How Many Pens Would A Person Have?

[SuperNib44]

I am interested to know how many pens an average person in say, the 1940's, would of had? Forties was just an example, but during any period in which FPs were called "just a pen". Would a person have one "all purpose" pen or have several around the house like the modern person has several bics? I am curious to know because I assume this number would be close to what is practical in current times as well. I know many on the forum have several dozen fountain pens, where as I am content with my two (though I am seaching for a fourth "non-family-heirloom" pen ). My guess would be 1-3 was average. Tell me- how many fountain pens was average for a person to have in their heyday?

[ac12]

I think my father had 2 fountain pens, and a LOT of pencils.

My mother does not count. She was a bookkeeper, so they used pens a LOT. She had several desk pen sets.

 

Today, because pens are so cheap, it is not unreasonable to have more than a dozen pens scattered through the house, garage, purse, briefcase, etc.

Edited September 22, 2014 by ac12

[LamyOne]

Hello SuperNib,

 

Well, sometimes, a person just had one good pen that they carried in their shirt or suit jacket pocket wherever they went. By the same token, a household would often have several pens strewn around the house, e.g., a desk set in the study; one in the kitchen; each of the kids would probably have one of their own, etc.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

[PaganArcher]

My great grandfather carried six in his briefcase for work. In a day's time he would empty all six on page. Around the house he had another two for revising his work and general use.

[LamyOne]

My great grandfather carried six in his briefcase for work. In a day's time he would empty all six on page. Around the house he had another two for revising his work and general use.

 

Was he an accountant or an engineer/architect/draftsman?

 

- Chris

Edited September 22, 2014 by LamyOne

[KamenRitter]

My father used to have 5 or 6 fountain pens, I have about a dozen felt-tip markers and technical pens strewn about in my home and 2 fountain pens on my office desk, and a pen I carried around everywhere.

[dothgrin]

My grandfather worked for the Postal Service, so he had plenty of Skilcraft US Government Pens. Unfortunately he discarded them shortly he became ill, thinking they had served their purpose (I wish I had snagged one...) However, he only had one fountain pen, and he gave rid of that when I was young.

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[PaganArcher]

Was he an accountant or an engineer/architect/draftsman?

 

- Chris

Court reporter for four or five counties. Depositions and all that wonderful jazz. Still have hundreds of his books written in his illegible Gregg shorthand in storage.

[erpe]

Not sure it would be average, my grandmother had a Talens deskpen for correspondence, people in those days would really sit down to compose letters, then in the handbag a pen for everyday use,I think that was a Duofold, and a writing set for correspondence while traveling. That was a small wooden box with 2 fountain pens, two bottles of ink and a small compartment for extra nibs. The ink used was either Pelikan or Talens.

i don't recall any person of her agegroup (*1910) writing with anything else then fountain pens or pencil. If color writing was required, there was a flat tin box with Caran d'Ache pencils around.

[alexander_k]

Averages are tricky; they depend on too many factors. I guess most people had mostly one fountain pen they used intensively until it was broken, stolen or lost - or until they got a new one, often as a present; at least, that's a summary of stories I heard from my father and his friends who were amused that an eight-year-old was earnestly interested in fountain pens.

[Black Spot]

There would have been allot of people with out any pens at all, because they did no need to wright or could not wright.

writing was not as ubiquitous as it is today.

It also depended on who you were, there were allot more tradesmen and farmers.

Today there are far more people in offices.

 

I would say, If you were a professional you probably had a couple two or three.

[Bo Bo Olson]

One Man, One Pen....the wife unless she owned one before marrage got the old man's used up 7 year old pen.

 

Pens were just as much a status symbol then as now. One had to be up to date....get the modern P-51, that Vac was out of date, like that Sheaffer Balance, that had made the flat topps old fashioned.

Then came the King of Pens...the Snorkel.

Adds on B&W TV and in all the better mags, like Life, Esquire, Reader's Digest.

 

The working class was educated with good handwriting....and used a Wearever (then the biggest pen company in the world; by far, or an Esterbrook....might have a real good pen at home, for going out. Going out was paid in cash....Dinner's Card was just coming in...for the middle class with out enough cash....eventually the credit card came in with it's high interest charges....for them with a cash management problem. Once on the credit mill never off.

