Eric Tadsen
Brad Bodart owns “America’s oldest pen shop,” Daly’s, which was established in Milwaukee in 1924. It now has a Madison location.
Arrayed on the desk are eight fountain pens and one dip pen. Brad Bodart looks at his customer, then at the pens, and makes an offer: “We’re looking at $1,000.”
The customer, Jim Long, knows his pens. He appreciates their quality, their beauty, their role in his life. A good fountain pen, he says, “makes the journey as enjoyable as the destination.” He relied on them from college until 2007, when he came to Madison to work as an urgent care physician. Then, electronic medical recordkeeping made them unneeded. But not unloved.
“Can you bump it up a little?” asks Long.
This is the first customer of Bodart’s second day of buying brand-name pens (no disposables) at the new Madison office of his business, Daly’s Pen Shop. On day one, he had 11 customers and bought 50 pens. But none were as special as what Long has brought in.
Bodart, 49, was born with ink in his veins. He worked at his parents’ Wauwatosa store, Pen and Pad, buying out its only Milwaukee-area competitor, Daly’s, in 1999. His parents’ shop has since closed, and Daly’s has moved from downtown Milwaukee to that city’s north side. It is “America’s Oldest Pen Shop,” established in 1924.
Daly’s sells dozens of brands of new fountain pens and 300 colors of bottled ink. Business is good, Bodart says: “We’ve been enjoying a resurgence of the under-30 crowd.” Most of the pens are priced under $50.
Bodart also buys used pens, which he sells on the Internet and to collectors. “I love the hunt of a pen,” he says.
Last fall, a customer came in with a first-edition 1927 Parker Senior Mandarin Yellow pen with apparent original hand-painting, the only one of its kind in the world. The find drew a three-page spread in the March issue of Pen World magazine. Bodart has offered it for sale at $2,995.
Now Bodart is reaching out to pen sellers in Madison, through newspaper ads. His office in the Clock Tower Office Park on the city’s west side is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Bodart weighs Long’s question about bumping up the price. “Where would you like to be?” he asks. Long answers: “Twelve hundred dollars?”
There is a long pause. Bodart sells the pens he buys at only about a 30% markup, so he can’t offer too much. But he really wants these pens.
“I can probably do $1,100,” he says.
Earlier, before making an offer, Bodart asked Long if any of the pens had sentimental value. Yes, Long answered, they all do.
There is the dip pen, from the late 1800s, still in its original box. It belonged to Long’s grandfather, passed on to his father, and then to him. It’s not worth much despite being old because dip pens, Bodart explains, involve a complicated three-step process: “Dip in ink, write sentence, repeat.”
There is a Waterman Edson, two Pelikans, a Montblanc Meisterstuck LeGrand 146, a Pilot from Japan, a Montegrappa from Italy, a Limited Edition Montblanc and a Parker 51 Special Edition. None are terribly old, but some cost hundreds of dollars. Most valuable is the Limited Edition Montblanc, honoring the writer Marcel Proust, numbered 1,570 of just 2,100 worldwide.
Some were gifts from Long’s children, some gifts to himself. Long says these “beautiful writing instruments” often served as a conversation starter with patients. They represent a connection to history, and to his own past. And yes, he’s kept a couple for himself.
“Okay,” says Long.
Before writing the check, Bodart makes a promise: “I’ll find good homes for them.”
Brad Bodart
Daly’s Pen Shop
New Madison office: 6417 Odana Rd., Suite 15b; open Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 am-4 pm
Contact info: 414-469-4040; dalyspenshop.com
Pens on hand (at Milwaukee store):
“We stock 700-800 name-brand fountain pens, roller balls and ball pens.”
Most valuable pen sold:
A solid gold Omas fountain pen, for $38,000
