why bexley

[watch_art]

 

A Pel or Montblanc or Omas goes longer between fills for me; however, in the long scheme of things I find converters pretty trouble-free. If I ever have a converter go belly up on a Visconti, Sailor, Bexley, etc. , I suspect I can swap it out myself.

 

 

 

 

NOOO!!!! The horror!!! :roflmho:

[Rufus]

I own 37 Bexleys ranging from a 1994 Original to a 2011 Owners' Club LE. Unlike Glen SC, none of my Bexleys have had a writing problem; in fact, I've found their solid gold nibs, 14c and 18c, to be real joys to write with, having a very pleasant springiness. I like Bexleys because the majority of them are influenced by the Golden Age of fountain pens; there are a few, however, that aren't and which I think are the lesser aesthetically. I find them to be well-made and reasonably priced. A further appeal is that they are American-made even though I'm not an American and that I can be critical of American society. In sum, they are attractive, well-made and reflect the best of the fountain pen tradition.

[MicheleB]

I have the Bexley Tea Time. It's a combo of the Hemingway colors (I call it the poor woman's Hemingway), style of a Pelikan 100 and the size of a hmm I dunno, but I'd call it mid size. I have a stub. I adore this pen for the looks and nib once the nib was tuned by Danny Fudge. I had trouble with flow also, but Danny fixed her up and now she is reliable and awesome. So for me it's American, great to look at, good size, and nice wet stub nib courtesy of Danny Fudge.

[Bill]

I have the Bexley Tea Time...nib was tuned by Danny Fudge. ..

 

Did you buy it used? I believe the Poseidon Tea Time was only offered new from famed nibmeister John Mottishaw himself. Bad nibs coming from his shop would be national news!

 

BTW, the Poseidon, in all its regular and SE variations, is one of the greatest and most useful designs ever produced by Bexley.

[Glenn-SC]

BTW, the Poseidon, in all its regular and SE variations, is one of the greatest and most useful designs ever produced by Bexley.

Mine skipped like a 10-year old kid on the first day of Summer Vacation.

It broke my heart and I sold it off.

Edited March 17, 2011 by Glenn-SC

[irish_monk]

I've never had one that wrote properly without being tweaked (by me or a real expert). I like the idea of a Bexley, American made in my home state and all, but for the money the quality control is not so hot. Some people love them and swear by them. I am not one of those people. I have only kept one (and I can't remember the last ime I used it) because I bought it from Dennis and Richard worked on the nib. I wish I could llike this brand because the 56 and Ranger are classic designs.

[watch_art]

Mine was a tiny bit toothy at certain spots and angles, but I hit it up on some micromesh and that helped out a lot. Gonna run it over a little more because I missed a spot. But mostly, I really love it. The size is great and it's a good wet writer. And holds a ton of ink as an eyedropper. And the kids at school LOVE this thing!

[krandallkraus]

"I just commented in another thread that I have been buying Bexley pens almost since Howard started the company. I now have nearly two dozen, all of which I intend to keep. I have found them to be very well made, and mine are all excellent writers. I have heard of people having problems with Bexley pens, but I have never experienced a problem. Bexleys remain very high on my preferred pen list. "

I could say the same things about Edison and Brian Gray's work (except I haven't heard of people having trouble with his pens, save one FPNer). I own 8 of his pens now and have even come to prefer his Jowo nibs. I have 3 (soon 4) Grail Stubs Brian has ground to perfection for me.

I am about to obtain my first Bexley, largely because of the great things Brian has said about Howard and how supportive he was when Brian was getting started, but also because I am drawn to the design, dash, substance, and quality of the work.

I've been looking on eDump at Bexley Moltenis, pens made for an Italian pen company (or a pen seller in Florida) by Bexley in limited editions and am wondering if anyone has any experience with those pens. I have to admit, although having driven Swedish and Japanese cars for the past 30 years while waiting for Detroit to catch up, it really gives me a thrill and tremendous satisfaction to spend so much money with U.S. pen makers like Edison and Bexley. They deserve their honors and they deserve our support.

