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SFGate covers the San Francisco International Rare Pen Show
Pen Kingdom is a proud sponsor of the California Pen Show — and rare pen collecting keeps drawing wider attention.
Read the article →Short quotations from the article by Kasia Pawlowska:
When my Uber stopped behind it, I knew we’d come to the right place. Parked directly in front of the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel was a black Maserati Quattroporte, gleaming brightly on what felt like the first genuinely hot day of the year. The message on its vanity plate set my body abuzz — “RARE PEN,” it read.
Dmitry Grinberg of Pen Kingdom parks his Maserati out front at the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel in Millbrae, Calif., on Aug. 29, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
For the past four decades, a massive event older than Dreamforce and TechCrunch Disrupt combined has been drawing crowds of thousands from all over the world to airport-adjacent hotel ballrooms south of the city. Held during the last weekend of August, the gathering is the second largest of its kind in the country and a decidedly big deal for anyone in the know. It’s the San Francisco International Pen Show.
Dmitry Grinberg of Pen Kingdom sells rare and vintage pens at the San Francisco International Pen Show in Millbrae, Calif., on Aug. 29, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
As I made my way down another aisle, I spotted him — Dmitry Grinberg, the owner of Pen Kingdom (and the “RARE PEN” vanity plate I saw earlier.) He was wearing a charcoal gray crew neck sweater and a lanyard with a sticker of his famous plate. I noticed another telling addition: “Pen God.”
I approached the table, but there were a couple of young women in front of me. “I know what you girls want!” Grinberg bellowed to his giggling fans. “You all want the same thing [as] last year, getting stickers!” He ripped several license plate replica stickers off a roll and handed them to the now-satiated devotees.
But it’s not just the stickers they wanted. It was his incredible collection of writing instruments, many of which are over 100 years old. Grinberg has been in the rare pen business for 27 years, and at this point, he told me with signature bravado, he’s not seeking anything: “They’re already finding me.”
He shared a wild story about getting chased down on the freeway by someone who was drawn to his all-attracting plate. “We stop, and they’re like, ‘What do you want? Is it pens? ... Give me a card.’” It turns out the highway acolyte had a massive pen collection. “$150,000 with one collection,” he said, shaking his head.
