so a new package arrived yesterday from richard binder. within were three bexley submariner grands - a blue and gray celluloid (thus completing the bex sub celluloid trilogy) and two beautiful resins - a blue pearl richard binder special edition, and the aspen. this now completes my collection of special sub grands. i feel fulfilled, complete, and satisfied, for now. the gamut of available bexley nibs, fine, medium, broad, and stub, are included in this collection.

pictured from lt to rt: parkvile pen l.e., aspen, blue pearl, red & green celluloid, blue & gray celluloid, and blue & gold celluloid.


the celluloids have slightly chunkier ends than their resin brethren. the blue & gray (my favorite of the bunch) has rhodium plated hardware. these three smell of camphor. i love the smell of camphor in the morning. it smells like...victory.


the resins are beautiful and unique in their own way. the aspen (my second favorite) has pearlescent flakes similar to the celluloids. the blue pearl s.e. seems to have the greatest depth, and the parkville l.e. has abstract swirls.



if you haven't figured out by now, i love the bex sub grand. and it all started out from a little review by southpaw (thanks!)

the colors in this pic are unfortunately off, and you can't see the subtle shading that the j. herbin inks particularly demonstrated. boy, that pr sherwood green and noodler's antietam take forever to dry. the antietam on my screen incorrectly looks as bright as waterman red. it's much darker in real life, but not really the color of dried blood as the name would suggest. it's a great name for an ink, though. the antietam battlefield is about one hour from my house, up towards old griz's part of the woods. that battle was the second most bloodiest day for americans in us history, after 9/11.

thanks for looking!

WOW!

That is a most beautiful collection of pens you have there! My favorite is also the blue/gray celluloid, followed by a close tie between the Aspen and Blue Swirl! I was wondering who nabbed the blue/gray from Richard's site, and I'm glad to see it's someone from the neighborhood.

Enjoy your beautiful collection, and thanks very much for sharing the great pictures.

Real beauties, Dave. I think I'd have to call the red & green celluloid "salsa!"

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to see them.

Best, Ann

Verry nice, Dave!
Salsa....Ummmm.....

Beautiful, just beautiful. I should be holding a Parkville LE with a stub nib sooooon.
Any day, any minute, I should have stayed home today in case it arrives :ph34r:

I'm currently waiting for a custom cap for my Blue Pearl Grande:



The cap that's on it is the one it came with, y'see, but at the Ohio Pen Show David Broadwell took a look at the pen and opined that it really needed a Damascus steel clip and band to fulfill its aesthetic potential. I gulped a couple of times and asked him how much this would cost. The number he gave me was, umm, how can I put this delicately... intimidating but not terrifying. The probability of my ever being able to afford one of his incredibly beautiful custom pens being nil, I gulped again and said, "Do it." So Howard sent him a set of cap parts without the furniture, and soon I'll have a unique Grande again. (This one was unique until shortly after the Ohio show...)

Of course it's well known that I abhor modern pens, so why would I do this? It used to be well known that the Earth was flat, too, but I don't buy into that, and I really never have bought into the abhorrence of modern pens. I prefer vintage, 'tis true, but there are some moderns that really trip my trigger, and the Grande is one of them, especially in Blue Pearl (my all-time favorite pen color). It's by far the best of my moderns to write with, and it's so reliable it's kinda scary. I once left it lying untouched on my dresser for about three weeks, and when a visitor asked about it I picked it up and handed it to her. Did it write? Guesses will be entertained, but there is no prize for a correct guess.

That collection is so impressive!! I long to have a set like that. I'm just beginning the collecting phase here but those are magnificent pens!!

Handlebar

I've failed to reply to this post for quite some time. The reason is simple -- the amount of kept interfering with the keyboard ! SUPER NICE COLLECTION of Grandes there. It's a wonderful pen and you've got the superlative examples of materials in which it has been created.

thanks for the compliments everyone.


hi handlebar, you'll learn a great deal from the good people here. that's how i found about the bexley submariner grand, from southpaw's review here...Bexley Submariner Grande. it started with a purchase of the parkville l.e. (same pen karin just got). i immediately loved the pen design, feel, weight, shape, writing ability. as it was available in all these great patterns and colors, i decided to start this mini-collection. you can see other mini and sometimes mega collections here at fpn - wim with his etruria's, kcat with her pelikans, and more recently, agamemnon with his sheaffer targas, and garythepenman with his conway stewarts. find a pen that speaks to you, and then start collecting...

Wow!

Looks like someone else is a Bexley lover!!! They are some of the best made pens and they are American made too. One of the last American fountain pen companies!!! Bexley makes pens on a small level and I guess thats why they are able to make a profit. Only make enough for the demand and small short production runs unless the market wants more. This is another company that listens to its customers.

Those are fantastic looking pens, I envey you!!!

TNS

Very nice collection. They are all different colors with different nibs -great!

This past weekend I saw a beautiful set of Bexleys at the Chicago Levenger store. I wish I had picked the one with the stub nib...

How about that new Parkville LE? I think the tan resin with the black stripes might be one of the more striking and classy resins I've seen in a while. Will you keep the collection growing as Bexley keeps making more version of the SubGrande?

(Who makes those resins anyway? I'm curious if anyone has any information on the wonderful people who make the raw materials that make our pens possible. There's the story of the Pen Sac Company and I know Bock and that other German nib maker (Mutschler?) are old family-owned companies, but I don't know anything about resin or celluloid producers.)

Beautiful collection! I have four of Grandes myself, the aspen, jungle green, blue pearl, and pearl/black, but no celluloids. They're very nice. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Good gravy, man!! That is a stunning collection!!! I've just started oogling these Bexley's and am in awe - that gray/blue resin is stellar - thank you so much for these photos and ink samples - beautiful!!!

Hi Davy,

Great collections! Congrats! There is a pen in my own little accumulation made from the same red and green celluloid, a Stipula of course . It is lovely indeed. And I fully agree with your sentiment on camphor .

Thanks for sharing!

Warm regards, Wim