Ball Point Pen Debuted in 1945

Open your desk drawer, your kitchen junk drawer, your purse, your briefcase or your car's glove box and chances are you will find a ball point pen. It has long been the staple of most businesses and is a favorite item along with pencils for imprinting company information on. My favorite has always been "This pen was stolen from..."

But did you know that the ball point pen made its American debut on this day in 1945? That's right, the ball point pen first went on sale at Gimbels department store in New York City on October 29, 1945 at a cost of $12.50 each. That would be like paying roughly $130 for a pen today, and the early ball point pens were really bad about leaking ink everywhere (according to my mom).

It sure seems strange to think that it was only 62 years ago that the ball point pen made its American debut and now we have pens that contain a computer in them and can store whatever you write or draw to be transfered over to your computer.