The Cross Century

In 1953 (-1 BeforeMe), the Cross pen company began offering for sale what was to become an iconic ballpoint writing instrument, the Cross Century. Throughout most of my life, it was not, however, the Cross Century but simply the Cross pen. Anticipating the 1960's, the pen was skinny and remarkably different than other ballpoints. Whether clipped in someone's pocket or held in the hand, the pen was readily identifiable and tagged the user as a professional person. What made it so distinctive?

The pen featured a rotary deployment, it's refill exposed by turning the pen cap. The pen cap is tipped with a piece of black acrylic and on the very top of the pen, a dot of the pen's metal identified it as the ballpoint when looking down on it in the shirt pocket, to distinguish it from the matching pencil. The pocket clip is of sturdy construction, firmly affixed to the pen and having a slight knee. On it, the name Cross is embossed and clearly visible. 

The refill, in part, drives the design of the pen. The Cross refill has become one of the two worldwide standards, the other being the Parker. While not universally a rule, and less so today than yesterday, a knockoff pen is either made in the Cross refill design or the Parker refill design. The Cross just deploys the refill directly so that each time the writer is writing with its ball in the same location; the Parker as originally designed rotates the refill so the ball is in a slightly different location with each deployment. It's debatable which design is better, since many contemporary pens including some by Parker using the Parker refill deploy as if it were a Cross, with a straight out deployment.

 Although available in 14 and 18k gold plate, the iconic Century is of chromium finish with fine, etched lines running parallel it's length. Pictured above are three subtle variations, on the left having a knurled landing for the writing fingers (thereby curing one of the deficiencies of the pen, in my opinion), in the center the classic pen, and on the right the same pen in a contemporary frosted finish. A selling point for Cross pens has always been an unconditional lifetime guarantee which I have in fact used and which Cross actually does honor.

As to my personal pen history, I became aware of this pen in a pen and pencil set that always rested securely in my father's police uniform shirt pocket. I perceived the set as part of his uniform, and until very recently it would have been the pen set of choice for any man wanting to appear professionally serious. As a young man, however, I could not rationalize the price of the pen. It was, however, the only route from the Papermate / T-ball Jotter world. Selling as a set for, perhaps, $25.00, and as a pen for $15.00, it was just out of reach and for any adolescent would have been seen as pretentious.

When one emerged into the work world in a certain appropriate work, one waited to be gifted such a pen or outright bought one. When I was 21, I gave a 14k Gold pen and pencil set to the men in my wedding party. 

During a certain period in pen history, I would say that every serious writer would have to pass through the Cross pen, and truly for a large slice of my young manhood, in the circles I circled, there was no other option. Among my memories are those of a contemporary who exclusively used the pen, and gnawed on the acrylic tip as it if were a Bic cap until it became deformed. 

Unfortunately, owning a Cross pen was more rewarding than actually writing with one. Aside from its obvious class and understated sophistication, I would remark the pen is a solid instrument, mechanically precise and durable.The pocket clip is almost was if it were a piece with the top. The pen refills by simply pulling the cap off as opposed to unscrewing it. Not a hint of clickiness or wobble can be found in the writing experience.

Its thinness is a problem, but only today post the European invasion. When it was the only classy alternative to others when men wrote in Roberts Reminders and clipped their pens in narrow pen loops in their buttoned pockets, thinness was what you did. Personally, even now, the thinness itself is not a drawback for me ham-fisted as I might be. 

Chromium, however, is a problem for me. It's a scratch magnet and there's just no way to overcome that. It's cold. Hate that. Worst of all, I never feel I have a firm grip on the pen, which always seems to slide when my palms are sweaty, which is usually whenever I'm engaged in signing something serious like a contract, you know like when I need the pen and want the pen to be noticed most. Cross is obviously aware of this criticism, and in addition to alternatives around the landing point of the fingers, Cross began producing the Century in an alternative matte finish with gold appointments. 

Unfortunately, the matte finish brought the pen to another price point making it the type of item one waited to be gifted as I was the black one above which actually has my name engraved on the cap. The finish gives the pen a slightly larger feel in the hand and does cure the sliding sensation of the Chromium, but then it's not the classic Cross either.

But in any configuration, I cannot achieve anything like acceptable penmanship with a Cross Century. The thinness and the chrome are only a small part of the problem. It has more to do with the stiffness of the Cross refill, which always feels as though it's fighting me. New Cross refills require a break in period before they become smoother writers and even then I've had very few over the years that consistently feel the same way over the life of the refill. Cross offers no advanced inks in their standard refill, either, while even Parker has expanded and is widely available for Parker in the aftermarket refill category. Cross blue ballpoint ink is a gray blue, a darker or at least less interesting blue than I prefer. Not so for the blue Cross fountain pen ink which I really like. Again, there are no alternatives offered by Cross. I had some success with aftermarket clone refills that were more smooth and blue.

I could never journal with a Cross Century. When I try, the pen reduces my handwriting to the quality one uses signing on a credit card reader. It is a utilitarian pen, and just not the pen for conveying thoughts beyond the caliber conveyed in an action plan. Still, this pen is a part of my life and my memories and I will have one somewhere around me until the end. The Century can be bought today for about $25.00, and every once in a while a better deal on one turns up.

I'm thinking, though, when that Parker Duofold arrives - well, I'll finally be able to put all the other pens to bed! And someday it will!!

