Mystery - Large Blue Ford “Harry Richman Club” Fp

[svorg]

I would love to find more info on this pen I bought years ago. It’s a good-sized blue 1920’s-ish FP with a 14k gold nib, the FORD logo on the clip, and “Harry Richman Club” stamped in orange or red on the barrel. Only recently I saw a pen like this on eBay but without the Richman stamp. Harry Richman was a singer/actor who sang the famous song “Putting on the Ritz” and owned his own namesake club in NYC for a time in the 20’s/30’s.

 

I would love to know the connection between FORD and Richman and any estimated worth or value.

 

Thanks!

 

Scott

[inkstainedruth]

Could he have been a spokesman for Ford, or anything like that? (You know, read ads on the radio for them or something). Or maybe the club had some sort of deal going with Ford (they helped put up the money as sponsors and he had ads printed on the backs of matchbooks or something)?

Is there any way to find out what company made pens for Ford (I presume from what the clip looks like it's the Ford Motor Company, but I could be wrong -- i.e., was there a pen brand called Ford?) maybe contacting them and seeing if they have any records in their archives. That would be where I'd start.

As to the value? Not a clue. But it is an attractive looking pen.

Good luck with your search, and let us know what the results are (if any).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

ETA: Did a Google search for "Harry Richman Club" and got some old scanned in magazine kinda like Variety. Then searched through for "Ford" and got to one page giving revised radio program scheduling, including for something called "The Ford Hour" on the CBS network. Unfortunately didn't get any hits with the "command F" key for Harry Richman (really starting to hate Google's increasingly useless search engine).

Just found another site which talks about how Harry Richman became a pilot and at one point had, or at least maybe flew, a plane with a "Ford 4-AT Tri-Motor" engine. Still doesn't connect the pen in, but at least there is some connection between the guy and Ford, apparently.

Hope this helps.

Edited November 11, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[svorg]

Thank you for the response! Yes, I found the information above in the Wiki page, although I didn’t notice that his plane’s engine was a Ford.

 

I did check newspapers/magazines and found that his radio hour was sponsored by Dodge, so being a competitor, I doubt Ford was involved.

 

There was a British FP but its name seems to be “Ford’s” not Ford, and it didn’t have the cursive lettering like the automaker.

 

Thanks again!

 

Scott