It’s always a bit different writing pen show recaps from a behind-the-table perspective, as opposed to walking the show and visiting with friends and vendors. It’s still fun to attend the show, in that you get to visit with show attendees and customers, but you’re more or less stuck in one place and have to rely on people coming to you, as opposed to being able to go seek out all that a given show has to offer. Either today or tomorrow, I’m going to look for a lull in show traffic to walk the floor and take more pictures so that I can give you a better reflection of what all was on display.
It was fun to be able to set up the shop in-person, which gives me plenty of ideas for the future.
Regardless, Baltimore is always a fun show! It’s traditionally been my first pen show of the year, and I always try to attend because it’s a LOOONG gap between San Francisco at the end of August and Baltimore at the beginning of March. There’s a lot of pent-up demand, and Baltimore presents an opportunity to browse in a calmer, less crowded environment than a larger show like D.C. or San Francisco.
This gorgeous Conway Stewart Duro in Razorshell acrylic is still available at the Vanness Pens table. If it doesn’t sell by Sunday, I can’t promise that it’s going back to Arkansas.
Friday in Baltimore tends to be an odd day. The show opens to the public at 11:00am, which is an awkward start time so things typically don’t pick up until mid-afternoon. If you’re attending this show from out-of-town, always try to attend on Friday (especially Friday morning) because the “Saturday Rush” is a real thing. Popular tables such as Franklin-Christoph, Kanilea Pen Company, and Edison Pens, among others, will still have most of their show-special stock, and popular regular-stock items will be available from the other vendors, including vintage traders.
Surprisingly, paper has been the smash hit of the show - not just for me but for many other vendors. Because it’s expensive to ship, especially if bought in quantity, you can sometimes save a significant amount of money by picking it up in person at shows.
What You Shouldn’t Miss if You’re Attending the Baltimore Pen Show
Our Own Table! As you can see from the photo above, we’ve had a lot of fun organizing our layout and displaying the eclectic selection of goods we brought with us. Though we’re limited by what we could fit into suitcases, we do have the full line of Lochby cases, a full Traveler’s Notebook setup that will allow you to build a notebook, and a selection of pens from Nahvalur, TWSBI, and Penco. If you can’t visit us in person at the show, be sure to take advantage of our Pen Show weekend discount, using the coupon code “PENSHOW10” at checkout to get 10% off your online order (excluding certain brands like TWSBI which cannot be discounted).
Vanness Pens. Our friends at Vanness are right next door to us, and they brought a selection of Vinta Inks, special release Midori Paper, and Conway Stewart and Onoto Pens. Like us, they are running a pen show weekend special sale on ink, so visit their site to take advantage if you can’t come to the show in person.
Dromgooles. Dromgoole’s from Houston, Texas brought a huge selection of ink, with Jessie from the Well-Appointed Desk doing ink consulting if you’re looking for that perfect shade.
Schon DSGN. Ian brought all the new finishes this year, in addition to a selection of Monoc nibs, I hear! I haven’t had a chance to peruse his table but I hope to make it over there today.
Franklin-Christoph. I expect to see a big crowd around the Franklin-Christoph table when they release their tray of prototypes on Saturday morning.
Edison Pens. Now that things are relatively back to normal on the pen show circuit, it’s great to see Edison attending shows again. I’m looking for one of their oversized Collier fountain pens with the No. 8 nib….
Kanilea Pen Company. Finally, be sure to visit Hugh and Karol at their home show! Kanilea always brings their full lineup of available standard releases, plus
Bespoke Makers. Baltimore always has a wide range of bespoke makers in attendance, and unfortunately I can’t give you the full roster but you can view it here on the Baltimore Pen Show website.
I hope you can make it! Look for a full recap early next week, with more pictures from the show.
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