Were Conway Stewarts Good Pens? Which Ones In Particular?

[markofp]

I learned at the DC Show that someone is trying to revive Conway Stewart. Some of their pens looked very stately and attractive to me, and I generally enjoy British craftsmanship. I never owned one though.

 

How were they? How would they compare to an Montblanc or Pelikan, for instance? Was there one especially good? I am curious because I wonder why the company died in the first place.

 

Thanks!

[alexander_k]

I've had only one, the Churchill. It was a lovely big pen, with a smooth, stiff and rather dry broad nib. The only problem was that as a lever filler it had relatively small capacity, certainly for a broad nib. I'd certainly put it at the same level as a high-end Montblanc or Pelikan - in fact, I have an Oscar Wilde that feels quite similar in many respects, only it's a piston filler and a juicy writer. So, what does this say about the viability of a company that sells luxury items that interest an increasingly smaller of people?

[Bo Bo Olson]

The new company that died made high classed pens; higher class than the vintage '70's and before pens.

The trouble with any company that don't have a luggage department like MB or an office supply main company like Pelikan, or part of a conglomerate like Parker/Waterman or Sheaffer is it's very hard to make a company survive that only makes fountain pens.

 

There were some so there are still some grand looking Conway Stewart pen....way too expensive for me....they were 'aimed' at MB....and I drooled over many of them.

 

So chase them on Ebay or Pen shows.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[s_t_e_v_e]

Yes, Conway Stewart made attractive pens. The best thing about their pens is their nib. Out of the box they may be over polished resulting in baby's bottom problem, but once that is fixed, the nib is one of the nicest feeling nibs I've used. I have one CS Belliver and it's one of my favorites.

 

CS is right up there in the league of MBs and Pelikans. Like folks have already pointed out, selling just high-end fountain pens isn't a very lucrative business anymore. Plus all of their offerings were high-end. If they had an entry level pen, things could have been different. They also didn't diversify like MB or Visconti. OMAS shut for the same reason.

[jar]

Conway Stewart pens have been quite good in my experience with the exception of those pens made during the last few years of the original company. I am particularly fond of the #58 sized family of pens.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I have one Conway Stewart made by the original company that went out of business in 1975, not the revived company that went out of business in 2014. Mine is from the mid 1950s, a nice little vest pocket sized celluloid lever filler with a gold nib. Low ink capacity, unfortunately, but otherwise a very nice pen. Seeking out vintage pens like this might be rewarding, if that's what you're into. The original company was a highly reputable brand, but I don't think it was meant as a luxury brand.

 

I had no experience with the revived and now defunct company, which made luxury pens that weren't really in consideration for me. If it's revived yet again, the pens might be excellent, but merely re-using a famous name won't make them the same.