Do the US made pens carry more kudos than those made overseas? I remember as a boy being dismayed to find that my Levi "Originals" were made in Scotland!

Steve

Not many pens left that are made in the US. Bexley and Cross (some) come to mind. Both Sheaffer and Parker, the biggies, are made elsewhere.

Bexley and Cross make some great pens, but nobody can boast much any more about the cachet of US made pens.

I hadn't thought about it before, but this applies to ball points just as much as it applies to fountan pens!

Thank you Andy. What's your opinion about "vintage" pens? Do collectors prize, say, a US produced snorkel more highly than an Australian one?

Steve

Thanks for the replies. As a Brit who grew up mesmerised by 'fifties American cars and Superman then Spiderman and then moon landings, the American pen somehow seems like the real deal. I'm not casting aspersions on the quality of the Aussie and Canadian pens, I'd just like to think that my snorkel was made by somebody who drove to work in a '57 Impala!

Steve

For 1957 it would be a Bel Air.

http://vintagecars.about.com/od/greatcars/p/chev57belair.htm

My apologies. I always thought the Impala ran alongside the Bel Air as an upmarket model. Just shows how wrong you can be! I suppose they also had Chevys in Canada. Probably not in Australia though.

Steve