This has been really interesting and helpful reading your comments here on the eve of acquiring my first Bexley. (I'm still in the queue for two more Eddies, though.)

Thanks for your input, everyone.

KK

[reprieve]

I love the stub nibs. They are wide and wet and glorious.

 

I managed to find a Grand Finale a while back (thanks, Bry!), which I think is the most gorgeous Bexley ever made. I kind of collect overlays, but it also happens to be one of my best writers. That giant, soft stub nib is heaven to write with.

 

http://www.parkvillepen.com/sitebuilder/images/grandfinale2-543x210.jpg

(photo from Parkville Pen's website)

 

I wish Bexley still made pens like the Grand Finale, the Deco Band, the special sleeve fillers, etc. I haven't really been impressed with anything new lately. The 58 is neat, but I wish it were available in ebonite; I won't be buying the acrylic version. I really liked the Owners' Club series (2006, 2007, and 2008 were especially nice), but the pens from the last few years haven't really caught my eye. I miss the interesting materials, filling systems, and occasional special overlays.

Edited March 19, 2011 by reprieve

[watch_art]

Yikes. That overlay is something else. Very very nice. Yeah, too bad they don't do that anymore.

[Rufus]

I love the stub nibs. They are wide and wet and glorious.

 

I managed to find a Grand Finale a while back (thanks, Bry!), which I think is the most gorgeous Bexley ever made. I kind of collect overlays, but it also happens to be one of my best writers. That giant, soft stub nib is heaven to write with.

 

http://www.parkvillepen.com/sitebuilder/images/grandfinale2-543x210.jpg

(photo from Parkville Pen's website)

 

I wish Bexley still made pens like the Grand Finale, the Deco Band, the special sleeve fillers, etc. I haven't really been impressed with anything new lately. The 58 is neat, but I wish it were available in ebonite; I won't be buying the acrylic version. I really liked the Owners' Club series (2006, 2007, and 2008 were especially nice), but the pens from the last few years haven't really caught my eye. I miss the interesting materials, filling systems, and occasional special overlays.

 

As a Bexley collector, up to 37 now, I have to agree with all you say. The one key model missing from my collection is a Grand Finale, but it is beyond my budget. One of the nicest models I have is The Pharaoh, which is a collaboration of Bexley, Broadwell and Binder. It is made of light brown woodgrain ebonite and fitted with a clip and cap band investment cast of solid 10c gold. It's the pride of my collection, but closely followed by a 1994 Original, a black chased ebonite Fifth Anniversary and a green/black ebonite Decoband. All are C/C-filers, unfortunately, except for the Original, which is a button-filler.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Rufus

[watch_art]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/189699-bexley-10th-anniversary-yellow-with-blue-swirls/page__p__1915862__fromsearch__1#entry1915862

 

here it is.

[goodguy]

Are they so popular ?

 

That is not my impression, yes I can see them around but I dont think they are so popular.

They cant be bad pens, they are attractive and their nibs (Bock right?) are good but most their pens are CC fillers so I cant see them leaving a unique mark on the market.

For me they are the American Deltas (which are good pens too).

[watch_art]

Are they so popular ?

 

That is not my impression, yes I can see them around but I dont think they are so popular.

They cant be bad pens, they are attractive and their nibs (Bock right?) are good but most their pens are CC fillers so I cant see them leaving a unique mark on the market.

For me they are the American Deltas (which are good pens too).

 

You know, I thought that, but hadn't thought to say that. I think that this comment is dead on, but that the Bexley's are priced more accordingly (at least online) than Delta. When I was at the pen show recently, I played with a few Deltas, all converter pens, and all around $3-500 for the orange Dolcevitas, and I just though... really?? REALLY???? I think one in particular was $425 at one table, more or less at other tables depending on the seller. The highest was around $500.

 

Maybe $150 for steel nibs and up to a couple hundred or so for gold, but... $3-500?????? I guess the piston fillers deserve a higher price, but the ones I played with (at MSRP I'm sure)

were converter pens, and didn't seem too special. I guess they're just not my style.

