Ball Point Pens - General

Early attempts at producing a ballpoint pen date back to the late 1800s, but the first functional ballpoint pen was invented in 1938 by Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian newspaper editor. He noticed that the inks used to print his newspaper dried quickly, so with the assistance of his brother Gyorgy, he invented a pen to use the same type of ink. Due to Nazi occupation, the Biro brothers fled Hungary and traveled to Argentina. They became the leading producer of ballpoint pens under the name Biro Pens of Argentina.

Eversharp Co. purchased exclusive rights to Biro Pens in 1945 and renamed the company Eversharp Capillary Action, or Eversharp CA. The design for the ballpoint pen was brought to the United States in 1945 by Milton Reynolds, who ignored Eversharp's patent. The Reynold's Ball Point Pen was an instant success.

Collectors search for these and other first edition ballpoint pens, including Patrick J. Frawley Jr's Papermate pen from 1950, Fisher Space Pen's Universal Refill introduced in 1953, and Parker Pen's The Jotter, first produced in 1954. Pens of unique sizes or colors are also favorites, including the pocket-sized pens of the '50s and the colorful plastic case pens of the '70s.

Quick Facts

• The Eversharp CA and the Reynold's Ball Point Pen, while popular, did not last because they both leaked and smeared. Parker Pen's Jotter was a more reliable pen and is still manufactured today
• A favorite ballpoint pen of collectors is the Fisher Space Pen. These pens were manufactured using real rifle cartridge casings and are favorites of servicemen
• The world's largest ballpoint pen collection is owned by Angelika Unverhau of Dinslaken, Germany. She has collected pens since childhood and has acquired more than 220,000 different pens from 146 countries