Rare writing utensils on display at Long Island Pen Show

The annual Long Island Pen Show took place at Hofstra University on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8. Over a dozen exhibitors sold pens, notebooks, inks, wax seals, desk sets, inkwells, blotters and ephemera. Reputed pen companies including Federalist Pens and Paper, Bittner, Esterbrook, Montegrappa, Toys from the Attic, Riggs and Taccia attended the event along with distributors.

The event was free for Hofstra students and faculty, but general admission for one day cost $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. A ticket for the entire weekend cost $25, and exhibitor tables cost either $140 or $195, depending on the table size and location.

Fischer Wood Designs sold hand-crafted wooden pens. "These are analog tools for a digital world," said Ira Fischer, the head of the company. "I’ve been working on these pens since I was a kid. A couple years ago, I made one on a whim for my wife and [the business] kind of took off on its own."

Fischer’s pens are made from artisan woods like birch, oak, blackwood, purpleheart and cocobolo. "I get the woods online, but they’re sustainably sourced from places all over the world," he added.

A display of Esterbrook pens also showed their polished palladium clips, engraved logos, extra fine nibs, cushion cap closures, ink converters and vintage acrylics. Some pens sold for upward of $100. Children accompanying adult attendees also received free Sheaffer school pens with ink cartridges.

Beyond pens, Harry Burger of Lightbringer Designs sold wax seals. "I first started with wax seals at the Long Island Pen Show a number of years ago after seeing a gentleman who was giving a wax workshop," he said. Burger ships his creations, which are also available as cuff links and signet rings, around the world.

Richard Binder from Richard's Pens and Linda Kennedy from Indy-Pen-Dance provided nib tuning services, while a booth offered free pen appraisals and demonstrations on proper fountain pen use. The Long Island Pen Show also displayed graphics about the history of writing utensils.

"I'm a pen collector who also likes to use the old vintage writing fountain pins with wet ink," said Terry Brack, the general manager of the Long Island Pen Show and an associate professor of chemistry at Hofstra. "Pens like that need paper that can take the ink well – a lot of modern paper doesn’t."

Jim Baer from Monomoy Pens and Mike Kennedy from Indy-Pen-Dance both offered onsite pen repairs, while Luxury Brands, the official distributor of Noodler's Ink, set up an ink sampling table with an assortment of inks for attendees to try out.

"This is my first pen show. It's cool to see a lot of people, specifically the older generation, help the younger generation learn more about pens and guide us through this interesting pen community," said Will Sonnleitner, a high school student from John Jay Senior High School in Hopewell Junction, about 90 minutes upstate.