Twelve thousand examples of the Writers Edition Charles Dickens ballpoint, released in 2001, were made. According to collectors, the first 4,000 numbers or so went exclusively into the three-piece sets of fountain pen, ballpoint and pencil; individually boxed pieces therefore usually carry higher numbers. A ballpoint with a number well below 4,000 in single packaging thus points to a box swapped after the event. A low number in a single case cannot be ruled out entirely, though, because the trade occasionally broke sets up and passed the individual pieces on in boxes from other Dickens writing instruments; one such example, number 1864, is documented.
On the collectors' market a Dickens ballpoint in as-new condition with papers and packaging cost between 260 and 300 euros in 2004, some 30 per cent below the list price of the day.