Buying An Old Cross Pen?

[Oxyg3n520]

Hi. I just purchased a Cross Century Classic from Ebay that is from 1975(Made in U.S.A.). I was just wondering, even though it seems to look just the same as the ones made today in China, since it is like 37 year old, will the writing quality or the quality of the pen itself be bad?

 

Thanks!

 

And here is the pen I bought:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290653707331?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2649#ht_1340wt_1396

[sriramoman]

I have a 18k rolled gold cross pen (my dad's), thats made in 1974. It still has the sheen- you just need to wipe it with lint free cloth; the same old refill still writes well!

So I'm sure yours will work as well.

But the pic in your link looks like a modern cross. All older cross pens had the details of the make stamped on its top above the clip- country of make. In particular, yours has gold plated appointments; old cross pens mentioned that as well in the stamping. Newer chinese ones dont have that, though.

Also, old cross pens prior 1980's had either the "BOLD" or classic lettering unlike the sleeker modern lettering.

Note the Classic lettering on the clip in this pen:

 

 

And the bold lettering (still used in pencils and certain models):

http://c0.dmlimg.com/1fc1c1c2db5852e08ffc380475e263365ccc006349be88e1abd8698568b231ee.jpg

 

 

Post your results once you get your pen in hand. Cross is always cross, and the lifetime warranty applies to whoever owns the pen, even if it is inherited!

Edited January 5, 2012 by sriramoman

[Oxyg3n520]

Post your results once you get your pen in hand. Cross is always cross, and the lifetime warranty applies to whoever owns the pen, even if it is inherited!

 

Sure thing! Thanks.

[nxn96]

I can't speak as to the feel and balance of the current production Cross, as my knowledge is limited to those pens from the earlier era during which this pen was manufactured. From what I know (and I'm not a big Cross user), the pen has an exceptionally nice feel and balance; particularly if you like a thin profile pen. However, with any ballpoint, the overall writing experience is only as good as the refill, and I've never been a big fan of the Cross refills. I've always found them somewhat "bloppy". I think there are some threads here that discuss that, and you might want to check them out to see if there are alternative refills that work better than the Cross brand.

 

Looks as if you got a very nice pen at a very nice price. Hope this helps.

[sriramoman]

I've never been a big fan of the Cross refills. I've always found them somewhat "bloppy". I think there are some threads here that discuss that

I have done a review on Cross medium ballpoint refills here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/211288-cross-refill-ink-quality/

Its not in depth, but we can see that the blue refills are not up to the mark, though the black refills are pretty decent and gliding. You can also convert yours into a pencil:

http://www.cross.com/switch-it/switchithome.aspx?cat_name=Switch_It_Home

The irony is that Cross erasers are priced at $4 each, whereas the robust switchit converter itself comes with two free erasers at $8 or less in clearance sales.

[pajaro]

I have some of these ballpoints from the 1960s and 1970s that work perfectly and look nice still. Back in those days the blue medium refills were the only ones that worked. The black, red and green refills were nasty, blobbing and skipping. Ironic that today the black mediums are the best. Better yet are the jumbo ballpoint refills made for the Select Tip pens that were made for soft tip refills or rollerballs. These jumbo refills are really good in black, and finally make the Select Tip a useful pen. Used to be that the soft tip or rollerball refills had a short lifetime.

[sriramoman]

This pic shows the chronology of various cross refills:

Sorry for the poor photography

The recent refills have more vivid ink- black is truly flawless and saturated. But the blobby blue needs re-engineering.

But we should appreciate- Even that 1974 refill writes at the first touch on paper; it neither skips nor fades.

[max dog]

They dont make Cross pens like they use to, so if you got yourself one from the 70's I think you did well. They were very well made back then. The propel/repel mechanism in the older pens have a kind of dampening feel like the volme dials on a high end stereo system. Just feels high quality. The newer pens, post early 2000 dont have the same feel in the mechanism, although they function just fine.

[WriteAway]

One issue to be aware of with older Cross pens is that if they go unused for very long periods of time, the refill twist mechanism lubricant CAN dry up, causing the mechanism to bind or seize. There are threads in this subforum on people dealing with this with their Century BP pens.

 

It is rare, but you should ask the seller about the mechanism working properly if you can. I have two Century I BPs from the 1980s that have this issue. In my case, I just worked the mechanism repeatedly and my issue eased, but has never totally gone away with those individual pens. Otherwise, I prefer the USA-made pens that now make up most of my Cross collection.

Edited January 9, 2012 by WriteAway