks more to the increased willingness of vendors and attendees to travel, combined with the loosening of local restrictions as Covid cases decline in certain locales.
Kanilea Pen Company display - Pen Shows are a great place to see custom and small-batch pens in person before making a decision.
Going forward, my personal plan is to fully re-engage in the pen show community and I’ll be attending shows throughout the year. While personal and work reasons may prevent me from having a table at any shows this year, I currently plan to be at the Atlanta Pen Show (April 1-3, 2022); the D.C. Pen Show (August 4-August 7, 2022); and the San Francisco Pen Show (August 26-28, 2022). Depending on how travel restrictions evolve, I would love to throw an international show into the mix, possibly the fall London Pen Show (October 9, 2022) or the Tokyo International Pen Show (October 28-30, 2022) later in the year.
This post does not contain paid third-party affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Shop orders will resume shipping Friday upon my return from traveling, and all orders placed during a “pen show week” always receive extra freebies.