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Supreme Act Two

Wearever used the Supreme name in the 1930s for a line of all plastic lever-fill pens with tapered caps and a general body shape similar to a Parker Parkette. The earlier Supreme had a two layer cap top and barrel end, giving the pen a lot of contrast between the marbled plastic. Some of these early Supremes came in wild colors, making them highly collectible, though not highly priced. These pens can usually be identified by "Supreme" stamped on the nib. The early Supreme's cap had gold or chrome plated rings and an angular front mounted clip similar in style to a Waterman Patrician clip. Some versions were pen / pencil combos. These Supremes are decidedly upscale from the pen so named in the 1950s, with 14-karat gold plate nibs and much detailing.

A Pair Of Wearever Supremes - Blue With Chrome and Blued Chrome Caps

The Poster Child Of Cheapie Pens

The Wearever Supreme of the 1950s is the consummate cheapie. This is the pen I think of as the example of how to make a cheap pen. It only sold for US $.29, so a lot of extras simply can't be put in.

Detail Of A Pair Of Wearever Supreme Stainless Nibs

Slip on cap? Not to follow the example of the Parker 51, but a necessity. No threading of the cap and barrel required, one manufacturing step out of the way. Everything chrome plated or bare aluminum? Keeps manufacturing simple. Stainless nib? Check. Solid injection molded plastic bodies? Check? File off the injection flan? Why bother? Check.

A Wearever Supreme Fountain Pen With A Store Hanger Card

This is the ultimate simple pen. The cards they came on (Box? You want a box for 29 cents?), don't even have filling instructions printed on them. Everyone knows how to use a fountain pen! Check.

An Interesting Wearever Supreme Four Piece Set In Teal With Chrome Caps
Top To Bottom: Fountain / Pencil / Ballpoint / Penlight

The only upselling of Supremes is when they were sold in sets. Supremes eventually had matching twist tip pencils and pushbutton ballpoints, which were sold separately on cards. Wearever packaged these into multi item carded and boxed sets. An interesting four piece set included a penlight that used single AA battery.

Supremes sold for 29 cents and came in a huge spectrum of colors. The most common are the aluminum cap and black, red, green, and blue barrels. Wearever made many variations, including gold tone caps, color toned aluminum caps, and many solid barrel colors.

Performance

I test drove two Supremes, both blue barrel pens, one with a standard aluminum cap, and one with a blued aluminum cap. Both pens have stiff, but smooth stainless medium nibs. They write decently, but there's nothing memorable about it. This defines cheapie writing. I know some have extolled the virtue of writing with cheapies, but this is not cheapie nirvana. There are other Wearevers that write much better. The Supreme is a better writer than some other cheapies, certainly, but it's not a great writer.

The Supreme is a standard size pen, about 5 1/4 inches long capped and 5 5/8 inches posted. The cap and barrel are very lightweight, the cap is so light, in fact, that you almost don't notice it when it's posted. The cap posts easily and deeply. It's not coming off.

A Wearever Supreme Trio Set: Ballpoint / Fountain / Pencil In Blue With Blued Chrome Caps

The pen has the right balance for writing, and could be used a long time without fatigue. This is a simple writing tool. It fills with a couple of hard strokes and a count to ten. The clip is very tight and will probably only fit over thin shirt material. There's no spring. The pen sits high in the pocket, due to the front mounted clip.

Everything about this pen says, "made in big batches really fast." The fit and finish are of the snap and go variety. Lots of variation and gaps everywhere. No sign of exacting standards. These pens were tools, not baubles, and it shows. I suppose you could work up a shine on the plastic, but good luck on the cap.

You can get boatloads of Supremes for not a whole lot of money, but I would wonder about making a big collection of them. If you're a die-hard cheapie fan and must have a big collection of them, look for mint examples. The caps are very prone to scratching, the metal plated parts will rust or corrode, and the stainless nibs will stain. On the plus side, if you like the way they write, they all write like that. And like BIC ballpoints, if you lose it, you can probably find more just like it. There are a large variety of them out there.

Comments on this article may be sent to the author, Jim Mamoulides
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