 

(MB& Pelikan were not even known in the US, much less a brag pen. That came with the fall of the Dollar....like them small Benzes and tiny BMW's that suddenly were more expensive than US cars so bought to show status......

Do you know, in Germany, they wanted a couple dollars more for gold plated trim clunky old fashioned (New Balance copy) MB than a rolled gold trim Snorkel ) Pelikan were Snorkel priced in the early '60s' and so ugly....and I couldn't afford a Snorkel as a kid....was planned to get one as soon as I got a real job..........only took 50 years....(Oddly ending up with MB & many Pelikans before the Snorkel.)

 

In fountain pens were out. I went to the PX to buy a fancy top status Cross matt black, gold trimmed ball point for $8-10 (Jotters some $2.50-3.00)....looked at the Snorkel, got mugged by a P-75 set.....The fountain pen cost 22 silver dollars in '70-71. The silver MP/BP some $18....that kicked the Cross ball point for status. Have to admit the P-75 fountain, was a second thought after I bought that P-75 ball point.

 

I don't know if I was 6 or 7 when my father left his Snorkel at home for that government issue black skillcraft ball point...that he didn't have to worry about losing or breaking....'54-55. I do remember the day....asking why, he had that black bal point instead of the familie's pride and joy in his pocket. Click and Go, cheap, write on greasy engine tags in the AF boat he worked on. (ball points were messy...ring of ink around the ball....had to shave parts to get it to click and go, or click and go with out hanging. Use to haul out our pocket knives and shave the pen parts to make them work in class.....the world would come to an end today if a second grader whiped out his pocked knife in class to fix something. We were not stupid liltte kids, we were big second graders.)

 

The Snorkel ended up in the drawer, for writing checks with the single bottle of ink.

 

(We live in the Golden Age of Inks.)

 

The cartridge almost killed off fountain pens....they were too expensive for workers. A replacement refill of a ball point if one took generic instead of name brand, was 10 for 10 cents....

Edited September 22, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[SuperNib44]

Court reporter for four or five counties. Depositions and all that wonderful jazz. Still have hundreds of his books written in his illegible Gregg shorthand in storage.

In a week or so I will be going through the Gregg textbook and attempt to learn the art of shorthand. Luckily, I found a teacher at school who used to teach it many years ago who I can ask for help.

[itsallkg]

As I'm heading off for college, I'm slimming down to just one nice pen (the Pilot VP), and the Metropolitan as my beater.

[oregano]

Thanks, Bo Bo, for that fascinating bit of history...it's nice to hear/read a firsthand account!

[LamyOne]

Court reporter for four or five counties. Depositions and all that wonderful jazz. Still have hundreds of his books written in his illegible Gregg shorthand in storage.

 

Wow, I never would have guessed....

 

- Chris

[Ernst Bitterman]

Leaving aside weirdos (like us), the pencil was the ubiquitous writing object. Esterbrook promoted its desk pens as being useful for home as well as office, one assumes for uses a pencil wouldn't be suited to like writing a cheque-- you had The Pen, and if it had a desk base, you knew where it lived in the house. For those whose profession didn't call for writing stuff down all day long, one pen would serve; some might have a couple, in the same way as one would have a different watch for more elevated events, but not the bic-swarm that's so much the current standard. Even if The Pen was a Wearever or an even cheaper brand, having bought in and a bottle of ink, you were set.

 

Remember, too, that the cheap BPs come in multiples; you can hardly get fewer than three. One might have bought cartridges (after a certain point in the '50s) in a group, but the pen was a lone purchase.

[Paddler]

My father had one fountain pen. My mother (a school teacher) had two: one with red ink and one with blue. Then there was the household pen used by anyone who needed it. We children each had our own school pens. Most people, back in the day, would have thought that owning a whole fardel of pens was a crazy affectation.

[dannyboy]

My parents had one good pen--a Parker Challenger that my mother had given my father before they married. The Parker was the pen my mother used to write letters, pay bills by check, and sign Christmas cards. There were a couple of dimestore pens around the house, but no one used them. And there was a Wahl-Eversharp set that had been given to my father by the men who worked with him, but it was put in a drawer and never used. (Yes, I have it now in its original case as well as the Parker Challenger.)

[huy3825]

Back in south east Asia not too long ago (70's), my father had one pen and a huge bottle of ink. He would bring that to school plus a rocker blotter in a bag separate to his work