hi everyone..this is my first post so i hope its in the right place..i recently bought a SECRETARY PEN CO.UNION N.J. U.S.A. mechanical pencil..this pencil appears to be gold..this pen has a clear center piece that is liquid filled and inside it has a RCA tube like a old radio or t.v. tune that goes up and down in the liquid as you turn the pen upside down..the pen says BROADWIN RCA TUBES for INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS the red tube inside the liquid says RCA ELECTRON TUBES..does anyone know anything about this pen...thanks jimmy

help please

I would think it would be brass. Usually, engraved gold gift pens would be something like a Parker or Sheaffer.

Nothing specific, but it appears to be typical of the advertising pens of the 1960's give or take a decade. The pens were bought in lots (usually with price breaks at 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 units) and widely distributed by salesmen to their clients and potential clients. I still have a standard model Zippo lighter with the Sylvania medallion that was a gift to my father in the 1960's.

There are people who collect them.

Hi,

I know next to nothing about this company and its products, but I'm happy to share what little information I've got.

The "Secretary" instruments I encounter most often are from what I take to have been the company's higher-end line; they were branded "Executive Secretary." I've owned a few of the Executive Secretary pens and one pen/pencil set. The pen is a gold-plated streamlined design, button filled, with a semi-hooded 14K nib (so marked). On the basis of the styling, I guesstimate a late 40s/50s timeframe. They are not atrociously made pens, and the gold nib is a pleasant surprise.

About midway down this page, there's an image of the pen I'm describing. (With absolutely no disrespect intended, I might suggest that the selling price here is a touch on the optimistic side.) The resemblance to your pencil is clear.

I have the sense that the high-end instruments were intended as low-priced gift items; depending on your Main Street's shopping options, they might have been the "fanciest" pens in the drugstore showcase. I also wouldn't be a bit surprised if a fair percentage of them wound up engraved (I think I had a couple of engraved specimens).

The company's ordinary "Secretary" line seems to have been oriented more toward the novelty end of things, as your example demonstrates: instruments well suited to givewaway premium applications.

On the basis of this FPN thread, it seems that this company (which was also known as Progressive Products, and which had an office in Toronto as well as New Jersey) held patents for floaty pens and pencils.

Not a lot of help, I know - sorry!

Cheers,

Jon

If it matters, I've got the same pencil from my days of radio collecting.

I know nothing about it other than it came in a box of repair parts.

Todd

thanks to all who answered my questions jimmy