Toz Rexpen Review

[Vladislav]

I've managed to obtain this Rexpen from a flea market for about a $1! The pen itself was made in Yugoslavia by Croatian TOZ (Tvornica olovaka Zagreb - Pen(cil) factory Zagreb), which made pens that by design quite closely resembled Pelikan, Senator and other pens. I think that all of them were cartridge filled (just as mine is), and there is enough space to insert one cartridge, and put one in the plastic cover the opposite way and carry it as a spare. It's a workhorse pen, I use it daily, and i quite like it. I've had some trouble getting it to start writing, but i suppose it is because it had not been used for a long time. The pen is made of plastic, and the nib is made of steel, and it can bend quite easily.

 

Appearance & Design (5) – It's quite utilitarian, made of plastic, with metal decorations on the cap and the plastic cover, so it's rather light as well. Adding another cartridge as a spare adds quite a bit of weight to the back of the pen, so the weight distribution is something left to be desired. If you decide to put the cap on the back, you'll soon be struggling to keep the nib on the paper since it has a tendency to lift off the paper if not held firmly.

Construction & Quality (5) - The pen feels quite solid, since it's made of hard plastic, so dropping it on a hard surface, aside for a few scratches, won't do it too much harm. The metal clip on the cap feels quite firm, and I use it to keep it in my shirt pocket, and even though I pull the pen out multiple times a day the clip stays firm. Metal decoration on the cap has a letter 'R' engraved, and sits quite well, but the decoration on the plastic cover sits unevenly and can't be straightened out.

Weight & Dimensions (6) - Pen's dimensions are as follows (capped, uncapped, posted): 13,8cm, 12,2cm, 16,1cm. As far as the weght goes, i'm not really sure how much it weighs. Uncapped sits rather nicely even in small hands, and the gripping section is about 8mm wide. The pen is quite long when posted, so i tend to write without the cap posted, not so much because of the length, but because of the poor weight distribution.

Nib & Performance (8)- Nib is made of steel, and matches the color of the bands on the cap and the pen itself (gold). It flexes quite easily when pressed. It's a rather dry writer so it's suitable for left hand writers. Even after standing for a couple of days it starts up with ease, and the line is very thin, which is came to me as a surprise after writing with a Parker Vector F which leaves about a three times thicker line. As I've said, it's a workhorse pen, but it writes very smoothly on any kind of paper.

Filling System & Maintenance (4) - Rexpen is a cartiridge pen, so it's pretty foolproof so it fills and starts easily. The nib can't be removed (at least i think it's not meant to be removed), but is flushed easily if it need be. Why the low grade? Well i'm being a bit subjective, because i don't like cartridge pens, because to me, they are not that interesting.

Cost & Value (10) - 10! I don't know how much did it cost back in the day, but i 'stole' it for a dollar and you simply can't beat that! For that amount of money it performs like a champ!

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/347xrpw.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/21e4wo3.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/jucsg5.jpg

 

[mehandiratta]

thank you for the review..

but the pen doesn't interest me as i like pens with a more girth

[Vladislav]

Yes, the pen itself is nothing special, but I see that they haven't been mentioned much on the forum, so I thought I'd make a review. At the moment I'm bidding on another Rexpen, which quite closely resmbles Pelikan MK20. Now that one is a bit rare, and might be a bit more interesting.

[mehandiratta]

Oh will wait for review of the other pen.. good luck on bidding

[pavoni]

Thanks for taking time to review this Rexpen of yours Vladislav.

 

Always good to get an overview of a pen that is seldom covered here, particularly when accompanied by good (atmospheric ) photos, and the all important writing sample (nice clean handwriting).

 

The pen looks to be very reliable and will no doubt serve you well. Congratulations on the price paid. Let us know if you are successful on the other Rexpen you've spotted and whether this is the start of a Rexpen collection!

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Pavoni.

[rwilsonedn]

Thanks for a very valuable review! I think it is particularly important to document these every-day user pens, and especially so when they come from a region that is not well-known in pen circles. One day a few reviews like this one may be the only remaining evidence of what was once an important pen company--and an important piece of evidence in understanding Croatia in the 20th century.

ron

[Vladislav]

@pavoni Thank you for your compliments! My handwriting has deteriorated a lot since I started taking notes during lectures because of fast writing. Ironically, my cyrilic handwriting is a lot better, I'll try to include it in my next reviews! I gotta pay attention to my typing too, I see that I've made quite a bit of mistakes. :shy:

As for the auction, fortunately I won that Rexpen, and a German Geha pen, although i'm not sure which model Geha is.

 

@ron I agree, Ron! It is an important evidence of understanding Yugoslavia on the whole, as well as Croatia. I guess many of us have heard of Eduard Slavoljub Penkala who was of Croatian descent, and who basically founded TOZ, and invented the so called automatic pencil. Unfortunately, TOZ ceased to exist last year, thus ending an entire epocha. It's sad that Croats have failed to preserve such rich heritage, but the same goes for us Serbs and our world renown factories... But hey, after all, we WERE in the same state for 50 years, so it comes as no surprise to me.