Bic Fountain Pen

It’s widely understood that the “death” of the fountain pen was brought on by the introduction of the ballpoint. Since “ballpoint pen” is synonymous with “Bic pen”, it felt a little strange to find a vintage Bic fountain pen, but here it is.

This is a very light, cartridge pen, made almost entirely of plastic (the only exceptions that I can see are the clip and the nib). The clip is spring-loaded, but more interestingly, the nib assembly+cartridge is retractable, which explains the very short cap. So, although it’s not a safety pen, you use it in a similar way: remove the cap, extend the nib, and then start writing.

There’s a review of the Bic fountain pen here, but I can’t seem to find any information about its history anywhere…

Update: I received an email pointing me to this page that mentions Bic’s acquisition of STYPEN in 2004, thus entering the school fountain pen market. (thanks Claes!) This put me on the trail of this Bic shareholder’s letter from October 2004 that also describes the acquisition.

V2024010