Preparing for the Atlanta Pen Show. Yep. This coming weekend we'll be partying in a warmer part of the country. The Show was well done last year. Vacumania encourages readers to attend.  I'm hoping to start clearing the website of "sold" pens (i figure you've had long enough to see 'em) in preparation for the appearance of some new pens next week... assuming they don't sell in Atlanta.
 

I am  happily stunned by website and market activity during the last  month or so, since the February update.  The Los Angeles pen show was the hottest in years, with frantic buy and sell. So much fun!  Many pens from the latest update have sold.  I head down to Atlanta at the end of the week for the pen show there and hope to update the website either before or shortly after the show- perhaps both before and after the show. If you see any pens of interest, do give a yell, as i suspect many will find new homes at the Atlanta show

Yes, it has been about two months.  OK, so i never claimed to be consistant on the blog thing. Still, the news is good. You guys slaughtered me in January. Between the websales and the pen show, most of the pens from the website found new homes. Not wanting this place to look like the empty attic, i dug up some more pens and scrambled to do a February Update, something i never expected to need to do when i listed pens last month.  The New-this-Month page is now updated with some 40 more pens. Not all of them have made their way  onto pages dedicated to individual manufacturers, but i hope to get to that in day or so.  Do take a ppek

OK. OK. So i've been lax. What can be said?  I'd offer my life in expiation, except that i don't want to.  Been a fun and crazy fall.  Hoping to have a website update of sorts done in next day or two. Had an interesting philosophical brawl on pentrace with a fellow who paid $1450 for a vintage pen catalog (original ephemera) and who then claimed that sale reflected general market value.  More on this story in the next few days, with some surprising developmens.  We've found some great pens this month and hope to post a picture of them, simply for show and  tell value, in next week or so, too.

Wow. Has it really been a month since last post. What can i say?  This fall has been crazy regarding my work at the  Hospital and i've been traveling a bunch too. Some neat pens are listed for sale on our Fall Update, so do check the sales pages. As per last month, things will remain spotty regarding blog updates the next few weeks, but then i hope to pick up the pace here.  Thanks for your patience.

Well, looks like posts here willb e spotty for a bit. Key knews tonight is posting of 10+ lots of pens to Vacumania's Basement. Do have a look

CLICK HERE FOR VAC'S BASEMENT

Looks like this blog will not be daily for some time to com. As i prep (after obscene procrastination) for my 10 year Medicine Boards re-cert, i find i'm a bit pressed for time. 

The internet newsgroups and chatboards have had interesting and entertaining threads of late. Hope our readers belong to one or another. They are worthy of a peek here n' there.

A few more pens have sold,  and we hope to have some more loaded to the sales page soon.
 

Has it been nearly two weeks since last post?  Reflects how busy life has been around here, i suppose. 

The New York City penshow  took place this weekend past. Great show. Spirits were up. Great pens could be found. Pen restorers Richard Binder and Ron Zorn had very busy time keeping up with demand for their services.  This Vacumaniac found some nice pens both for the collection and for resale. Hope to have some of them listed next couple weeks.

Updates, apologies, and thanks.

Please peek if wish to see the latest (partially done) website update of vintage pens at www.vacumania.com

http://www.vacumania.com/websitesales/newpens.htm

Most of the old "sold" pens have been purged, but note the "newly listed" pens have not made it to individual brand sections yet. I have to purge the modern pen section and basement of sold items, still.

Now to the Apologies:

NONE of the pens in the Newly-Listed Pen section actually are for sale, though many  neat and interesting Parker Vacs can be seen and are worth a peek just for fun.  This apology is qualified by the note that i hope to  have some pens newly and truly "for sale" up either before or soon after the New York Pen Show next week.  The reason for this weird situation links the "apologies" to the "Thanks"

The "Thanks" part of this sort of explains why i just listed 20 "sold" pens in the newly-listed "for sale" section.  To be blunt,  this whole website thingy has been blowing away the  fondest reasonable expectations I harbored when i finally made the website "real" back in January. I am most appreciative, hence... Thanks!

 Beyond an upsurge in folks contacting me at penshows as well as  steady pace of regular sales happening from the site, i find i'm being hit with something i'd not expected... Want Lists.  Interesting Vacs in particular are selling before i can list them on the website as "for" sale. Mind you, this has its pleasant side, but between this situation and my time constraints with Boards Review for my 10 year Medicine re-cert, getting pens up on the list might be tough for the next couple months. Basically, the Washington Show and want lists destroyed my latest update :-)

I will emphasize, for those  who've asked- by no means am i getting out of Vacumatic collecting. But, after 7 years searching  and lots of pens found, i have decided that i "need" but 1-2 of each neat Vac, and many of the pens found on the website are there  because  I desire no longer to have up to 15 (my worst case) of the same Vac Variant. Thus some very "real" vacs have been sold and will be sold, but i still have at least one of each being kept. And, i still ardently seek examples of variants i lack altogether. Some of the ones on the new update are pretty rarely seen. 

Anyway, with luck i'll be able to list a bunch more in next couple weeks- these actually being for sale. Perhaps i can restock a bit at the NYC show, too. The Heritage Cap "51" and the Buckskin and the clean Mustard might make it to the next update.

regards

david

www.vacumania.com
 

We just sold a bunch of nice flex nib 1950's Pelikans via a special offering direct to the internet Zoss list and to PenTrace. The response was gratifying :-)  Vacumania will not be answering emails for a couple days due to a much needed weekend vacation. Please be patient and all notes will be answered Sunday night.

The Washington DC Supershow is done. By any measure, the weekend was exhausting and fun. Vacumania sold more in pens than at any show to date. We are happy about that.  Lots of penfriends were present.  We found quite a number of pens both for the collection and for resale. These will trickle onto the website during the next month or so. Bob Johnson did a very nice job- as always- with the show. 

The hotel had its issues. Whilst rooming with friend Alriel Martin was a pleasure, the smell of rank decay permeating our hotel room led to a quick room change. Other collectors arrived in their rooms to find half eaten food in the fridge and even under the bed!  We wonder if the hotel is a bit short staffed on cleaning staff.  The weather in Washington was brutal. Humid and 95-100 out  all weekend. The air conditioning could not quite keep up with the heat and the show room always was a bit too worm for comfort.

Some interesting  "pen ethics" scenarios- or is that "lack of pen ethics" scenarios presented themselves during the weekend, but those case studies will be fodder for articles, posts and blog entries another day.

You will note that prior blog entries have vanished from this page. The text was getting a bit bulky. Vacumania expects to have a VacBlog archive up and running soon, so those old notes will be accessible soon.

Also note that LOTS of pens sold at Washington.  Only some were from the website as we likely have 50+ pens for sale that have not yet made it online. Please give us a couple days to get the sold pens updated on the site.

Finds for this Vac Quack??

How about an Azure Blue double jewel Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima.  Add in four double jewel Parker 51's including a Buckskin and a Mustard.  Mabie Todd Swan Eternal 46 in great shape.  Tip of iceberg. Happy David.