Observation And Question Of Design

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Obviously, I cannot be the first to have observed this, and as a relative noob, I pray you'll indulge my moment of "Ahhhhh."

I recently acquired a Bexley Corona cartridge filler in Blueberry and Cream. The pattern and color reminded me of a pocket knife my grandfather owned. It is the second largest pen in my modest collection. Although I don't have extremely large hands, I find that larger pens with thick sections are more comfortable for my chunky fingers to grip and control. Alas and alack, most of the popular and readily available pens in that category are beyond my means. Finding the Bexley was like finding Santa at the North Pole.

I was immediately struck by how light it was - it contained, of course, no brass piston-filler. I inked it with a standard international cartridge to give a go. It took a while to get comfortable with the pen. I seem to be most comfortable with it unposted. It's posted form seems extremely long and a little top heavy. To me, this change in balance makes controlling the tip difficult. It feels skittish. And thus, the inspiration for my observation.

I was struck by the way the typical fountain pen presents three profiles: Capped, Uncapped, and Posted. In the Bexley these are strikingly different. I had paid little attention to these differences before - pens were either capped or posted. How else could a person with ADD be expected to keep up the cap!?

Capped, the Bexley is imposing, elegant, but not too ostentatious. Uncapped,it is simple and understated but still well dressed by the section and endcap - only it's nib giving it away. Posted, the change is like a peacock in full display. It is long, imposing, the Blueberry & Cream resin layered between the black and gold of section, endcaps and furniture. Wow.

Is this effect an intentional goal of the design? Is there a formal name to describe the transition from one form to another?

As an aside, jealous of the capacious write out of piston-filler owners, I moded this pen to accept a Waterman (long international) cartridge by boring out the endcap. This also allows carrying an extra standard international if being used instead of the Waterman style. This is just a confession of my own misdeeds - I cannot endorse the proceedure in any way.

v/r

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