What Are Some Notable Vintage Ballpoints?

[eharriett]

Speculator, those look very familiar to me for some reason. I wonder if they made it here in the US? I swear I’ve seen/used one before!

[speculator]

You can buy them in the U.S., but they are made in Sweden. Check out a site called "Nord-Mark," in Minneapolis. Jet Pens also sells these.

[85AKbN]

One of the wonderful things about Ballograf pens is that they are both vintage and new: the design dates back many decades, and they are still made- and still made in Sweden.

These have been my favorite ballpoints since I bought my first of their pens (the red design in the photo) in Norway, in the 90s. The pen on the left has a wooden grip, and is very comfortable- even after a lot of note-taking.

 

Do they take locally procured (U.S.) refills? If so, which kind?

[speculator]

Not sure, but I am sure about this source:

http://www.nord-mark.com/ballograf.html

 

Those refills last years and years.

[welch]

 

If you speak about built quality I guess that there is not a single ballpoint that will beat the Parker Jotter. It worked flawlessly upon its introduction in 1954, which was a huge achievement by itself, and the Jotter is still going strong today.

 

If you are, like me, not interested in ballpoints, you may like reading the Parker Jotter book (Jotter - History Of An Icon). I gained much respect for the almost perfect interplay between the genius Parker engineering and commercial departments. Really interesting reading material.

 

+1

 

As best I remember the story, Parker made at least two significant engineering wins:

 

- Previous ballpoints had used spherical balls to lay down liquid ink, but unevenly

 

- Parker decided that a ballpoint use an inky paste. Thereafter, no cracked tubes leading to leaks.

 

- How, though, could a spherical ball pull ink from a paste? And how to keep the ball from getting flat spots? How to keep it round?

 

- Two additional "aha" moments for Parker engineering. (1) Parker realized a tungsten ball, with crevices all over. The crevices scraped ink from the ink-paste. So, it became the Parker T-ball Jotter. (2) Each click twisted the refill a bit, keepint the ball from flattening.

[ajcoleman]

A couple of other classic ballpoint pens to consider:

• The original Cross Classic twist advance ballpoint, the ubiquitous graduation gift. I feel like they were classic when I got them as graduation presents in 1979.
• The Fisher AG-7 and the Bullet Space pens. The original write in zero gravity pen and still one of the best pocket pens ever.

These are all still available new, and still feature the original designs that goes back at least to the 1960's I think. All three are virtually indestructible. Not sure you can count pens that are still in production as vintage, but these are certainly classic.

[eharriett]

The Fisher pen has been my EDC ballpoints isn’t forever. I have had nothing but excellent experiences with it. The back of every Fisher package says if you ever have issues, contact them. Once I did because the ballpoint stopped working after 3 weeks. I also sent them the non functioning cartridge. In 2 weeks I got a letter and two new packs from them. Excellent service.

[Custom Pen Parts]

I think you would go a long way before you found a better vintage ballpoint than the Biro Squire!

The build is brilliant, the metal rolled gold case is beautifully crafted and the pen is comfortable to grip.

I have modified a Bic refill to fit so you get a really good pen with great reliability, what more do you want?

[sandy101]

Miles Martin Pen Co Biro

 

There probablhy are not many working refills around.

 

Miles Martin obtained a license to manufacture biros (from Mr Biro) and managed to convince the War Office "17 unskilled girls ladies" be allowed to manufacture them at the Miles Martin Aircraft factories in Woodley (very close to Reading, where I live) for the RAF.

 

During WW2, they pens were manufactured exclusively for navigators/bomb aimers in Bomber Command, because fountain pens were useless in unpressurised cabins of bombers. After the war, Miles Martin produced pens for the domestic market - it was one of the first to be available after WW2 I believe.

 

Miles Martin Co sued manufactures of biros in the UK whom they believe infringed their patents - much like IT companies do today.

http://museumofberkshireaviation.co.uk/html/other/biro.htm

 

And I very much agree that the Parker jotter is a biro design icon. One of the few pen designs from the 50's that's in production now.

