The Atlanta Pen show was on our radar this year so we decided to give it a shot as we hadn’t been there since 2009. We had heard many great things about the show since then. We left Thursday night with a seriously full car and made it in just in time for set up in the morning. Had we known it, there was an entrance just 15 feet from our table, but we got a close enough spot to unload our goods and get in. Our new cart really makes the unpacking easier.
As we were setting up Kenny from Yafa was out in the hall and was obviously tired. He decided a little music was the motivation he needed to get his massive display set up, and Iron Maiden was the choice of the morning. He got a few odd looks, but if you have ever met Kenny he’s a great guy and it was pretty funny.
Friday was vendors and weekend traders and business was decently brisk. The Byler brothers arrived and began hunting immediately. I barely saw them the rest of the day. We got to see Rick Horne, the first time we’ve seen him in quite some time and with some stellar pens as well. He had a Swan overlay, a rare Wahl overlay, and solid gold Waterman overlays. He didn’t have more than three or four slotter boxes, but they were all beautiful and spectacular pens. Lisa’s first purchase of the weekend could barely be described as a pen. Monteverde has just come out with iPhone cases with built in stylus, so she grabbed one and we ended up using it all weekend. For a brief moment, we argued over who should get one, and whether we should get two, but I let her have it and all was well.
Friday night we had dinner with Dick Krane and Jared Lutkowski from Kenro. We went to Maggiano’s and had the family style meal which consisted of 3 appetizers, 4 entrees, 4 desserts, and was all you could eat. We had a great seat in the restaurant and even celebrated Dick’s recent birthday with a candle on tiramisu. Friday was a long day but we made our way back to our room and rested up for the next day to come.
Dick Krane’s Birthday Cake
Saturday morning we had breakfast in the hotel with Mike and Tim. It wasn’t as great as some of the hotels we stay at, but it was pretty good nonetheless. And the pen talk was priceless. We tossed a few pens around and had a good time.
Dick, Brian, Lisa, and Jared at Maggiano’s
Saturday was busy, as they almost always are, all day. Brad Dowdy from the Pen Addict podcast showed up to say hi and talk pens. That was a lot of fun, as we had heard he was coming and looked forward to meeting him. I managed to get my hands on one of the Sheaffer Taranis Prototype pens, and while I could not keep the pen, had it with me all weekend to show people. What a great looking pen, I can’t wait until they are more readily available!
During a low point in the day I managed to get out into the second room and look around. I found an interesting unmarked gold filled overlay, with 18kt rolled gold markings on the barrel. I stopped and looked at it three times. The last time Mike and Tim Byler happened to be there and I could take it no longer so I bought the pen. When I got back to the table, I looked down and there was sitting a slim S.T. Dupont pen in the most stunning red with gold flakes. It was akin to some techniques seen by Japanese artists. Apparently, while I was gone, North Atlanta Pen Posse member Peggy had dropped it off for Lisa. I told her to just get it, so a trade was made and Lisa had another slim Dupont in her collection.
2013 Atlanta Pens
The Atalanta Pen Club did a great job and provided boxed lunches delivered to the table with drinks on Saturday and Sunday. This was a nice touch, and we had forgotten they did this. After the day ran its course, we were excited to spend the evening with Pendleton Brown and his Pen Posse at a Mexican restaurant. We rode in Pendleton’s convertible (top down, of course) and had a great meal. I was a little confused by the lack of a burrito on the dinner menu, but chose a fajita enchilada, and Lisa some delicious bacon wrapped scallops. The beer was good, and conversation even better. Pens were passed around at the dinner table too!
Brian and Kenro Rep Dick Krane with a Giant Bottle of Skrip
Sunday was busy. Usually this is the unpredictable day, but we did well, had fairly consistent traffic. Those who had deliberated on purchases over the previous days made them Sunday. At one point after determining it had been a successful weekend, Lisa went on walkabout to find me a pen. First stop was Carl Daniels table, as he had a nice Omas in blue I had been looking at for the past couple of shows. Unfortunately, the temptation was too much to resist for someone, and it was gone. Then, unbeknownst to me, she made her way around to John Colton’s table behind us, who only had Omas on his table, and came walking back with this lovely blue marbled pen. She said, “Do you like this one?” I looked at, realized it was a beautiful Omas, and smiled. I went back to John’s table to find there was a big sign on the corner of his table marked, “50% off”. That is not something you often see inthe same sentence with Omas, so I took a further look. There was a black Paragon there too, but the Blue marbled pen won out. As I made the purchase, John seemed busy, as if packing up, then he looked up and handed me this gigantic box for the pen, to which my next question was, “How big is the box for the Paragon?” I was thinking if the Paragon had a smaller box, I might take that one, turns out it did not have a box, but I decided the blue was too pretty to resist so I took it home, huge box and all. On my way home in the car, I noticed it was a Limited Edition, number 21 of 88 and thought that was pretty cool.
All in all, The Atlanta Pen Show was really a great show, much improved from our last trip four years ago. Of course, at that time, we only had one table with barely any pens, but we felt the traffic and the show in general has really grown since our last visit. We definitely won’t be missing another one, and especially this time of year when it is still cold in Wisconsin, this makes for a nice, albeit brief, excursion to the warmer weather of the south!
Cheers!
Brian & Lisa