President Obama's Pen

[Mrs Palmer]

Cross Townsend black lacquer rolling ball pen

 

This is what Obama will be using tomorrow. Not a fountain pen.

 

 

http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/loc..._r.i._pen/9259/

 

[lapis]

Now don't get me wrong, but who cares?

A great man like that can use anything he (or his advisers) choose.

I don't think a Toledo M900 or M910 -- or, okay you guys, a 149 --would have helped out George W. very much.

 

M

[Mrs Palmer]

Ah, I just thought it was interesting to see what he had chosen to do all the signing.

 

[teebo]

Ah, I just thought it was interesting to see what he had chosen to do all the signing.

 

 

I thought was interesting. Like the Parker 51 used to sign to surrender in WWII.

 

Todd

[Bearcat]

Cross Townsend black lacquer rolling ball pen

 

This is what Obama will be using tomorrow. Not a fountain pen.

 

 

http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/loc..._r.i._pen/9259/

 

Hopefully it will be an American made Cross pen and not one that was "made in China".....

 

[ballboy]

Maybe he's trying to tread a 'fine line' between Fountain Pen Fundamentalists and Ballpoint Blunders

[ruud2904]

Cross Townsend black lacquer rolling ball pen

 

This is what Obama will be using tomorrow. Not a fountain pen.

 

 

http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/loc..._r.i._pen/9259/

 

So be it, there is always room for improvement. For a real FP, that is.

[HerosNSuch]

Cross Townsend black lacquer rolling ball pen

 

This is what Obama will be using tomorrow. Not a fountain pen.

 

 

http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/loc..._r.i._pen/9259/

 

Hopefully it will be an American made Cross pen and not one that was "made in China".....

 

 

I would think that, given the current state of employment in America(China is a target for a chunk of the blame among many people), it would be quite a mistake for A.T. Cross to deliver anything that wasn't made in the USA. I would be willing to wager that even the refill is American made and packaged.

[cfclark]

Ah, I just thought it was interesting to see what he had chosen to do all the signing.

 

 

I thought was interesting. Like the Parker 51 used to sign to surrender in WWII.

 

Todd

 

I was always under the impression that the surrender pen was MacArthur's personal Big Red...or am I confusing the Japanese surrender with the German surrender? Anyone want to set me straight?

 

I think now is the time to start lobbying the White House to get Mr. Obama to use a proper fountain pen.

 

[lapis]

Maybe they have already done this. Like Prince Chuck, or Herbert v. Karajan... they (the companies) all send him a product (e.g. a pen or a camera), they (the esteemed) sign up, and then they (the companies) can say, " Herr X uses above product of ours!"

 

Mike

 

 

[WriteOn]

My understanding is that all the Rhode Island Cross manufacturing facilities have been closed. All of the pens, therefore, would be made in China. The machinery is the same as they used to make the pens with in the USA - it has just all been shipped to China. The is only one USA quality pen maker of note left, and that's Bexley - located in the Columbus, Ohio area. Maybe Howard should send Obama a pen and urge #44 not to outsource his pen supplier. On another related note, with all the "czars" (health, drug, education etc.) the president has already brought on board, how about a "pen czar" to deal with just such matters as the pens he should use. Any volunteers for that job? I see lots of hands!

[WillSW]

I doubt he chose it, but at least it's an American company, a rollerball (soon it will just be a stylus, like the officials are signing for their UPS package), a sober design and not unattractive.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Ah, I just thought it was interesting to see what he had chosen to do all the signing.

 

 

I thought was interesting. Like the Parker 51 used to sign to surrender in WWII.

 

Todd

 

I was always under the impression that the surrender pen was MacArthur's personal Big Red...or am I confusing the Japanese surrender with the German surrender? Anyone want to set me straight?

 

I think now is the time to start lobbying the White House to get Mr. Obama to use a proper fountain pen.

 

I believe Parker 51s were used to sign the German surrender.

 

There were a batch of pens used to sign the Japanese surrender, including MacArthurs Duofold (I think it was a Lady, not a Big Red, but not sure). There were multiple copies of the surrender paperwork, each one of which was signed by all of the signatories (Japanese, British, American, Chinese, Australian, New Zealand) etc. There were a number of pens provided on the table specifically for signing, but various people, including MacArthur, gave some of these away after using them. I believe that is why MacArthur ended up signing one copy with his own pen - he gave away the official pen on the table to one of his aides, and had to use his own for the third copy.

 

There is a thread about it in the pen history section.

 

I believe that all of the official signatures of the US President are done with official "Signing pens" that are specifically ordered for the purpose, used once to sign the particular bill, and then usually given away to someone for whom the bill was significant. What he uses himself for unofficial purposes is probably another story, but I would not be surprised to find that there are boxes of the aforementioned Cross Rollerballs lying around the white house for just such purposes.

 

John

Edited January 21, 2009 by Johnny Appleseed

[Johnny Appleseed]

Maybe they have already done this. Like Prince Chuck, or Herbert v. Karajan... they (the companies) all send him a product (e.g. a pen or a camera), they (the esteemed) sign up, and then they (the companies) can say, " Herr X uses above product of ours!"

 

Mike

 

I believe in the case of "Prince Chuck" that there is a long-established official policy of selecting vendors who get the official royal "By Appointment of. . ." seal.

 

John

[mucephei]

Maybe they have already done this. Like Prince Chuck, or Herbert v. Karajan... they (the companies) all send him a product (e.g. a pen or a camera), they (the esteemed) sign up, and then they (the companies) can say, " Herr X uses above product of ours!"

 

Mike

 

You mean a Royal Warrant. Wikipedia article on Royal Warrants

 

Don't know how well that would go down with your new President but I was a bit surprised that, as a lawyer, he was using a rollerball and not a FP (judging by the number of posts about FPs on this forum by members of the legal profession).

[Goodwhiskers]

State-level and federal-level elected officials are busy people who probably don't want to have to think too often about their pens as long as the things work and give useful impressions to the right interlocutors and bystanders (and mass-media audiences) at the right times. That usually isn't superficial tripe, either.

[yachtsilverswan]

I would imagine that the archival qualities of the ink are more important to Presidential papers, over which pen is used.

 

President Obama's signature, like that of all Presidents, must be durable over many many years.

 

Surely Presidential archivists don't leave such things to random chance - all ink is not created equal.

 

I wonder what paper and ink are chosen for important Presidential documents.

Edited January 22, 2009 by yachtsilverswan

[Tweel]

Apparently Obama's staff hit Cross up with their order for customized Presidential pens only a week before they were needed, so it was probably sort of an afterthought, a detail attended to by someone who had to dig around quickly and find out where presidents get those ceremonial pens. ...And I don't think rollerball ink is archival, either.

 

On the other hand, if they're SelecTips rather than ballpoints, then the recipients of those pens (after their single official use) could always fit them with Townsend FP sections.

 

-- Brian

[Bradley]

Does anyone recognize the pen(s) the new President is using to sign these recent executive orders, etc.? I tried to discern this from the television news, but cannot.

[Mrs Palmer]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...mp;hl=president

 

Search the forum under president or inaugural