Cross Townsend In Gold, How To Identify Gold Variant?

[MrThoth]

My pens do say "USA" under "Cross" horizontally on the cap, and they all have the vertical lines running the length of cap and barrel. Apologies for the poor photography; I need to get one of my professional photographer friends to teach me some tricks.

[RMN]

Next question

 

The lettering on the clip, is that cursive italic or straight print?

 

It seems that the print ones are made in China, and the cursive ones made in USA.

 

 

D.ick

[MrThoth]

 

 

It seems that the print ones are made in China, and the cursive ones made in USA.

 

This certainly seems to coincide with the Townsends in my collection. The two or three I have that are marked IRELAND instead of USA at the top also have the cursive italic lettering on the clip. Townsends with clips with straight lettering don't have any writing horizontally at the top of the barrel, typically -- though I do have two finishes, both made for the European market I believe, marked simply CROSS horizontally at the cop in the same straight lettering.

[Tojusi]

Next question

 

The lettering on the clip, is that cursive italic or straight print?

 

It seems that the print ones are made in China, and the cursive ones made in USA.

 

 

D.ick

Pen is at the office, but I am 99% sure that it is cursive.

[Tojusi]

Pen is at the office, but I am 99% sure that it is cursive.

Yes, it is cursive.

[RMN]

OK, the one Shuuemura is showing has cursive also.

 

I was thinking perhaps the Chinese pens would not have the small print... but no luck there

 

So either Cross changed their ways, or it means we have to do with 2 different animals, so to say.

 

Alas I am no Cross expert. I think our friend mrThoth is at the moment best known with the ways of Cross

 

D.ick

[MrThoth]

This weekend, after I get back from the Chapel Hill Library book sale, I'm going to take out all my Townsend FPs -- I have about 60 of them -- and review each one to see if I can establish some patterns. Maybe I'll also try to unravel the mystery of the numbers etched into the nib units. Nothing like hard data.

 

Unfortunately I'm still in the dark about some things, and at the risk of sounding like I'm bragging I think I may know more about some aspects of the pen than Cross does. (My list of finishes and model numbers is far more extensive than the one the Cross Co.'s customer service department sent me, for instance.) I don't usually know what years a given finish was in production, to take one galling example. I figure that to complete my collector's guide I'm either going to have to find a really sympathetic customer service rep to correspond with, or have to fly to Lincoln, RI to visit the offices in person and badger some publicity officer until he gives me access to the Secret Files.

 

OTOH I don't know that Cross Co. is unique in this. If I were a renowned pen manufacturer I'd try to have some sort of "museum" on my website of all the pens I'd ever produced, with pertinent data, but I've never seen such a thing from any company (some collectors maintain sites like that, though). OTOOH, I don't even do that for my own company and its products, so I'm probably just venting.

[MrThoth]

As promised, I went through my Cross Townsend fountain pens — a total of 64 of them, covering 40 of the 43 different Townsend finishes known to me — and analyzed the cap markings to see what I could learn. I also tracked the numbers etched into the nib units while I was at it. Here are the facts based on my analysis of the data — but of course I’m always willing to revise my views in light of new evidence if need be.

1. Cross Townsends made in the United States are always marked CROSS USA or CROSS MADE IN USA somewhere on the cap (either at the top above the clip, or on the bottom, typically opposite the clip but sometimes a quarter-turn around the clip from it).

Cross Townsends made in Ireland are always marked CROSS IRELAND in one of those two places.

Many Townsends have no such markings; they just say CROSS in one of those two places. I assume these are made in China.

(The only exception to these rules: I have a 656 Sterling Silver that’s marked CROSS 925 SILVER right above a circular design with A and T inside it — presumably a logo or silver mark of the A.T. Cross Company. I’m not sure what this means yet, but hopefully I’ll find out at some point.)

2. All Cross Townsends have the name CROSS written vertically on the top part of the clip. However, the accepted convention that when it’s written in cursive the pen was made in the USA (or Ireland), and when it’s in straight letters the pen is from China, is only partly correct.

Most of the time that rule holds true. But a number of my Townsends, mostly from the “Affinity” sub-line (e.g., 696-2 Anthracite Lacquer) have straight letters on the clip but are marked CROSS USA elsewhere. This includes one of my 506 Medalists and my 696-1 Quartz Blue Lacquer, both popular finishes still made and sold by Cross today. (My other Medalists all have cursive writing, and I only have one Quartz Blue at present so I can’t make any comparisons there.)

3. The nib unit numbers are all over the map, but there’s enough of a pattern that I’m sure access to Cross’s official records would reveal what it all means. (Similarly, if I had definitive data on dates of production I’m sure I could deduce more, but alas I lack that information.) Townsends made in the USA or Ireland tend to have a string of eight numerals with an A in the middle, while Townsends from China have a four-numeral code, but there are plenty of exceptions to this rule. (Caveat: I’ve occasionally switched the nib units around on some of my Townsends, undoubtedly muddling the waters a bit on this matter.)

