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HisNibs.com update --
Wing Sung NOS
December 21st, 2007

Just a brief update as I'm sure everyone is
pressed for time with the holiday rush.

The response to the Delta Israel 60th
Anniversary limited edition pens has been
spectacular. So spectacular that Delta is now
way behind in their manufacture. The next
batch of pens for the U.S. is not expected to
ship from Italy until mid-January at the
earliest. I have a waiting list going, so
jump on board if you're interested. As
mentioned in the last update, the Celebration
version permanently sold out close to two
months ago.

Having imported genuine Chinese-designed pens
(Hero, Duke, Wing Sung, etc.) for more than a
decade, I've always had to battle against the
concurrent western perception that all
Chinese pens are 'knock-offs'. As the linked
article [link=hyperlink url]http://tinyurl.com/24yrcf[/link] from the LA Times attests, the
struggle continues. It appears that
some progress is being made. (You
may have to register on the LA Times site to
read the article. If so -- and you wish to
remain anonymous -- there's no law that
says you can't make up your own name and
information....I've always liked the name
'Peter Pan').

Speaking of Wing Sung, after an extended
hiatus, I've been able to obtain more of the
NOS (new, old stock) Wing Sung 235s.

Lai Yee found enough scrap material to make
two of the 4-pen pen rolls in the very
popular 'Chinese Horoscope' pattern that
sold out months ago (she's never been able to
find more of this material). This is truly
first-come, first-served and I almost
hesitate to mention it, as there are only two!
(SORRY -- SOLD OUT AS I POST THIS!)

On the blog....Intellectual feats of our
primate cousins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
* Delta's Israel 60th Anniversary pens
* Wing Sung #235
* Chinese Horoscope pen rolls
* On the blog....Intellectual feats of our primate cousins

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Delta's Israel 60th Anniversary pens



In 1948 the nation of Israel declared
independence and in 2008 Israel celebrates
its 60th anniversary.

The Israel60 collection offers 948 fountain
pens with particulars in vermeil (.925
sterling silver gold-plated) featuring the
lateral lever filling system. It offers also
1948 fountain pens and 1948
ballpens/rollerballs, both with trimmings in
sterling silver with aged finish. The
Limited Edition fountain pen features a
converter or cartridge (threaded) filling
system and the rollers are easily convertible
into ball pens.

See and read more... - http://www.hisnibs.com/israel_60th.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wing Sung #235



These Wing Sung #235 http://www.hisnibs.com/wing_sung_235.htm
sold out very quickly the last time I
was able to find them. I doubt I'll find more
of these NOS (new, old stock) pens again.

After importing Hero pens from China for a
number of years in the late '90s, I thought
I'd try Shanghai's 2nd-largest pen
manufacturer, which was Wing Sung, which had
also been around for decades. Hero
subsequently purchased the company but now it
appears that it's no longer a separate brand.

While Hero has designed quite a few pens
based on earlier Parker models, the Wing Sung
pens were more of an homage to Sheaffer! Most
notable is the use of a Triumph-style
wrap-around nib, such as that on the #233 http://www.hisnibs.com/wing_sung_233.htm
and #237 http://www.hisnibs.com/wing_sung_237.htm
models, being a slightly smaller version of
Sheaffer's Crest.

See all Wing Sungs here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/wing_sung1.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chinese Horoscope pen rolls


(SORRY -- SOLD OUT AS I POST THIS!)

This was the first pattern of Lai Yee's pen
rolls to sell out, many months ago. While
moving some of her supplies, she discovered
that she had enough material left to make two
-- and only two -- of the newer 4-pen size rolls.
(SORRY -- SOLD OUT AS I POST THIS!)

Several competitors have recently sprung up
offering a cheaper version of these handmade
pen rolls (see the linked article in this
update about cheap knock-offs...also from
China!). Lai Yee wished me to mention that
they are cheaper. Cheaper in materials
used (hers are wool felt-lined, providing a
soft, scratch-resistant and drop-resistant
cushioned cradle
for your pens); Cheaper in the selected
fabric; Cheaper -- by far -- in workmanship
(the stitching on some of these copycats
starts to unravel if you look at it
crosswise); and worst of all, they use
light-colored interior material, which will
show dirt easily and ruin the appearance with
the first accidental droplet of ink.

As Lai Yee now has so many patterns
available, it's worth mentioning again (as
this has gotten pushed down the webpage
toward the bottom), that she can also
customize certain pen rolls with a person's
name (this generally works best with the
solid-red pen roll), and can also make use of
special patterns sent to her. Obviously,
there's more of a wait time for these.

See more patterns here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/pen_rolls.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the blog....Intellectual feats of our primate cousins



There are actually two blog entries that I'd
like to direct you to. The first is from
Tuesday, December 18th, and talks about
Rhesus macaque monkeys which can do mental
math almost as well as human college students
-- or at least those from Duke University!

It's the Thursday, December 6th entry that's
really stunning to me though. Kyoto
University researchers have found that young
chimpanzees have superior performance
on certain visual memory tasks as compared to
their
human counterparts.

I have links within the article to videos of
the actual tests and performance results from
both the chimps and human subjects (you have
to sit through a 30 second commercial from
the ABC News website before it plays). I invite
you to take a look at the chimp performance
(the longer video shows more test runs) and
try to imagine how you would score. I
had to turn in my Mensa card!

It's very interesting to speculate as to why
the chimpanzee would seem to have superior
cognitive abilities in this particular area.

Read the full stories here... - http://hisnibs.blogspot.com


Regards,

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