A Collection Of Bexley Pens

[zaddick]

I picked up a few more Bexley pens, new to me but not recent production. I am updating this thr3ead to keep my collection up to date.

 

First up is an interesting pen made by Bexley for Pen World magazine as a commemorative. I am not sure what they were planning to commemorate, but the pen must have been made many years ago because they still utilize the old 14K Bexley nibs that have been out of production for a long time. Actually the pen is not marked Bexley at all, not the nib, but the pen were purchased from Howard Levey as overstock from an old project (per previous owner). The nib is the old chevron 14K style, but is not branded.

 

The pen is made out a white swirl translucent acrylic very much in the style of the decoband pens produced in the late 1990s. Interestingly it has thin metal tubes inside for added weight and to reduce transparency. You can screw off the blind cap in order to twist the converter, or just remove the whole body. While the material is attractive, I have a feeling this pen will show ink stains inside of it once filled.

 

Trim seems to be rhodium coated and is showing a bit of pitting from storage. An interesting pen that I was able to pick up for a good price. If the person I bought it from ever sells more, I can recommend picking one up.

 

 

 

 

[zaddick]

You can probably tell I like the Bexley Decoband style pens and the swirly pearlized acrylics. Well, when I say this next pen I knew I had to have it. I missed out on an original purchase opportunity but ended up coming back to the pen many months later and picked it up. It is a prototype of the 1999 version of the Decoband pen (versus the slightly larger 1997 edition, of which I have a version shown earlier in this thread in rosewood ebonite).

 

The pen is made of the lovely (to me) grey pearl acrylic and has solid sterling silver trim. This is not one of the official colors of the release and is listed on the warranty card as a prototype. I know Howard made prototypes of many of his older pens so I am not sure how many exist or what other materials may be out there. If you have some other styles, please share!

 

I like the vintage-inspired look and the convenience of a converter. It is a nice large (but not oversize) pen and I am happy to have it in my collection. It came in one of the old large presentation clamshell boxes with a lock. These boxes make me laugh a little because you could bust into them with about as much effort as a toddler could muster. The remind me of the little locks and keys you would find on journals targeted towards pre-teen girls. :^)

 

 

 

 

[zaddick]

The final pen in my recent little acquisition spree is, in many ways, the most impressive of the three. It is a limited edition Bexley in partnership with metal master David Broadwell. The official title is the Bexley American Artist Limited Edition Series One. Whew! What a mouthful…

 

In 2002 David Broadwell in collaboration with Bexley pens created the first of the Bexley "American Artist" series. There were only 18 pieces made in each of three materials. David Broadwell is best known for his work creating Damascus steel knives. Here he has employed his craft to make barrel and cap overlays in a variety of materials – Damascus steel, Mokume Gane, and Timascus (like Damascus steel but with titanium as the metal). The pen I was the most attracted to was the Mokume Gane. It is a combination of folded and drawn copper, silver and nickel. The underlying body of the pen (the Bexley part) is wood grain ebonite. The clip is hand forged 18K rose gold (not plated) embellished with a dot of yellow cold enamel. The pen is also signed in the metal by David with his initials and the year, so DB - 02

 

Even the box was special and hand made by artist Wally Becker. When was the last time someone bother to tell you who made a box for your pen?!?!. It is made of bird’s eye maple and is lacquer coated for durability and beauty. The underside of the lid even has a groove that acts as a pen rest when the lid is inverted and placed on top of the box. The pen comes wrapped in a nice thick grey wool wrap that is a lot of material to protect the pen.

 

The pen itself is 5.5 inches (141mm) and has a good thickness. The pen is obviously heavier than a plain ebonite or resin pen, and it just feels amazingly solid. I have had plenty of hard rubber pens, including many from Bexley. The threading on this pen is amazing and it almost feels like precision machining to another degree. It is probably the best built of the Bexley pens I have in terms of tolerances and quality. It really is a tactile and visual pleasure in the hand. It uses the more recent 18K two-tone Bexley nibs, and , thankfully for me, is a stub nib.

 

These pens were rather expensive new listing at $2900. As of this writing, Vanness still seems to have some overstock Bexley pens including all three of the Broadwell pens for $1500 each. Still not a bargain price in many respects, but you do get a lot of craftsmanship for the money and something fairly unique. I am sad Bexley is no longer making pens like this one. I expect this will be my last acquisition of a Bexley pen for a while, but the hunt continues for other older Bexley pens.

