Cross ink made by Pelikan

[figosmum]

I just read on this forum that Cross ink is made by Pelikan, which surprised me for one reason:

I have Pelikan's brown as well as a (complimentary) Cross's brown cartridge, and the colors are REALLY very different - I don't think it can be entirely blamed on the different pens?

 

What's your take on that?

[Lloyd]

If BMW makes Rolls Royce, why is a Rolls Royce different than a BMW?

[figosmum]

ah well, that's logical. I though Cross just re-labeled Pelikan. Thanks for enlightening me!

[Nikhil]

Cross Cartridges are made by a different company. Only Cross bottled ink is the same as Pelikan bottled ink.

[Ed Ronax]

Thanks for that.

[RLTodd]

Somewhere around there someone identified the company that makes the cartridges. Didn't sound like, from their name, they were into the ink business as a usual matter of course.

[Jerome Tarshis]

At one time in the past, refillczar, an FPN member who worked at Cross, said in a posting that the cartridges were produced by Chad Labs. That may no longer be true. Or it may still be true. Chad Labs manufactures ink cartridges to be sold under names other than its own. It's certainly possible that Cross has now outsourced this function to a different supplier.

 

On the other hand, it comes as a surprise to me that there is such a thing as a Cross cartridge with brown ink. In the United States, where I live, the selection is limited to blue, blue-black, and black. My own experience of Cross cartridges two years ago was that they had serious flow problems, which I solved by refilling them with such reliable inks as Skrip blue, blue-black, and black, and Waterman Florida Blue. However, I'm prepared to believe thousands of people find Cross cartridges satisfactory.

[figosmum]

The brown Cross Cartridge might be new - I got it with a pen I bought as a complimentary little giveaway included in the pack. I must say the flow is VERY VERY good, but I don't like the colour much - too muddy-coffeeish (but then I compare everything with my beloved Waterman Havana...)

[Jerome Tarshis]

Perhaps I should have sprinted back to edit my earlier post. Upon checking the cross.com Web site, I find that there is indeed a brown cartridge, although brown ink isn't offered in bottles. The only colors offered in bottles are blue and black.

 

But my visit to the Cross Web site has raised another question. IIRC, Cross ink was always more expensive than the corresponding Pelikan ink, even though it seemed clear that the Cross ink was a Pelikan bottle with a Cross label affixed to it. Well, I told myself, Cross is an upmarket brand, whereas Pelikan blue is an ink universally used by European schoolchildren. Not to omit Pelikan black. In Europe those aren't boutique-priced inks.

 

However, I now find that Cross ink sells for substantially less money in the United States than the corresponding Pelikan ink. At the Joon Web site, a 2-ounce bottle of Cross was $6.75, unless I am mistaken, and what is presumably the same bottle of ink with a Pelikan label was $8.25.

 

What is the explanation for this?

[significantpass]

Perhaps I should have sprinted back to edit my earlier post. Upon checking the cross.com Web site, I find that there is indeed a brown cartridge, although brown ink isn't offered in bottles. The only colors offered in bottles are blue and black.

 

But my visit to the Cross Web site has raised another question. IIRC, Cross ink was always more expensive than the corresponding Pelikan ink, even though it seemed clear that the Cross ink was a Pelikan bottle with a Cross label affixed to it. Well, I told myself, Cross is an upmarket brand, whereas Pelikan blue is an ink universally used by European schoolchildren. Not to omit Pelikan black. In Europe those aren't boutique-priced inks.

 

However, I now find that Cross ink sells for substantially less money in the United States than the corresponding Pelikan ink. At the Joon Web site, a 2-ounce bottle of Cross was $6.75, unless I am mistaken, and what is presumably the same bottle of ink with a Pelikan label was $8.25.

 

What is the explanation for this?

Perhaps Cross is making it's ink where it manufactures it's pens. Hint, hint....

[BobR]

Perhaps I should have sprinted back to edit my earlier post. Upon checking the cross.com Web site, I find that there is indeed a brown cartridge, although brown ink isn't offered in bottles. The only colors offered in bottles are blue and black.

 

But my visit to the Cross Web site has raised another question. IIRC, Cross ink was always more expensive than the corresponding Pelikan ink, even though it seemed clear that the Cross ink was a Pelikan bottle with a Cross label affixed to it. Well, I told myself, Cross is an upmarket brand, whereas Pelikan blue is an ink universally used by European schoolchildren. Not to omit Pelikan black. In Europe those aren't boutique-priced inks.

 

However, I now find that Cross ink sells for substantially less money in the United States than the corresponding Pelikan ink. At the Joon Web site, a 2-ounce bottle of Cross was $6.75, unless I am mistaken, and what is presumably the same bottle of ink with a Pelikan label was $8.25.

 

What is the explanation for this?

 

Someone announced the Cross brown ink carts here on FPN just a few months ago, so they are quite new. I noticed the same thing with the price of Cross vs Pelikan ink (and I believe Cross recently raised the price from $6.50 to $6.75). However, in the US, the Pelikan is often discounted-- Swisher's has all the colors in 62.5 mL bottles for $6.32. These are well-priced, excellent inks, especially if one needs to control the ink flow a bit.