Chapter Duh

Some twenty odd years ago, I was walking with my spouse along south Main Street, Vancouver, and we came upon a peculiar shop, called “Bob’s Old Stuff Two”, owned by the late Bob Blais (God, I miss his shop!), RIP. He had a sandwich board out front that said “We Buy Watches”, in homage to his love of collecting and trading watches. I looked at my partner, and noted the small gold Deco Swiss watch on my substantial wrist and wandered in. Bob, conspicuous in his Hawaiian garb, looked at my Girard Perregaux and asked: “Solid Gold?” I answered in the affirmative and, after some dickering and my obvious disinterest, he said “Look, all I have on hand is $400, but look at this…” He presented me with an amazing art deco piece.

It was, I was to discover, a Parker Silver Pearl Vacumatic Major “BB” double desk set. Black glass and chrome, with “seal-o-matic” sockets, made in 1936 in Canada, and even the engraving plate was unmarked! It screamed Art Deco!! I was enthralled. What magic was this that filled themselves by vacuum pump, had translucent silver barrels to visually determine your ink level, two tone 14k nibs and made in Canada?

There was no question. I had to have that set! Bob said: “I’ve checked everywhere and the nearest I can come to a value is about $700 USD”. The trade was made, and I dove headlong into that rabbit hole. The Girard Perregaux cost me $120, the pen hobby has cost me a lot more than that…