Field Trip: P.W Akkerman Den Haag @sbrebrown

The P.W Akkerman store in Den Haag - the one chock full of pens and inks, including the P.W Akkerman inks we all know and love - was a store that obviously had to be visited. Personally, I went there with no expectation of purchasing any pens. I expected to just go and drool. Okay, I considered ONE bottle of ink. In the end, I did leave with a bottle of ink...
En route to Den Haag...had to entertain myself.

AH! There it is: hard to miss, and situated in a beautiful covered shopping area. It's alluring and delicious, even from the outside.

On the other side, there is a window display that has a wall of Akkerman inks - the older, larger bottles. It's been there awhile because the green boxes have started fading with light exposure. 

These were HUGE pens. WAY over sized, and on display outside the store in one of the windows.

Sigh. I really, really like these 90th anniversary Montblancs... (helloooo Montblanc... are you listening to meeee?)

The floor had this very fun light thing. Pen. Stuff. I don't know. I liked it.

Browsing.

A wall of Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks! There are also planners, Moleskine, Success products, and a whole pile of other things.

There's a huge swab chart on the wall above their inks, which basically just says "take one of each home". I love seeing the line up of pens back there.

It's a fascinating place, not just because of what you can purchase, but also because of the really cool decor. Vintage ink bottles. Lots of them. I want them all.

Rocker blotters, modern inks galore. Even the Montblanc Lavender Purple ink that is, rumour has it, discontinued? They also have the Sailor Jentle inks, and Caran d'Ache original inks.

RADEN.

Oh, these are gorgeous. You can probably guess which ones are my favourite...

The amazing thing about this place is it's full of pens I've never seen before (in person), or have read about, or want because they're no longer in production... in other words: leave your monies at home. 

I spy with my little eye a Pelikan Souverän M800 Brown Tortoiseshell, a Pelikan M1005 Special Edition Demosntrator...
WHAT DO YOUR EYEBALLS SPY?!

I know, I know it's just a ballpoint, but I still want that Pelikan Souverän M400 White Tortoise ballpoint to match  my fountain pen...

What's happening here? Well, someone spotted the Viscontis... including the Homo Sapiens... and the Opera Crystal, and some other goodies. They had to be observed. 

YESPLEASE.

While he was looking elsewhere, IT WAS SPOTTED. By me. "WHAT IS THAT PEN?" SHOWMESHOWMESHOWME.

This is it: The SBRE Brown Grail Pen - a Visconti Opera Master Demo. At first we just looked at it and touched it. Pet it lovingly. We both knew it was over when the gentleman said "it's a double broad". He asked if we wanted to try it. I said "don't let me try it. Don't let me try it. If I try it, we're leaving with it."

That's the end. We left with it. We were also able to pick an ink - obviously I picked P.W Akkerman Shocking Blue, and we were also given two adorable ink cloths. The pen was gift wrapped, which was torture because it couldn't be looked at until we got home.