Coke Cola Cross Pens

June 16, 2014

Ok so there is no fountain pen in sight here but I am hoping that someone may have some information on this pen set that I just discovered. While sorting through some items from my parents loft I discovered a black pen case with a rolled gold pen and pencil inside, both branded with the Coke logo.

My father used to manage a factory producing soft drinks, including coke, so we have quite a bit of coke memorabilia around, but this is the first time I have seen the pens.

I'm not sure if they were general marking merchandise or something given to my father when he left the factory to work elsewhere.

Has anyone seen these before or have any information on the pens, age etc?

The imprint on the pens is

CROSS

1 / 20 12KT ROLLED GOLD

MADE IN IRELAND

The only other information on the pen is the CROSS imprint on the clip.

Thanks

Edited June 16, 2014 by Zenistar

June 16, 2014

You see these Cross sets often with some sort of logo. It might have been a present form Coca Cola to your father at a special occasion, or he had them to hand out to others on special occasions.

Those were not cheap sets.

A 10k Classic Century set (as I believe this is, or perhaps a normal Century set) does EUR185 these days, and this is 12k, higher gold content. the 1/20 is a measure for the thickness of the gold layer.

The logo will deminish te price you can get for it on the bay, unless you find someone collecting Coke memorabilia.

D.ick

June 17, 2014

Many thanks RMN, any idea on dates of these or a way of dating them? The only date i can find is a copyright on the instruction paper which says 1975.

I'm not really bothered about the price, seen as where these have come from they will happily become part of my pen collection along with a few other pens from my father like my cherished Conway Stewart #28 from when he first started working.

June 17, 2014

I believe you have an original "Cross Century" set.

This was follow by the fatter "Cross Century II"

Current is the "Classic Cross Century" which is very narrow.

I do not know dates for them. There has been a recent topic about the Centuries, maybe you'll find more there.

I have been Googling, you find sets like these with several logos, I have come across 7Up and IBM. These were very popular sets to give as a present. Nowhere there is a history listed.

D.ick

Edited June 17, 2014 by RMN