Pen Collection History? Early collectors?

[VacNut]

I arrived relatively late to pen collecting. I understand pen collecting really started in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. There are stories of early collectors buying great hordes of pens in large boxes or lots for pennies on the dollar, some of which are very rare and valuable.

Is there documented history of collectors buying pens in the Late 1940’s and 1950’s? I am guessing they would have collected pens around the Turn-of-the-Century or early celluloid pens.

[andyr7]

Pen collecting has been going on since fountain pens and stylos were invented. A well known early collector was James Maginnis, mentioned above in connection with his Cantor lectures of 1905. His extensive collection was exhibited at the British Museum in 1921, shortly before his death in 1922. It is not known what happened to this collection - it may still be residing, uncatalogued, in the vaults of the British Museum.

 

A later collector whose pens were well recorded was Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) AJL Hopkins of the Royal Army Pay Corps. His pens were collected between the 1920s and 1950s. He obsessively retained details of his communications with pen manufacturers and repairers, many of which still survive, and a few of these have been reproduced in our books . His collection was ultimately dispersed by sale at auction.

[VacNut]

Thank you for the lead.

Can you list the books that cataloged his collection? 
Looks like it will require more than a quick google search.

[andyr7]

8 hours ago, VacNut said:

Thank you for the lead.

Can you list the books that cataloged his collection? 
Looks like it will require more than a quick google search.

 

There is no 'one book' that catalogues the Hopkins collection. I suggest you Google "english pen books" as a first step, and take it from there.