A Collection Of Bexley Pens

[zaddick]

Oh wow....I'm super jealous of that. I've been looking everywhere for one of the Bexley 18k nibs in F for my Prometheus. I know the supply of the nibs is dwindling and it seems that the only ones left are B's and M's, which are too wide for my writing normally.

 

The material on that is really attractive. Enjoy!

Are you looking for an 18k #8 or #6 nib? The original version of the Prometheus used a #8 whereas the current redo uses a #6 and is only available in steel. If you have an 18K stub and want to trade, let me know. I might be open to that.

[Kevan]

It's a new Prometheus, so it uses the #6 steel.

[mliebson]

Happy to see this thread as a new forum member. As an Ohio resident, Bexley is my major collecting interest (I have more than 100). Sorry to see the news in the thread about the piston filler. I'm a big fan of the Poseidon Magnum II and bought about 20 of them when they were being offered by Howard Levy in all sorts of color combinations on eBay a year or two ago....

[zaddick]

Happy to see this thread as a new forum member. As an Ohio resident, Bexley is my major collecting interest (I have more than 100). Sorry to see the news in the thread about the piston filler. I'm a big fan of the Poseidon Magnum II and bought about 20 of them when they were being offered by Howard Levy in all sorts of color combinations on eBay a year or two ago....

Thanks for stopping by. I really like their older pems, but I still buy modern ones too. I have some recent purchases I will be posting about soon so come on back. If you want to add some of your photos here, you are more than welcomed to do so!

[zaddick]

Today’s new Bexley is one of the original release Prometheus pens. The model came out in 2004 in 4 colors: black, blue, orange and brown. Each color is solid on the cap, section, and piston knob. (The orange pen has navy blue solid parts.) The barrel is a “cracked ice” finish with a complimentary color. It also came as a ball point pen. The fountain pen is 5.5 inches long and has a fairly large diameter Like a 149, but the grip is a little thinner as it tapers. Still, it is a large pen overall with a classic design look. The name Prometheus is the name of one of the titans in Greek mythology. It is a piston filler with good ink capacity, though I have not measured the volume. The star of the show is the large #8 nib in 18K gold. It is a Jowo nib that was specially tuned for Bexley in Japan. Apparently the nibs are a bit narrower than typical western nibs and you have to be more careful with your positioning of the nib. I agree with the first, but have not noticed the second aspect myself. (The nib was also used on the limited edition Kensaki and the 2004 Gaston Holiday pen.) All the trim is gold plated.

 

 

 

 

The box is kind of neat. It is wooden and hinged on one side. About ¾ of the top opens to reveal the pen inside. It is a design I have not seen on other Bexley boxes.

Bexley recently started producing this model of pen again in various acrylics, ebonite, and celluloid. The Form factor is the same, but the new pens have steel #6 nibs and use a converter. You can see my review of mine earlier in this thread.

[Cryptos]

For those with the new Prometheus, it takes the standard Jowo #6. If you want a gold one they start at about $70 from FPNibs.com (I am a very satisfied customer, good prices for nibs and shipping, and their grinds are really good too).

[Freddy]

Today’s new Bexley is one of the original release Prometheus pens. The model came out in 2004 in 4 colors: black, blue, orange and brown. Each color is solid on the cap, section, and piston knob. (The orange pen has navy blue solid parts.) The barrel is a “cracked ice” finish with a complimentary color. It also came as a ball point pen. The fountain pen is 5.5 inches long and has a fairly large diameter Like a 149, but the grip is a little thinner as it tapers. Still, it is a large pen overall with a classic design look. The name Prometheus is the name of one of the titans in Greek mythology. It is a piston filler with good ink capacity, though I have not measured the volume. The star of the show is the large #8 nib in 18K gold. It is a Jowo nib that was specially tuned for Bexley in Japan. Apparently the nibs are a bit narrower than typical western nibs and you have to be more careful with your positioning of the nib. I agree with the first, but have not noticed the second aspect myself. (The nib was also used on the limited edition Kensaki and the 2004 Gaston Holiday pen.) All the trim is gold plated.

 

 

 

 

The box is kind of neat. It is wooden and hinged on one side. About ¾ of the top opens to reveal the pen inside. It is a design I have not seen on other Bexley boxes.

Bexley recently started producing this model of pen again in various acrylics, ebonite, and celluloid. The Form factor is the same, but the new pens have steel #6 nibs and use a converter. You can see my review of mine earlier in this thread.

 

Very nice write-up. Thanks.

 

Nib appears to be a fine and not a broad.

 

The coffin box is a nice touch.

 

Fred

[eharriett]

Wow. I only recently discovered Bexley (ironic, since they're here in Ohio and not too far from me). Looks like they really have some desirable designs on them. I am looking to find one of their older ones: a Gemstone. But some of these may go on my list of "need to find" too.

[Bill P]

Great Looking Bexley's Zaddick...thanks for taking the time to post...

 

Keep em coming!!

 

BillP

[mliebson]

I don't have a Gemstone in my collection yet either. They have proven quite difficult to find. I've only seen a couple on eBay over the past several years and they are aggressively chased when they come up.

