Cross is doing great!

[rokurinpapa]

I am very happy to know that Cross is doing great. Cross launched a new product,CenturyⅡ SAKURA day&night Collection.  https://www.pen-house.net/item/47277.html

Edited April 1 by rokurinpapa
addition of information

[Bo Bo Olson]

It would be nice to give us a translation.

@ 1970-71, I went to the BX, base exchange when I was in the USAF, to by a high status Cross matt black thin ball point for $8.00. A Parker jotter cost $3.75.

As I drooled over a black and gold Shaffer Snorkel, the Parker 75 brothers mugged me.

Which is whay one should never carry money in one's wallet...pre-credit card,

The BX/PX was a bit cheaper than civilian prices. silver money. $22 for the fountain pen, $18 for the M{/BP...came with a mechanical pencil refill. A full ten dollars more than that Cross BP would have cost.

 

So it is all Cross's fault   that I had that fountain pen, that sat hidden, as I wandered for 40 years in the Ball Point Desert.

I only have a metallic blue Townsend.

 

[rokurinpapa]

RE:  It would be nice to give us a translation. ,

 

I try to give an outline of the explanation of CenturyⅡ SAKURA day&night Collection  

 : A limited edition model from Asia. This model is inspired by the image of the day and night cherry blossoms based on the gorgeous Sakura motif.
The clip and body are studded with SAKURA petals at 360 degrees, so you can brighten up your feelings.

 

rokurinpapa

[DelibleCipher]

Those models are gorgeous! But they’re only for the Asian market. You can find them on eBay, though, if you search for Cross and SAKURA DAY&NIGHT. 

[inkstainedruth]

Missed this thread before now, somehow.

The pens in the link are pretty -- but I'm NOT paying $79+ for a ballpoint pen....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

Back when a Jotter cost $3.75 in silver money days, Cross had a thin matt black high status BP for a whopping $8.00.....then in silver dollars. Now a silver dollar is worth $23...so that pen would be worth $184 today....but that was way before free ball points.

 

I'd gone over to the BX with splurging on the stylish Cross on mind when I got mugged by the two P-75 brothers.

[Pete of Killeen]

PX (Exhange) I always heard was a deal from reservists I knew that joined the service in the early 80s.  By the time I joined in 86-- meh not so much. Camera and hi fi clubs even overseas were pretty much done for.  I did get a champaign colored Pioneer Laserdisc player from the Mainz-Kastel PX for a significant cost break.  Stateside..Kmarts/Walmarts/Targets/grocery chains and even JC Penny beat the PX and commissary. PX is just good overseas for those that dont know how to shop on the economy.  My gold Cross pen I actually got around 1982 or 83 I think--had a silver one too.  Now I still like buying an occasional Cross--the black and white camo one is a daily writer at work.

Edited October 3 by Pete of Killeen

[Ron Z]

I find it ironic that this thread, with that title, was started on April 1.

[Beechwood]

I haven't owned many Cross pens, but the best and worst were all in one pen, the Verve. Poor design of clip and cap but perfect writing performance with a broad Namiki nib, still kicking myself that I sold it.

[thx1138]

I have a variety of century models with 18k, 14k, and steel nibs. They are all excellent writers. 

 

My sole peerless is an unwieldy beast but the zoom nib writes beautifully. 

 

The 175th anniversary pens look fantastic and perform just as well.

 

As a brand, in Australia,  Cross just seems to be fading away. Fairly sad really.

[inkstainedruth]

6 hours ago, Format said:

I haven't owned many Cross pens, but the best and worst were all in one pen, the Verve. Poor design of clip and cap but perfect writing performance with a broad Namiki nib, still kicking myself that I sold it.

Yeah, I have a Verve that I found for a buck at a place that's like Construction Junction only for craft supplies.  

OTOH, I did only pay a buck for it....  And a guy who used to be in my local pen club gave me a converter for it -- for free.  But when I heard the prices they're asking on places like eBay for those?  I was APPALLED....  

I keep meaning to put it back in rotation to see if I can learn to hold it high enough on the section to NOT get my fingers covered with ink (for those not familiar with that model, the nib is is in two pieces, above and below the feed; the frightening part was that I've heard that when the Verve model was first released, they held some fancy shmantzy party at IIRC a jazz club in NYC... ).

But I do REALLY like the two Cross Solos I have (a red one with a fine nib, which I bought from the estate of a friend who was a calligrapher and bookbinder; and a blue one with a broad nib that I bought the first year I think that I went to OPS.  I'd dearly love to get a couple of other colors (particularly the purple and the yellow -- and maybe a couple of other nib widths as well).  They were made by one of the Japanese companies under contract and are VERY nice pens -- lightweight, well balanced, and not expensive, with decent nibs on them).

