The Croxley Pen. A Dickinson Product

[garythepenman]

Just a brief overview for the vintage collectors.

 

I've had this desk pen for a while and was lucky enough to snaffle the pocket version. They are probably not too common in the USA however if you come across one don't overlook it. They are sturdy and make great everyday writers.

 

These Croxley pens are from ca 1950, made in England and both are in black celluliod. They are a "Dickinson Product" so I guess this company was in to stationary etc.. not sure.

They both share the 4 chevron'd lever filler and the pocket pen has the 4 chevron'd clip.

The nibs (14ct) on both of mine are broad with little flex although some springyness. The desk pen has a much larger nib and was probably a good "cheque signer" in it's day.

I managed to get the desk pen for almost nothing as the seller stated "unusuall pen, missing it's cap". Ha Ha .

The section on the desk pen is BHR and has slightly oxidised as has the clip stud on the pocket pen.

Both are great writers with nibs on the wet side and both whilst being smooth have just a hint of tooth (drag) which I like.

Both are extremely well made and would be equal at least to the best offerings of Conway Stewart, Mabie Todd, Swan or Onoto etc..

Sorry about the pics, my camera isn't the best.

 

Gary

[Michael Wright]

Dickinson were indeed a stationery manufacturer, and I remember the Croxley brand as being one of the most widely distributed when I was a lad living in England. In fact, I think they might still be going strong.

 

A poster on the Zoss list once remarked that he remembered walking past the Croxley factory when he was a kid, which suggests that the pens were actually made by Dickinson, rather than being made by one of the big jobbing pen makers.

 

They are very decent pens indeed. In my very limited experience, the nibs are nice and responsive, but perhaps a bit on the thin side, and the metal furnishings are good, but not of the highest quality. They're mostly found in a marbled material -- I've seen green and gold. The desk pen is a nice find.

 

Best

 

Michael

[JimStrutton]

Yes indeed Croxley is still a very big paper brand in the UK. Here is the Wikpedia entry that tells more:

 

Croxley Green

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Croxley Green is a village of approximately 5000 dwellings and 12000 residents located between Watford (to the north-east) and Rickmansworth (to the south-west) in Hertfordshire, England.

 

Croxley is about 20 miles outside of London, and has a connection into the city on the Metropolitan Line (a 40 minute journey on a good day).

 

Croxley Green, as suggested by the name, has a large village green which is surrounded by some of its oldest buildings (17th Century). There is extensive building from the 19th Century centred around New Road (ironically, one of the oldest roads in the village), plus a good deal of housing stock from the 1930s, built at the time of the Metropolitan Line branch. The Green houses the "Revels on The Green", an annual village fair which includes a traditional maypole dance, as illustrated on the road signs on entering the village. The annual Mummer folk play "St. George & The Dragon" is played out during the Christmas period at a number of village hostelries.

 

Croxley's biggest claim to fame is the writing paper Croxley Script, which used to be produced in the village by the paper maker John Dickinson. Although Dickinson's left many years ago (to nearby Apsley, Hemel Hempstead), the legacy lives on in street names (Dickinson Square, Dickinson Avenue, Barton Way and others) some of which contain housing built by the company for mill workers at the end of the 19th Century and others named after Mill owners and management etc..

 

Croxley Green has an active Residents Association and Parish Council and is also the home of an array of local organisations dedicated to pastimes and leisure. The Croxley Green Society run the "Revels" and there are varying clubs including the Camera, Needlecrafters, Wine, Vineyard, Bicycle, Jazz, and Folk to mention the first few.

 

Croxley Green also had another famous resident, after her flight from France, Madame Tussaud lived there. There is a road named after her in a new housing development off New Road, near where she used to live.

 

Now if I remember correctly, they branched out into lots of other office related things and probably had those pens made for them. I vaguely remember that the Parker factory at Newhaven made some OEM brands back when I was at school in the 50's 60's. Boots the big chemist used to do a nice range of school pens which I think may have been either made by or designed by Conway Stewart, but that could be 10% fact and 90% faded memory :blink:

 

Nice pens to have Gary, thanks for sharing the pics !

 

Jim

[garythepenman]

Hey Jim, Michael, thanks for the extra information. My guess was close.

 

The nibs are at least as good as those from the Parker Newhaven factory so maybe they made them. Michael these nibs are not thin at all.

 

Gary

[Michael Wright]

Hey Jim, Michael, thanks for the extra information. My guess was close.

 

The nibs are at least as good as those from the Parker Newhaven factory so maybe they made them. Michael these nibs are not thin at all.

 

Gary

Hi Gary

 

It may be that your pens are different from the ones I've seen (and own). As I said, my experience is with the marbled ones; they're well made, but I wouldn't say as well as Mabie Todd. So maybe they cheapened up a little (sorry, engaged in an aggressive programme of cost control).

 

 

Best

 

Michael

[garythepenman]

Michael, you could well be correct.

Both of these are remarkable because of the celluliod quality, very nice thick barrels and super glossy finish. They feel like a quality pen and that's always a good sign and they write as well as any other pen I own.

Gary

[weepstah]

Gary,

 

Thanks for the post! I'll put Croxley on the list of pens I keep an eye out for. I like the English manufacturers even though I primarily go for Swan and CS.

 

weepstah

[JimStrutton]

Hey Jim, Michael, thanks for the extra information. My guess was close.

