Underwater Bargain

Among the business opportunities advertised in the New York Times was a tempting come-on. On the block was a manufacturing business which was "absolute leader in its field. . . . Present production volume largest in history. . . . Because the well-to-do owners are obliged to put their affairs in more liquid condition they will accept a fraction of the real value of the business."

This "absolute leader" turned out to be Chicago's Reynolds Pen Co., first and foremost exploiter ($20,857,000 sold in two years) of ball-point pens. But why were Chairman "Milton Reynolds and President Franklin Lamb willing to sell this purported gold mine for a song? Reynolds, who rode around the world in 79 hours in his "Bombshell" (TIME, April 28), said that he wanted to free himself "to devote more time to aviation research." Lamb had a different reason. If he and Reynolds died now without their assets in liquid form, he explained, their families might have rough going because of inheritance-tax problems. Neither mentioned another possible reason: the tremendous outpouring of underwater pens has just about submerged the market. The Reynolds price has dropped from $12.50 to 69-c- apiece.

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