Conway Stewart Assistance Needed

[stan]

Recently purchased a Churchill. Date code on 18k band is 2005. Color code is lavender yet looks brownish.

 

Clip is marked on side. Almost illegible. Is it 17k or 18k gold plate.

 

Nib is 18ct medium.

 

Please tell me about the pen. Has CS quality declined since taken over by Bespoke?

 

Are the Churchill models considered collectable? Any models more than others?

 

My cap band was stamped at Sheffield. CS website notes this as rare.

 

Thanks.

[Boston Brian]

I can tell you that the special editions of the CS Churchill pens are now sold out, and are bound to be be pretty collectable and sought after in the future.

It has been my experience that the new broad nibs made by Bespoke are more like a medium rather than a true broad, and no where as broad as the CS broad nibs in the recent past. 

 

 

 

[donnweinberg]

I purchased a modern lever-fill Churchill at the Washington DC Pen Supershow in August, 2023, for $500 from a non-store, table seller.  I didn't use it at first, and then finally took it out several months later to test it, first with water.  Something was wrong with it, as it didn't draw in much, if any, water.  It clearly had been inked -- perhaps only dipped -- as some blue ink residue filtered out into the water container.  As I didn't purchase the pen directly from Conway Stewart (although I have purchased 3 others directly from CS), I wasn't sure whether I was covered by the CS warranty.  After checking the CS website, I discovered that Vanness Pens in Nashville, is the U.S. authorized repair center for CS pens.  I mailed the pen in its original box (with papers) to Mike at Vanness and am awaiting word whether repairs are covered by the warranty and, if not, what it will cost to repair.  Mike's guess, before seeing the pen, is that the sac of this lever-filler is defective.