4. Regarding the 10K Gold Filled versus 18K Gold Filled issue, only two Townsends have a solid black tip on the top of the cap, with a gold dot on top: the 10K Gold Filled and the Duet Black Gold (black lacquer body, gold cap). So if it’s all gold and has that solid black tip on the very top of the cap, it’s a 10K.

I’m now particularly curious to see how the three Townsend finishes I don’t own fit into these patterns — but I’ll have to wait until that most welcome day when I find any of them on sale.

[RMN]

What is the location of the nib unit numbers?

 

And what about the numbers on the section, the metal part that screws inside the barrel?

 

Mine says 0305 (or 0306, a bit unclear)

 

Is a Citrine

 

 

D.ick

[MrThoth]

The numbers I'm talking about are on the metal part that screws inside the barrel -- sorry I was unclear about that.

 

On the USA- and Ireland-made pens, they're typically inscribed on the broad metal "ring" right above the black plastic part of the nib unit. On the China-made pens they're usually on the very top part of the unit, the part that goes deepest into the barrel when you screw it in.

[highlander1307]

Outstanding! Very helpful, indeed.

[RMN]

The numbers I'm talking about are on the metal part that screws inside the barrel -- sorry I was unclear about that.

 

On the USA- and Ireland-made pens, they're typically inscribed on the broad metal "ring" right above the black plastic part of the nib unit. On the China-made pens they're usually on the very top part of the unit, the part that goes deepest into the barrel when you screw it in.

OK, you were speaking about nib-unit, so I thought you meant the nib itself. Some brands (Sheaffer) had numbers on the back side of the nibs.

 

 

Mine is on the part next to the plastic, but there is no USA on it, and the word Cross is just in straight letters. As I said, I have a Citrine.

 

D.ick

[hermesrouge]

On 12/2/2014 at 10:05 AM, MrThoth said:

As someone who primarily collects Cross Townsend FPs, I own three of the gold-filled ones: one 18K and two 10K.

 

I've examined all three under a loupe and can't see any text around that black band at the end of the cap such as OcalaFlGuy describes. Bruce, if you have Townsends marked like that, could you please post a picture of them? If I'm missing something in my collection I need to start tracking it down.

 

I know of two general ways to differentiate the 18K Gold Filled (SKU 776) from the 10K Gold Filled (SKU 706). Here are a couple of pictures:

 

 

 

The first one shows the three pens -- the 18K is by itself, while the two 10Ks are hangin' out together. If you're able to make a comparison like this, the 18K Gold Filled has a "richer," deeper gold color. (That may not come through so well in the picture -- apologies for my lousy photography.)

 

The second one is a close-up of the pens' caps, and provides an even easier method of telling them apart: the 18K has a black line at the top but is otherwise gold, whereas the 10K has a solid black upper tip on the cap.

 

I can't say authoritatively that the latter method of identification holds true 100% of the time, but it seems to work if you look around at the pens online.

 

Hope that helps!

 

I know this is an old post, but I have a new question that seems to fit best in this string, for anyone that might know. (MrThoth, if you’re there, it seems one that you would!) I have two gold Townsends and am confused about one of them. It has a a thin band at top, like an 18k rolled gold, script on clip, but it is only marked “Cross Made in USA” with no karat mark. Next to my confirmed rolled gold, it looks definitely much darker, even orange-y. Would it be the Anniversary heavy gold plate model? Is there a way to tell? If it is, is that an inferior model (collectibility, price) to the 18K?

 

I tried to take pictures. Although it seems impossible to capture the real color, maybe this will help… Thanks for any insight…

[adamselene]

The thin band was the thicker rolled gold and 18k, and the all black filial was gold plated and lower k.

 

this also was applied to non-gold pens, where higher end materials like jade, lapis, and platinum had the thin line.

 

if someone knows how to use the Wayback machine, this was well documented on the website back in the day.

 

the dot on the filial means (usually) Fp not RB, but switching the section converts one to the other, part of the Select-tip idea.

 

There was also a beautiful page that had the meaning of each pattern of engraving on the nib.  

 

If anyone one knows how to retrieve this stuff I would love to have access to it again

    
 

******************+****

Of course I may be wrong.  I used to sit at my custom oak desk writing 12 hrs a day with my pen of the day on Red and Black legal pads, in a leather Levenger pad backer, then my world changed on January 1, 2013, and I had to work 14hr days in running shoes and a a duster with big pockets and a utility belt instead of desk.

 

And rarely able to sit on my FPN log and. decompress.