By Rick Propas
Photos By George Long
In nineteenth century England, the "smart set" used to journey up from London for long lazy summer weekends at their country houses. The English country house party was swept away by the devastation of the Second World War, although it has been recaptured in the novels and films of the postmodern era.
Those
of us in the pen community have our own version of the English country
house party, the Portland Pen Show. First organized by Carla Mortensen
in 2004, over the past three years this show has matured from a regional
get together of a few west coast pen friends to an important show not
to be missed.
The reasons for this are actually quite simple. Put together our host Carla, one of the most gracious people in the hobby, an active pen club in support of her efforts, a superbly restored historic hotel, one of the most attractive cities in the country with some of the best restaurants on the west coast, and you have an unbeatable mix. And the setting, not only Portland, but the elegant old Multnomah Hotel, renovated into an Embassy Suites, offers superbly spacious rooms, a decent gym and pool, a truly fine restaurant and one of the most genuinely friendly and sincerely concerned hotel staffs I have ever encountered. The hotel's location, at the edge of Portland's downtown and in walking distance of Chinatown and Powell's books (probably the best bookstore in the country), makes it easy to get around. Those in need of a break from pens can stroll along the riverfront park or take a self guided tour of historic Portland. It's all nearby and Portland's Expo, one of the largest antiques shows on the west coast, is accessible by public transportation.
This
year's show offered a great cross section of vintage and new pens. On
the new side, Mary Burke, representing Conway Stewart, was there with
a staggering array of both beautiful and wild finishes, where do they
find some of those plastics? Ken Jones ably represented Visconti, and
Jimmy Dolive was there with a wide array of modern marvels offered at
irresistible prices. Bob Leeds, his usual charming self, represented
Bittner.
On the vintage side, Pendemonium was there to support the show and offer their staggering selection of inks, papers, pens and anything else pen related that one could imagine. Ink-Pen, East and West, Joel and Sherrell were there as well with a wide selection of the finest in vintage and modern. Nibmeister John Mottishaw, on his way to Canada for the summer offered both modern and vintage pens and his own incomparable services. Among the collector/dealers (in no particular order) were Stuart Hawkinson, John Strother, Saul Kitchener, Al Mayman, David Tallent. Kevin Cheng (known to many as Winedoc) offered his usual stunning array of Japanese lacquer pens, and Bruno Corsini, who is emerging as one of the leading new pen makers, was showing his carefully handcrafted pens. Local collectors offering pens included Markus Irby, Jeff Hornick and John Schwab.
Among
the smaller dealers, Kayla Froncek assisted Sam and Frank at Pendemonium,
and Victoria Riepl helped out at Conway Stewart and ably assisted Jimmy
Dolive, driving hard bargains by offering any pen on the table at a
show discount of $5,000.00.
At some shows, the trading is intense, beginning Wednesday afternoons in lobbies and private rooms and continuing through the smaller hours. Portland is different. People began gathering on Thursday, not so much for commerce, but to catch up.
Many of us had come in from, or were continuing on vacations, a few of us had modest road finds for show and tell. Friday morning started at 10:00, a civilized hour reflecting the tenor of this show. The tables offered a few fine bargains to dealers and weekend traders, or as Carla likes to put it, "friends and family." Despite promising my wife Sharon, attending her first pen show ever, that, to make up for recent indiscretions (see my upcoming review of the Pelikan 75th Anniversary Pen) I would purchase no more pens this year, several new Pelikans found their way to me. Sharon even got her first new pen since giving up pens in favor of computers, a lovely little Peter Pan from David Tallent.
Everything
slowed, however, as the sun rose over the yardarm and the drinks and
munchies were brought in, hosted by the Portland Pen Club. The food
was such that many of us did not go on to dinner. For those who did,
the hotel offers one of the best restaurants in town, as well as too
many fine Portland restaurants to mention. Portland has, now, two major
culinary academies and many of their graduates stay in this lovely city
and open restaurants that would stand out in larger places like New
York, Chicago and San Francisco.
On Saturday, the public came in early and traffic was sound throughout the day until late afternoon when we took a break to enjoy another reception, this one sponsored by Pendeminium and John Mottishaw. For the last several years, Carla has worked assiduously to educate Portlanders to the pleasures of fine pens. This was not a crowd there solely to browse, but to purchase. Many of us enjoyed sales that rivaled the larger shows. I'm not sure how long trading continued Saturday night. After a bit of a break and dinner with Bill, Mary and Victoria, we called it an early evening at about 9:30.
Sunday
setup was easy, as the room was secured overnight, and, in truth, traffic
was slower. By mid-afternoon Carla had the hotel staff bring in the
desserts that provided a tasty finale to a marvelous show. Our show
ended that evening at Andina's, a wonderful nueva Peruvian restaurant
that reflects the growing prominence of Portland as a premier food and
pen city.
As I noted earlier, this was Sharon's first pen show, and not only did Portland turn her back toward pens (it could be argued that the Sheaffer Valiant I bought her in 1978 began my own collecting), but she who disdains ink for pencils and electrons has announced her intention to return next year. And the simple fact is that anyone within three thousand miles, who is fond of good living and good pens should join us in 2007.
copyright 2006 Rick Propas
Images copyright 2006 George Long