[eharriett]

I don't have a Gemstone in my collection yet either. They have proven quite difficult to find. I've only seen a couple on eBay over the past several years and they are aggressively chased when they come up.

Here's to hoping the fine folks at Bexley read that comment and consider a revisiting of the product 😎

[AD43]

Did anyone wonder how to use the ultra giant before going ahead with it?

[Dovucoe]

For those with the new Prometheus, it takes the standard Jowo #6. If you want a gold one they start at about $70 from FPNibs.com (I am a very satisfied customer, good prices for nibs and shipping, and their grinds are really good too).

 

Would the Jowo nib units fit directly? Or would I have to pull the nibs and swop them into the original Bexley nib units?

[zchen]

 

Would the Jowo nib units fit directly? Or would I have to pull the nibs and swop them into the original Bexley nib units?

Jowo unit will not screw in directly. Bexley is threaded for a Bock nib unit.. Just swapping the nib is fine.

[Dovucoe]

Jowo unit will not screw in directly. Bexley is threaded for a Bock nib unit.. Just swapping the nib is fine.

 

Thanks for the info! I've never handled swapping a gold nib directly before, though I've done so with steel. Kinda afraid I'll mess it up, hopefully it isn't too soft.

[zaddick]

Just in to me today is a pen I picked up from a fellow Bexley fan. It is a Submariner Grande Prototype from 2005. The pen uses the very attractive Sheaffer Jungle Green acrylic. The material was, of course, used by Sheaffer for a Balance 2 limited edition pen (lever filler), and was used by Classic Pens, Bexley and other manufacturers on other pens. Bexley used it in their Deluxe pens and many other prototypes over the years. I think I even saw one of the more recent flat top model pens for sale last year in this material so there must be a few rods left kicking about. I believe Sheaffer made the material in 1997 or 1998 and then must have sold off the remaining stock.

 

Dennis Bowden (RIP) of Parkville Pens had the material used for his own store-brand limited editions in this exact model. I am guessing that the prototype I had was one of those Howard made in advance as a proof. The prototype is not limited so I do not know how many were made. The run of Parkville Submariner Grande pens was only 25 with the gold trim so I assume not too many were made in this color. (There were also some made with silver trim, but only 7 I recall.) It was never a regular production color.

 

Doing some research, the Submariner Grande with its torpedo shape, length and reasonable girth made it a very popular pen in 2005 when it was released. I heard tell of how Howard brought a tray of the prototypes in various materials to the LA pen show in 2006 in various materials including hard rubber and celluloid. Richard Binder had a blue pearl limited edition for his shop. So my point is there are probably still a reasonable few floating around, but they do not come up terribly often. If you find one you like, jump on it!

 

The pen has a resin section in black (some came with a gold plated metal section to match the gold plated trim), and 18K F nib (mine looks more like an EF), and a converter. The pen can also be made into and eye dropper as no metals parts are inside.

 

 

 

The pen really has a nice shimmer inside the material. I tried to cpature some of it here.

 

[escribo]

Stunning pens, all of them! Glad I stumbled on this thread, and can't wait to peruse it in its entirety.

 

By the bye, I have a BOC 2008 in vermiel, 18K stub nib in rhodium & yellow gold.

I know, pix or it didn't happen. It's past bedtime at the moment, and I have a memorial to go to tomorrow, but I'll post some pix ASAP.

 

^esc

Edited March 11, 2017 by escribo

[escribo]

Stunning pens, all of them! Glad I stumbled on this thread, and can't wait to peruse it in its entirety.

 

By the bye, I have a BOC 2008 in vermiel, 18K stub nib in rhodium & yellow gold.

I know, pix or it didn't happen. It's past bedtime at the moment, and I have a memorial to go to tomorrow, but I'll post some pix ASAP.

 

^esc

 

As promised, pix of my only (and I hope not my last BOC) Bex BOC 2008 in "vermiel". The body and cap are sterling overlay, and the mottled pattern is either gold plated or gold filled, thus 'vermiel'.

 

The level of detail is amazing. For instance to get the cap and body hallmarks to line up when the pen is closed (maybe only important to one who is OCD about such details, like me ) all you do is line up the hallmarks prior to screwing the cap down. Further inspection just screams quality.

 

I apologize for the quality of the images: iphone as camera, poor lighting, and me shaking like a dog err.. let's say eliminating peach pits. Enough of my blathering:

[amberleadavis]

Wow, these are all beautiful.

[zaddick]

I have been slow to get back to this thread and update my Bexley collection. I will try to be better about cataloging my pens. But, this one update I do want to add today. Earlier, I showed my new style Prometheus in Tibaldi Rosso Verde celluloid. The pen came with a fine, if uninspired, steel B nib, but I always wanted to have something more interesting to match the quality of the pen body. Just today I recieved a 1.9MM BLS grind 18K Bexley nib from Pendleton Brown.

 

 

The nib will take some time to learn to use properly as you cannot lazily slop it around on the paper like a ball tipped medium. We will have to grow together.

 

I'll be back with more pens, hopefully soon.

Edited August 22, 2017 by zaddick