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Are There Any Ballpoint Or Rollerball Pens I Should Own With Historical Significance?


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Parker 51 cap actuated.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Beautiful function or favorite pens, historical significance?

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I suspect that ball points won't attract attention for at least the next fifty years - many of us viewing this remember them as the gadget that killed decent handwriting - and it's for that reason that we give house room to f.ps. and, generally, not ball points.

I'd also mention the Miles Martin 'Biro' - how many of us having turned our toes up - like Laslo - will be able to say that history remembers us for a pen. I'd like to say that I don't collect such things, but looking in my drawer marked misc. ball points, I can see three of them - obviously, they look dated, but maybe that's their charm - I love those with the folded double length refills.

 

The name jotter always has me confused - assume it's the Parker ball pen that has the 45 clip, but perhaps I'm wrong with that - but if I'm somewhere near right then how about the 'Happy Colours' - yellow, orange, mauve, aqua and olive. I don't know where these get to - almost never see them on my travels.

 

Some of the Sterling and plated versions from Cross and Caran D'Ache ooze bling and might snap knicker elastic at fifty paces if you were trying to impress, and I've a jumbo sized Cross roller ball that has Concorde on the side, so likely it was a corporate issue perhaps, but it's size makes it clumsy - it makes my Pilot ball pen look like a matchstick.

So, for investment, it's back to burying some of the best in the sand and coming back in a thousand years to ………. find they've been nicked. :)

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There are people who collect ballpoints and prize some of the Papermates, Sheaffers and others.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Hi - you're quite right, of course - as usual, I was being a tad flippant :) At the last count I had over fifty Parker ball pens/rollerballs, and at least twenty Papermates in various guises, plus a variety of misc. brands. I try not to collect these things, but often they come as part of a set, or sometimes are so inexpensive that I can't refuse them, and then give them away.

Attached pix of some of the better ones, couple of the Miles Martin Biro showing the two types of refill, some of the Papermates and some of the Parkers.

I've not a clue as to rarity, commonness or value, but just for interest.

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Here's a picture of the very first Paper Mate ballpoint pen. To extend the point, one pushed in the button, then cocked it to one side. The groove around the button engaged the rim of the hole and held the point extended. To retract, just bump the button toward the center.

paper-mate.jpg?w=1000&h=

The Moonwalk Pen - honoring Apollo lunar landings
4-x-2-advertisement-copy-reduced-size.jp

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There were a lot of fountain pens made that had some "gimmick" to attact buyers. One was the Pen-O-Matic of the 1930s, which was an inexpensive version of the Meteore Pullman, or you might think of it as a very early Pilot Vanishing Point. When ballpoints came along, the Pen-O-Matic folks made a ballpoint version with updated styling for the late 1940s.

 

Here are the fountain pen and the ballpoint with nib/point retracted and the door closed:

pen-o-matic-pair-closed.jpg?w=1200&h=

And here they are with their doors open and points extended:

pen-o-matic-pair-fully-open.jpg?w=1200&h

The Moonwalk Pen - honoring Apollo lunar landings
4-x-2-advertisement-copy-reduced-size.jp

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I recently read a book on the invention of the ballpoint pen called the Biro. A few other people mentioned it in this thread but that's the original. To my knowledge, there's no replacement refills for it, but I know someone 3D printed adapters for an Esterbrook ballpoint, so someone could do the same for the Biros one day as well.

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that early Papermate is desirable - I've not seen one, yet.

 

An early find from the wild this week for £5, which included a converter and spare Skrip cartridge, is the set in the first picture - no idea as to model, but it shows how ball pens piggy back in, without really looking for them, when buying f.ps. Slim jobs such as these wouldn't be my choice of f.p., but for the price I'd not leave the set behind. The brochure is date stamped 1990, I think, from Selfridges in London.

 

I was metal detecting many years back and found a Pullman, and with it's hinged lid retracted, the nib had been saved from damage, though the thin plastic overlay had long since gone. See pix attached.

At the time I hadn't the slightest interest in f.ps., but by some quirk of good luck it didn't get binned, and I dug it out in recent years and it's now with someone who collects such things far more seriously than me. A novel pen design which may well have been made by Meteore in France, though I notice that the nib is stamped Made in England. Oddly, an unrelated f.p. I bought in recent times was fitted with a Pullman nib - odd how some things turn up when you least expect them.

