British Pens...show And Tell.

[mallymal1]

Just received this Conway Stewart #84 yesterday from a member who restores pens in Scotland. This is my first British pen and it performs beautifully.

 

Lovely pen, Esterbrook. So glad it performs well.

[northlodge]

Just received this Conway Stewart #84 yesterday from a member who restores pens in Scotland. This is my first British pen and it performs beautifully.

 

A good starting point for English pens!

 

The CS84 / 85 / 85L series came is a very attractive array of colours, many that were not seen elsewhere in the CS product range.

 

edit: notice the subtle shift from your "British Pen" ;-)

Edited August 16, 2020 by northlodge

[SchaumburgSwan]

Hi,

 

what about a wartime Swan?

The celluloid looks quite similar to the nice CS...

 

 

 

Best

Jens

Edited August 16, 2020 by SchaumburgSwan

[Estycollector]

 

A good starting point for English pens!

 

The CS84 / 85 / 85L series came is a very attractive array of colours, many that were not seen elsewhere in the CS product range.

 

edit: notice the subtle shift from your "British Pen" ;-)

 

Yes, should I have used English rather than British?

[WhiteStarPens]

With the kind assistance of Andy Russell I have several small Conway Stewart delights to share. I'm fond of watches as well as pens and I though it was about time the two collections were harmonised... so to Mr. Russell for providing two ring top finials and a #3 Dandy nib to complete my small miniature pen ensemble:

 

Dinkie Box c.1950

Dinkie 540 Peacock Plumage c. 1938

Dinkie 540 Green/black marble c.1950

Pencil #25 ''

The Dandy Pen (no number) Ultramarine c.1939

 

I'm rather smitten with the 1930s Conways; my grail pen is a marbled Duro #26...

[WhiteStarPens]

As for the watches and their new partners:

 

Sterling Silver (1873 Chester Hallmarked) English Lever Escapement with my Great Grandfather's chain & Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee silver medal + the last of it's kind, the Ultramarine Dandy.

 

18ct Gold Verge Escapement Quarter Repeater (chimes hours and quarter pasts on request) by Muller Fils of Rouen (the town in France where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake!) c.1815 + matching chain and, of course, the Peacock Dinkie!

 

 

[WhiteStarPens]

And a close up of the Dinkie 540 in Peacock Plumage

[MBDostoevsky]

With the kind assistance of Andy Russell I have several small Conway Stewart delights to share. I'm fond of watches as well as pens and I though it was about time the two collections were harmonised... so to Mr. Russell for providing two ring top finials and a #3 Dandy nib to complete my small miniature pen ensemble:

 

Dinkie Box c.1950

Dinkie 540 Peacock Plumage c. 1938

Dinkie 540 Green/black marble c.1950

Pencil #25 ''

The Dandy Pen (no number) Ultramarine c.1939

 

I'm rather smitten with the 1930s Conways; my grail pen is a marbled Duro #26...

 

BBC - Beautiful British Craftsmanship

[BCDDiggler]

More info on this minka/boots pen, please?

Chunky Marble by Boots, Eng.
nib says Minka (steel nib)

 

 

[northlodge]

Boots had a small number of brands (Chatsworth / Rufford / Pelham) that were made by Burnham, Lang, and De La Rue in the main.

This was pretty consistent from the 20's - late 50's.

 

I am guessing that what you have there is a later "low cost import" that was stocked perhaps during the 60's & 70's. This was a time when Boots was a main component of the High Street, selling cameras, music, and clothes, etc, and not just toiletries and medications like today.

[ParramattaPaul]

My Boots is a Chatsworth. The nib is marked, 'WARRANTED 14kt GOLD 1ST QUALITY', for whatever that adds to the discussion.

[Nyoko]

I just finished restoring this little Conway Stewart Dinkie 540 a few days ago. I picked it up from ebay rather cheaply because of the cracked cap lip. The crack is small and doesn't really detract from the beauty of this pen. I quite like it even with the imperfection. The nib is semi-flexible and writes very well.

This pen uses a very tiny ink sac, a #12 (about 4.75mm diameter), which obviously does not hold much ink. However, most vintage fountain pens that used rubber sac filling systems were meant to be refilled quite often, maybe even every day. This had the benefit of continually freshening the ink supply and also served to keep the feed flushed. A tiny pen like this was clearly not designed for heavy duty writing; most likely they were meant for short notes or calendar entries. I'm not sure how much writing you could get from a pen this size; maybe one page... I should test that.