 

To end on a more positive note… I am happy seeing some enthusiasm around Bexleys more recent and affordable offerings. Their steel nib pens work well and I found my example to be a good writer. Hopefully they can continue to offer value to a new generation of pen users/collectors.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bill P]

Zaddick:

 

GREAT collection of Bexley FP's..Thanks for taking the time to take and post images, and provide the details and history...

 

Bexley does make a very very nice fountain pen, and they are usually a very good value too.

 

BillP

[Rufus]

Whatever happened to Bexley's proprietary piston-filler, which Howard was bragging about a couple of years ago? I think the last model Bexley produced with the proprietary piston-filler was the 20th Anniversary pen., All Bexley currently produces is a limited range of ho hum pens with bog standard cartridge/converter filling systems. For many years I was an ardent collector of Bexley pens, amassing a collection of 44 pens. In recent years, however, I've become increasingly disenchanted with their product line up, especially with the annual Owners Club editions. I would have thought that the OC pens would come standard with gold nibs and the proprietary piston-filler, but no, they come with steel nibs and run-of-the-mill cartridge/converter fillers. Too bad, as I had high hopes for Bexley.

[amk]

What a lovely collection of specials. Some of those celluloids are just marvellous. I have a Molteni semi-demo with grey swirly acrylic and a Corona 'blueberry', both really stunning pens, but the Tibaldi Impero really takes the biscuit.

[pavoni]

Excellent post Zaddick: pictures, history, passion; love it

 

Thank you for taking the time and sharing so generously.

 

Pavoni.

[akustyk]

Excellent post Zaddick: pictures, history, passion; love it

 

Thank you for taking the time and sharing so generously.

 

Pavoni.

 

I agree! Beautiful collection, and beautifully photographed. Thank you for sharing.

[Freddy]

Re Recent Three

 

SWEET

 

Fred

[Drawing61]

Thanks very much. I am very fond of Bexley.

[JemC]

Great colleciton Zaddick. I've gotten into Bexley in the last few years, and find their styling to be a unique blend of homage and modern.

 

I have a Poseidon Magnum II (a gorgeous blue flake acrylic) and the piston works normally - you can't accidentally back the piston out of the pen. I wonder if they just forgot to use a bonding agent on yours.

 

Recently I've stumbled upon the Prometheus model. I'd love to have one of the original run that carried a size #8 18k nib w/piston filler, but the revised models Howard is selling now (#6 steel nib, c/c) are still great. It's a large pen, but not quite as extreme as Delta's Oversize line or your Ultra Giant. Likely closer to the 'regular' Giant.

 

While they can't go toe-to-toe with the likes of Tibaldi's celluloids, his acrylic and ebonite choices are still charming:

 

[Freddy]

 

 

 

 

Recently I've stumbled upon the Prometheus model. I'd love to have one of the original run that carried a size #8 18k nib w/piston filler

 

 

 

 

JemC for your consideration....mosey on over to Vanness1938.Com

 

where you will find Bexley Gaston Holiday 2004 {Promethus in jade & crimson}

with number 8 nibs....follow this link..........

 

https://vanness1938.com/collections/bexley-pens/products/bexley-gaston-holiday-2004

 

Fred

 

...but for steady libations, the king of all rations.....

 

Is whiskey and water for me...

[JemC]

Thanks Freddy! That is one bold combination of acrylics.

[Freddy]

Thanks Freddy! That is one bold combination of acrylics.

 

 

'Tis my pleasure. When the Promethus first came to market

msr was $575....I purchased at thirty five percent off......

Pen at Vanness is the real deal at a very nice price point....

 

Fred

...the sailor is careless and free, while he sails the world

over he revels in clover If he has Congressional "tea"........

[zaddick]

'Tis time to update the post. Temptation came calling, in a few separate ways, but all leading to more Bexley pens. Let's start at the beginning...

 

After reading a lovely review of the updated/downgraded Bexley Prometheus in ebonite from member Bobje, I started to reconsider the pen model. I had written it off as I wanted one of the original Prometheus pens from 10 years ago. They came with #8 size Jowo nibs that were specially tuned by a nibsmith in Japan (though I am not sure who). They are integrated piston fillers and have a nice girth. While I did not love the cracked ice look of the barrels, I wanted to try the nib. As noted above, The lovely people at Vanness still have a few of the Prometheus pens made for Jim Gaston as Holiday edition pens. Unfortunately for me I have not been able to pull the trigger on that rather brightly colored red and green combo. I have come close a few times and may still give in one day. I am just kind of hoping they sell out before I give in. If they still had a stub, I would have bought one.

