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INTRODUCTION
Presidential candidates have had specially
imprinted campaign pens since at least the turn of the century, but specially
imprinted pens or pencils for the president did not come about until President
Truman. In fact they began as a gag when in the fall of 1947 an 'unknown
admirer' of President Truman gifted him with a box of ball point pens imprinted
"I swiped this from Harry S. Truman". The pen became quite the rage,
even making the New York Times, and since then every president has had them.
Its been a half century since that gift of
pens to President Truman and today the 'presidential pen' has become an
integral part of the trappings of office, extending beyond the president to the
vice president, their respective families, and offices closely associated with
the president such as the presidential helicopter, Air Force One, Camp David,
the Secret Service and even the White House Food Service. In all varieties,
today these specially imprinted pens and pencils, past and present, number into
the few hundreds and this book, based principally on the author's collection,*
is both a history and an annotated, illustrated catalogue of these writing
implements.
The Presidential Pen - What is it? 'Presidential pen' is one of those terms that today
references rather than describes, for in fact today a 'presidential pen' need be
neither 'presidential' nor a 'pen'.
In the beginning however, the term was
descriptive and encompassed specially imprinted pens ordered by or donated to
the White House of four general types.
The first type, known as bill signers are
specially imprinted pens used by the president to sign legislation, veto
messages, proclamations and other official papers. The pens actually used are
usually given out as gifts following the signing ceremony. I have seen a
newsreel of FDR using several plain dip pens in a bill signing ceremony of the
mid 1930's but the first specially imprinted bill signer pen was
introduced by President Eisenhower in the late 1950's. President Johnson
introduced the practice of having a special presentation box for bill signers,
a practice followed by every president since. Bill signer pens may sometimes be
found with papers attesting to their use** but in fact most all bill
signer pens found today were never actually used as such and rather were given
out as gifts straight from the White House closets.
There is no objective way of determining from
the pen itself whether or not it was actually used for a bill signing. Thus
whether any given bill signer was actually used for bill signing is at bottom
simply a question of how strongly one believes in the supposed provenance of
any given pen. Since the author's skepticism is apparent from the previous
sentence, allow me to add that before parting with significant sums for a pen
supposedly used for a bill signing, the reader should remember that papers may
be forged or duplicated, that whether authentic, duplicated or forged, papers
may be married innocently or otherwise, with any otherwise correct pens not
actually used for the pertinent bill signing, and that even if you are a
'believer' that is no guarantee that others will be. Lastly, some undoubtedly
authentic papers are comparatively common, e.g. those of President Johnson
(unsigned typed slips of paper), and do not give rise to significant value in
most cases.
The second type of presidential pens are
specially imprinted pens or pencils from the White House specifically intended
for presidential gifts. The first presidential pen, President Truman's
described above, is of this type. Again beginning with President Johnson these
gift pens have often come with special presentation boxes.
The third type of presidential pens are
specially imprinted pens or pencils ordered for presidential or staff use
either in the office or as gifts. These constitute most of the presidential pen
types to be found and are known since the Truman administration.
The fourth type of presidential pen, least
often seen, are pens imprinted for special occasions such as presidential trips
or a White House Easter Egg hunt.
The idea of specially imprinted pens quickly
spread. Vice President Nixon had them made up for his use, a tradition embraced
by each of his vice presidential successors. And when Nixon became president
his vice presidents, like all since, had their own presentation boxed bill
signer made up. Technically, a vice president in the capacity as president of
the US Senate does sign bills but the fact is that official presentation boxed
pens are excellent gifts for vice presidents aspiring to a different
presidency.
The presidential pen then moved beyond the nation's
two executive officers. President Johnson had specially imprinted pens made up
for his wife and daughters, and Vice President Humphrey followed suit for his
wife. More recently, pens have been specially imprinted for the presidential
Camp David retreat and services such as the presidential helicopter and Air
Force One. Since these latter pens are sometimes used for presidential gifts in
association with a visit or trip taken with the president they too must be
considered presidential pens.
Today then the term presidential pen refers
to a (i) writing implement, (ii) specially imprinted, (iii) for one of the
nation's two executive officers, their families, their staff, or a closely
connected executive office, service or facility.
These pens are the focus of this book. It is
organized by presidential administration and generally speaking the pens of
each administration are dealt with in the following order: bill signers, gift
pens, office/gift pens, 'other' pens, vice presidential pens, and lastly family
pens.
Prototype and limited run pens: Occasionally a manufacturer will make up a small run
of presidential pens for factory or White House review or simply for donating
to the White House for the prestige of saying its pens are being used therein.
To the extent these pens reach the White House they will often as not be used
by the White House as gifts or otherwise (even in some cases for actual bill
signings) whether or not subsequently ordered. Somewhat similarly, sometimes
the White House will order a small number of pens and then after receipt change
its mind and not reorder. It is virtually impossible, even in contemporary
situations, to determine the correct category for certain seldom seen pens and
likely there will never be definitive answers.
Varieties: A principal issue involved in any cataloguing is
determining when one object differs from another. As regards presidential pens
some distinctions are easy. Different manufacturers, different non
interchangeable pen or pencil styles, different imprinting intended to
be different, different colors intended to be different, all qualify
as being distinct. However, as indicated by the preceding emphasis two aspects
present decision points.
Many modern pens have interchangeable parts, most
notably there are pens that can take different types of writing points (e.g.
many Parker pens) or that have interchangeable barrel, cap or trim parts (e.g.
