Pen Model: 1930s Budget Pens

Often called “Third Tier”, these are the pens that collectively were the best sellers of their day, but also the least durable, least special, most poorly designed, and the cheapest. The 1930s were a period of constrained cash flow and, later, supply chain issues with the war industry diverting manufacturing parts. Calling them “Third Tier” implies that there were true first and second tier pens, a subject that has never been resolved among pen people, but these are the pens that one owned but didn't own or use with pride. They carried many different names, including Accurate, American, Arnold, Diamond Medal, Dixie, Eagle, Majestic, Stratford, Travelers, Waltham, Welsh; some carried names to evoke good thoughts, including Accurate, American, Banker, Lincoln, Smooth Point. Major manufacturers, including Arnold, National, and Wearever made multiple lines and brands of inferior pens and jobbed parts and whole pens under multiple names. In short, for the most part, these were inferior pens, made inexpensively, usually with untipped nibs, and sold as cheap commodities to work without distinction. Surprisingly, many thousands survive today, and with restoration and attention, work very well!