Why I Collect Rolleroalls!

On the following two pages, we present two highlights from the work of the late Jerry Ceppos for Pen World. The article on this page, “Why I Collect Rollerballs!”, was originally printed in PW Vol. 24 No. 1 (2010). The essay on the next page, “Thanks for the Thank-You Note!”, was printed in PW Vol. 31 No. 6 (2018). To learn more about Ceppos’s storied career in journalism, see page 12 in this issue.

aybe was looking for simplicity after

most of a lifetime spent on the madden-

ingly complex task of publishing a newspaper every night. Whatever the reason, walked into Fahrney’s Pens in Washington, D.C. that first time looking for a simple but elegant ballpoint, not a fountain pen.

A few minutes later, after a salesman introduced me to the joys—and simplicity—of rollerballs, bought a classy Cross Townsend platinum-plated Selectip rolling ball.” A colleague who also enjoys pens—our company’s Washington bureau was less than 1,000 feet from Fahrney’s, so it was not surprising that we both ended up there on my visits to the bureau—chuckled and asked, So, how many good pens do you own now?”

The answer was one. That one.