I was an admirer of the Churchill and Duro white casein fountain pens (not so much with the 100). Unfortuantely I failed to purchase either of these limited editions. Any chance these will repackaged and/or re-released?

I'm pretty sure that I've got the line on a Duro. Send me a back-channel message and I'll fill you in.

I sold an original (all white) LE ivory casein Churchill last month on ebay, though it was offered in the marketplace here earlier. Sorry you missed out!



I've still got a casein 'creme de menthe' Dinkie set and an 18ct gold overlay Dandy both needing a good home if you're interested.......!

Andy

I'm also tempted by the white casein churchill or 100. Anyone, any idea what they are currently fetching, price wise?

thanks

Bren

My Churchill sold for £300 a few months ago, which was the same sort of price I've seen others go for this past year.

Andy

Hi,

The Casein finish is available for all our models at the bespoke charge. Due to the nature of the material, the filling mechanism is converter cartridge.

With kind regards,


Mary Burke

Which brings me back to a point I thought about some time ago - people originally paid premium prices for a limited edition - but now you can still get essentially the same pen if you pay the bespoke price, irrespective of the fact that the original limited edition sold out. How does this square with keeping original customers happy so they will buy again?

Andy

Hi,

I don't think you could get the packing with all the goodies though!

Dillon

Hi Andy,

If you wanted to order a Casein pen today, below are the list prices:

Churchill f/pen $710
Churchill b/pen $620
Model 100 f/pen $660
Model 100 b/pen $565
Duro f/pen $565
Duro b/pen $475

These pens will not have a limited edition number, but they will have a serial number.

I don't recall the original list price for the limited edition pens, maybe you can advise.

Kind regards,

Mary Burke

Mary, the price is not really the issue, it's the concept of the 'limited edition' - I understood that this meant once 'the edition' was sold out, you could no longer buy examples of that pen. Just inscribing a different serial number on the pen does not get around this.

Personally, I feel cheated that the modern CS pens I bought years ago are not as limited in production as I expected, or was led to believe that they would be. They are thus presumably not worth as much as they otherwise would be, because anybody could go back to the factory and get new examples made. I certainly would not have purchased the pens I did if I had known this would happen. It would be interesting to see if any other CS limited edition owners feel the same way.

I'd also be grateful to hear what the management of CS in the UK have to say about this.

Andy

Thank you Andy for your response. I will most certainly forward your comments to the UK and advise their response.

With kind regards,

Mary Burke

Isn't it true that each color of the Churchill is suppose to be a limited numbered edition so by changing the color a whole new version/ LE is made? And as you said someone can ask for a bespoke and get one of the supposed LE in everything but name.

Kind of a rotten way to advertise something as a something special and then to find out that anyone can get it made up like yours.

It is disappointing and I can't think of another manufacturer who has done anything like this before.

Kurt H

Hi Kurt,

When the original owner, Don Yendle ran Conway Stewart, he marketed pens as limited runs by color. This made it a case that virtually every pen produced was a limited edition.

With the change of new ownership, the management chooses to have a 'core-color' regular production range in addition to the limited edition range. If you check on the numbering system on regular production models, you will see two sets of numbers. This denotes the color code and the serial unit number.

This does not decrease the value of previously produce pens; in fact, in years to come it should increase the value. History has proven repeatedly that idiosyncrasies of production from manufacturers throughout the years become very collectible. Just look at the model 75 and Duofold – flat cap bands vs. wedding style rings, engraved feathers on the clip vs. raised ones, country of production, etc., etc.

The above is my 0.2 cents worth and not a company statement. I felt it was important to respond personally, rather than leaving this subject hanging in the air.

Kind regards,

Mary Burke

That sort of policy is fine only if you start off with a whole new range of colours, so that everybody who buys a new pen knows the rules. As I said earlier, if you can still buy new examples of what used to be a limited edition pen, you are effectively cheating the original purchasers and you can't expect them to be happy about it.

Andy

Hi Andy,

Here is a link to a pdf of our brochure detailing finishes available in our core range.:

http://www.mvburke.com/images/conwaystewarbrochure.pdf

Now, if you wanted to order the Churchill in Casein, it is available through our bespoke service, but the end tassies are black not white as per the original pen (see image below).



I am aware there are many finishes that are no longer available, even if you wanted to order it through the bespoke service, for example, Sherbet Lemon. So, it is not a case that 'every' pen made previously is still available.

I hope the above helps.

Warmest regards,

Mary Burke

Looking at my Churchill I can only see two numbers ###/500 nothing that looks like a color code unless it is somewhere else on the pen.




I don't think that is the issue completely as to value but that a pen was purchased (at a premium) with the understanding that it would be a limited edition and that once all of a set were produced no more were going to be manufactured. But with the Bespoke service there are no ends to any of the pens.

I guess it sort of undermines the whole concept of a Conway Stewwart Limited Edition since the agreement has been broken and CS will make any pen for the anyone with enough money.

this might be a dumb question but what is casin?

Certainly not a dumb question!

Casein is an early form of plastic like material made from milk protein and used traditionally by Conway Stewart since the early 1920s to make coloured and patterned pens. David Wells wrote a short article for Pentrace about casein here. Because of the way it can be dyed, it makes particularly subtle and beautiful patterns.

The material can be softened by water over time, though you have to soak a pen for many hours to cause it any damage. A vintage casein pen is likely to suffer from brittleness if it is kept too warm and too dry over long periods as the casein needs to retain a certain amount of water within its structure to remain in good condition.

Andy

thank you Andy