1948 ballpoint
I sometimes found it difficult to visualize what was meant by the inconsistent ink in early ballpoint pens. That was until I purchased this autograph album that was signed at the 1948 Olympics. I purchased it directly from the woman who got it as a little girl while living in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England. She now lives in Washington state. I am attaching four pages. The first one is all in blue ballpoint pen. The second is all in red ballpoint pen with some printing. The signature is Barney Ewell, the pride of Lancaster, PA, who won a gold and two silver medals in London. The third is signatures all in red ballpoint. The fourth has blue ballpoint in the upper left, fountain pen in the center and red ballpoint at the bottom. On the third page you can see some of the clotting and smearing caused by these pens. You can also see how thick the writing was. What is not visible is the ink transfer. On some of the pages there is ink transfer to the facing page very similar to what you get with fountain pen signatures in autograph albums.
Cheers,
Michael
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