 

Howard has been posting these new models on eBay for a while now, many months as of this writing. When he first started he posted two that were made with the old Tibaldi celluloid. One in my favorite Impero and one on the Rosso Verde. They pens carried a premium due to the material. I sat on the fence too long and someone bought the Impero pen, another member here in fact. I have not see the Impero celluloid again and I even contacted Howard who confirmed he is out except for a small rod. He said there will be no more pens in that material newly made. But the other day another of the new Prometheus pens appeared in the familiar Tibaldi Rosso Verde celluloid and I jumped upon it. The pen is a nice shape and form factor and I figured it was the cheapest way i was going to get some more of that special celluloid.

 

 

The hardware is gold plated, but sturdy feeling. The nib is just a steel B, but I find these to be smooth writers and to provide a nice line width. They are suitable for modification and at the price these pens are selling for the quality of materials, worth throwing a few more $ into making them even better writers.

 

 

I know the color is not for everyone. Some people have compared it to a tomato soup, but it just have that lovely feel and smell with a good amount of chattoyance. The top of the cap, bottom of the barrel and section are all just black acrylic. Nice, but nothing special.

 

Once nice feature of these pens is the fact you can screw off the blind cap to twist the converter instead of having to remove the pen body. It works both ways, but you have the option to go "fancy" or "regular" in the refill process.

 

 

You can see you get a good thick celluloid barrel.

 

Packaging was, let's say minimal an environmentally friendly. The pen came wrapped in recycled newspaper. The pen itself was in a ziploc style plastic bag with some written paper instructions for care/warranty card. I don't need another box and for the price I am fine with no box. These are from the factory pens so I assume if you pay more for a pen from a dealer you get a decent box.

 

Would this pen really be much better with a gold nib or 10K solid gold furniture... frankly no. This pen represent a good value in the acrylics and a great value in the ebonites and celluloid materials. I can recommend it if you want a nice full size pen that is not too long.

 

Please note, though suggested above, it is nowhere near as large as a Bexley Giant.

 

[bobje]

Spectacular pen, Zaddick, absolutely first class.

[zaddick]

After buying my Prometheus I was feeling like a Bexley itch was good and scratched. But what should appear over on eBay but several of the older Bexley pens from a fellow collector looking to move on. EBay can be hit or miss, but I had bought from this seller before and found him honest and his pens well sorted and as described. I picked up the Platinum Giant from him many months ago and here were more Bexley pens on a week long auction. Well, I threw on a few decent bids as a way to keep track of the auctions. There were three Bexley pens I bid on (and a few from other brands). Here I will talk about one of the pens I was bidding on – the White Giant.

 

So as you know I already have a Giant and I out lined the pen and history in post #6 of this thread. No need to rehash here, but I will refresh your memory to say there were 100 White Giants produced. This particular one had what I think was a broad nib converted into a stub by Mike Masuyama. These large #12 nibs and the solid ebonite feed have some flow issues out of the gate so Mike already took care of those problems. My bid was the high bid for about 5 days, although I slowly watched the $ amount creep upwards. My dreams of a sumgai were fading. Around day 5 I was no longer the higher bidder, but it had not escalated out of the range of reasonable for me.

 

This was the second of the three Bexley pens I was bidding on, in terms of when the auction expired. As the closing time approached, I lost out on the bidding for the first Bexley – an original series from 1993/1994 in the pearl grey. (If you won that pen and are reading this, congratulations.) I did not get too sad as I have a few pens in this material already. As the time for the close of the White Giant was approaching I threw in what I felt was my highest bid. I was in the lead again! Hooray. Then I was not. Seconds were ticking away so I upped the bid to a little more than I wanted knowing Mike had worked his magic on the pen already. Back in the lead…. Time expiring… phone updates finally after a seeming eternity. I lost. Darn it. Oh well, back to focusing on real life. Plus I had one more chance to get a Bexley. Third time is a charm, right?

 

I lost that one too. Now I was thinking words stronger than “darn it,” but life goes on. As I was stewing later that night after having a tough evening dealing with some unhelpful folks at my local mobile phone retailer I received a little note from eBay. I had a second chance offer on the White Giant. At first relief, but soon afterwards suspicion. Was the seller trying to run up my bids to find my max and now trying to get my true max bid? It turns out a buyer in a country the seller did not want to ship to ran up the bids on the pen in hopes more money would work. But the seller offered the pen to me and I took it for my max bid.

