His Nibs.com update -- Disappearing Charisma!

His Nibs.com Update --
Disappearing Charisma!
August 12th, 2006

As we take our first hiatus from the D.C. Supershow
in several years -- sort of a mini-vacation from pen
shows this year -- we pause to mourn the
passing of another Monteverde stalwart pen design --
the Charisma.

Like the Cambria http://www.hisnibs.com/cambria.htm -- mentioned in the
past two updates --
Monteverde is winnowing its extensive line of models
to make room for new ones this autumn.

The Charisma was the first Monteverde model to
catch my eye as a collector, and one of their first
lines overall. Along with the Invincia (which also
seems to be slated for retirement -- at least the
Tartanian version) -- it also prompted me to become
a dealer for this line of very innovative pen designs
-- which of course continues today with the MEGA
http://www.hisnibs.com/mega.htm.

The fountain pen version of the Charisma was quite
unlike anything else when it arrived, and is still a very
inspired design. Its oversized cap and undersized
barrel caused quite a bit of confusion when first
introduced! To my hand at least, its eight-sided
shape remains one of the most comfortable pens in
my personal collection to use.

The 'convertible' version -- which I
hope to get more of this coming week -- was the
first pen to my recollection to take advantage of the
combination of included refills for a ballpoint as well
as the then new gel and capless rollerballs. The
white one that I kept for myself is still my favorite
non-fountain pen, and continues to be used on a
daily basis years later.

We still have a few Cambria pens left, and several
new owners have mentioned to me in the past
week that they never knew what they had been
missing.

On the blog....IBM PC turns 25 today

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
* Adieu Charisma!
* Monteverde Cambria
* Invincia Tartania
* On the blog...IBM PC turns 25 today!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adieu Charisma!

As I noted on the webpage itself, I find the Purple
to be more of a blue than a purple. It should also be
noted that these fountain pens are cartridge-only.
The barrel is too short for
any converter that I've found.

More photos here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/charisma.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monteverde Cambria

We still have a few left of the large stock of these
that I purchased a couple of weeks ago...although
the Black Knight is no more...even at Monteverde.

Read more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/cambria.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Invincia Tartania

As the Tartania version of the over-sized Invincia
was also retired this week, I imagine the model line
as a whole is not far behind!

See other finishes here.... - http://www.hisnibs.com/invincia.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the blog...IBM PC turns 25 today!

It's hard to believe that so much time has
passed...but equally hard to remember when we
didn't rely on our ubiquitous PCs (Apple's included, of
course!). My first 'personal computer' was a Sinclair
ZX-81, subsequently marketed by Timex, which was
also from 1981 as I recall. You hooked the
keyboard/computer up to your TV as a monitor, and
used a cassette tape recorder to input games and
programs. I purchased the 32K RAM expansion
module as well!

My first real job was as a computer programmer, on
the IBM 360 and 370 mainframe machines, when we
used punchcards for input and humongous printouts
and 'core dumps' to see where we went wrong.
Having *any* kind of a monitor -- even a TV set --
was a treat!

Read more here... - http://hisnibs.blogspot.com

Regards,

Norman Haase
His Nibs.com
www.hisnibs.com
Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com