BIC original 4-colour pen

A blue barrel, medium tip, original BIC 4-colour ball point pen. The BIC 4-colour biro (4C) was invented in 1969, based on an idea by BIC company founder Marcel Bich. Originally released in France in April 1970, it was originally advertised as '3 francs for four colours', writing in black, blue, red and green. It was made available with a blue barrel and medium tip and an orange barrel with a fine tip, the ink colour being selected by depressing the corresponsingly coloured plunger at the end of the pen. Small lugs on these trigger mechanisms serve to displace the current ink tube (which returns to resting position) whilst pushing down the new cartridge (via an internal spring) and locking it into place. The 4C had a unique solid ball moulded into the end of the cap, representing the head of the BIC boy logo and anecdotally, this was commonly used to turn rotary telephone dials. The ball is now pierced to allow a cord to be thread through in order to hang the pen around the neck. The colour of the blue plunger used to match the shade of the polystyrene barrel but in 1999 it was changed to navy to better represent the ink colour. Designed to write 8 kilometres, 2k per colour, the 4C celebrated its 50th birthday in 2020 with the release of a number of new designs. See AIBDC : 008558.1-4 and AIBDC : 008604.1-3.

moulded: "BIC. Made in France" (barrel)

AIBDC : 008558.1