Sheaffer Student Pen Value Pack; Note The Translucent Blue Barrel.
Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, I was a fountain pen user. I can remember the very first ballpoint pens I ever saw, when I was in the first grade (1958 or so) living in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The drug store nearest our school was giving away cheap plastic ballpoint pens from a box that was big enough to hold thousands. Like my classmates, I scurried in, grabbed a handful, and ran to school. I remember snagging six pens that day, and not one of them worked.
Giveaway Ballpoints; My Grandmother Loved Using These!!!
Later, when I saw the Bic ballpoint pens, I was much more favorably impressed. Those pens were cheap, non-refillable throwaways, but they worked perfectly and were good value. I seem to recall that they cost 19¢. If you took the blue plug out of the back end and sucked on the tube barrel, you’d get a mouthful of blue ink; I learned that the hard way.
The Original Bic Pen
I much preferred my fountain pens, as I was a constant doodler, and fountain pens were better– for me– to draw with. The fountain pens I used back then, and all through high school, were the cheap Sheaffer fountain pens you could get for a buck or so. They used ink cartridges and worked fine. I liked the medium-point nibs on mine.
My favorite Sheaffers had the translucent candy-colored barrels, shown here:
A few ballpoints crossed my path. I tried a Parker ballpoint, shown here. I still have it.
I liked it fine for a ballpoint but went back to my cheap fountain pens. Like every kid in America, I received a Cross ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil set for my high-school graduation. Hated ’em. The pen wrote in a scratchy fashion and the pencil was crap.
Cross Pens Made Me Cross!
For art, I used dip pens with Speedball and Hunt nibs using Higgins India Ink from a bottle, or Rapidographs or Leroy technical, which used cartridges and had nibs in a variety of point sizes. Those pens using India Ink had to be cleaned the second you were done with them or the dried ink was extremely difficult to clean off. I still have a fishing tackle box from college days filled with these dip pens and nibs.
It’s Easy To Do This With A Speedball Pen; yeah, right!
When all is said and done, I still prefer fountain pens. My current favorite is a Parker silver-crosshatched Sonnet with a medium nib, which looks a lot like my old Parker 75, but there are several brands in my mahogany pen box and part of the fun of fountain pens is using different pens and inks depending on the mood you’re in on a given day!
Here’s what my Parker looks like:
Parker Cisele Sonnet Fountain Pen
Parker calls this silver crosshatch style “cisele,” which is a French term for having a chiselled appearance. Kenneth Parker, president of Parker Pens back in the early 1960s, had a cigarette case with this silver grid pattern, liked it, and decided it would be perfect for the Parker 75 they introduced in 1963. It is a snazzy-looking finish!
Sheaffer Cartridge Pen Ad, 1957
Jim's World and Welcome To It 
Jun 30, 2013 @ 21:50:03
I agree with you 100%. The fountain pen flowed much easier and what you wrote back then would look the same today.
I used Japanese fountain pens; the best ones were made by Platinum. They had the permanent reservoir; you just dipped the end of the pen into a jar of ink and siphoned it up. Used it for a couple of decades until the nib gave out.
Jun 30, 2013 @ 21:58:28
Hi,, Mustang.Koji!
Nice to hear from you!
I have only had one Japanese fountain pen and it had a fine-point steel nib. Since I like a medium or broad nib and prefer gold because it flexes more when you write with it, I didn’t use it often. A CPA buddy of mine loved it and I gave it to him!
Knowing the quality of Japanese guitars, I can bet that their pens are spectacular!
–Jim
May 15, 2018 @ 21:39:24
My first Sheaffer school fountain pen was transparent blue body with a fine nib. I bought it my first year of Junior high school 1963. I lost it in 9th grade 1965, I purchased another one only with a transparent green body with fine nib, I still have it. I bought another one in the early 1970’s it has a solid light blue body with a medium nib.
After marrying and children, everyone in the house knew not to touch moms school pens. As a draftsman and graphic artist, my fascination with pens is still there. I have a collection of fountain and dip pens… Feather, glass, calligraphy, drafting, rapidigraph and lots of pen/ brush markers.
I have pens that are sentimental to me, Parker 21 that was my Father in laws, Pelikin 20 silver and blue with a gold nib from Germany, that belonged to my husband’s grandfather in Germany. Another Parker 21 that can use superchrome ink, it’s got a burgandy body with sliver cap.
All in all my pen of choice is still the Scheaffer school pen with the green transparent body.
May 16, 2018 @ 00:05:18
Hi, Pammie–
That’s quite a collection! I share your love for the old Sheaffer transparent colored pens. Those were what I used all my school days, and I’d have a tough time deciding which color was the prettiest. I had them all, at one time or another, and I spent many a happy hour ignoring my teachers and gazing at those beauties!
–Jim