Paul Wirt Fountain Pen Ads
| 1885 | ||
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A very early Wirt News Paper ad published in the November 5th, 1885 edition of the Syracuse Daily Standard. The ad was paid for by Thomas Durston, a Syracuse, New York book store keeper. The Ad reads:
The Paul E. Wirt Fountain Pen |
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| 1886 | ||
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Same Ad in the June, 1886 edition of the Syracuse Daily Standard. |
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| 1887 | ||
A clipping found in the January 24th, 1887 edition of the Syracuse Daily Standard newspaper The Wirt Fountain Pen Now takes the lead. Gold Pens. Fine, Medium and Stub points. Can write 100 pages of foolscap with one filling. Can be laid away for two weeks and always ready to write when you pick it up. We have retailed more than 20 gross in the last six months. The price we sell them for is $2.00 Come and try one, if it does not suit you, we will refund your money. T. W. Durston & Co. |
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| 1888 | ||
A clipping found in the June 4th, 1888 edition of the San Antonio Daily Light Newspaper: A Fountain of Pleasure Meandering around town lately, a LIGHT scribe sauntered into the new jewelry house of Jesse Bell, and before leaving was complimented with a "pelone" in the way of a Wirt Fountain Pen. The scribe aforesaid has squandered numerous shekels upon fountain pens, and has at this writing two of Mabie, Todd & Bard's in his desk. The Wirt pen is the only fountain pen yet tried in this office which gives satisfaction, and the only one which writes at all on soft paper. "Copy" to the extent of several columns was written on uncalendared paper this morning and the pen performs most satisfactorily. Jesse Bell willplease accept the thanks of "ye scribe" for a fountain pen which is old business on common print paper. |
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| 1889 | ||
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This Paul Wirt Fountain Pen ad appeared in the Sandusky Daily Herald, and was paid for by the Register Stationary Store of Sandusky Ohio. The store also sold the Lampham Bogart Rival Fountain pen. One of the fountain pen makers that Paul Wirt sued. | |
| 1890 | ||
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As far as I know this was the first official Paul Wirt Fountain Pen Advertisement ever Printed. This Wirt ad was published in the February 1890 issue of Harper's Magazine. This ad states that 350,000 Wirt fountain pens have been sold. This Wirt ad includes the Mark Twain endorsement that reads " An absolutely perfect resivoir pen, a pen compared with which all other pens are frank failures." Mark Twain The Wirt pen pictured in the ad is Wirt No. 17 G. M. (numbered in the 1890 Paul Wirt Pen catalog), which was an overfeed eyedropper filler with a hex shaped barrel and cap with gold bands. This pen is actually quite hard to find. I have one example but it is in poor condition. Anyone have one to sell or trade? On the same page of the magazine that this ad appeared, other ads for Waterman's Ideal fountain pens and Shipman's Fountain Pens also appeared. |
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Nearly the identical ad as the one above appeared in Feburary 1890 Century Magazine. The same Mark Twain quote with the same 350,000 Wirt fountain pens in use and the "More than all other makers combined" boast. The only difference is that in this ad Wirt fountain pen No. 2 is shown, which was a Wirt overfeed pen eyedropper filler with gold filled bands. | |
| 1891 | ||
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This Paul Wirt pen ad appeared in March 1891 issue of Harper's Magazine. It is nearly identical to the ad above, with the same Mark Twain endorsement, and the "More than all other makers combined" boast. However, now the ad claims that 450,000 pens are now in use. 100,000 pens sold in just a year would mean roughly 8,000 pens a month and nearly 300 pens made and sold a day. The same ad also appeared in The Century and McClear's magazine. All of the exmples that I have seen used the | |
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This Paul Wirt Fountain Pen ad appeared in the December 1891 issue of the Century Magazine. A different pen is pictured, Wirt Pen No. 27, which was a Wirt Overfeed eyedropper with a taper cap and gold filled bands. A new difference is that the ad now claims that a half million Wirt fountain pens are now in use. A very important difference is that the Mark Twain endorsement has been dropped. There is a very interesting reason behind this which is explained in my book "The Pens that Made Mark Twain" The book is being laid out now and getting ready to print. If you are interested in the book, send me an e-mail at rd@kamakurapens.com | |
| 1894 | ||
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This Paul Wirt, which is nearly identical to the one above appeared in the April 1894 issue of Harper's Magazine. The Wirt Ad now claims that One Million Paul Wirt Fountain Pens were in use. | |
| 1900 | ||
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A new version of the previous theme. This Paul Wirt Fountain Pen ad now claims that Two Million pens sold. I million pens made and sold betwwen 1894 and 1900 comes to about 450 pens a day. | |
| 1902 | ||
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July 1902 Ainslee's Magazine. This ad features a woman's hand holding a very rare swelled case Wirt fountain pen. Paul Wirt also registered this image as a trademark for his pen company. | |
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| 1903 | ||
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| 1904 | ||
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| 1905 | ||
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| 1906 | ||
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March 1906 McClure's Magazine | |
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September 1906 McClures Magazine | |
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| 1907 | ||
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December 1907 McClure's Magzine | |
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With a single Wirt pen I haved carved out the familiy's living, with two I might have become rich ."
Mark Twain