[pengoddess]

Love Bexleys. Support Howard!

 

Sam

[LedZepGirl]

I feel it because they come out with so many lovely pens in unique colors and designs and they are American company as well and make their products here instead of exploiting third world labor. Their products are also high quality and relatively low cost when compared to some of their competitors. In all I think Bexley has managed to do something many other larger pen companies haven't been able to.

[reprieve]

My experience with Delta is excellent. But then, almost all of my Deltas are celluloid. They are button fillers, lever fillers, or piston fillers (except for one c/c stub-nibbed Dolce Vita). They are beautiful, well-made, large pens. Every single Delta I've owned (and I'm up to six now) has written perfectly out of the box--not so with Bexley (two stub nibs (on my Americana and my Owners' Club 2008) had baby bottom; once they were adjusted, they were wonderful writers, but they did have to visit a nibmeister). I don't mean to bash Bexley as I do quite like them, especially their older pens, but Delta is a great brand as well. Considering many of the less exciting Bexleys sell for $200-$350, I don't have a problem buying a piston filling Oro for $350 or a celluloid lever filling LE for $500.

[lbhajdu]

Only having gotten into FPs less than a year ago, my American pens consist of one Bexley and one Edison. What I like about the Bexley’s are:

 

1) Good material (acrylic, celluloid, or ebonite)

2) Same material used for the section as the rest of the pen. (I am not a fan of the generic soft rubber or metal Chinese sections (the Taiwanese companies Laban and Think have started to figure this out))

3) Good machining quality everything lines up, the threads do not grind on each other unlike some Indian Ebonite pens I own.

4) Made in the US

5) I think the distributer messed up my nib when they installed it. I sent it back with $7 enclosed for shipping. And one week later I had it back all fixed with a note. So very good customer service.

6) Prices are inline or maybe just a hair higher than some of the finest Asian child labor camps and prisons, which is saying a lot considering it’s made in the US.

7) The nibs are swappable and they sell extras

 

 

Things I am indifferent about:

 

1) The cc converter, it’s just a tradeoff capacity in exchange for being able to simply replace yourself if the piston leaks (thank god (if there is a god) that they didn’t come up with their own converter version).

 

Things I would like to see from Bexley:

 

1) The Italian and Indian pen makers have it right, Ebonite feeds are the way to go, though Aurora and Montegrappa charge an arm and a leg. Quality control may be a nightmare with setting Ebonite feeds. If they teamed up with Nathan Tardif they would have something truly extraordinary.

 

2) Making a classic pen, they should have settled on a #2 nib, especially now with the price of gold. They must have some challenge getting proportions to look right. The #2 nib being shorter also feels more sturdy acting as less of a leaver.

 

3) For a company that reproduces the pens of old, I would like to see similar quality uniformed patterns in the acrylic as they had in the celluloid (cross hatch, zigzag, lizard-skin, that kind of thing). I am not sure if this is economically feasible, I am assuming no increase in price.

 

Things I don’t like:

 

1) There limited additions are too expensive

2) They phase out models too quickly. With the price of the acrylic being only ~%5 of the price of the pen maybe they should stock up pen bodies or something.

 

I will definitely be getting a few more Bexley’s in future. As a matter of fact the next time I check my mail box I am really hoping there will be a Bexley Intrepid inside.

 

 

Leve

[82Greg]

I just bought my first Bexley from Richard Binder at the Ohio Pen Show. It was the Corona in Summer Sunset (orange). (As an aside, why do the marketing guys insist on using multiple words to describe a color? My gray car is actually "Spruce Mist." Doesn't change the fact that 100 our of 100 people would describe it as gray.)

 

Back to the pen topic: I had Richard grind it half-way between medium and fine. It flows perfectly, holds a massive amount of ink and it feels nice to know that it (largely) was made in the U.S.

[leod]

Bexley being American made maybe adds some allure to it plus they make designs similar to vintage pens.