Floating in ink A chance gift shop purchase nearly 50 years ago has turned into a passion for... floaty pens By: David Sanderson Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 Last Modified: 8:08 AM CST Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2019 (2052 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not everyday we get scooped by Float About, the official newsletter of floatabout.com.

Except that’s exactly what occurred last month when a piece that began, “Breaking news; there have been a lot of rumours about Eskesen now having pens made in China…” appeared in the online zine, wholly devoted to floating action pens, the sort that have images or objects suspended in mineral oil in their barrel that appear to float back and forth when the pen is angled.

Ever since Danish company Eskesen invented the “original action floating pen” in the mid-1950s, the St. Merlose-based firm has been the world’s undisputed leader when it comes to floaty pens. The Float About article warned of Chinese manufacturers that are “doing their best to confuse buyers” by turning out pens as similar to those made by Eskesen as possible, so much so “even a seasoned collector can not tell them apart.”

“Well, there are a few telltale signs you can always look for,” says Winnipegger Debbie Carriere, as seasoned a floaty pen collector as you’ll find anywhere on the planet. At last count, the married mother of one had 3,590 floaty pens, including an entire subsection of Winnipeg and Manitoba specimens depicting tourist attractions such as Lower Fort Garry, Assinboine Park and the Manitoba Museum.

“A lot of times the Chinese pens have bubbles, which is a definite no-no,” she explains, reaching for a Chinese-made knock-off she purchased in error years ago, while vacationing in Niagara Falls. “Also, if you take the pen apart before you buy it, you’ll see that the stem that screws into the barrel is often yellow if it was made in China, versus clear if it’s a true Eskesen pen.”

OK, now that we’ve got that straight, here’s a question: whatever possessed Carriere to start collecting floaty pens in the first place, especially considering she wouldn’t dream of using them to leave a note for her son or husband, or jot down what she needs at the grocery store.

“I’ve asked myself that same question, too, from time to time, especially considering floaty pens are no longer that easy to find. And as for using them for their intended purpose, truth be told, they’re not really that good in that department,” she says, scratchily signing her name with a floaty pen bearing an image of rowers paddling a birchbark canoe, a souvenir she picked up at The Forks years ago.

Carriere’s collection started innocently enough. In 1972, her family visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While combing through the gift shop post-tour, Carriere’s parents told her and her sister they could each pick out a souvenir to commemorate their visit. Carriere doesn’t recall what her sibling chose, but clear as day she remembers what she settled on.

“It was a pen that had an image of a lunar rover in the barrel. It wasn’t like I was in awe of it or anything. It’s more it was cheap — a couple bucks, at most — and small enough it wouldn’t take up any room in my suitcase.”

Carriere continued collecting souvenir floaty pens on a casual basis for the next 20 years or so. She picked up five or six new ones every year, she says, usually when she, her husband and son were vacationing somewhere and she spotted one she didn’t already own. That changed in the mid-1990s, when she began spending time on the internet and suddenly realized she wasn’t the only “nut out there” who collected floaty pens.

“At first, I would only buy new or used ones from Diana Andra, a woman in Ohio who owns over 10,000 (floaty pens). But then I started hearing from other people, folks who were interested in trading pens they had doubles of for ones from Winnipeg,” she says. “Craig Wilson from California was the first person I traded with; he was interested in one from the Royal Aviation Museum, and he sent me one from Glacier National Park in return. Pretty soon after that, it was off to the races, to the point that between 2006 and 2014, trades were arriving in the mail three or four times a week, at least.”

About that: know how the recent polar vortex resulted in delayed flights, cancelled classes and less chitchat (last week, the National Weather Service in the U.S. advised people living in Iowa, where temperatures plunged to -30 C, to “minimize talking while exposed to the cold”)? Turns out floaty pens aren’t a big fan of frosty conditions, either.

“Sudden changes in extreme temperature are very bad for the pens, so when ones arrive during the winter, I leave them in the packaging and put them in the basement, where it’s a bit cooler, for a few days, to let them slowly acclimatize. If it’s especially cold, like it has been lately, it might be a week or two before I take them out, to see what I’ve got.”

Carrieres’s pens are alphabetically arranged by country of origin, with the States, Canada, Germany and England accounting for roughly three-quarters of her collection. Most interesting, perhaps, are what’s stored in boxes marked “others,” which include floaty pens boasting, among other things, signs of the zodiac, dinosaurs, sharks… even one promoting the Canadian TV series Murdoch Mysteries.

Of course, no floaty pen collection would be complete without an assortment of so-named “tip and strip” models, wherein images of scantily clad guys and gals lose their clothes, when the pen is positioned just so.

“You’ll see pens advertised on eBay for as much as $20 but unless it’s something I’m really dying to have, I’d never pay that much,” says Carriere. That said, she paid substantially more than $20 in 2011, when she placed an order with Eskesen to have a pen made bearing the images of her son, Robert, her niece Francine and her nephew, Wayne. “For a personally designed pen the minimum order is 500 pens, so yeah, it was an outrageous amount of money to spend. But it’s kind of nice the three of them are immortalized on a pen.”

If you’re interested in collecting floaty pens yourself, Carriere offers a few tips. First, if a museum gift shop can only be accessed by paying the museum admission, ask to speak to a manager. They will usually spirit you in, if all you want to do is buy a pen or 10. Second, don’t be shy about letting people know what you collect.

A few years ago, a Nissan dealership in Winnipeg was offering a floaty pen as a promotional giveaway for those who came in to test-drive a Micra. Carriere called them up, stating she had no interest in buying a new automobile, but would love to get her hands on one of their pens.

No problem, the salesman who answered the phone told her, asking when she wanted to drop by and pick it up.

One more thing: Carriere has a suggestion for the True North Sports & Entertainment brass, if they’re ever scratching their noggins, trying to come up with something besides pennants or bobbleheads to give away to fans at Jets home games.

“After the Jets left (in 1996), there was a shop at The Forks that carried floaty pens with the crests of different Canadian NHL teams. I have ones for the Flames, the Oilers and the (Maple) Leafs, but nothing for the Jets. So yeah, if they ever come up with a Jets floaty pen, I’ll be buying a ticket for that game, no questions asked.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca