Ball Point Pen Debuted in 1945

Did you know that today marks the anniversary of the introduction in America of the ball point pen? The first ball point pens sold in America went on sale at Gimbels department store in New York City on October 29, 1945. Their cost? $12.50 each. That was not exactly small change for writer's to dish out either, being the equivalent of paying roughly $130 for a pen today. That is the pen for the fancy writers to buy. And yet, for that $12.50 price tag the things, according to my mom, were really bad about leaking ink all over the place. I'm guessing a lot of people that bought them got tired of their messy nature rather quickly.