 

The pen arrived well packed a few days later. The old Bexley pens came in some big, honkin’ boxes.

 

 

 

The clip is solid 10K gold.

 

 

Here is the nib up close. Note only the Platinum Giant has the two tone nibs. I think the all gold looks better on the other colors like white. You can see the gring work on the tipping.

 

 

The back and feed.

 

 

The pen uses a squeeze converter with a full sized bladder.

 

 

Finally the top and bottom of the pen. The cap has the Bexley button and the bottom has the limitation number.

 

 

Will I get another Giant if I see one for the right price? Probably. I like this big, fat pen and the big nib. In fact, I arelady bought a custom pen that was made with extra Bexley Giant parts. See more info here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/310349-two-giants-separated-at-birth/

[gweimer1]

You guys are a bad influence on me...I just got a Bexley BX802 Onyx in the mail.

[zaddick]

As noted in the previous post on the White Giant, there were three pens I was bidding for form the same seller. After losing the first two (this is before any second chance offer), I was damned if I was going to strike out! The third pen is a Bexley Deluxe Demonstrator. The pen was a limited edition of 250 and made in the spirit of “real” demo pens from the golden era. Essentially, the pen is a button filler that you can watch in operation. I guess it is a little more exciting than looking at a converter, but not more than a piston. I think the idea is that it is more true to the original spirit of a demo and not a super highly polished pens where you can see the internals just for the sake of it being clear acrylic. As a result, the pen is hand turned on a lathe and while it is see through, it is not highly polished. The very wide cap band and clip are solid 10K white gold.

 

I like demo pens and have a few. Of the 3 Bexley pens the seller was listing this was second after the Giant. Now I was determined. I pushed up my bid after losing the Giant so I was back in the lead. I only had a short time between auctions so I was not taking any long walks to cool off. Plus I was still in the unnamed cell phone store getting the run around. I was outbid again. Ok, time for one last Hail Mary attempt to score. I waited until there was about 10 seconds left, put it my max (which had crept up a fair bit in the last few minutes of not winning any darn pens) and sent the bid. I was going to win and then the auction closed . Wait for the little refresh and I lost by one bid. Boo on eBay. I hate those tease moments where I think I won.

 

As with the White Giant, I got a second chance offer on this pen also. It was the same story of a bidder who drove the bids up in a country off limits for the seller. While I took the White Giant I was hesitant on this pen. This one was a fair bit more than a rational me was willing to pay. It is still less than I would be able to get it for anywhere else, and less than it sold for from Vanness when they were clearing out Bexley stock, but hesitation. I emailed the seller and offered a little bit less because the rouge bidder and my previous loss on the White Giant pushed me up more than it should have. (Yes, I know that I should walk away from eBay and not get caught bidding up, but I get a little more passionate about pens.) I asked for $x off which would have made me happy with the deal. But the seller was so stand up he gave me a multiple of X since I had already bought the White Giant and many pens from him previously. I am not a fool so I took the offer with great thanks. (For those of you who may still be wondering if this was a scam, I looked at the other 6 pens and there was no similar suspicious bidding. If this was the protocol I would assume it would have been all auctions that had this rough bidding. Plus I did not get any second chance offers on the other pens I did not win.)

 

Still a nice box, but not so fancy.

 

 

 

Here is the nib. Also tuned and ground by Mike Masuyama.

 

 

The top and bottom of the pen with the limitation mumber.

 

 

Finally one more look at the transparent but not overly polished acrylic.

 

 

That's it for now. If you have a vintage Bexley pen you are thinking abut selling, feel free to reach out and you might see it here in the future!

[OneRiotOneRanger]

I may be in the minority, but I am not a fan. I was first introduced to Bexley by Michael Fultz (who had some skin in the game). My objection is that I find Howard's pens generally unimaginative: the plastics, too often, are common, the guts have nothing special going for them - and that's it, a tube with a nib and converter - and they are overpriced, I find. I am glad to see an on-shore pen maker succeed, but unlike some, I do NOT have a tree in the back yard that grows $20 bills! Howard has helped mentor Brain Gray, I understand, for which we all him a thank you, but Brian, too, shares Howard's plastic buys, and offers up stuff which I have seen too much of. I like Brian's willingness to try out different shapes and filling systems and designs, and feel, generally, that he offers better value. Now, if someone would arrange a marriage with Nakaya, e.g., or some of the Italians, we might have something that is truly a collectible.