So Conway Stewart is our chosen favourite, some prefer the vintage, others the reincarnation. (I'm happy with both as opposed to either!)

But why CS? With regard to the vintage pens CS was one of the larger and better known of the type (apart from Parker of course!) and for that reason alone may attract more interest. However the situation is similar to classic sports cars where an MG will attract a higher interest than a similarly sized/priced/aged car from a lesser manufacturer, even if it is better in certain ways.

The mind boggling tange of models and colours maker them interesting to collect, the products themselves are highly desirable and functional to boot. But is not the same true of Mabie-Todd? Do we like CS because it ISN'T the large multi-national of Parker/Sheaffers etc?

What do you think?


Greg

Does it have to be either/or? Speaking about the vintage pens, I find Swans usually have slightly nicer nibs (though CS's are certainly pretty good!) and Mentmores have a more rugged, reliable feel, and the plating seems better too. For overall design appeal, Conway Stewart have it though IMO ... from the Dinkies through to the 100s, they're fantastic lookers.

To use the classic car analogy, Conway Stewarts remind me of the Jaguars of the 50s and 60s. Excluding the race cars, you got fanatstic looks and specification - but perhaps not the very highest manufacturing quality. Is DelaRue/Onoto really Aston Martin to Conway Stewart's Jaguar?

Yes, I also have thought of Onotos as the Aston Martin of the pen world, also I think you're right, Conway stewarts are more Jaguar than MG. Perhaps Platignum are the MG.

However the point remains that lesser known cars seem to have less attraction than the well known names. Perhaps Burnhams are Triumph TRs and Mabie Todds are the Daimlers.

What would be the Bentley and Rollers of the pen world?


Greg


(ps my unreasonable prejudgement aligns MB with BMW!)

How big was the vintage CS company back in the 40's or 50's? How many employees did they have?

Good analogy on Burnham, though I see Mabie Todds as more sporty with all those celluloids like lizard and snakeskin. Maybe something like Alvis or Lagonda - true greats in the day, but now forgotten by most non-enthusiasts?


Tough one. For Rolls, I'd say something like the modern Conway Stewart Churchills or perhaps their LEs like the Nelson. For Bentley ... ermm, maybe the lighter weight Duros? On German cars, I've always seen it as Montblanc = Merc, Pelikan = Beemer. Though you can certainly argue it the other way round.

I'm enjoying this more than the original thread!

MB is BM for me, more business typical whereas Pelikan has the history and quality and classic status of a Merc.

I'd press the Daimler/Mabie Todd line a little further in that by far the most common was standard black, extremely well made, had wonderful nibs (better than CS, as one listee suggested) and used by bank manager types. For those wonderful lizard effects, surely against the normal image for the pens, I would contend the Daimler Dart (see pic). A strange anomoly but fabulous!

With the close link between Aston Martin and Lagonda maybe the Onoto Magna would be a large Lagonda.

Would this make Parker a Ford, the largest company of its type in the world, a wide range of locally designed and manufactured products ranging from the basic to the luxurious? A Duofold slimline the Consul, a Vacumatic a Zephyr?

I know what you mean. But I see Montblancs as well ... fatter pens, and that's how I see Mercs. BMWs are more functional, sleeker, like a Pelikan. And Mercedes are having some quality control problems just now. (Admittedly, Mercs don't shatter when you drop them, as far as I know.) Oh, and they both begin with an 'M'.



I agree. (The listee was me!)



Perfect!



Tricky this one. Ford were mass-produced people movers yet Vacs and 51s were leading-edge premium pens of their time. But the more upmarket Cadillacs and Lincolns of the day were brash, cart-sprung and by European standards, pretty kitsch. If only Duesenberg and Packard had still survived into the 40s/50s ...

It seems to me the Cord was a lot like a Vacumatic: innovative, technologically advanced, art deco and quite expensive. Of course, it didn't sell in anything like the same numbers!

Well, such pictures of Cords and comparisons to Jags maybe well be part of the reason of my own attraction to CS pens. For me the Cord is far too exotic but the Jag is a popular and iconic example of a particular period in a bygone day. So with vintage CS pens, they represent a good reputation for, perhaps most typically, the years after the war where a Conway Stewart was something to be desired and admired.

The times when these pens were in common use seem to be reincarnated when another, with a crusty sac and clogged with ink solids, is brought to life. They are visually very attractive and the quality and status of them has an attraction of its own. One can imagine the original owner and his reason and ability to go up the price bands to buy a gold nibbed CS. One can also imagine the heavey use and friendly familiarity of the pen to its user, in the days when so much was written with fountain pens and many became very personal.

The wide combination of models, patterns, finishes, even materials makes almost an endless project to collect an example of each, a task most if us wouldn't dream of attempting but enjoy swimming in the lake of options.

Its nice that Jags are still made, even if under the umbrella of Ford, and also nice that CS has been resurrected. Both new models bearing little in character to the classics of old but equally desirable and carrying on a line, however tenuous.

My latest pen is a Burnham (details to follow) which was bought in an attempt to replace my lost Churchill, however I would always wish to choose a Conway first. When I can.

Pic is of a 'CS55' on its way from the dreaded eb*y to be refurbished.


Greg

Extraordinary coincidence - here is an actual CS 55 I recently received from Ebay, in equally dismal condition. The difference is, I didn't expect it to be this bad ... so back it went

(The section still gives me nightmares!)

Could have done with the cap... I wonder if it will reappear on the dreaded.


Greg

Ulp ... afraid it already has. And sold for about £20.