And the Cross Adventura I have that someone gave me awhile back isn't a bad pen either (it's got a medium nib; the Verve has a broad nib).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Beechwood]

43 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

I keep meaning to put it back in rotation to see if I can learn to hold it high enough on the section to NOT get my fingers covered with ink (for those not familiar with that model, the nib is is in two pieces, above and below the feed; the frightening part was that I've heard that when the Verve model was first released, they held some fancy shmantzy party at IIRC a jazz club in NYC... ).

 

And the Cross Adventura I have that someone gave me awhile back isn't a bad pen either (it's got a medium nib; the Verve has a broad nib).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Jeepers I didn't know that about the nib, being in two pieces I mean. I used it for a year bought from new, the cap was never a great fit and there were stories of the clip failing so I didn't use that but the broad nib was perfect. 

 

Any other pen would last 2-3 days on one cartridge, the Verve was emptied within a day.

 

One of the few modern pens that has oodles of character.

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmmm.  "Character" -- not a word I'd have used to describe my Verve, particularly....  Although I can see it if someone is being ironic, or describing it as if it was one of the Marx Brothers or something.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Beechwood]

46 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Hmmmm.  "Character" -- not a word I'd have used to describe my Verve, particularly....  Although I can see it if someone is being ironic, or describing it as if it was one of the Marx Brothers or something.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

When I was young I had a Honda and an MGB, the Honda was 100% reliable, the MGB had a trunk that was filled with tools that would be needed before the end of the journey.

 

The MGB had character, not necessarily good character. The Honda had a charisma by-pass.

 

The Verve had plenty of flaws but I would like to buy another. 

[Dillo]

On 10/4/2024 at 12:57 PM, inkstainedruth said:

But I do REALLY like the two Cross Solos I have (a red one with a fine nib, which I bought from the estate of a friend who was a calligrapher and bookbinder; and a blue one with a broad nib that I bought the first year I think that I went to OPS.  I'd dearly love to get a couple of other colors (particularly the purple and the yellow -- and maybe a couple of other nib widths as well).  They were made by one of the Japanese companies under contract and are VERY nice pens -- lightweight, well balanced, and not expensive, with decent nibs on them).

 

 

The Solos were made for Cross by Pilot. The resemblance was quite uncanny when I took them apart. If I remember correctly, the nibs had Pilot date codes on them as well. This was also confirmed to me.

 

Cross had a real combo. The Verve and Solo had Pilot components or in the case of the Solo were made by Pilot entirely. The Townsend had a Pelikan nib. Cross inks were bought in from Pelikan. Later converters were made by Schmidt (likely still are). The ATX, Bailey, and Century II and some others had a Cross in-house made nib, made in RI. I had the joy of visiting their stateside facility before they closed it and moved production to China. Their nib production was quite impressive. You can identify the in-house nibs by their particular shape and size. They were the very last in-house nib made in the states by a major brand. They were making nibs some years after Sheaffer moved production out of the states. I can confirm this because I visited them after Sheaffer had closed production in the states and saw their active nib production line.

[Chris1]

The reference to cars made me smile. I had a Honda for more than 17 years and no tools in the boot but  before that I had Fords, Vauxhalls and British Leylands, oh and a Fiat, that needed tools and the relevant Haynes manual at all times. 

 

My Cross Townsends are like the Honda. My other pens, apart from Montblanc, are more like the other cars. Enthusiasts pens...

[inkstainedruth]

@Dillo -- The Verve was also made in Japan?  Interesting.  Because I have one and HATE it.  I gather that there was some fancy "release" party for it in NYC when it was introduced, but the two-part "nib" around the feed makes it very easy to get ink all over your fingers.  COULD NOT BELIEVE the prices they're going for on eBay!  I paid a whole whopping buck for mine, at a place where people can donate arts and crafts supplies to for resale/reuse -- and then someone in my local pen club GAVE me a converter to fit it.

I keep thinking that I should give it another shot, and try to teach myself to hold it further up on the section, but then go, "Naaaaah...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ron Z]

I still can't believe that they released ads with the slogan, "Suddenly Cross...."  Why did they get mad, at whom, and why so quickly?

[pen lady]

Yup Ron, you sure need to have an MBA to come up with that sales slogan.😜

[Dillo]

@inkstainedruth Only the nib section was made in entirely made in Japan by Pilot. As far as I know, the body was assembled in the United States from components that were sourced from different places they contracted. Some of the components of the body were made in house if I recall correctly. From what I know, Cross used a number of different places contracted to make different parts depending on who had the manufacturing prowess to do it.