Vol. XIV, No.2 Fall 2000
Pen Collecting As I Remember It
By Abe Schwartz
All rights reserved by author
Following my service as one of the first radar navigators in the eighth Air Force
division in England during World War II, I was discharged in the fall of 1945. My
father-in-law gave me a small, maroon-colored Parker 51 fountain pen, which I still
have to this day. I used this pen for a while until the advent of ball point pens.
Most people discarded their fountain pens in favor of the new ball-point pens, as
was in vogue at the time. I too stopped using my maroon Parker, and placed it in
a desk drawer, where it remained for several years.
Some time later, in the 1960's, my wife kept after me to clean out my desk drawers. Finally, after much persuasion, I took the time to clean out the desk in my upstairs office. I started opening drawers, with a wastebasket ready for me to throw away anything I no longer wanted. I came across the maroon Parker fountain pen, picked it up, and started to throw it into the wastebasket.
Then I said to myself, Everyone throws these away! My right hand was in motion to
toss it out, when I thought, 'I'll start a collection of fountain pens.' I had no
knowledge of the subject. My wife's good friend was a librarian in the Cincinnati
library system, and although she searched for information for me, she could only
locate material relating to engineering drawings, etc., in technical journals.
I began going to flea markets around the Cincinnati area. I was able to find all
kinds of pens that dealers practically gave away, since there was no market for
such items. I brought home cigar boxes full of pens every time I went looking. My
only criterion in obtaining the pens was that they were large with interesting colors
and patterns. I was able to find hundreds of all of the famous brands, such as Parker, Sheaffer, Conklin, Wahl, Wahl Eversharp, John Holland (a Cincinnati brand), Waterman, Diamond Point, Gold Seal, and an assortment of other brands.
Read the rest of Abe's amazing story here :
http://www.pencollectors.com/pennant/fall00/schwartz.html
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