Bexley Pens – Part I

I am fortunate to own a number of Bexley pens. 

Bexley is an American company that was founded in the 1990s by a number of fountain pen enthusiasts, chief among them the founder, Howard Levy.  The company started out by making classic designs in traditional materials and colours (such as ebonite and mandarin yellow and orange, for example).  Over the past few years, it has started to issue an Owner’s Club limited edition pen (or two) each year that is first made available to current Bexley owners and then the public. 

Mr. Levy is also famous for showing up at pen shows with small numbers of non-standard production models – different colours and/or materials – some in numbered editions and others as unmarked “prototypes” (or selling them through an Ebay seller by the name of outletline). 

Bexley pens sell in a number of different price ranges, offering a variety of colours and nibs and thus serving a wide range of customers.  It is rare to hear a complaint about the quality of a Bexley pen, especially their nibs, which are universally held in high regard (and I believe are manufactured by Peter Bock AG).  One of their most popular nibs is an unusual broad stub nib that is about 1.3 mm wide.  In fact, the broad stub is one of my personal favourites – while I have a variety of nib sizes in my Bexley, the broad stub outnumbers the rest by far!! 

I am not going to review each and every Bexley that I own, rather their pictures are posted below and I will make the occasional comment on them.

The first one of note is Bexley’s 10th Anniversary pen; the available colours are shown below – I own one of the red ebonite models.

  

Next up is the 2005 Parkville Pen Limited Edition in Jungle Green - I own #06/25.

 

As I mentioned before, Bexley began an Owner’s Club limited edition program for Bexley owners, starting in 2006.  Of particular note about this pen is that it uses a vacumatic filling system!  Two choices were available – amber (very nice) but I went with the silver. 

Filed under: Bexley, fountain pen, Bexley, bock, broad stub, howard levy, owner's club, parkville pen

Why I Write with a Fountain Pen

Every person who uses a fountain pen has their own reasons for doing so.  These are a few of mine (order does not signify importance): 

1.  A handwritten note is such a simple yet elegant gift.
2. The connection between the pen and your soul.
3. The feel of the ink as it flows onto the paper.
4. The unique beauty of the pen.
5. An incredible choice of inks and paper – an endless possibility for visual expression.
6. It improves my handwriting.
7. I take my time and reflect upon the words that I choose.
8. Memories – using the same pen as a parent or grandparent; remembering them and thinking of them using the pen.
9. The ritual of filling the pen from a bottle of ink.
10. A connection to the past, when life was simpler.

I shall close this post with a few of my favourite quotes.

“The pen is the tongue of the mind.” – Miguel de Cervantes

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.” – Kingsley Amis

Filed under: fountain pen, Ami, Cervantes, fountain pens, ink, paper

My Fountain Pens from A – Z

Requests, requests
I have received a number of requests/questions to post pics, etc. of my fountain pen collection. To be honest, it would take too long to do in one sitting, so I thought I might do a number of short, quick hits covering my collection from A – Z.

A is for Ancora

Let’s begin at the beginning …my initial thought for A was Aurora – but not so fast, I have a red Ancora Perla fountain pen with a medium nib. First a few pics, then some details.

The History of Ancora
According to Stylus Magazine, “The Ancora pen company was founded on the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy, in the early part of the twentieth century. Giuseppe Zanini received his first fountain pen as a gift, and fountain pens became his gift to the world with the inception of the Ancora pen company at Sesto Calende in 1919. His earliest wish was simply to make beautiful pens, but his long-range desire was to create every piece of every Ancora pen in his own factory. Zanini’s untimely death in 1929 bequeathed the fruition of this dream to his son Alfredo, and within a year, all parts of the company’s ebonite and celluloid button-filled pens were produced within the Ancora factory.

Eighty-five years later, Giovanni Santini is fulfilling the original mission of the brand: to produce exquisite pens with passion and care and share them with those who appreciate the timeless fervor that created them. Santini collects vintage pens and owned a pen shop in Turin for a number of years. But it was his work as a pen repairman that gave him the initial impetus to make his own writing instruments.

Santini resumed the production of Ancora pens in 1998, and the passion he puts in the pens today is the same passion Zanini had for his products.Pen production takes place in Pavia, about fifty miles south of Milan, where the company fittingly resides in a 1913 Liberty-style building. “We have a small but very complete factory in which we produce all the parts for our pens. We have no mass production—everything is handmade,” says Santini.”

