After what we would consider to be a short drive, we arrived at the Met Hotel in Troy almost exactly eight hours after our departure. Well, ok, nine I suppose if you count the change to Eastern Time. The drive was uneventful, and once I got a 45 minute nap in, was ready to drive and felt good. Lisa actually let me drive a bit this time, so I took the last few hours and we pulled in at 1:00 am local time.
We were thankful to get a room at such an early time and got some much needed sleep. Friday morning we slept in a bit, woke up and met a few people in the lobby awaiting the opening of the trading room. We had breakfast in our room since we missed the continental breakfast provided for by the hotel, but we did manage to find some coffee! Around 1:00 pm we made our way into the trading room, and grabbed our two carts and proceeded with our set up. I don’t know what was different this time, but we managed to get everything set up and ready within two hours. Nice!
The show officially opened at 3:00 pm, and traffic was light but steady all day. There were some nice pens to look at but my usual rule is to look first, buy later. I scouted out a couple of possibilities but stayed true to the rule. Lisa surprised me with a bottle of one of my favorite inks, Montblanc Bordeaux, in the old style bottle and box. This was funny, because I had just filled my Edison Herald in Copper Flake with this very same ink before we left and wondered how quickly I was going to go through my personal stash of this ink using this pen as a tester. Well, worry no more, Lisa found this on a table and was all smiles when she came up to me telling me, “I bought you a present!”. Elation ensued and we had made our first purchase.
Detroit Show Room Floor
Once the show closed at 7:00 pm, we covered up our tables, and went with Brian and Andrea Gray of Edison Pens and their adorable seven year old son, Andrew, to the California Pizza Kitchen at the local mall for dinner. All of us were hungry after a long day of travel, setup, and show, so appetizers, pizza and pasta, frosty malt beverages, and dessert were on the menu. We had lively discussions of pens and the events of the day and a good time was had by all, including Andrew, who reported later, he was, “stuffed”. We tried to take Andrew to the Lego store, but they had just closed up by the time we finished dinner and got to the door.
Saturday morning came early and we proceeded down to the front desk where there was to be a continental breakfast. We were determined to not miss it again, but got side tracked when we saw the door to the trading room was open. We veered in to check, and sure enough, coffee and bagels were present, as we’re a number of dealers mingling around. We went no further and grabbed sustenance and uncovered our tables for the day ahead. Traffic was again light, but steady, with no completely dead spots, but enough time to walk around and still be able to get back to your table should someone stop by. I looked at some amazing watches by LeCoultre and Bulova and resisted the urge to buy a nice Seiko chronograph at a reasonable price. Lisa’s always telling me, “just get one of yours fixed!”, and that rings in the back of my mind every time I see a nice timepiece at a dealer’s table.
While there wasn’t any additional dealers on Saturday that weren’t there on Friday, I had a better chance to go around and chat with more of them. At fellow Appleton Pen Club member Mike Kirk’s table was Bob Everett, son of Clyde Everett, President of Sheaffer Canada for many years. It was neat to talk to him and take a look at a most beautiful Sheaffer ring top filigree overlay he had. It was truly a stunning piece of work. Mike had a nice hard rubber Grieshaber lever filler on his table, and in true pen collector/dealer fashion, when one has so many pens they often forget what they have, when I asked his price his response was, “I have a Grieshaber?”. That realization made the pen disappear from the table and into his personal pen case for his collection. It was a funny moment and I was glad to help Mike “find” a pen!
Mike Krut from the Michigan club was present doing some repairs, Paul Erano was present with his usual assortment of nice pens, cuff links, watches, and even some interesting pins. Jonathan Veley was also present, and while I was sad a Moore safety I was interested in at his table was traded to someone else, I did get to see the result of his trade, a Wahl pencil which had the beginnings of a hand engraved pattern etched into it, but was never finished. Very cool to see and unusual to say the least.
Jerry Adair tortured me had a wonderful selection of pens, including some nice vacumatics and hard rubber pens. I spotted a pen I had seen at his table at some previous show, a Waterman 16, and another, a nice Waterman 12, but couldn’t pull the trigger. Both were nice pens, while neither was perfect, they were crack free and the price for both was right. At this point, we had made some money, so a purchase was in order, but which one, or both, should I purchase? He also had a wonderful filigree Wirt, and a stunning Aikin Lambert filigree as well. So many choices! After agonizing over the decision for several hours, Lisa advised I get both, or get the one I would complain about the most had I not purchased it. I felt this was a wise strategy, and seeing as how I could more easily acquire the 16 and/or the 12, went for the Aikin Lambert. I was not disappointed. 🙂
Aikin Lambert Filigree
Aikin Lambert Showing Nib
Lisa had many choices of pens to select from as well. She had her eye on several nice Montblancs, including a grey 200 series pen from the 1970’s. This pen had an interesting finish much like the Lamy 2000. Another dealer had a pair of slender Montblanc cartridge pens with nice nibs, one in red, the other brown. My eye was drawn to the brown pen with the stub nub, but the red pen won out, as it had a fine nib which was more to Lisa’s liking, and the color was simply more attractive than the brown. A little wheeling and dealing and the pen was hers. We’re going to have to dedicate a drawer in the pen chest to the growing collection of Montblancs that don’t look like Montblancs. Ok, ok, maybe not so soon, as Lisa keeps reminding me we only have three.
Lisa’s Montblanc and My Beloved Bordeaux
At the end of the day as everyone was packing up we kept the table set up as there were still some people wandering around the room. This proved to be a successful tactic as several late minute sales really made the day for us. Once the doors were closed, we got everything packed up and toted the majority up to our room, started to pack the car and headed back out to the mall in search of some Chinese food at P.F. Changs. We decided to make a couple of stops first to Paradise Pen and Papyrus just to see what they had in stock, and while they were open, unfortunately the Montblanc store was closed. P.F. Changs was busy and had an hour fifteen minute wait time for a table. We were tired so decided to walk to the other end of the mall and got fast food Chinese at China Town in the food court. Not really comparable, but no wait, and the food was ok and filled the need at the moment.
Since the hotel cost was so low, we decided to spend the night and left early Sunday morning. A stop at an outlet mall in Indiana broke up the trip nicely and we got home around dinner time. All in all a good show and nice to have something so close. With a heavy concentration on vintage pens, it was much to my liking. With a little more traffic it could be a terrific show, and if it continues to grow as it has the past two years we could have another good midwest show on our hands. Now for about six weeks of rest and recuperation before our next and last show of the year in Columbus!
Cheers!
Brian & Lisa