Editing The Pen Addict 419/transcript (section)

== Virtual Pen Show ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Then if everyone does it, then no one does it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm. Yeah, it really needs to be like a very coordinated affair. You have to get buy-in from a lot of people to make it like truly doable. Yeah. But it doesn't seem impossible. I mean, like, you know, even with something like that, you could end up helping companies that don't have typical online representation, right? Don't have an online store, could still do something like this if you can coordinate. It's like, you know, what I'm saying is there's a lot of work there, but I think there could be, there could be some real benefit there if it was done right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, we do have Fountain Pen Day every year, you know, just saying. Like in November, just saying. All right. What do you think about the Retro 51 Pearl, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's beautiful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's pretty beautiful, isn't it? So this is their 30th anniversary pin, their last anniversary, the final anniversary. It's a pin of teardrops, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But yeah. So this is the, the Pearl anniversary is the 30th anniversary and Retro made a set of pens this time. And I think there was, is there 1951 models, versions of this pin? Like, is it a limited edition? I think of 1951. So it becomes, it's in the Roller Tornado, Rollerball, the fountain pen, and the mechanical pencil. Will you be acquiring any of these said products?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would like to get a fountain pen version. Oh, yeah. Interesting. But I haven't yet found where to get that from.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I think the, they're about to drop, it was, I read some follow-up to their posts that like their initial online release sold out directly, but all the retailers haven't had theirs out yet kind of thing. But I could be wrong in that. So yeah, like this is not a pin for me. Like I have zero interest in this, but I love this at the same time. It's great looking. It's what I would expect for this type of anniversary pin. I like that it's across three products instead of just simply one. And it's just an all around good job that we're going to miss when they're not around anymore. And I'm going to keep hammering that home, Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So yeah, it's great. It's great. So the one that came and went real quick, we didn't put this in the show notes because it arrived and sold out so quickly. They did a stealth one a few weeks ago. Did you happen to catch that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' The what?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Don't go look up their previous release before this because it sold out so fast. It was a tornado and I don't know the exact model number, but it was essentially, I don't think it was a stealth bomber, but it was an all black in their airplane series. And it sold out so fast that you couldn't even get one if you weren't there clicking the button. So I'm not surprised that you didn't see it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So yeah, that was pretty cool. We didn't even get a chance to talk about it because there was no... By the time it launched and by the time it sold out was within the span of one of our recordings. So there was no point in even discussing it. Blimey. Until now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I didn't see that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So the SR-71 under the radar. So it's pretty sweet looking. I got to admit, like, again, not for me, but this is why we like Retro 51 because they do really cool stuff like this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, it was the SR-71. Okay. Mm-hmm. I get it a little bit more now. Huh. You know, I didn't even see this one. Didn't even see it. I mean, this wouldn't have been my... You know, I wouldn't have run for it, but I can see why people would like it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' When are they actually going to stop? Do we have any idea?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' At the beginning of the year, it was going to be September. Okay. When the end of new products was going to happen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But whether that's changed, like, I don't even ask the question anymore. I guess because I don't want to know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. All right. So what's next here? You put in this topic. I want you to lead in and tell me why you added these to the show doc this week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So there was... You wrote a review of a nib called the Estabrook, the Journaler nib, which is an interesting nib. But it reminds me of, like, the Franklin Kristoff kind of model of taking a nib and having a nib grinder produce a nib for you to sell. Like, you know, like I think of, like, the Myke Masayama nibs that they would do. Or the Sig nibs, right? That kind of idea. Right. And so they worked with... Who was it that they worked with? Was it Nib Studio?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Gina Salarino Custom Nib Studio.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Custom Nib Studio. To create or to basically work some nibs into a shape, right? And they've called it the Journaler. Do you know why it's got that name?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know exactly why it's that name. I guess just the intent of how the nib is designed to write. So you got to... When you're looking at Estabrook nibs, you got to look at the history that they're trying to recreate. And Estabrook is famous for creating, you know, 200 or so different styles of nibs for all types of different works. You know, they used to have, like, just highly specific accounting nibs and general writing nibs and school nibs and all of these different categories. So this was designed to mimic a specific nib called the 9314. All of these nibs were based on numbers. And you just have... When you look at Estabrook, like the vintage stuff, they just have charts full of nib styles and names. It's really wild if you dig into the Estabrook history. Yeah. So that's what they're trying to do here with this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then it's camera industries that own Estabrook now, isn't it? And... Yes. They've done some interesting stuff where they've created pen models where you can attach the old nibs to the new pens, right? Like, there's like... Yes. Is that correct? Like, they've created, like, attachments to do that, which I think is quite interesting. But what it really seems like in recent times is they're really pushing the brand and they're doing some interesting stuff. Like, there's... I actually would really like to get my hand on one of the composition pens that they've done. Mm-hmm. Which is their Camden model. And it looks like the composition notebook. They do... I have a green one, which I think is awesome looking. Yeah. They've done a couple of styles. And then as well as the journal nib, and we'll talk about it in a little more detail in a minute, they also have this very sparkly finish. What is the name of this pen? I've seen these floating around.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That is a great question. That is a great question, Myke. This is the hardest, one of the more difficult names to come up with. So, it's the Estabrook SDOS Sparkle Montana Sapphire is the specific one I have. And then there's two other colors in there, which I don't have the names to memorize. But it's essentially Estabrook SDOS Sparkle and then the barrel color name. The other ones is, like, a burgundy and gold and the third one's a blue and gold. So, yeah. The one I have is called Montana Sapphire.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Amazing. Like, they photograph very well. It's basically just, like, they took a tub of glitter and just dumped it into the pen barrels.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, I'll tell you specifically, in this case, it's not glitter. It's called Diamondcast. It's literally diamond dust in there. So, that's the kicker with this series of pens, with the Sparkle series of pens. Wait. So, it's...

'''Myke Hurley:''' What?