pen 09: cross century collection

 today's pen is a bit of a mystery, i have no idea where it came from or when it came into my possession. the earliest i can remember was sometime around 2005, i had gotten a hp palm pilot that was supposed to change my life but really just kept me entertained with solitaire, music, and bejeweled while riding muni. it was around this time that i started doing crossword puzzles out of the paper. i remember this because i kept this pen in the pda case and used it to fill in the answers on a daily basis. occasionally, i'd draw fellow commuters.

i remember this pen being precise, it might be that it needs a refill, but the pen doesn't really flow very well, the ink is uneven, it smears, and while it can be used to lightly lay down the foundation of the composition, making darker lines require several passes with a fair amount of pressure, the reason i don't think that it's running dry is that it does eventually get dark, it just takes some effort, it may be that i'm not being entirely fair - it is a civvie pen after all, but most of those that i've used over the years haven't had that same problem, and i've done a fair amount of writing with it as well and while it seems to work a little better for that purpose, it isn't all that noticeable.

what shocked me about this pen was earlier tonight, when i was trying to get some information on the make and manufacturer, www.cross.com, i discovered this unassuming pen i had been carrying around for all these years was worth $116 dollars... had it been plated with sterling silver... i'm pretty sure that it is actually the chrome plated version and that knocks it down to the $35 dollar range, but still, aside from pen sets, like the microns and copics, it stands as the most expensive pen in my bag, and the six or seven coffee mugs that i've filled with writing implements in various places around my office. the irony is that the pen refills are the same for the cheapest as they are for the ones that cost a few grand, this dovetails perfectly with what i was saying about the bic ballpoint i was talking about earlier this week, that price doesn't always dictate better.

this pen is essentially intended to be a starter pen for a young professional who needs to have something that looks nice for appearances but isn't going to break their bank, or be the end of the world if it gets mislaid, stolen or dropped into a storm drain. i would say that really this is a pen that was meant to be seen, not used.