 

Also the Bic Crystal - an engineering marvel - a tool designed to to a particular job, at a particular price and to be mass produced to keep the price down. A marvel of manufacturing prowess that is overlooked because of its ubiquity - we take it for granted.

Edited March 18, 2020 by sandy101

[Aramchek]

Miles Martin Pen Co Biro

 

There probablhy are not many working refills around.

 

Miles Martin obtained a license to manufacture biros (from Mr Biro) and managed to convince the War Office "17 unskilled girls ladies" be allowed to manufacture them at the Miles Martin Aircraft factories in Woodley (very close to Reading, where I live) for the RAF.

 

During WW2, they pens were manufactured exclusively for navigators/bomb aimers in Bomber Command, because fountain pens were useless in unpressurised cabins of bombers. After the war, Miles Martin produced pens for the domestic market - it was one of the first to be available after WW2 I believe.

 

Miles Martin Co sued manufactures of biros in the UK whom they believe infringed their patents - much like IT companies do today.

http://museumofberkshireaviation.co.uk/html/other/biro.htm

 

 

I used to live in Reading and was so annoyed that even though I lived there, and I'm an aviation enthusiast, I only found out about that museum two days before I moved out of the country. Of course, I was far too busy preparing by then. Didn't help when I found out about that part of the business a few years ago!

[sandy101]

I posted some photos of the museum on flikr. You can see them here.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fyfester/43418917294/in/album-72157631920002157/

[Aramchek]

I posted some photos of the museum on flikr. You can see them here.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fyfester/43418917294/in/album-72157631920002157/

Cool! I'm always a bit bothered though by rare aircrafts being stored outdoors.

The folly looked familiar, is it the one in a field northwest of Calcot?

[sandy101]

Yes, the dovecote. There's some lovely walking paths around there.

[Stephen2020]

I think the 1958 Paper Mate Capri Mark III is about the coolest ballpoint ever. The Deluxe as mentioned came out in 51, but they started designing it in 49. Schneider refills fit the Deluxe. I have an Eversharp Fifth Avenue from the 40s, I use bic crystal refills in it.

[Zookie]

I have a couple of Mark IIIs, they're nice. There are NOS refills available,

but it's a (bleep) shoot if they work or not.

I got lucky 😁

[Stephen2020]

New Schneider Express 75 refills will fit Capri III. Lubriglides wont fit properly in the Deluxe but Express 75 will. From memory I think the Lubriglide is about half mm too long, but the the end could be rubbed with a bit of emery paper to make it fit?

[Runnin_Ute]

The ballpoints (outside of the ubiquitous Bic Crystal and others)followed the following evolution:

Parker Jotter

Parker Jotter Flighter (after breaking the barrel threads on more than one due to cold weather)

Parker Classic Flighter (w/matching mechanical pencil)

Parker Insignia Flighter (w/matching mechanical pencil)

Parker 45 Flighter (later lost)

Parker Latitude Flighter

Parker 45 Flighter and matching mechanical pencil

 

I still carry the 45 Flighter set in my Franklin planner. Only now I have the matching fountain pen too.

 

I have a couple of Sheaffer Sentinal flighter style. One gold, one stainless. A couple of Cross bps that I don't know the model of.

[vicpen123]

Parker Jotter. Parker Duofold. Parker 45.

 

That's all I have got. All notable and durable masterpieces due to the fabled and enduring refills. 60+ years and going strong.

[Zookie]

I use a Jotter as my every day pen. I love the way it writes, but mostly I love the color. It's a nice olive green!

I also collect vintage, ballpoints. They are harder to find than fountain pens and more fun.

My oldest is a Wortmann 370 from the early 40s. It's a prototype and very, very cool!! If asked, I'll post a couple of photos.

[sansenri]

I don't think it's been mentioned but some of the earlier Peilkan ballpoints are really nice, especially the turquoise striped.