The 2013 Miami Pen Show was one which really got Lisa and I excited. Neither of us had been to the show in several years (mine being back in 2000, Lisa’s sometime a bit after that), but the show holds a special place in both our hearts.
Since this show is run by Bert Oser of Bertram’s Inkwell, we knew it would be a well run show and it would be awesome. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Bert does a terrific job of making people feel welcome at his shows. There is always a hot breakfast, and he always provides a nice lunch (which we forgot about until Sunday).
We left Wisconsin around 9:45 pm Wednesday evening and arrived around 3:00 am Friday morning. Since it was an all day and a half drive, we just happened to arrive in Bowling Green Kentucky just as the National corvette Museum was opening up on Thursday morning, so it was necessary to take a couple of minutes to look around!
The National Corvette Museum – Maybe we could go to shows in this?
Thankfully, we arrived at the hotel in Miami at a time when they were able to check us in and get us our room at 3:00. This doesn’t normally happen, and on occasion we have had to sleep in the car in the parking lot prior to the hotel or show opening up. We had to wait about a half hour, but that was fine, considering we weren’t being charged for the “extra” night. We managed about three hours of sleep, then made our way to the restaurant for breakfast. An early announcement incorrectly indicated breakfast on Friday was included. No worries, we needed food and the restaurant would suffice. Unfortunately, it was more expensive to have breakfast than it normally is to eat out at any given night. Oh well, the food was good and much needed.
Getting our stuff from the car to the ball room proved to be a bit of a challenge. Not unlike arriving at Baltimore or Boston, we had to drive around to the back loading dock, get buzzed in, then proceed up to the second floor, take a long walk through the kitchen, grab another elevator up to the third floor (which is oddly marked as the 2nd floor), then go down a narrow hallway through the back way into the ballroom. We didn’t find out until Sunday afternoon there was another less crowded way to get there, but this worked. Three trips and we had everything in place.
Jimmy Dolive, Bert Oser, and Kenny from Yafa – 2013 Miami Pen Show
Like Bert’s other shows, there was plenty of room for us to put our stuff. We had made some preparations to reduce setup time and they did help. We’re always looking to try and improve our display and the effort involved in getting things ready for the public. Traffic was a bit slow on Friday, but not dead, and we did generate some sales and have a good time talking with a lot of people. The room was reasonably small, with many of the standard names present, Sam Marshall and Martin Ferguson where directly across from us, Susan Wirth, Jim Rouse and Scott Franklin from Franklin Christoph, Jimmy Dolive, and Kenny from Yafa, as well as Paul Erano, Craig Bozorth, Syd Saperstein, and a bunch more I’m probably forgetting.
Friday night we had dinner with Sam and Martin, and went to the BBQ place just behind the hotel. It was a short walk, but nice to stretch our legs. Over dinner we finalized our plans to purchase Snorkel Solutions, the business Sam and Martin had created to make exact reproduction Snorkel Point Holder Gaskets. We had been working on this for about a year and a half, and seriously for the past several months, so it was great to finalize everything, albeit at a so-so diner with so-so ribs. 🙂
Snorkel Point Holder Gasket
Saturday was slower day than expected, but this gave us some time to unpack the three boxes of pens, nibs, and ink bottles we had shipped to the show. Saturday also saw us purchasing an Esterbrook display case, complete with some pretty hard to find (and in a couple of cases, genuinely RARE pens!) Since we usually only find a few Esterbrook every year we don’t have, to find three in one day along with a display case was outstanding. The most spectacular of the bunch was this ca. 1934 Dollar Pen Demonstrator:
1934 Esterbrook Dollar Pen Demonstrator
Also in the bunch were a couple of other demonstrators, including an English porthole demonstrator in black, as well as an SJ half demonstrator with a black cap. Demonstrators in the LJ and SJ sizes are very hard to find.
Three Great Pens
Of special interest to me was an Esterbrook I’ve been looking to find for probably twelve years or more, the Relief 7 piston filler made by Conway Stewart for Esterbrook. Fully imprinted with a 14ct nib, this pen has a visulated barrel and piston. This was one of the last models I need for my Relief collection (There are a few more, but this one was significant!)
Relief 7
Saturday after the show we decided to go easy and walked across the street to the Publix there and grabbed some salad and food from the deli and had dinner in our room at the 17th floor. The view up there was really outstanding!
The View From the 17th Floor at the 2013 Miami Pen Show
Sunday morning started out with another great breakfast provided by Bert. This time there were omelettes and they were terrific! Traffic was slow as most Sundays are, but we had a good chance to spend more time with each person coming to the table. I purchased no pens, and even had a laugh several times when Lisa asked me if it was ok that the two demonstrators and Relief 7 were the only ones I got for the show. Of course!
We remembered on Sunday afternoon that Bert provides lunches for us too, and we had missed out on them the previous two days. We were a bit tired of our own sandwiches so this was a nice change of pace to get a steak wrap and chips and a turkey and avocado wrap for Lisa.
When all was said and done the 2013 Miami Pen Show was a definite success. We got a chance to chat with some people we hadn’t seen in a while, buy some great pens (and a company!) and relax in Miami. If only we had some more time to actually go to the beach? Oh well, maybe next year!
Cheers!
Brian & Lisa