POSTED: Friday, January 30, 2009, 2:30 PM
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photos by Patrick Rapa
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"There's an old saying in the hobby: Whoever owns the cap, owns the pen."
—Vendor speaking to a potential customer (overheard)
I've been to some small lame conventions before (ahem, Kaiju-Con), so I was expecting the 2009 Philadelphia Pen Show to be miserable, nerdy and tiny. I was right about nerdy. The Sheraton Hotel mighty ballroom, site of last year's Henri David Halloween party, was wall-to-wall with tables. And miserable? Nah, for a pen show, the place was kind of happening. Not really. But, there were a lot of people there, anyway, and they were pretty enthusiastic. There was guy customizing fountain pen nibs and somebody else doing engraving. Lots and lots of tables bragging about rarities and reconstructions. Here's what I didn't realize going in: There are pen collectors.
I could see spending good money on a pen. Even though they're messy and fickle, I dig a good fountain pen. To write with. The ink just can't wait to get out. But some people at the PenCon were spending insane money on pens. $100? Nah. $300, $500, $1,000, more. Some were titanium monsterpieces of unchewable mass, some came in ornate boxes built for proud display. I picked one oaken pen up out of its cradle and considered its weight in my hands. Oh yes, I could kill a man with this. "That's a $10,000 blah blah blah," explained the vendor. I put it down. You know what's crazier than paying that much for a pen? Every table had pads of paper for test-writing. As in, people are using these things. As pens.
More pics after the jump.
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