Just happend to have my Visconti Van Gogh Pollard Willows on the desk and noticed the similar shades of green and brown in both pens. They make a nice pair and provide a good size comparison.

A most interesting aspect of this particular pen is that the material is not celluloid but casein, derived from milk protein. Casein is a very beautiful type of plastic but it has one big drawback: it falls apart if you soak it in water. So if you have a pen you suspect is made from casein, keep it far away from water. Of course, that makes it much harder to repair and restore!

 

 

[Estycollector]

I just finished restoring this little Conway Stewart Dinkie 540 a few days ago. I picked it up from ebay rather cheaply because of the cracked cap lip. The crack is small and doesn't really detract from the beauty of this pen. I quite like it even with the imperfection. The nib is semi-flexible and writes very well.

 

This pen uses a very tiny ink sac, a #12 (about 4.75mm diameter), which obviously does not hold much ink. However, most vintage fountain pens that used rubber sac filling systems were meant to be refilled quite often, maybe even every day. This had the benefit of continually freshening the ink supply and also served to keep the feed flushed. A tiny pen like this was clearly not designed for heavy duty writing; most likely they were meant for short notes or calendar entries. I'm not sure how much writing you could get from a pen this size; maybe one page... I should test that.

 

Just happend to have my Visconti Van Gogh Pollard Willows on the desk and noticed the similar shades of green and brown in both pens. They make a nice pair and provide a good size comparison.

 

A most interesting aspect of this particular pen is that the material is not celluloid but casein, derived from milk protein. Casein is a very beautiful type of plastic but it has one big drawback: it falls apart if you soak it in water. So if you have a pen you suspect is made from casein, keep it far away from water. Of course, that makes it much harder to repair and restore!

 

 

 

Thank you for explaining these pens had "tiny sac's. The first time I loaded the CS #84 I got the sensation that it was not very large, or nothing like the Esterbrook #16 for which I am more accustomed.

 

Very nice pens, BTW.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Estycollector

[WhiteStarPens]

I use a green early 1950s Dinkie quite regularly, it'll last a week in my experience of note taking. Though if you wanted to use a pen on a level more than a few phone numbers a day, or a few short letters a week, get a full size Conway - I hardly need an excuse, but it's a useful justification!

Edited September 1, 2020 by WhiteStarPens

[Nyoko]

 

Thank you for explaining these pens had "tiny sac's. The first time I loaded the CS #84 I got the sensation that it was not very large, or nothing like the Esterbrook #16 for which I am more accustomed.

 

Very nice pens, BTW.

Thank you! The #12 sac is sometimes quite hard to install because the sac nipple is sometimes very wide, as it is with my Dinkie, and every time I would get the sac stretched around it (which is awkward), the sac would try to slip off. I finally had to use a little clip to hold it in place until the shellac dried. Then it stayed in place without any trouble.

 

Despite the tiny sac, this pen is a good writer. And they are a lot of fun to use!

[Nyoko]

I use a green early 1950s Dinkie quite regularly, it'll last a week in my experience of note taking. Though if you wanted to use a pen on a level more than a few phone numbers a day, or a few short letters a week, get a full size Conway - I hardly need an excuse, but it's a useful justification!

 

Thank you for sharing that information. I've never used any of our Dinkies consistently enough to have an accurate idea of how much writing one could get from a fill of ink. I suppose it also depends on the type of nib. This one is kind of flexible so you could probably use up the ink supply pretty fast.

 

You are right about the process of pen purchase justification (or rationalization)! But, on the other hand, many of the Conway Stewart pens I have so fortunately acquired have such splendid flexible oblique italic nibs -- in addition to their beautiful celluloid bodies -- that no rationalization was required!

 

[WhiteStarPens]

Here's a modern twist on a coveted classic - An Onoto Magna Set!

 

The pencil was a special commission to match the gold/chased prototype, bought at the 2019 Bristol Show. I've attached the original concept drawings, as well as his images of the finished pen and the original Onoto mechanism employed in the design.

 

It was a pleasure working with the good folk at Onoto on a pair I used every day without fail. Of all the modern pen companies, for me there is none better than Onoto.

 

Does anyone else have a British E.D.C set ?

[WhiteStarPens]

Here's a neat photo from another thread; my 1950s smallest vs largest contest... #100 vs Dinkie #540...

[Summit pens]

One of my favourites: Summit H. 65, from the 1930s

[CrichtonCrais]

Recently received Onoto The Loch Ness and The Highlander.