The pen you grab without thinking was once a $12.50 sensation.

On October 29, 1945, the Gimbels department store in New York began selling the Reynolds ballpoint pen. Shoppers crowded in to see a pen that wrote without an inkwell and without the smudges of a fountain pen.

The idea built on the work of Hungarian inventor László Bíró, who had patented a ballpoint design in the 1930s. American businessman Milton Reynolds brought his own version to US stores first.

Prices soon fell, and the ballpoint became one of the most ordinary tools in the world.

What everyday object do you think has the most surprising history?

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