Drippy Musings
13 Pen Ads of Yesteryear posts. Vintage pen advertisements read closely: what Parker, Sheaffer and Eversharp promised in the 1920s to 1950s, and what the pens actually did.
Here are two 5″ X 7″ pen catalogs from 1994! I was intrigued by the Menash catalog as I don’t know what became of that company. Leaving the pen-collecting life behind, a friend of mine has given me his stash of catalogs and advertising from 1992 through 1994. Its contents blew my mind. Most of…
The perfect ad for a vintage addict like me. Hats, blotter and a great red roadster! Who wouldn’t want to hitch a ride inside that ad? The brick-and-mortar closing of my favorite hat shop (Hats Plus) in Chicago saddens me, as I cannot count the number of hours I’ve spent there trying on hats and…
What on earth is this old Pelikan ink ad trying to convey in its message. Write with bird vomit? We strangle birds so you can write? Ah, the joys of marketing before Madison Avenue. Germans might have mastered marketing luxury items in this day and age…look no further than Montblanc, Mercedes and BMW…but the early…
Some ads get so ridiculous we have to laugh. The advertising campaign for the Cross Verve is always good for a chuckle, but it sure didn’t seem to help sell any pens. It isn’t difficult to imagine the ads as pinups for teenage boys, but the sales for the Cross Verve were awful. I don’t…
While searching for the perfect matching desk base trumpets for his special Parker Vacumatic and radio desk set, Jaime A. found this great ad from 1936. We love these classic Vac desk sets from Parker. The 1930s might have been a miserable time to live, with the economy in the tank, but, man, they had…
With their passion for Parker overriding their desire to kiss under the mistletoe, clearly painter Norman Rockwell understood the obsession of pen collectors around the world. Happy Holidays! Just one look at this vintage Parker ad, and you know that its painter Norman Rockwell understood pen collectors very well. Sure, it might look a little…
Here is Santa peddling Parker button fillers in 1900. These were the “safety sealed” precursors to the Duofold. A close friend of the blog sent us a card that is ideal for a pen collector. It is the 1900 Parker advertising campaign, and we thought you might get a kick out of it. It would…
Today, essentially, marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. It is still one of the most savage wars the world has ever known. It left nearly 2% of the world’s population dead: 23 million. There is a good reason those who fought it were called the Lost Generation. Sealed button-filling pens…
We recently added a classic Eversharp Doric Junior to our vintage pens collection, and it is striking how handsome it remains, despite a great deal of wear. The layers of transluscent greens still flash through history as if impervious to age. Here is the page from the 1932 Everharp catalog that shows the very Doric…
Celebrity endorsements don’t come cheap, but it appears that Santa has been in high demand with every brand who has approached him over the years. Santa makes a celebrity endorsement of Waterman pens in 1904. In 1904 he says Waterman is the best. In 1939 he was hooked on the Parker Vacumatic. In between those…
Despite the beautiful watercolor painting and classic 1930s fashion, this vintage pen ad is loaded with sexism that seems sure to guarantee the Lady Duofold never sold. Seriously, how effective was this catty Parker Duofold ad from 1931?! The ad headline reads like a movie synopsis for a cheap melodrama about a bunch of bitchy…
Vintage pen ads tell us so much. They help us catalog what a company once offered, introduce us to new pens we want to collect and provide insights to the culture and economics of the past. I love old catalog ads such as this one because they go far to help me identify old pens,…
