Being a member of the Society of Inkwell Collectors, I read with interest the article concerning the group that collects post office destination markings ("Postmarks: They're in the mail," July 22).

I was not surprised to learn that today's youth tend to think of such hobbies as mere triviality and do not grasp its historical significance. As a collector of vintage inkwells and associated writing memorabilia, I have been subjected to the same thing.

On June 14, 1957, the U.S. Postal Service ordered all of its branches to cease using pens that were dipped in ink and the vessels containing the necessary fluid to write with them. Ballpoint pens replaced them. I contend that on that day the use of such vessels as a means of man's written communication literally came to an end. It is a practice that dates to when the cave man dipped a stick into the carcass of animal blood and scratched an image on the wall of his cage.

From that day of the post office edict, the collecting of such writing instruments was no longer a matter of triviality, but the serious business of preserving civilization's heirlooms of tomorrow.

Priceless piece of history

Winky Sullivan, at the time of the edict an employee of the post office in Westerly, noticed an assortment of such instruments in a large trash bin awaiting a trip to the town dump. Recalling that at one time I had told him about being a member of the society of inkwell collectors, Mr. Sullivan reached in and salvaged several black wooden pens that were never used. He presented them to my collection. Priceless? Historical? Like none other.

With the ceasing of manufacturing, the only way a person can see inkwells and associated paraphernalia today is through private collections or museums.

Given the history of the postal service, it's feasible to think that so goes destination postmarks - or even writing itself.

Editor's note: The writer lives in Pawcatuck.