Interview With At Cross Ceo

[rwilsonedn]

Did anyone catch the interview on the US public radio Nightly Business Report with David Whalen, CEO of Costa, the owner of Cross? The subject was Cross's commission to provide pens the the US President. Whalen said they have had the job since the Clinton years, and that they also have provided bill-signing pens to other heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth (don't tell Yard-O-Lead) and the president in the show House of Cards.

He mentioned that Obama uses a Townsend RB (not a fountain pen, sadly). The While House buys 11 presentation Townsends each time Obama signs a bill--one for each letter in his signature. I guess that doesn't give the president much chance to work on the smoothness of his connects, but it does give him 11 pens to give to the bill's sponsors. They buy another bunch to give to White House guests.

The host of the radio program asked if you could buy those pens, and Whalen said no, you couldn't buy the president's pens (he has a very precise mind, apparently) but you could buy the same black lacquer Townsend. The host asked how much, Whalen said about $175 (IIRC) and out came the classic foot-in-mouth response: "For ONE PEN???" I wish news people would do a little research before they start an interview.

ron

[Qfwfq]

I heard it last evening. For those of you who missed it, here is a link.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/meet-pen-obama-uses-sign-bills

[welch]

Note: President Obama is a left-handed over-writer. His sleeve would smear fountain-pen ink.

[ANM]

The president actually used 22 pens to sign the health care bill. The number of pens he uses depends on how many people are there to get mementos of the event.

 

In 1997, the president used 40 pens to sign the Taxpayer Relief Bill.

Edited March 27, 2015 by ANM

[Keyless Works]

I always wondered how Cross could still be in business...now I know.

[Ste_S]

I remember reading somewhere that Obama uses Visconti and Mont Blanc fountain pens privately, was that on here ?

In much the same way Queen Elizabeth is rumoured to still use a Parker 51 privately.

[Mr. Pink]

WARNING - DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOVE LINK

[MrThoth]

There are fountain pen versions of the "official presidential pens" available, though they're neither common nor cheap. I have an Obama one in my collection (I can post a picture if you'd like). I'm not sure if Bush or Clinton ones were ever made, nor do I have a specific name or SKU for the one I have.

[highlander1307]

Some where in these forums these issues have been exhaustively discussed, and was a lot of fun. They had early photos of President Obama carrying a Montblanc and current photos using the Cross Townsend Rollingball. Also discussed use of the Cross Pens by the Whitehouse. Some are available plain, some engraved with the President's signature and available on the White House Gift Shop Website. I have watched the Cross CEO a couple of times and been impressed.

[Batman]

This raises another question, what's the proper way to pronounce Townsend. I pronounce it as Town-Send while the CEO pronounced it as Town-Sin.