Autopoint ball points). I have taken the view that when such interchangeability
does not involve the imprinting on the pen or pencil that that
interchangeability may be noted but does not give rise to different
varieties.
A number of pens may be found with slightly
different placement of imprinting on the barrel or cap or slightly different
shades of color that in either case are noticeable only in comparison. Here I
have taken the view that different varieties arise only if either (i) the
difference is uniform and consistent (e.g. the result of two distinct
manufacturing runs each consistent within the run) or (ii) the difference is
pronounced.
Seals: Presidential pens and presentation boxes often are imprinted with a
seal or pseudo seal of office. The presidential seal is an eagle with spread
wings, wing tips pointing up ("wings up") surrounded by words
indicating the president. Initially the vice presidential seal was an eagle
with spread wings, wing tips pointing down ("wings down") surrounded
by words indicating the vice president. However, during the Rockefeller vice
presidency the vice presidential seal was changed to a wings up eagle. Thus
today the presidential and vice presidential seals are quite similar,
essentially differing only in the surrounding words and an inner ring of stars
that only surrounds the presidential eagle.
In addition various offices associated with
the presidency often use a seal with a wings up eagle surrounded by wording
indicating the specific office. The Departments of State and both houses of
Congress also use an wings up eagle seal but with a circle of stars between the
wing tips and appropriate wording surrounding the eagle. There is also a
presidential and vice presidential inaugural seal which bears the picture of
the Capital together with the year of the inaugural.
One will also find pseudo seals, by this I
mean an eagle, invariably wings up, but with no surrounding words. I refer to
this type of pseudo seal herein as an 'eagle seal'.
Terms and Symbols: When a description under a picture herein begins
with a manufacturers name within parenthesis, e.g. (Autopoint), that indicates
that the pen or pencil was manufactured by that entity notwithstanding that the
pen is not so branded. Pen or pencil model names (as distinct from the
manufacturers name) are in quotes, e.g. Parker "Jotter". Many pens
made today, especially Parker pens, are capable of using a variety of writing
points, e.g. a Parker "45" can be configured by the owner as a ball
point, a roller ball, a fountain pen (and a few other points) and a Parker
"Jotter" can take either a ball point or a mechanical pencil insert.
Since these different configurations do not go to the special imprinting on the
pen they do not give rise to different varieties for purposes of this
book. I describe these pens herein as "Multi Point" pens.
Completeness, Errors and Updates: This book is largely based on the author's
collection but there are a number of pens and pencils pictured or referenced
belonging to others or which 'got away' leaving only a scan or a fax. In a few
cases this has meant that what is pictured is a scan of a fax image, not a
pretty sight but all and all better than none. And of course it is axiomatic
that 'there is always another'. I believe that virtually all if not all of the
principal varieties of presidential pens are pictured herein and that perhaps 90%
or more of the total population of all presidential pens are shown or
referenced. But then again every couple months a new one is discovered.
Being the first to address this topic, there
are most certainly numerous errors and omissions in this book. And this is
further compounded by the fact that the author has served as his own editor.
The reader's indulgence is begged and with the recognition that the intent of
what follows is not a 'coffee table' book but the conveyance of information
where heretofore there was none.
In order to encourage readers to assist in correcting and updating this volume and to pass that information along to others an errata and update web page will be maintained by the author at: http://www.loringpage.com/attpensetc/penbookupdate.html
Prices and Rarity: Presidential pens of any sort prior to the Johnson
administration generally trade for not less then $150 and frequently
significantly more. Beginning with those from the Johnson administration
(including the Esterbrook bill signer) most presidential pens trade in the $25
- $200 range although some trade for more. Since I am primarily a collector as
opposed to a dealer I have not attempted to price each pen or pencil herein.
This is especially because president pens are cross collectibles, there are pen
collectors, political items collectors, status collectors (i.e. those looking
for items that suggest they are 'connected') and of course, presidential pen
collectors and so the same pen may be of differing value depending upon which
type of collector is valuing. Throughout this book however, I have attempted to
suggest the relative rarity of various pens and pencils and point out those
that in my experience are truly rare. The reader however, is twice cautioned in
this regard. First, rarity does not always translate to value, e.g. a rare vice
presidential bill signer may not be as valuable as a less rare presidential
bill signer and a rare office pen may not be as valuable as a less rare bill
signer. Second, rarity can sometimes be transient. For instance it is not
unusual that staff members at the end of an administration will take several
presidential pens as they depart. Years later those pens may surface in the market
in one fell swoop making, for a time, a previously difficult find, easy.
Related Pens and Appendixes: There are a number of specially imprinted pen types
related to the presidential pens. Candidates for office have used imprinted
pens in campaigns dating back to the 19th century. Occasionally
presidential inaugural committees will make up official inaugural pens for sale
to the public during the inaugural period. More recently, Cabinet and other
Executive branch offices have had pens, as have both houses of Congress,
individual members, and state governors. And in the 1990s some 'Reagan' and
'Clinton' pens have been commercially produced completely independent of the
White House for retail sale to the public. A selection of these various pens,
excepting campaign pens, are found in the first Appendix of this book. The
selection probably encompasses most Inaugural pens but is only a small sampling
of the other categories. Commercial 'Reagan' and 'Clinton' pens are pictured as
such in the main body of this book for comparative purposes.
A second "Finder" Appendix goes to
the fact that not all presidential pen imprintings indicate to which
administration a pen belong. The second appendix cross references these non
administration specific imprintings to the correct administration.
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© 1999 John C. Loring |
Reproduction in whole or in part and in any form Prohibited |
