Richard’s Pen Collection : Vintage American Ballpoint Pens & Pencils

Writing instruments on this page are part of my personal collection and are not for sale. Click the magnifying-glass symbol () next to any pen to view a zoomed image for more detail.

What pens am I carrying today?

At 2³/₆" closed and 4¹/₈" extended, this sterling silver Victorian magic pencil holds the title of Smallest Pencil in my collection. Pencils like this one were called “magic pencils” because they contain a mechanism that extends the nozzle when the user pulls the back end out. This design turns a tiny object, small enough to be worn as a pendant, into a usable pencil. Note that the body does not transform when the pencil is extended; I turned the pencil over between these two photos to show both sides of the exquisite repoussée work.

David Kahn, Inc., began producing Wearever fountain pens in 1918. Never one to miss a bet, the company realized after World War II that the ballpoint pen was likely the wave of the future, and so ballpoint pens began to flow off the Wearever line. Case in point: this Zenith, which matches my Zenith fountain pen. At 5⁹/₃₂" capped and 6³/₁₆" posted, this ballpoint is a tad shorter than its wet-ink compadre, but the two make a very presentable FP/BP set, and I’ve decided that it’s only a matter of time until I add a British Racing Green pencil to complete the FP/BP/MP set. As with my other vintage ballpoints, I’ve converted this pen to take modern Parker refills.

Hungarian journalist László Bíró invented the first successful modern ballpoint in 1938. Quick to see the potential, Eversharp purchased the patent rights for the U.S.A. But Eversharp didn’t count on Milton Reynolds. An entrepreneur and serial bankrupt, Reynolds saw Bíró's Birome ballpoints on sale in Argentina, bought a few, and brought them back to America to reverse-engineer the design. The result was the Reynolds International, which went on sale in October 1945 for $12.50. It sold $100,000 worth in the first week, which would have been great if Reynolds had only taken care to be sure his pens worked reliably. They didn’t, and by 1951 the problems had driven him into bankruptcy once again.

The first Reynolds pen I bought was this Rocket. The Rocket, actually the third Reynolds model after the International and the 400, is perhaps the best known. It’s a cute pen, in a way, with its snap-sliding “cap” to reveal or protect the point. At 5⁵/₈" retracted (below, upper, with the cap extended to cover the point) and 5⁹/₁₆" open for writing (below, lower), it's a comfortable size, and its all-aluminum construction makes it nice and light. I’ve hacked this pen to replace the tip and the claimed two-years’ supply of ink with a modern Parker ballpoint refill. Nice pen, all things considered!

I also have an International, which is likewise converted to use Parker refills. This, the first Reynolds model, is 5³/₄" capped and 5⁵⁹/₆₄" posted. Aluminum was apparently Reynolds’ thing, and this pen, too, is nice and light. The arrangement of the clip and cap is a little weird, with the cap notched out to fit over the clip (which is mounted on the pen, not the cap) when the pen is posted. This design was probably intended to ensure that the point stayed downward when the pen was in the pocket. Apparently Reynolds wasn’t sure that the goopy ink in these pens would stay where it was put if its viscosity was pitted against the force of gravity.

Sometime during the late 1930s, a company called Norma Multicolor, Inc., appeared in New York City, producing mechanical pencils in the customer’s choice of 3- or 4-color models. Each pencil contained a set of mechanisms that could slide forward or backward under the pressure of the user's thumb or finger. When ballpoint pens became common during the 1950s, Norma expanded its line to include ballpoints that worked in the same manner as its pencils. Renamed in the 1940s or ’50s as the Norma Pencil Corporation, the company survived until 1967. The Nº 104 (chrome plated) and Nº 304 (gold plated) pencils shown here are 5²¹/₃₂" long, and they’re still in full working order, with leads in all slots.