Material and colour
Ancora has employed an exclusive resin in order to reproduce the richness and iridescence of the pearls of the south seas – not surprisingly “Perla” is the Italian word for “pearl”.

The pictures speak for themselves, the colour of my pen is a gorgeous, bright red with a wonderful marble effect -quite amazing indeed! The material is exceptionally light.

Trim
As seen in the pictures, the pen has two large sterling silver bands with an interesting wagon-wheel like design on them. The cap band is engraved with the words “Ancora Italia” and the clip has an anchor symbol on it – in case you haven’t figured out the naming pattern yet, “Ancora” is the Italian word for “anchor”.

Dimensions
When capped, the pen is just under 14 cm (5 1/2 in.). When posted, 16 cm (6 1/2 in.). The only potential problem with this pen is that it will not stay posted – I say potential because the pen is large enough for me that I do not need to post it, others may feel differently. The diameter of the pen varies from 10mm at the ends to 15 mm at the widest part of the barrel (3/8 – 5/8 in.) and the cap diameter is 15 mm (5/8 in.).

Filling system
Cartridge/converter

The $100,000 question?
Ancora is one of the very few companies that still produces their own nibs. In fact, the whole pen is handmade. I have read in some places that this approach has created some quality control problems – variances (a bad word to QC people!) in the quality of the pens and nibs. Some writers even suggested that you always write with your Ancora before you buy it (rather than purchase over the internet, for example) to make sure the nib is okay. Well, I purchased mine from a reliable Pentracer so I was able to check on the nib quality before I bought the pen (even though I didn’t actually write with it). The nib is 18k with a rhodium plating to match the silver trim.

Bottom line, mine writes beautifully – nice flow and the nib has an incredible amount of flex to it (so much so, it took a bit of getting used to it). I think this pen can be had for around US $175 – a great value.

Filed under: Ancora, fountain pen, Perla

Since I Have a Lot of Ink, I Should Get a Yink, I Think

This one,
I think,
is called a Yink.
He likes to wink,
he likes to drink.
He likes to drink, and drink, and drink.
The thing he likes to drink
is ink.
The ink he likes to drink is pink.
He likes to wink and drink pink ink.
SO…
if you have a lot of ink, then you should get
a Yink, I think.

The relevant excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ classic book, “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” (although, they are all classics really). I couldn’t begin to count the number of times that I read this book with my three children, especially my oldest. It still makes me smile and laugh to think about those times and this book. We just love that book!

So, back to the relevant part of the post. Yes, I have a lot of ink; however, it is mostly blue (not pink). I got thinking about this as I cracked open a fresh bottle of Parker Penman Sapphire Ink that one of my pen club friends purchased for me when he was recently in the UK (yet another good reason to join a pen club!).

The facts are this – I have a wooden mechanic’s tool cabinet drawer [64 cm (25 in.) long by 46 cm (18 in.) wide] that is chock full of bottles of fountain pen ink (as well as a few smaller drawers filled with cartridges that I have accumulated). I am not going to list each colour and brand separately – that would take FOREVER. Instead, I have taken a quick and dirty census of the colours, that reveals the following:

1. 30 Blue
2. 3 Purple
3. 5 Blue- black
4. 9 Black/Grey
5. 9 Red
6. 5 Green
7. 1 Brown
8. 1 Orange (well, Saffron, actually)

Quite a compilation of mostly blue and near-blue inks – and I am desperately trying to find a bottle of Delta blue to add to my collection along with a bottle of the new Private Reserve DC Supershow Electric Blue!!

I have no one to blame for this “problem” except for myself. However, if you are interested in expanding your ink collection, one of the best etailer for ink is Pamela Huynh at A Pen Lover’s Paradise (https://www.apenloversparadise.com/products/?cat=493). She has all the great ones – Aurora, Diamine, Diamine New Century and Private Reserve – in stock.

Of course, you also need a good source for Noodler’s Ink and Sam Fiorella at Pendomonium (http://www.pendemonium.com/ ) has some as well as the other brands previously mentioned. You need to check her stock carefully though as I unfortunately find that some of the more popular colours are not occasionally available (and I mean unfortunate because Sam is a great person to deal with).

