St Louis Pen Show 2025

I attended my first pen show this weekend! In my previous blogpost, “Going to St. Louis Pen Show,” I gave myself certain goals - attend classes, do nib work, stick to my budget and don’t stress about purchases, offload some inks, and take breaks :) Let’s see how this shook out.

A quick note: I do not take pictures of people without their permission, and so I will be sharing photos of the objects I saw - no panoramic pictures, and no individual people without their explicit permission.

My color spread during the wonderful watercolor class with Hannah Sheehan of Hannah Made It.

Attend classes. I’ve attended four classes total - Vintage Pen Tasting, Get Lost in your Creative Journaling with Tom of Sugar Turtle Studio, a watercolor class with Hannah Made It, and Postcards from St Louis. They were all great! Lisa Anderson was one of the presenters for Vintage Pen Tasting, and I could listen to her all day. I hope she will teach a solo class about vintage pens. She was also very kind. All of the speakers in Vintage Pen Tasting recommended steering away from flexy old Watermans, at least in the beginning, and yet these fancy Watermans is what I find tempting in the domain of vintage.

Another picture from the watercolor class - my bird friend stashed away. You can actually find them also in the picture above :) though a bit stealth.

I loved taking classes - this was a success.

Look at many pens. I looked at lots of pens, and handled many. This was an incredible opportunity to try some special LEs that I have wanted for a long time, including many Montblancs. Most of the ones I considered to be my ultimate grails have fallen off my list as a result, but there’s still one WE Montblanc I am interested in, and might pick up in the future. Overall, Montblanc pens are just not for me. I’ll stick to their inks.

A tray of incredible bespoke pens with a gigantic BORB and other animals. I was so dazzled by this tray that I forgot to write down the maker and the vendor who sold the pens. Luckily, a reader emailed to say that this was the Penacea table, and the maker of the bird pen is Urso Luxury, an Italian brand. (Thank you, Rock!)

I tried two beautiful vintage Watermans, but despite enjoying Vintage Pen Tasting, I am not yet ready to dive into vintage. When and if I do, it’s probably going to be a flexy Waterman with an Italian overlay. That’s a rabbit hole, and I am not ready yet, but I also do not see a reason to get into old Parkers or Esterbrooks when I am indifferent to them, but find Watermans attractive. I also examined quite a few special edition Auroras, but did not see a single Dante. The Omas selections have not tempted me - I think I prefer modern Scribos, and have enough of them for now. I did see some older Montegrappas from late 1990s, and these I loved. More about that under Purchases.

Gigantic vintage chonky Japanese eyedropper. I planned to write things down, but it was early in the show and I was a bit overwhelmed.

I spent some time with Al Shinogle testing his collection of Conids. He had an incredible diamond-tipped nib made by Conid especially for him. Very cool. I tried a variety of titanium, steel, and gold Conid nibs and a few models. I also tried Kimberly’s Conid Monarch (thank you, Kimberly, for letting me try your beautiful pens!). Surprisingly I enjoyed the Minimalistica model, and of the Minimalisticas, the Conid Monarch with its orange detailing was a favorite - this was a Fontoplumo special edition back in the day. What can I say? I love orange.

Al Shinogle’s Conid Regular Delrin with DLC coating with a titanium fine nib, also DLC coated, with a diamond tip. Superb stealth pen and completely unique.

My friends encouraged me to try Namikis and other fancy urushi pens at the show, so I spent quite some time holding and admiring various urushi pens. I saw some gorgeous Taccias way out of my budget. At the bar on Saturday night, I got to touch and try Alan’s incredible Namiki collection (thank you, Alan!) - an astounding set of pens, which included Namiki Yukari Herb Decoration (which has been on my grail list for five years), Namiki Yukari Royale Autumn Flowers, and many others. Bottomline of all this activity: I think I am mildly allergic to urushi. I already suspected this to be the case, but I have never owned an urushi pen, just had one on loan from a friend (thank you, Nicole!). After handling so many urushi pens at the show, the fingers on my right hand became tingly and a bit red. It’s a pity, but it’s also good - these pens are stunning, and I can admire them from afar.