 

The nibs are at least as good as those from the Parker Newhaven factory so maybe they made them. Michael these nibs are not thin at all.

 

Gary

Hi Gary

 

It may be that your pens are different from the ones I've seen (and own). As I said, my experience is with the marbled ones; they're well made, but I wouldn't say as well as Mabie Todd. So maybe they cheapened up a little (sorry, engaged in an aggressive programme of cost control).

 

 

Best

 

Michael

Michael, Gary

 

I have just had another look at the pictures Gary posted, look at the clip on the pocket version, bit of an arrow going on there I feel?

 

Also, just because they were branded Croxley did not mean that they were made by the same people. Maybe Gary's examples were the up-market ones and they had some others made elsewhere.

 

Just a thought, did any pens ever get made in Hong Kong? I recall that tons of office stuff like pencil sharpners, rulers and the like came from there, especially in the 50/60s.

 

Just a thought

 

Jim

[Michael Wright]

I have just had another look at the pictures Gary posted, look at the clip on the pocket version, bit of an arrow going on there I feel?

Bit of an arrow, indeed, but also a suggestion of the ONOTO clip. But I think Croxley was/is such a huge brand in British stationery that they wouldn't be trying to pass off their pens as anyone elses.

 

Best

 

Michael

[garythepenman]

Regarding the "arrow" clip etc.. I don't think they tried to emulate any other brand. Also I particularly like the lever, most levers are plain or have a stamped lollipop but this has the 4 chevrons as well. Good attention to detail.

The pen is impressed with "The Croxley Pen" a "Dickinson Product" and the nibs also have "A Dickinson Product" stamped on them. My guess is they had their own small manufacturing facility. Both of these are of good quality with no cheap bits evident.

Gary

[wimg]

Hi Gary,

 

Thank you for your "Vintage" review . it is actually quite nice to see older pens reviewed here too. I certainly like it very much. Thank you for sharing!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[garythepenman]

Glad you enjoyed it Wim, not all my pens are Conway Stewarts.

 

I'm always on the lookout for something different, I try not to let my collection suffer from tunnel vision. Lesser known brands can often be overlooked IMHO.

 

Gary

[Greg]

As a sucker for old British pens I bought this Croxley (Indeed a Dickinson Product!) for my wife. She previously used a rather nice CS 150 in a sky blue sort of colour as it reminded her of her dad's old Ford Zephyr. However it blobbed a few times and, not having such patience for old pens as myself, it was relegated to a shelf.

 

Enter this little pen, £3.20 from eb*y and its perfect. It gets used all the time now, is totally reliable and I managed to get a reasonable size sac into its pointed body so it goes a good while between fills. It has a fine nib (important to the wife) and writes very smoothly and evenly.

 

Another pen of little value but huge worth.

 

The pic is the eb*y pic and is not great.

 

 

Greg

[Michael Wright]

That's a shape of Croxley I've never seen before. All the ones I've seen have been shaped like Gary's, but in a marbled plastic.

 

Nice find -- let's see if we can drive up the price of Croxleys so they follow CS. <_<

 

Best

 

Michael

[garythepenman]

Greg,

 

That certainly in an unusual Croxley indeed.

 

Yes Michael, let's drive up the desire for Croxley pens, there are very well made and certaqinly equal to CS's in my view.

How many bizzillion dollars are they worth now ?.

 

Gary

[Greg]

garythepenman wrote: [How many bizzillion dollars are they worth now ?.]

 

 

ok, £3.30 any takers??

 

 

 

Greg

[Michael Wright]

Greg,

 

That certainly in an unusual Croxley indeed.

 

Yes Michael, let's drive up the desire for Croxley pens, there are very well made and certaqinly equal to CS's in my view.

How many bizzillion dollars are they worth now ?.

 

Gary

Well, I haven't seen them around much in the last couple of years, but I think they were going at about NZ$50 in junktiques in fair condition (note to Rest of World: the NZ$ is one of the more volatile currencies, so NZ$50 could be anything between US$25--40; variations depend on inflation pressures in NZ, time of year (high in late summer when agricultural products are exported), and phase of moon).

 

GBP3.20 is an excellent buy, but I'm still not going near eBay with my addictive personality.

 

Best

 

Michael

[Methersgate14]

John Dickinson are very much still in business, still using the Croxley brand name - go no further than the printer paper cabinet in a British office and you are likely to see it! They resemble Thomas De La Rue & Co in that it was their presence in the stationery trade that led them to pen making.

 

AFAIK, they made their own pens in their own factory, just like De La Rue, and used their existing distrubution network to market them, just like De La Rue.

 

I have a pen like the one in the first picture and I just snaffled the matching pencil - both black celluloid. In terms of quality, I would say they don't have the "Rolls-Royce" attributes of a De La Rue but they are certainly a "Rover" - a good solid durable middle class pen - certainly equal to Conway Stewart. However, because they stuck with the one design for so long, they don't have the collecting appeal of Conway Stewart - if you have one Croxley it will look like most of the Croxleys that you see.

[MarcoA63]

Well well well fourteen years later and this topic gets resurrected :-)

I bought one at an auction, it was bundled with other pens.

This is black, flat top and cap, but no clip or empty clip space on the cap either, maybe it isn't the original cap ?

It is in fair conditions, the imprints on barrell and nib are well defined. It need a new sac and I have to remove the section, I believe it needs a bit of heat from a hair drier, what do you think ?

Cheers

[lehi53]

Thank you