My other favourite place to check out ink is The Writing Desk, who has a terrific ink colour comparison tool (http://thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/inkchooser.php) that enables you to compare up to three ink colours side by side or you can check out each colour using their “Col-o-rama” (http://thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/ink_cat.php?none). Some day I will order ink from them because I have used these tools so often, I feel I owe it to them (even though the cost will be $$$ because I am in Canada and they are in the UK).

Filed under: fountain pen, Parker Penman Sapphire, Seuss, Yink

Since I Have a Lot of Ink, I Should Get a Yink, I Think

This one,
I think,
is called a Yink.
He likes to wink,
he likes to drink.
He likes to drink, and drink, and drink.
The thing he likes to drink
is ink.
The ink he likes to drink is pink.
He likes to wink and drink pink ink.
SO…
if you have a lot of ink, then you should get
a Yink, I think.

The relevant excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ classic book, “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” (although, they are all classics really). I couldn’t begin to count the number of times that I read this book with my three children, especially my oldest. It still makes me smile and laugh to think about those times and this book. We just love that book!

So, back to the relevant part of the post. Yes, I have a lot of ink; however, it is mostly blue (not pink). I got thinking about this as I cracked open a fresh bottle of Parker Penman Sapphire Ink that one of my pen club friends purchased for me when he was recently in the UK (yet another good reason to join a pen club!).

The facts are this – I have a wooden mechanic’s tool cabinet drawer [64 cm (25 in.) long by 46 cm (18 in.) wide] that is chock full of bottles of fountain pen ink (as well as a few smaller drawers filled with cartridges that I have accumulated). I am not going to list each colour and brand separately – that would take FOREVER. Instead, I have taken a quick and dirty census of the colours, that reveals the following:

1. 30 Blue
2. 3 Purple
3. 5 Blue- black
4. 9 Black/Grey
5. 9 Red
6. 5 Green
7. 1 Brown
8. 1 Orange (well, Saffron, actually)

Quite a compilation of mostly blue and near-blue inks – and I am desperately trying to find a bottle of Delta blue to add to my collection along with a bottle of the new Private Reserve DC Supershow Electric Blue!!

I have no one to blame for this “problem” except for myself. However, if you are interested in expanding your ink collection, one of the best etailer for ink is Pamela Huynh at A Pen Lover’s Paradise (https://www.apenloversparadise.com/products/?cat=493). She has all the great ones – Aurora, Diamine, Diamine New Century and Private Reserve – in stock.

Of course, you also need a good source for Noodler’s Ink and Sam Fiorella at Pendomonium (http://www.pendemonium.com/ ) has some as well as the other brands previously mentioned. You need to check her stock carefully though as I unfortunately find that some of the more popular colours are not occasionally available (and I mean unfortunate because Sam is a great person to deal with).

My other favourite place to check out ink is The Writing Desk, who has a terrific ink colour comparison tool (http://thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/inkchooser.php) that enables you to compare up to three ink colours side by side or you can check out each colour using their “Col-o-rama” (http://thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/ink_cat.php?none). Some day I will order ink from them because I have used these tools so often, I feel I owe it to them (even though the cost will be $$$ because I am in Canada and they are in the UK).

Filed under: fountain pen, Parker Penman Sapphire, Seuss, Yink

The Power of the Pen

According to a study referred to in the August/September 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind, picking up a pen is a cure-all for many troubles. Specifically, positive effects are achieved only when people deal with a negative situation – something that has been bothering them and that they have not been willing to discuss with anyone. On the other hand, people writing about good memories can have the opposite effect, creating a psychological distance from their initial satisfaction.

How do you make the most of your writing session? Focus on three questions:

1. What happened?
2. How did I feel about that?
3. Why did I feel that way?

Spend at least fifteen minutes. Let the words flow and delve into your deepest feelings. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, complete sentences, etc.

As of writing, you can only see a snippet of the article but in case you want to check them out, here is a link to Scientific American Mind:

http://www.sciammind.com/

Filed under: fountain pen, negative, positive, Scientific American Mind, writing

The Power of the Pen

According to a study referred to in the August/September 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind, picking up a pen is a cure-all for many troubles. Specifically, positive effects are achieved only when people deal with a negative situation – something that has been bothering them and that they have not been willing to discuss with anyone. On the other hand, people writing about good memories can have the opposite effect, creating a psychological distance from their initial satisfaction.

