The Quicker Picker Upper

Janet said she had never seen me as bummed to see a pen show end as I was at the end of the DC show this year, and she was right. I thought about it for a while, and I think I figured out why: it was the first time I’ve seen the show actually end. In years past, when I arrive things are already underway and when I leave, I’m one of the first ones to go on Sunday afternoon so that I can get home Sunday night.

This year, Janet and I decided to spend the night on Sunday and leave on Monday morning. It was the first time ever I’ve passed where the ink testing area is set up and not seen tables full of ink bottles with a few people hunched over the table. It was the first time I’ve seen the ballroom without my friends and tables full of pens and pencils in it.

I’ve never seen the Sheraton Premiere look empty and – well – lonely.

So even though we had a nice day to take our time and enjoy a few stops on the way home, I was a little melancholy. When we stopped off in Frederick, Maryland, we had a pretty good time rummaging around a few antique stores, but I just couldn’t get into it. After three days of being surrounded by literally anything a pencil collector could want, now it was all I could do to turn up a ballpoint that some dealer wants eight bucks for!

By the time we made Hagerstown, where we found "Memory Lane Antiques and Collectibles" right off of Route 70, it was beginning to feel like there was nothing to do but sit around and wait for the next pen show to roll around before there would be something interesting to look at again. But as I wandered up and down aisles of NASCAR and Harley Davdison "collectibles" (yeah, I suppose you can collect stuff made in China last week, if that’s what you really want to do), something did catch my eye . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company