My grandfather, when I knew him, was an independent insurance agent. His office was two front rooms in his home on Main Street in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. In late 1966, my mother and I moved in with my grandparents and my mother helped out in the business. I was nearly four years old and the office fascinated me. File cabinets, desks, an adding machine, a chair with wheels, a desk drawer with Hershey’s Miniatures, and stationary everywhere. Pens and paper and little clips and file folders. They all seemed so grown up and important.
I wish I had a photo of my grandfather’s desk. I have many of my mother’s slides, so maybe I’ll find a picture sometime. But as I recall, he had a desk set with “Kenneth E. Buffington, Independent Agent”, the logo of an insurance company, a little holder for his business cards, and a long black ballpoint pen with a white dot. I was old enough to know better than to mess with anything in the office, but I couldn’t resist that pen for very long.
So, when I finally acknowledged I was collecting fountain pens, I started looking for a desk set. I love the glossy black bases with the white dot pens, and that’s exactly what I found. I wanted the 501H set, but I bought a box full of stuff to get it, so I wound up with two white dot ball points, an oak desk set and a Lucite base from a Post-It desk set, along with a bunch of letter openers. No matter to me, I’m compulsive about all office supplies, not just pens 🙂
The fountain pen was a separate purchase from the box-o-stuff, and it has a damaged 14k nib. I’ve been able to reform it, but it isn’t perfect. I’ll get it to where I want it eventually. But I love the fat nib for signatures. It lets me go all John Hancock with it.
For now I’m just playing around with my desk sets. Probably living out the fantasies of a four year-old who never got to sit at grandpa’s desk and play insurance man. Grampa passed away in 1967, and by the time I was five Grammie sold the agency and most of the wonderful office supplies. I still have a few of Grandpa’s postcards and a little accordion file, but the desk set wasn’t in any of Grammie’s things when she passed in 1999.