Many dazzling Taccias on display at the Taccia table.

Ultimately, my preferences remain unchanged. I am primarily an Italian pen person with some forays into other continental pens. I won’t rule out other possibilities — I saw a few gorgeous Hakase pens that might be an interest in the future. Just not urushi, alas.

Taccia Empress Shangri-La LE on a very cool textile. Even if I was rich, I could not bring her home with me - she’d bite me.

Nib work. The bulk of my pen show wins were in this area. I had two (!!) appointments with Kirk Speer, one scheduled and the other penciled in. He was very patient and fixed all my pens that needed fixing, and he also told me about how I hold my pens, which is specific enough that it really made a huge difference to have the pens tuned and ground in person.

Kirk Speer adding a cursive smooth italic grind to my Visconti Homo Sapiens. Photo posted with permission.

Kirk Speer did a CSI grind on one of my pens, tuned some more, fixed my Conid nib, and also did two special nib grinds on Jowo nib units. I also got a kodachi grind on a Jowo nib unit from Matthew Chen. This was great. My conclusion is that I should get my pens tuned at a pen show, rather than send them in for tuning. It makes a big difference to test them there, especially since my grip is somewhat nonstandard, and I am very sensitive to small changes in how a nib is ground or tuned.

Trying some of my new grinds and adjusted pens at Kirk’ Speers table :)

Purchases: So this was odd - I was planning to try to identify and purchase a single grail, and I saved up for one. I found that grail on the first day of the show - a special old Montegrappa. I slept on it, and by the time I was ready to talk to the seller and come to a price, someone had broken off the piston in the pen. It was just clean broken. The seller (it was Jimmy Dolive) thought someone must have pulled hard on the piston while trying out the pen. I asked Kirk if he could repair it, but he said he could not — it would need to go back to Montegrappa for repair. Jimmy told me that since Montegrappa recently lost its US distributor, he was not sure how to get it fixed. I let it go. I figured it would be wrong to compensate for the loss of the Montegrappa with some other pen purchase. So I desisted.

The crowning glory of the show: Kirk Speer fixed my Conid, and I now have two nibs for it - the Montblanc 149 nib is now installed. For those following along, yes, this is the Gentleman nib in his new attire :) I filled the Tiger from the gigantic Akkerman bottle. So happy. I had this pen for a whole year, but it’s like I got it brand new just now.

I picked up a pen for a friend, and two bottles of the show ink for two more friends. For myself, I bought one bottle of ink - a gigantic Akkerman Steenrood von Vermeer. In terms of ink selection the show was underwhelming to me, but I am also not looking for more inks right now - I am in a downsizing period.

My favorite purchase from the show was an amazing inkwell to add to my budding inkwell collection. This inkwell is my fifth, but I have now developed a specific style in inkwell collecting. Three of my inkwells fit this style, two do not. I might keep or move those, but it’s nice to develop a direction for this specific mini collection. I love the new inkwell!

The inkwell that came home with me. Its provenance is unknown, but it’s either Art Deco or Arts and Crafts. It has a tiny unicorn trademark on the bottom.

So… I did not buy a pen, but my Conid is fixed, and I have some dip pens and a new ink and an inkwell. I am happy. And I stayed under budget due to not buying a grail.

Rehome some inks, aka the fate of the STL inkmobile. I was already on an ink minimizing mission in 2025. Before the pen show, I have already rehomed 9 inks - two Montblancs, one special edition Sailor, and 6 Ferris Wheel Press inks. I sold six more inks at the show (including two of my remaining FWP bottles and my one remaining Sailor), and I think I gave away four more inks. This means I am down 19 inks this year so far, and I added five (I am counting bottles, not samples). I feel great about curating my ink library; it was needed, and the collection is more focused as a result. This process needs a tiny bit more work, but overall I am close to where I want to be with this refinement.

Now, let’s talk of my general impressions of the show.

Access and Organization

As a Covid longhauler, I need to be very careful about managing my energy, sleep, etc. The first day of the show was bad for me, and it almost made me want to write shows off my list. This was all due to the hotel.

