BIC Cristal: The Hexagonal Ballpoint Since 1950

The capped Cristal: clear six-sided barrel, ink tube inside, vent hole in the side.

Product facts

Product: BIC Cristal Xtra Smooth Ballpoint Pen, Medium 1.0 mm (MS11) / Cristal Original
Brand: BIC
Brand origin: France
Made in: Mexico^*
Material: Polystyrene barrel, polypropylene ink tube, brass tip, tungsten-carbide ball
Released: December 1950
Price range: $under $5 per pen (multi-packs divided by the count)

Notes on these facts

Made by Société BIC (France); sold in the US by BIC Corporation. Made in Mexico: BIC's French 75th-anniversary press kit (2025) says the Cristal is still made in BIC's own factories in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, on machines BIC designs. For US packs, a Stop & Shop listing for a blue Cristal Xtra Smooth 10-pack gives Mexico, as did distributor listings for MS11 black and red (Aztek, Dealer Commander). European packs of the Cristal Original have been listed as made in France (Farnell). Check the pack. Source. Price: example listing.
Price bands are typical US retail, checked October 2026.

Key takeaways

BIC's French press kit says the Cristal launched in December 1950 at its Clichy factory, priced at 0.50 French francs, and sold 10,000 a day in its first year.
The medium point has a 1.0 mm ball; retailer spec sheets give a line width of about 0.4 mm, and some list 0.32 mm.
The fine point has a 0.8 mm ball and a line of about 0.35 mm, per retailer listings.
BIC gives the pen as 14.7 cm long, 8.3 mm across and 5.8 g, with 0.4 g of ink, enough for up to 3 km of writing.
BIC says the Cristal is made in its own factories in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa; US packs of the Cristal Xtra Smooth list Mexico.

What is the BIC Cristal?

The BIC Cristal is a capped, disposable ballpoint pen with a clear, six-sided plastic barrel, made by the French company BIC since 1950.

BIC’s French press kit for the pen’s 75th anniversary says the Cristal was born in December 1950 at BIC’s Clichy factory near Paris, cost 0.50 French francs, and was refillable at first. It sold 10,000 pens a day in its first year. Marcel Bich had bought the rights to László Bíró’s ballpoint patent, then worked on the ink and, with Swiss watchmakers, the fit between ball and tube.

France Today says the Cristal is reputed to sell about 57 pens every second, with more than 100 billion sold. Those are widely repeated estimates, not audited figures. It tops our list of the best pens of all time.

BIC Cristal specs

Spec	Value
Maker	Société BIC (France); US seller BIC Corporation
Type	Capped, disposable oil-based ballpoint
Points	Medium 1.0 mm · Fine 0.8 mm
Line width	About 0.4 mm (medium) · about 0.35 mm (fine)
Ball and tip	Tungsten-carbide ball, 1 mm (medium), in a brass tip
Barrel	Clear polystyrene, hexagonal, 8.3 mm across, with a vent hole (BS 7272-1)
Length	14.7 cm (5.8 in)
Weight	5.8 g
Ink	0.4 g in a polypropylene tube; water-resistant, dries in under 2 seconds (BIC)
Cap	Ventilated, ink-colored; a UK retailer says it meets ISO 11540
Writing length	Up to 3 km (BIC); retailers cite SGS tests from 2012–2013
US name and item	Cristal Xtra Smooth; MS11 is the medium dozen (MS11BK black)
Launched	December 1950
Made in	BIC factories in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa; US packs list Mexico

Length, diameter, weight, ink, materials and writing length come from BIC’s French press kit (2025). The fine point and line widths come from retailer spec sheets.

What do the 1.0 mm and 0.8 mm points write like?

The number is the size of the ball, not the line: a 1.0 mm medium Cristal writes a line about 0.4 mm wide. A ballpoint lays down a thin film of paste ink, so the line is much narrower than the ball.

To-scale drawing at 120 times: BIC Cristal 1.0 mm medium ball with a 0.4 mm line, and 0.8 mm fine ball with a 0.35 mm line — Ball and line at the same scale. Sources differ on the medium line: most say 0.4 mm, a few say 0.32 mm.