T-Ball Jotter VS. The Two Heart Profile

Back in the BM (before me), students graduated from the pencil to the fountain pen. The desks I sat in as a child still had inkwells - holes in the desk into which an ink bottle was placed. Fountain pens were still sold in the Five And Dimes. A lever loaded Wearever still lay on my father's bedstand. The best convenience available the student was the cartridge loaded Shaeffer. I owned one (and still do) and fell in love with its distinctive blue ink, a love I have never lost. 

In 7 AM (after me), I graduated from a Number 2 pencil to the ballpoint pen. The ballpoint was certainly not a new invention, but its cheap proliferation was new enough to be within the memory of the adults of that time. The Bic crystal stick pen was just being born in its current form (no hole in the lid, please), and it hadn't arrived in my world. I learned to write in cursive with a school issued Eversharp stick pen. Its ink was a purplish blue, nearly a mimeograph purple, that had the unfortunate desire to leave the pen while in the pocket. There I dwelt through high school and into college, in the world of the Lindy Pen, the Bic fine point, and finally the Bic medium blue.Eventually, it occurred to me if I had to put a pen in my shirt pocket, it ought to say something about me. Besides, there could be some advantages to writing with a pen costing more than a quarter. The alternatives available at the time, even before the Bic Click came out, were few.

This is the Papermate Two Heart Profile Pen. It could be bought in slim, medium and husky for about $5.00. It had a spring-loaded plunger that deployed the refill smoothly with a barely perceptible click. It bore a distinctive two heart logo on the pocket clip. The blue refill was the perfect color blue and traveled smoothly on paper.

At a slightly higher price point, maybe about $7.00, the Parker T-Ball Jotter was also an option. Parker actually advertised the pen. It was held out to be the choice of young professionals. I always admired the way the pen looked. It was more compact than the Papermate, but crucially it bore a stamped arrow on the top of the plunger and the pocket clip was an actual arrow. Later in life, I worked for a guy who wrote exclusively with a T-Ball Jotter.  You'll learn I'm the kind of person who pays attention to what people use to write.

The Parker has a stiff, spring loaded plunger that deploys the refill with a pronounced click. The refill never seems to be exposed from the pen as far as you would like. While the Parker blue is acceptably bright in color, it travels stiffly on paper. The Parker refill is designed to rotate slightly as it is deployed so that the ball is worked evenly.

Early on, I chose the Papermate just on price. I liked the pen then and would like it still except for the fact Papermate quit making it. The brand went on to lend itself to endless iterations of cheap pens. It has more recently gone the Ink Joy route, filling a really cheap pen with really bad ink. So disappointing!

Meanwhile, Parker has gone on with its tradition of fine pens. I still don't like the T-Ball Jotter other than sitting in a shirt pocket, but a lot of people are loyal to it. The pen can be bought today for about $15.00 and recently Parker has issued a great looking anniversary edition of the pen selling for about $25.00.

And they still make the Parker Duofold. I will own one!!

The Notso Cheap Ballpoint Pen - My Criteria

This journal is for regular people who take pens seriously and who want to take their pen ownership up a notch. To use the term "pen ownership" presupposes a pen of at least the quality one could "own" and the ownership of which one would note. Welcome to the world of the Notso Cheap pen. These are pens you can probably afford, but the purchase of which you might have to explain to your spouse.

Value is relative. I watched a short the other night about a fountain pen hospital, the lead into which was: "Could you imagine spending $1,500 for a pen? How about $3,000?!" My silent answer was, well yeah, I could. I would, too, if that were my means. It is not a shocking number to me. I get the mindset!

But my pens, the pens I can discuss from experience, cost under a hundred dollars. And the point I want to make is that a person of average means can have a relationship with pens in this price range that satisfies certain personal needs. We will get into all that at some future time. For now, I must at least declare I want to take the next step, and this is the thing.

The hidden agenda of this blog: the author wants to score a Parker Duofold ballpoint pen! This is not a Notso Cheap ballpoint. It's an expensive ballpoint and somehow, some way I will own one! Anyway -

I don't own this yet!!

If I am going to critique pens, it's only fair to state my criteria up front. A pen is really an assembly - an ink holder and an ink supply. In the case of a ballpoint pen, it is a refill holder and a refill.

My subjective criteria in loving or hating a pen evolves on a case by case basis but in a ballpoint pen, certain things are required.

1) No blemishes. I cannot write with a scarred instrument. Well, there are special cases where I force myself to because the scar reminds me of something or because I am just attached to the pen. But really, I hate blemishes and if I purchased a pen that arrived with one it would go back.

2) I will accept either a rotary deployment mechanism or a plunger. If the cartridge is deployed by a plunger, though, I want a spring loaded plunger rather than one that shrinks into the pen. 

3) No wobble. I cannot use a pen in which there is any clickiness or wobble when the point is put to paper, picked up, and put back down again.

4) Sturdy materials, please. This is a totally subjective category. For me, precious metals are not required. Even acrylic and plastic are generally acceptable except on pocket clips, whereas I hate chrome for the pen body.

5) Blue ink, please. I do not like gray blues or midnight blues. I like bold, bright blues.

I am not a pen collector. I am a pen user, and my frustrated task is always to write and to write with a fine penmanship I seem to be incapable of by genetic predisposition. So I use my pens every day and I'm not interested in just looking at them. The pens I will discuss need to stand up to everyday use over time, and will be evaluated on that basis.

Enough, then! I want to begin to climb the Duofold mountain!