In the 1970s, my small town Vermont high school offered Russian as an alternate language to Latin and French. This was before the Berlin Wall fell and travel to Russia was greatly restricted.
Circa 1975, the Russian teacher organized a group trip to Moscow. The students were encouraged to bring with them tokens of friendship and appreciation to hand out. Apparently, Bic Crystal pens were highly prized as they were not available.
My mother worked in the local office supply store. They had a run on Bic Crystal pens as each student typically bought three boxes of 12 pens. I remember they were 19¢ each.
I also remember the students were warned not to accept any offers over there to buy their Levi’s as it was illegal. Apparently they were only available on the Black Market.
