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Bexley Elegancia Review


TechWriter

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Bexley Elegancia

 

 

Introduction

 

My Bexley Elegancia arrived carefully packed via USPS Priority Mail from Ron Zorn. Opening the box, I was impressed by the appearance of a Parker Duofold style fountain pen that looked to have cost much more than I paid.

 

 

 

Appearance & Design 10

 

In Spanish, elegancia is the English equivalent for smartness, elegance, gracefulness, stylishness, fashionableness, chicness, and neatness; all of these modifiers apply to the Bexley Elegancia fountain pen. Appearance is very smooth and high quality cast acrylic resin with the Bexley distinctive roller ball clip. Available in semi-transparent blue, gold, red, and silver shells, I chose the red shell. The Parker Duofold style establishes the Elegancia in good vintage company. Mine has the JoWo two tone stainless steel gold plated broad nib. Fine, medium, and broad nibs are available. For the 18K gold nib, the nib choices are fine, medium, broad, and broad stub. As is his policy, Ron checked and smoothed the nib, making it one of my easiest writing fountain pens. And, as with a Parker 45 I own, which also has a steel nib, I am thoroughly persuaded that gold is a durable luxury and perhaps, in our current economic climate, may even influence the pens value upward, but it is certainly not a requirement to writing smoothly.

 

Construction & Quality 9

 

Introduced in August 2009 and constructed of cast acrylic resin, the Elegancia is a light and well balanced pen. The look and feel is definitely that of a quality pen at ease in your hands. It is a pen that is comfortable to use when posted or not as I personally prefer. And, because of the Duofold style, you feel as though you are writing with a substantial instrument with the specifications of a quality fountain pen. Writing with the pen is a pleasure and you realize that you will probably run out of ink before your hand tires of holding and moving the Elegancia.

 

Weight & Dimensions 9

 

Weighing in at 0.7 oz., the Elegancia is 5.25” closed and about 6.78” posted. Although light, the Elegancia is no lightweight as a pen, providing a writing experience comparable with pens more lavishly trimmed and costing much more.

 

Nib & Performance 10

 

My nib is a JoWo stainless steel two tone gold plated broad nib. Ron tested and smoothed it before sending it to me and it writes superbly. I rank it with my favorites, a PFM II and a Sailor Professional Gear Realo. The Elegancia writes a consistent smooth line of ink with no feathering.

 

 

Filling System & Maintenance 8

 

The Elegancia uses a converter or an international cartridge. Personally, I prefer the cartridge because I can carry an extra one and continue writing without interruption. Also, I save my empty cartridges and fill them again with bottled inks.

 

Maintenance is very light with the use of cartridge/converters as there are fewer moving parts to fail.

 

Cost & Value 10

 

With an MSRP of $129, I paid $97 for mine; this is the street price, based on my survey of sellers of the Elegancia. Gold nibs are available at an extra cost.

 

To me, as a pen collector, the Elegancia is worth more than the monetary value. I see it as a sophisticated product put forth by a firm very conscious of the value of tradition and style in fountain pens, which is reflected in the elegant lines of the Parker Duofold transformed.

 

Conclusion 9.3

 

Definitely affordable and certainly elegantly crafted, the Elegancia is indicative of state of the art fountain pens. It picks up the great tradition of the fountain pen, resembling the Parker Duofold in appearance, using the currently popular cartridge/converter filling approach, and taking it into the future with the cast acrylic resin semi-transparent shells tipped with the best in stainless steel or gold nibs of your choice.

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Nice review, thanks, that is a lovely looking pen.

And how can this be, because he is the Kwisatz Haderach.

 

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very elegant pen thanks for sharing :thumbup:

Edited by georges zaslavsky

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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a very nice review of a good looking pen. thx!!

 

i have the Simplicity and i find i like the flat top look better than the Elegancia's tapered cap (MHO).

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Hi,

 

Attached is a picture of the Elegancia I purchased.

 

Regards,

Andy

 

Hi Andy, Not obvious to me that you are left-handed. I am too (a severe overwriter) and my writing slants strongly to the right. And I recall a book on handwriting analysis (all the rage in the 60s) that said a right slant is common with lefties.

 

Thanks for the nice pictures.

Bob

Pelikan 100; Parker Duofold; Sheaffer Balance; Eversharp Skyline; Aurora 88 Piston; Aurora 88 hooded; Kaweco Sport; Sailor Pro Gear

 

Eca de Queroiz: "Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently, and for the same reason."

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Very good review. A point to note is that the nib the Elegancia uses, the JoWo steel, is interchangeable with Bexley's 18K gold units, unlike the Schmidt nib units used in the Simplicity and Simplicity II.

 

As additional info, here's a pic of all the Elegancia colors.

 

http://www.parkvillepen.com/images/bexley/elegancia/elegancia4.jpg

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Dennis B

Parkville Pen

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Thanks for the review. I usually don't like Bexley pens, but this one is tempting--very stylish!

 

regards

eric

The flowers celebrated their sweetness

With just our noses

(ericthered junior)

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