I have tons of unusable cheap old ball points. (Don't ask, it's a known issue.) Going through an old box of them the other day- I found some real gems. Not all advertisements, but messages as well. Like this one:
Who in the hell was Ruth? Doesn't anyone else really want to know? Click for a clearer picture but it says "Thinking of you Ruth." Oh, ok, that makes sense...wait! What does that mean? That you are in my thoughts in general, or you got mauled by a bear and are in the hospital? And shame on me for never wanting to put a message on a pen to give to someone instead of a card or a note. Or was the pen from Ruth and she hands them out? Like "hey! Thinking of you!" Regardless, Ruth...feel better or stop being so vague, either one.
"This one says" "First Prize For Best Speech Dale Carnagie Course in Effective Speaking" I wish pens had VIN numbers like cars with a Carfax report so I could take a peek into who had this pen in the past. I can still imagine the sweaty palm reaching out to accept this after fumbling through 5 minutes of Sales 101 in a dark classroom in the 50's. ( Eww, sweaty palms, I am going to go wash up after typing this) and then after 6 weeks of being proud about it... getting tossed into a drawer for me to find.
How cool is this little one? Other than almost guaranteeing (naysayers will say you can retract the whole way) that you will get red or yellow lead on you if you put this in your pocket...it rocks. A multi-pencil. I would give this guy my business if he was handing these out to me.
A Company called Crest Air was even handing out Sheaffer's Mechanical pencils. (I actually have 4.. again.. you are better off not asking.) Heck, yes.. I will take some Crest Air!
And finally...What's better than this? Have a happy day. It's a disposable world now out there and I think the pen lovers are at least trying to maintain some sense of history. I know most of these were made before I was born, but I will do what I can to preserve them for another day. Good Pens.
-Seth
3 comments:
This was a great post. I love seeing old promo stuff or office supplies with random bits of information. The coolest thing I own is an old Scripto .9mm lead holder from a construction company. Now it is pretty much just poor quality pencils and Bic pens (not even the clicky kind). Lame.
Nice post. We print thousands of pens each year for our customers to use as promotional gifts, and some of the branding we do is hilarious. Note to self: take some photo's and post them on my blog!!
This is great! I, too, collect a variety of weird pens. Most of mine are from hotels all around. However, some are from unknown origins. Kind-of fun to whip out my "Kelton Agency, Sugar Loaf" pen when I sign a credit card receipt somewhere. What is Kelton Agency, and what on earth is Sugar Loaf? The world may never know...
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