 

With the Miles Martin Biro - the version with clear plastic nylon looking cartridge refill looks as though it might be re-fillable - but not with ordinary f.p. ink, which would simply leak out. The doubled up refill is a dead duck once empty - but the pen is ugly really and lacks any design refinement, so don't think I'd use one now.

 

sorry, made a cods of the arrangement of the pix - can you guess which is the Sheaffer :D

Edited by PaulS
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I recently read a book on the invention of the ballpoint pen called the Biro. A few other people mentioned it in this thread but that's the original. To my knowledge, there's no replacement refills for it, but I know someone 3D printed adapters for an Esterbrook ballpoint, so someone could do the same for the Biros one day as well.

I'm the one who makes the 3D printed adapters for the Esterbrook FJ/Wordathon ballpoints - and for the early Sheaffer Stratowriters as well. I probably could do one for the Biro. I have a couple of the Miles Martin Biros, and one earlier Argentinian Birome, so I have the old refills to use as models for a replacement.

The Moonwalk Pen - honoring Apollo lunar landings
4-x-2-advertisement-copy-reduced-size.jp

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I'm the one who makes the 3D printed adapters for the Esterbrook FJ/Wordathon ballpoints - and for the early Sheaffer Stratowriters as well. I probably could do one for the Biro. I have a couple of the Miles Martin Biros, and one earlier Argentinian Birome, so I have the old refills to use as models for a replacement.

Oh man! I’m so glad I spoke up! I’ve actively been looking for a vintage ballpoint like the FJ and the original Biro. I only own a Fisher Space Pen which I had before I got into fountains. I hope to get one and look forward to trying an adapter for them! Thanks for letting me know who to contact!

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I agree with the suggestions that Fisher Space Pens, Parker Jotters, Biros are historically significant. I think the Fisher Space Pen was my very first foray into pen collecting and paying top dollar (as a young teenager with an allowance) for pens that were interesting and aesthetically significant. As for the Jotter, even some of the new ones they keep releasing are collectible, especially if they have all-metal bodies; the new plastic bodies feel sticky and weird.

 

Right now I'm into Parker 88s, specifically the Place Vendôme collection and only the three early Laque colors. They're not necessarily historically significant but they're pleasing aesthetically.

 

I think Rotring pens are historically significant but rarely get the proper credit or attention.

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Papermate Holiday.

 

The Montblanc Meisterstuck 164 ballpoint is historically significant as the pen so often displayed in the pocket by 1980s and 1990s show-offs and brownnosers that it was a notable wave in the office. It made me start to leave my 144s and 164s at home.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I'm the one who makes the 3D printed adapters for the Esterbrook FJ/Wordathon ballpoints - and for the early Sheaffer Stratowriters as well. I probably could do one for the Biro. I have a couple of the Miles Martin Biros, and one earlier Argentinian Birome, so I have the old refills to use as models for a replacement.

I have a couple of early Birome pens from Argentina that I would love to get an adaptor for. If you do make them, I am interested.

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  • 1 month later...

Some good suggestions, I think, and some (inappropriate) snobbery. Lots of ways to go about a collection, like

those used by a favorite President, e.g. Or from an important year or time in your life. Besides those made

commercially, there are lots of hand-made choices. I own a couple made of bog oak - older than the Pharoahs! -

or of vintage material, like from Conway Stewart, e.g. How about something made by a company you admire (I own

several Montegrappas for just that reason), or to honor a person you feel the same about. And, they don't have

to be made of "precious resin" or cost you a fortune.

Good hunting!

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BarmaPen; That Pen-O-Matic is very cool! Lovely.

 

I've always liked the Usus IO for its function and form. Simply designed and constructed with magnets. But, have never owned one, so can't comment on its performance.

 

And yes, the Fisher Space Pen for historical significance.

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My personal fav daily user ballpoint is the eversharp retractable found one for 1.50...

A little work to convert to modern filler... I used to use this Sheaffer but dropped the cap too much

I think both are interesting historically a bit too

post-146565-0-08181200-1548286332_thumb.jpeg

Regards, Glen

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