Our trip to the Chicago Pen Show is always one of our favorite trips. One reason is the close proximity to home. A meager three hour drive and we are there. No more overnight all day driving escapades to get to a show. We just get up in the morning after having loaded the car the previous evening and get on our way. By the time we think of it, we’re already more than half way there and the excitement is coursing through our veins. Chicago here we come!
After a week of being sick with some weird spring cold, I am finally in better health. Healthy enough to lift a dozen boxes of pens and paper items in time for the show. We got our initial shipment of TWSBI Vac 700’s in on Thursday and Lisa was busy most of the afternoon filling pre-orders and getting those out to the post office. Our shipment of Pelikan Edelstein ink arrived as well, so in between oohs and aahs, we were making ink swabs for our ink book and then promptly packing them up. Our new Libelle leather wraps squeaked their way in too, so we were loaded for bear. The new car sure does make it a whole lot easier to pack up all our stuff!
The night before we had some pretty nasty storms in our area. At my day job, one of the remote locations I manage ended up being with out internet or phone coverage for the entire day so of course I was called to travel there to see what I could do to restore the problem. Turns out it was a problem leased out to another company so I ended up sitting all day for nothing. I did keep getting updates from Lisa practically every half hour, then this one:
“We need a bigger car”
Huh? Didn’t we just GET a new car? Surely she must be mistaken or tired from frantically packing orders and receiving inventory all day. Then about an hour later I get a phone call from her:
“I cut myself and think you need to take me to the hospital”
My first reaction to this was to laugh. That may sound cruel, but a few years ago during extensive house renovations, Lisa called me up at work and told me she had a sliver in her finger and could I please come home to look at it. I’m thinking, “sliver”? Pull it out and we’ll deal with it later. Turns out it was about a two inch long piece of wood jammed up into her finger. Several hours and a ER visit later this “sliver” was out. So when she says she cut her finger I’m thinking this is either a) no big deal, or b) she has most of a finger dangling by a piece of skin or something. Well, in the process of making some final cuts of paper on her ream cutter, she got her finger stuck and sliced it open. All turned out ok, and I think we’re going to start a new DNA line of notepads soon (Ok, maybe that’s not such a good idea). Thankfully, Lisa’s mom is a nurse and provided some much needed telephone assistance and another emergency trip was not needed.
I finally arrived home from a long day of work to find sure enough, not only has she packed practically the entire car, but indeed, there is little room to spare. The classic Tetris playing begins, and we get everything loaded in an acceptable fashion. A couple last minute checks, fuel up, a trip to the bank, and we settle in for the night.
4:45 am arrives early. Actually, it arrives at 4:45 in the morning, but I really only know one 4:45 and that’s not usually it. Coffee, the packing of the food, and we’re out the door. One quick stop at the post office to drop off a couple of last minute pens for customers and we’re on the road for Chicago.
It was an easy drive, but in true Anderson style fashion, I decided no directions or GPS were needed. After all, I’ve done this trip now 13 times. Problem is, I’ve gotten off the wrong exit probably 11 of those 13, so many that I always take the wrong exit because I second guess taking the correct one. No worries, I’ve also become well aware of the roads leading to the hotel from the wrong exit, so all is well, just about ten minutes later than expected.
An easy unload and we’re in the ballroom ready to get set up. Now, if you’ve ever been to a show on one of the early days and early in the morning, the last thing you really want to do is set up. You want to shop. That’s when all the good deals are made and good pens are found. Oh well, set up it is and this takes us about two hours to get done. Vendor count for this year seems to be up from last year, and despite the ball room being two-thirds the size due to some event Friday, traffic was pretty good all day. I was able to find a much needed snorkel part from Rich Lott with ease, and despite wanting to peruse the tables for goodies, was busy enough most of the day to cause me not to leave the table.
Eric Schneider and Dan Smith from fpgeeks stopped by and chatted for a bit about Mexican Esterbrook and the new TWSBI Vac 700’s. They shot some video with us that ended up on the cutting room floor apparently, but perhaps in ten years, there will be a “Lost Tapes – Chicago 2012” DVD set or something. The show ended around 6, and Eric, Dan, their friend and photographer Juan Carlos, Lisa and I headed over to Giordano’s for pizza. Good food and good conversation abound, with plenty of good pen talk and show and tell from Eric and Dan’s personal pen cases. Not too much chatting though, as 8:00 brings us the Auction, so we depart to get a good seat and auction numbers.
Thankfully, there was auction preview throughout the day, so I had a chance to audition a few potential new entries to the permanent collection. Lisa was bugging me to give her ideas for an anniversary present, so I suggested something from the auction. This could be good and bad, because one just never knows how much things go for, but she ok’d, and I had them picked out.
Prices were good all around I think. Some so absurdly low, I wouldn’t have thought to even inspect them as a pair of mandarin duofold would never sell for a total of $50. On the other end of the spectrum was a NOS Blue on blue lapis Lucky Curve Sr. Duofold set with price bands in the box which went for $2400. My preferred pen was number 80 out of almost 100 total lots, so I was forced to wait and pass on some other pens before then. I didn’t want to spend too much money then not have enough for the one I really wanted. Lisa snagged a nice S.T. Dupont while waiting, and when my “number” came up I was ready. I had already missed out on a few others, having gone higher than I wanted to pay, so was ready to take this one home, at almost any cost. The candidate? An early taper cap eyedropper pen with gold filled “chased” or snail pattern overlay. No makers mark, but very high quality. Only problem? When I inspected the pen, the nib looked weird and there was no feed. Ugh. Trying to complete a no-name pen can be difficult sometimes, so this might not be easy, but may also not go so high. Well, only a couple bids into it, bidding stops, and it is ours. A very good price, enough that finding the right nib/feed wouldn’t outprice the value of the pen.
After the auction was a desert party, and as I’m waiting in line to pay for our two pens, people are rushing in to grab some of the most insane chocolate cake, brownies, and cheesecake I’ve ever seen. Well, not only do they practically demolish the dessert before I get there, they also use up all the forks too, and spoons. Ever eat a large piece of chocolate cake with two coffee stirring sticks as chopsticks? Try it sometime. It’ll give you a new perspective on improvisation.
So we’re sitting there, regaling with others our victories and defeats when Don Lavin, show organizer, and all around good guy comes over and looks at my pen. He’s been collecting a long time and knows a lot, so I mention I’ll be looking for a new feed for it on Saturday.
“Oh, like this one?” He says
I look over and he’s pulling out the feed from inside the pen. Not just a feed, but an over and under feed that has slipped back inside the barrel. Seriously. The dang thing was in there the whole time. Who knows how many people looked at it thinking it was missing something. Victory was mine, insert happy dance here. 🙂
That was the Thursday/Friday in a nutshell. Saturday report to come soon.
Cheers!
Brian & Lisa