Sunday the 2nd of March saw the Spring London Pen Show take place at its regular haunt, the Hammersmith Novotel. As ever some regulars were not present and there were some new appearances, including from a couple of big names. Ticket prices had risen, but at just £7 for 10am access and £12 for early bird, these were still nominal in cost.

So who were the new names, or rather who were the big ones. The first one that stood out to me was Appelboom though Joost suffered the risks of flying in on the day of a show as he was still setting up past 10am. The second big name was Esterbrook, complete with Ryan Sirignano, sales manager for Kenro Industries, being behind the table. Additionally Vazir were present through their UK distributor, Rakesh Dash. You may ask about Magna Carta, well while Hirem was not there, Appelboom was officially selling their pens complete with a hefty discount. Also for the first time Hex Pens were selling their wares, joining William Shakour and Samai in offering 3-D printed pens.

Missing were iZods, Stonecott Fine Writing, and Pen Venture, though the latter did have reserved tables so something may have cropped up preventing Emy from attending. In some respects it was harder to identify who was not there as there had been some movement in location (presumably others had booked the usual tables first) and there was also the addition of more tables alongside the road side windows. Having said that there were three or four empty tables dotted around as well as the addition of a Karma table. The idea here being you put something down then pick something else up.

For me I went for the regular entry price and arrived early so ended up hanging around outside for about 15 minutes. Once in it was my traditional slow walk around, partly browsing, partly catching up with friends. Post this I had a good idea what I was going to buy. Things did change, though the big purchase did not.

One unusual thing did happen. Around 10:30 suddenly the non-coloured lights in the main area were turned off, then on, then off and so on for a couple of minutes. Perhaps a fuse kept tripping.

Of note there were some discounts around. Appelboom had 40% off most if not all of their wares, and only after I got back home I found Cult Pens had 10% off quite a bit of theirs (certainly much of what I was looking at) and were also giving a limited time code for 10% of their website. Write Here had previously announced they would have a good discount on the Lamy 2000 Pine limited edition set. Think Dens Pens also had some marked discounts.

So what did I purchase? Just two items (would have been four if I had realised both items I was interested in at Cult Pens were already reduced). First off a clearance/outlet Tom’s Studio Pocket Pen from Cult Pens.

Second the 2024 Lamy 2000 Pine limited edition set. I have always fancied this since before it came out (I was able to see one in the flesh a few days before official launch) however could not justify the £450 price tag. Write Here had a show special price of £350. Still a lot. Still more than I would normally consider spending on a 2k, though it does come with a book on industrial designer Gurt Muller (of Braun Shaver and Lamy 2000 design fame, not the lead goal scorer in the 1966 World Cup finals) plus a Lamy notebook. I did say normally as before the show I think I had already sold myself on it if the price was decent enough. Note, checking the Cult Pens website, they are currently selling it for £490!

And now for the remainder of my photos: