Washington, DC pen show

We're on our way back from this year's DC pen show. Once again, it was a big show and very active, the major emphasis on new pens, but still with a large vintage contingent. I was particularly happy to be able to buy some items from Mike Fultz's collection that I'd been tracking for nearly two years now -- not necessarily the sort of things that would set the average collector's heart a-flutter, or that would even be remarked upon on the average pen forum, but esoteric bits that are pure gold to those who love the odd, the old, and the eccentric.

I was also pleased to be able to spend some time talking with Jim Marshall about the early history of the iridium-pointed gold nib and my recent research into Simeon Hyde (and others). Jim has written and published in this same area, but with a stronger emphasis on the British side of the story, so it was useful to compare notes. The Hyde article here will probably receive an update or two over the next several days to incorporate new material.