Pen Collectors Sweeping The Globe For Collector's Items

It seems there are collectors of everything from stamps to bottle caps.

Did you know that there is a large scene of pen collectors specializing in promotional types pens? And the group is increasing every year.

Promotional Pens come in all shapes and forms. They used be standard plastic pens that were not much to write home about (pardon the pun). But over the last decade, an exciting array of pens have been developed and put into the Promotional Pen Catalogs of Merchandise suppliers worldwide. But it's not the type of pen that appeals the collectors - it's what company logo is on them.

There are collectors who specialize in collecting pens from a certain company, for instance GE. There are collectors who specialize in having a wide collection and representation of companies. Some collectors go by geography and collect pens from a certain country, or state.

"A big thing right now in our sub culture, is collecting pens based on brands that go away. A lot of brands come and go, or change the way they look. When Pepsi changed their cans, and therefore all their merchandise, there was a huge spike of collectors surging the globe for pens both of the old, and the new design", says Mark Wistrand, a pen collector since 1987 and founder of the Pen-Collectors Emporium he refers to as the "Rotary Club" of Pen collectors.

"Another big focus was on Cingular, the phone company that eventually merged with AT&T. Cingular pens are extremely hard to come by right now and you can get a good deal if you have a Cingular collection."

With the financial crisis still ongoing, bankruptcies are more common than ever, and naturally, this is high times for collectors of pens who are trying to identify which company pens to collect. "A lot of us were looking to the Auto Industry and many of the brands that could potentially be going away. Those pens will be worth a lot down the road?"

So why pens of all things? What is the reason why somebody would want to collect pens from Fortune 500 companies?

"Look - people collect anything and a lot of times it doesn't make sense. Why would you collect bottle caps? The real answer is, you have to be fascinated by what you're collecting, its history, its purpose in society and the sheer beauty of it. Many of us are writers, and appreciate a pen that is well designed, sits well in the hand and writes like a dream. But being a collector is also about recognition", Mark continues.

He is putting his 21,000 pens on display next month at a pen exhibition in Orlando, Florida. He hopes to become pen-collector of the year this time - a title he lost to his brother, also a prominent pen collector here in the United States.