So don’t compare ball sizes across pen types: a 1.0 mm Cristal is not a bold pen. Choose the medium for everyday writing and forms, and the fine for small handwriting.

Why is the BIC Cristal hexagonal, and why is there a hole?

The six sides copy a wooden pencil, so the pen doesn’t roll and is easy to grip; the clear barrel shows how much ink is left. BIC says the small hole in the side of the barrel balances the air pressure inside and outside the pen, pushes ink toward the tip and prevents leaks; it complies with the British standard BS 7272-1.

The cap has a vent at the top as well. A UK retailer says the cap meets ISO 11540, the safety standard for pen caps that children might swallow.

How does the BIC Cristal compare to other everyday pens?

The Cristal is the cheapest and simplest of the three: capped, disposable and oil-based, where the gel and hybrid pens are retractable and refillable.

	BIC Cristal (medium)	Pilot G2 (0.7 mm)	uni-ball Jetstream RT (1.0 mm)
Ink	Oil-based ballpoint	Gel	Hybrid (low-viscosity oil)
Mechanism	Cap	Retractable	Retractable
Refillable	No	Yes	Yes
Price band	$	$	$

Ballpoint paste ink is much thicker than gel ink, which is why a ballpoint is the usual safe pick for thin paper like a Mead composition notebook. We haven’t tested show-through yet.

If you want a capped ballpoint you can refill, the Pentel R.S.V.P. takes BKL7 and BKL10 refills.

Ballpoint ink doesn’t erase, so a mistake needs covering, for example with BIC Wite-Out EZ Correct tape.

Where is the BIC Cristal made?

BIC says it still makes the Cristal in its own factories in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, on machines it designs itself; US packs of the Cristal Xtra Smooth list Mexico.

A Stop & Shop listing for a blue 10-pack gives “Made in Mexico”, as did distributor listings for the MS11 dozen in black and red. In Europe, the electronics distributor Farnell has listed France as the country of last significant manufacturing for a 10-pack. BIC also makes its own inks, per the press kit, so check the pack for the factory.

How much does a BIC Cristal cost?

The Cristal is in our lowest price band, $ (under $5 per pen), and usually far below it. Current US 10-packs of the Cristal Xtra Smooth work out to well under a dollar a pen. ASINsight’s Amazon estimates for July 2026 put the Cristal Xtra Smooth 10-count at about 10,000 sales a month.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the BIC Cristal and Cristal Xtra Smooth?

They are the same capped, clear-barrel hexagonal ballpoint. In the US, BIC sells it as the Cristal Xtra Smooth, with the medium black dozen under item number MS11; in Europe it is sold as the Cristal Original.

What line width does a BIC Cristal medium write?

A fine-to-medium line: most retailer spec sheets put it at about 0.4 mm, well under the 1.0 mm ball size printed on the pack. A few listings say 0.32 mm; BIC's press kit gives the ball size but not a line width.

How long does a BIC Cristal last?

BIC says a Cristal writes up to 3 km from its 0.4 g of ink; UK and European retailers quote the figure from SGS tests run in 2012 and 2013. We have not measured it ourselves.

Why does the BIC Cristal have a hole in the barrel?

BIC says the hole balances the air pressure inside and outside the pen, pushes ink toward the tip and prevents leaks, and that it complies with the BS 7272-1 standard. One UK retailer says the vented cap meets ISO 11540.

Where is the BIC Cristal made?

BIC says it makes the Cristal in its own factories in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Packs sold in the US list Mexico, and packs sold in Europe have been listed as French-made, so the pack is the final word.

When was the BIC Cristal invented?

BIC says the Cristal was born in December 1950 at its Clichy factory near Paris, priced at 0.50 French francs. Marcel Bich built it on László Bíró's ballpoint patent, which he had bought, with Swiss watchmakers' help on the fit of the ball.

Is the BIC Cristal in a museum?

Yes. BIC says the Cristal entered the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2001, and that of the Centre Pompidou's Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris in 2006.

Sources (17)

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