How do you make the most of your writing session? Focus on three questions:

1. What happened?
2. How did I feel about that?
3. Why did I feel that way?

Spend at least fifteen minutes. Let the words flow and delve into your deepest feelings. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, complete sentences, etc.

As of writing, you can only see a snippet of the article but in case you want to check them out, here is a link to Scientific American Mind:

http://www.sciammind.com/

Filed under: fountain pen, negative, positive, Scientific American Mind, writing

The Forgotten Desk Set?

It was not that long ago when you walked into an executive’s office (whether at work or home) and there would be the classic pen desk set. Not always a fountain pen mind you, but one or two ballpoint pens with long points (like darts) sticking out of their holder (brass) attached to a marble or wood base. In fact, my parents bought one for me in 1986 (maybe it was longer ago than I thought ) when I obtained my CA designation – two brown Sheaffer White Dot ball points- I still have (and treasure) it.

Now that I have “graduated” to fountain pens, I have been looking for the right desk set for a few years. I know there are some vintage models in art deco and other interesting designs (check out the Esterbrook, Wahl and Parker 51 or Duofold models on Ebay) but as of writing this, I am still on the modern side of the fountain pen fence. So, check out this sweet, as in la dolce vita, thing that now sits upon my home office desk (I tried to hide it from my wife who instantly noticed it sitting in a corner of my office and said, “Shouldn’t that be on your desk?”).

Big fat wet broad nib on the fountain pen and smooth ballpoint (soon to be replaced with a Parker gel refill). What more can I say – look and drool!

Filed under: Delta, desk set, Dolce Vita desk set, fountain pen, vintage

The Journey from a Modern User to Vintage Collector (Part One)

Since I became involved in using (collecting? accumulating?) fountain pens, the pens have all been modern. Perhaps a remake here or there, like a Parker 51 Special Edition, but modern in terms of age, materials and style. Why – I think the simple answer is access and knowledge with a definite sense of fear.

The ability to lay my hands on an actual fountain pen in a store of any kind here in London was difficult before but now is virtually impossible with the unfortunate closing of the Peel Pen Shop. So, my access was restricted to the various shops in downtown Toronto when I travelled there on business. Otherwise, I had to “trust” pictures and discussion boards before ordering new pens over the Internet or buying on Ebay.

I also wanted something that I could trust to write with few problems and moderns pretty much fit the bill.

In the vintage world, knowledge (and it would appear manual dexterity) is power. The more I learn about vintage pens, the more I appreciate them. Nonetheless, I am still deathly afraid of my lack of manual dexterity – I nothing but thumbs when it comes to minor repair work around the home (my mom used to call me Jack Tripper – remember the klutz on the old TV show “Three’s Company”), what chance do I have trying to repair a small, old pen that could easily break, even in the hands of a professional. God, I can hear my father laughing in heaven every time I pick up a hammer or screwdriver! Well, like most problems, there is the obvious solution (to almost anything): money – to buy vintage in mint or near mint condition (assuming you know what that means and can tell the difference – is the cap or clip or any other part of the pen exactly correct??). The other is to join a pen club and find some other knowledgeable vintage collectors who are willing to help you. To be continued.

Filed under: Ebay, fountain pen, modern, vintage

The Forgotten Desk Set?

It was not that long ago when you walked into an executive’s office (whether at work or home) and there would be the classic pen desk set. Not always a fountain pen mind you, but one or two ballpoint pens with long points (like darts) sticking out of their holder (brass) attached to a marble or wood base. In fact, my parents bought one for me in 1986 (maybe it was longer ago than I thought ) when I obtained my CA designation – two brown Sheaffer White Dot ball points- I still have (and treasure) it.

Now that I have “graduated” to fountain pens, I have been looking for the right desk set for a few years. I know there are some vintage models in art deco and other interesting designs (check out the Esterbrook, Wahl and Parker 51 or Duofold models on Ebay) but as of writing this, I am still on the modern side of the fountain pen fence. So, check out this sweet, as in la dolce vita, thing that now sits upon my home office desk (I tried to hide it from my wife who instantly noticed it sitting in a corner of my office and said, “Shouldn’t that be on your desk?”).

Big fat wet broad nib on the fountain pen and smooth ballpoint (soon to be replaced with a Parker gel refill). What more can I say – look and drool!

Filed under: Delta, desk set, Dolce Vita desk set, fountain pen, vintage