Blog - Pen Boutique — Category_history

Demonstrator pens, also known as skeleton pens, were originally furnished by manufacturers to dealers, so that the features of their products could be shown to potential buyers. Sales reps from the classic era would not have called on a customer without a couple of these demonstrators in his sample case; they would use them to show dealers the latest tricks for keeping ink inside a pen. Today, many collectors seek out these rare old demonstrators.The first demonstrators had openings cut in their barrels, and usually, their caps. These would typically allow direct viewing of the filling mechanism and the section-inner...

A Message in a Bottle is a form of communication whereby a message is sealed in a container (archetypically a glass bottle, but could be any medium, as long as it floats and remains waterproof) and released into the sea or ocean. Among other purposes they are used for scientific studies of ocean currents.Ever since humans have had the "vessel" for a letter, the ability to write and the time to do it messages have been dropped into the sea. Messages inside of bottles have been floated over a long period of time by a variety of people, for a...

Medieval monasteries were the refuges for book copying during the Middle Ages. The burning of the library at Alexandria in the 5th century had been a terrible blow to humanity. Countless scrolls containing scientific, philosophical, artistic and mathematical knowledge were destroyed out of ignorance. Surviving documents were rare, and were often brought to monasteries to be copied for future generations.The Bible was certainly the most copied book of the Middle Ages. Not only was the Church interested in using these Bibles to spread its gospel throughout the land, these volumes were to be a veneration of beauty. Monks would often...

When President Obama sat down to sign the health care bill into law, he warned: "This is gonna take a little while" — because the president used 22 pens to affix his signature to that one document, jotting down one tiny portion of a letter at a time. The president then began handing those pens out as souvenirs — many of them to legislators who helped steer the bill through, honoring the tradition of giving away presidential signing pens. At least since President Truman, presidents have been using pens and handing them to people who helped push bills through. Probably...

The joy of collecting autographs on signed letters, books, memorabilia and good old fashioned autograph books has long been satisfying hobby for the serious and novice alike. In this fast-paced world of electronic communication personal collections of the past offer the unique satisfaction of holding pieces of history, quite literally, in our hands.Autographs bring moments in time to life, often with incredible power. The window they open onto the past helps us better understand a person or event of importance to us. Autographs let us feel an individual's presence, experience his or her joy or sadness, inspiration or frustration, exultation...