Cross Bailey Overview

[gbryal]

The Cross Bailey joins the Aventura as a lower priced Cross fountain pen available through office supply stores in the United States.

It's available in colors/finishes such as polished chrome, red lacquer and blue lacquer, but the one I am reviewing is a black lacquer pen.

The Bailey shares some design characteristics with some of the higher-priced Cross pens. The chrome piece at the end of the barrel with small groove is reminiscent of that on the Peerless 125, and the joined double rings on the cap echo the double rings on the Townsend.

The nib on the Bailey is the same smallish lobster-back stamped nib found on the Cross Aventura. It's a medium steel nib. I don't know if other sizes are available but I have only seen the medium. It writes a smooth, saturated line, nearly a broad line. It doesn't seem to soak through porous papers as much as other fountain pens I have used.

The pen accepts a Cross cartridge and appears to accept a threaded Cross converter, though I haven't tried one with this pen.

The section is is the same color as the rest of the pen and has a chrome band, as well as a small chrome ferrule near the nib. The shape is a gently curved taper continuous with the barrel. While the lacquer is somewhat fingerprint-prone, it isn't slick and I can maintain a good grip on it.

The cap has an interesting band at the open end, which is two knurled rings raised from a flat chrome surface. This affords one some grip when opening the pen one-handed. Opening one-handed, however, requires a strong thumb, as at least on my pen it's a tight fit. Using two hands is likely to cause a sudden pop which could cause some ink to spray from the nib.

The cap top has a simple shallow concentric dome atop a brief black area which sits atop the chrome band for the clip. The clip is firm and functional and doesn't seem liable to break. It is secure and doesn't move around the cap.

The groove on the chrome barrel end led me to hope that the cap would snap-to-post. Unfortunately it does not. While the pen can be posted, it cannot be posted securely.

I measure 139mm capped, 142mm posted, 126mm uncapped. Filled with converter, I show 19g uncapped and 31g capped.

The pen's packaging includes a simple white gift box, which is functional, though not fancy.

Despite being unable to post securely, I like the Bailey quite a bit. It's a medium pen which fits well in my somewhat large hand even unposted, and I think it is helpful to my handwriting. That, or "Bailey" always looks better in cursive than "Aventura". Slightly more expensive than the Aventura, I would buy it again if I wanted a fountain pen right away and had no better options than my local office supply store. This is perhaps weak praise, but the competition is stiff. I would recommend any of the Jinhao 450, 750, or 159 pens over this one if the shipping time were not an issue. Still, it looks nice, it has a pleasant heft to it, and doesn't necessarily draw attention to itself, depending on the finish. Shipping with only a cartridge hurts this pen's value to me, though since the place I bought it doesn't sell ink, this is understandable.

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