The Inoxcrom Caravel. The Fountainpen Of The Controversy

[rizo]

My goodness, another anonymous black torpedo pen.

 

Can't have that, apparently.

Try by internet

[rizo]

Dificultades to find

[rizo]

There is one in Ebay right now.

[rizo]

Alómate a year

[Aysedasi]

There's a Caravel II on eBay at the moment.  

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pluma-Estilografica-Inoxcrom-Caravel-II/184727012402?hash=item2b02968432:g:tesAAOSwMfVfFeSY

[rizo]

5 hours ago, Aysedasi said:

There's a Caravel II on eBay at the moment.  

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pluma-Estilografica-Inoxcrom-Caravel-II/184727012402?hash=item2b02968432:g:tesAAOSwMfVfFeSY

Good pen, not as good as Caravel I, but still good pen

[Raymond3]

My Caravel I is one of my very favorite pens, and most used.  The Sirocco line is also excellent.  My single favorite pen is a Inoxcrom Sirocco Sterling with original 14 kt nib.  In fact, I like and use the Caravel and Siroccos so much that I recently sold my very last Mont Blanc, a lovely 147 Traveler with custom nib. 

 

They are getting much harder to find.  During the San Francisco Pen Show this past weekend, I carefully looked at every vendor and asked at many for any kind of Inoxcrom.   Not a single one had an Inoxcrom Caravel, Sirocco or even a Wall Street.  

[alexwi]

Inoxcrom is (or was, it's hard to tell) an underrated brand. I own several pens from them and the designs, the quality, and the craftsmanship are up there with other, more popular brands.

 

I've no idea if they were struggling in 1992, but this move by Montblanc, given how other manufacturers tend to mimic their designs (my wife's impression of Aurora's Ipsilon is that it's nothing more than a montblanc knock-off, for example), amounted to nothing short than legal bullying and, given the difference in size between the two parties, not fighting it was probably the best way out.

 

Having said this, I've seen other Inoxcrom pens that don't seem like original designs. One such example is one model, whose name I can't remember, that's suspiciously similar to Caran d'Ache's Dunas. I can't decide which one I like better, but at least you can post the Inoxcrom's cap, whereas this is impossible with the Dunas, which I love to write with but drives me nuts. I think I've also seen Inoxcroms that are quite reminiscent of Montblank's Generations and other similar lines, so it's also possible that Montblanc was fed-up with them.

 

Alex

[inkstainedruth]

Just for curiosity's sake, after reading this thread, I looked on the Bay of Evil.  No Caravels or Caravel 2s at the moment.  There were eleven hits total for "Inoxcrom fountain pen" (in quotes) -- but the FIRST hit wasn't an Inoxcrom at all, but a Majohn (yes, eBay and their lousy IT has been given the APPROPRIATE dope-slap feedback for that -- something I'm MORE than happy to do given my opinion of eBay at the moment, after several hours in chat windows and then a scheduled callback today from Customer Service which lasted over an hour over a different issue -- so if you go that route make sure to read the listings more carefully than eBay apparently does...).

Some of the pens listed at the moment look interesting, and did not seem overly expensive, but none seemed to be from US vendors.  I keep hoping I'll find another "TinTin" pen like the one I got in a PiF contest a few years ago, which I gave to the friend who gave me the Pelikan M200 with the Bayer logo on it as a joke -- not realizing that it was probably $100 pen (she got it on Freecycle).  I also saw one a while back on eBay (I think that was from a seller in the UK) which had a design for Guinness Beer on it  and of course am now kicking myself that I didn't go for it when I had the chance.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[essayfaire]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:44 PM, inkstainedruth said:

but the FIRST hit wasn't an Inoxcrom at all, but a Majohn (yes, eBay and their lousy IT has been given the APPROPRIATE dope-slap feedback for that -- something I'm MORE than happy to do given my opinion of eBay at the moment

This is why I get frustrated with that bay, but the search engine on the site meant for smaller independent craftspeople does the same thing.

On 5/7/2022 at 4:44 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I keep hoping I'll find another "TinTin"

You have a Tintin fountain pen?! Chouette!