I had no idea that the hotel would NOT be accessible from the garage. Folks with mobility concerns and/or CFS going to STL pen show - this is important to note, you need to park in the parking lot, not the garage. There is no elevator from the garage directly. When I asked a hotel worker, I was told to take the big flight of stairs. That’s not helpful. I think hotel people should be able to point accessible routes to folks - not everyone is able-bodied.

I finally scouted a semi-accessible route from the garage that leads through some stairs but has - ostensibly - an old looking wheelchair lift. This setup is nominally ADA compliant. I did not dare try the lift, and I do not recommend this route. However, if you park in the parking lot, then the access is fine. This needs to be noted for folks who need to know. I also had to ask for a change of room due to issues with my first room. Ultimately, if you have mobility needs and/or other accessibility concerns, you might be better off at a different hotel.

In terms of access at the show itself, that was good for me - the elevator was slow but delivered people safely from registration to the ground floor where the show itself took place, there was a lot of room to maneuver, and I think a larger mobility device such as a wheelchair would fit in the isles with relative ease (I do not use one, so don’t take my word for it). There were convenient rest spots with chairs and tables — I loved that and needed it, and the overall organization of the show was great. They had cold water available for attendees as well, which was helpful.

There was a good variety of vendors and things to see and do - a good mix of vintage, modern, indie, ink, accessories, people demonstrating things, ink testing tables, nib work, the STL calligraphy guild, and even an inkwell fundraiser for the STL calligraphy guild, which was one of my favorite tables at the whole show.

A table of antique inkwells - this is a fundraiser for the STL Calligraphy Guild.

I think the show was very well run and organized.

The folks at registration and pen show volunteers were helpful and friendly. I was confused a few times on my way to the different classes, and folks at registration always pointed me in the right direction, and were friendly and patient. The vendors I talked to were knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and kind.

So yes, I thought the show was great. The hotel? That’s a different story.

The takeaways from my first pen show

I am a recluse by nature and very much an introvert. I am neurodivergent, and don’t do well in new environments. It is very difficult to be in crowds. It is hard for me meet people I do not already know. Yet, in my daily life I am known. In my college town I am recognizable - I’ve worked at my university for a long time now, educated many generations of students, and my colleagues know me well. I also know people through other contexts, such as my synagogue, the queer community, and parenting. It is rare that I can go to a coffeeshop in my town, or anywhere at all, without talking to people. This is lovely - but often tiring. In my professional circles, attending academic conferences and writing conventions is difficult for me. In the world of SFF I am relatively well known, people recognize me, I do panels and talks, I sign books. This is a great thing, and I am grateful for it, but it’s often hard for my well-being. I am also Covid-cautious, which made traveling to crowded spaces even more difficult. Lately I’ve not able to go to any SFF cons, and have preferred to attend academic conventions virtually. The STL pen show was often difficult for me physically (I will be better prepared next time), but it was restful to not have to work. I had nothing professional to do. I took the classes - I did not teach them. I am writing this blog post not because I need to, but out of love. I got to hang out with wonderful people and loved it, but only one person at the show knew me from elsewhere. I met many lovely folks and had a lot of fun, but ultimately I was just another pen show attendee. It was great.

The array of inked pens at the ink testing table. They had a tray with pens 1-100 and a tray with pens 300-400. The numbers 100-300 were not in attendance :)

The knowledge I gained at this show was delicious. I love this hobby because of the knowledge, and I learned so much. I also was glad to see that I already know a lot about pens, especially in my domains of interest. I recognized many older and more obscure Italian and other European pens I never saw in person before, and I knew their history in detail. Multiple vendors complimented me on my knowledge, and were surprised to hear that this was my first show. One very cool vendor jokingly suggested I could help him at his table, since I knew my pens. Honestly I would if the ask was serious, which I don’t think it was. But that would be work. It’s strange not to work every minute of my day. I need more of this energy.

Thank you to the many show organizers, volunteers, and vendors for making this show a success. And hello to all the lovely people I met in STL - it was great to meet/see you, and I hope to see you again.

Yes, this means that I want to come back to St. Louis. :) :) Let’s see what next year will bring. I do not think that bigger shows are feasible for me right now, and that’s fine too.