Conway Stewart vs. Pelikan

[markofp]

For those of you who own both a Conway Stewart (let's say a Churchill or a Winston) and a Pelikan, like an 800: which in your opinion is the better pen, and why? 

 

I'm more attracted by the looks of the Conways, and I am troubled by Pelikan's recent issues and their changes to the barrels. But ultimately, it comes down to overall experience. 

 

What say those of you with experience of both pens?

[Mercian]

Of these brands, I only have Pelikans, but I am aware of two companies that produce pens under the ‘Conway Stewart’ brand name; one is in the UK, and the other is in the USA.

Am I right that you are referring to the UK company?

 

If you are, I remember seeing one of SBRE Brown’s early reviews in which he said that the CS pens were brass-bodied, which makes them relatively heavy (in comparison to the Pelikans).
Also, CS pens back then were either c/c or had a ‘captive (i.e. built-in) converter’, which would mean that they had a lower ink-capacity than the M800.

Those two factors put me off from buying a CS - even though their now-discontinued Winston model in the swirly/marbled burgundy colour was a Thing of Beauty (which I totally could not afford to buy at the time 😢), and various reviewers have said that the nibs on their CS pens were really nice.

 

I own a 2020 M805 in black/rhodium (with the green ink-window), and a 1990/91 M800 in the green-stripes finish.
The ‘genius’ decisions by the ‘Business tiger’ executives at Pelikan that have caused the loss of the transparency of their barrels really annoys me. Not only are they a ‘USP’ of Pelikan, not only are they really useful, they’re also beautiful!
As such, if I buy any more, they’ll be ‘vintage’ ones that do have the chatoyant stripes and the inter-stripe transparency!

 

YMMV of course, and I am keen to see the replies that you get from people who own modern CS pens.

 

Slàinte,
M.

[InesF]

11 hours ago, markofp said:

What say those of you with experience of both pens?

Owning one Conway Stewart (Jack Row Mirage) and eight Pelikans (3x M600, 2x M605, 1x M640, 1x M300, 1x 400NN), I would not rank any one of those higher than any other.

They all have their individual characteristic and therefore individual pros and cons.

For me, subjectively, the Conway Stewart and the M640 have both a big advantage because they are heavy (2x the weight of any of the others). The best nibs are the M600 EF, the M605 puck, the M300 M and the 400NN EF. All Pelikans have the best piston operation (the CS is a cc pen). Easy ink level control have the M605 White-White, the M600 Red-White, the M600 Violet-White, the M300 and the 400NN. Best price / writing experience relation is in the M300 and 400NN.

I would carry all of those as daily writer with me, except for the M300 which tends to unscrew the cap while shaken inside my bag during walking. This has some irony as the M300 is a "pocket pen". 

 

In short: you can't go wrong with either of those. Best tip is: acquire what sits best in your hand and chose the nib size wisely!

[MarcoA63]

I have three vintage CSs and various Pelikans from the 40s to a modern Souverän M600. They are all very good writers and well built pens. At present the vintage Pelikan nibs are my favourite though

[Mercian]

11 hours ago, MarcoA63 said:

At present the vintage Pelikan nibs are my favourite though

I totally agree with this.

My 1954 Pelikan 400 has the best (for me) nib of the Pelikans that I own.
It’s a 14k nib with an italic grind that is crisp and writes very smoothly, and it is a bit ‘bouncy’ or ‘springy’ - so I get two forms of line-variation from it.

My early-1980s M400 has a monoline (round-tipped) 14k nib that writes very smoothly, and has a bit of bounce, and it is ground less-wide than my more-modern Pelikans are.

 

My 2012 M205 has a two-chick steel nib on it. It has a bit of bounciness to it, and it has the ‘tear-drop-shaped’ grind rather than the ball-shaped grind on the current-production one-chick nibs.

 

My 1990/91 M800 has a stiff 18k two-tone nib that is beautiful to look at. It has two chicks on the logo & the ‘PF’ Swiss and ‘Eagle’s head’ French assay stamps on it. It writes very smoothly, lays down ink with joyous abandon, and its grind has a slightly more-interesting shape than that on my most-modern Pelikan.

 

My 2020 M805 has a beautiful-to-look-at two-tone 18k nib. It is stiff (like my 1990/91 M800 nib), and it has one chick on the nib. Its grind is very round, and my ‘F’ nib is very nearly as wide as the ‘M’ nib on my M800. It too writes very smoothly, and lays-down ink with carefree abandon.

 

I do only have one example of each of these nibs, but my experiences with them match the general consensus on FPN about the characteristics of Pelikan nibs from the relevant eras.

Which is to say that, if you want a Pelikan that gives you line-variation and ‘bounciness’, you should go for one from before the 1970s;

If you prefer your nib-grinds to be finer, go for a pre-1987 nib;

If you want an M800 with a smooth-writing stiff nib that still has a bit of ‘shape’, go for a 1990-1997 two-chick nib (I have read that the 1987-90 14k M800 nibs still had a bit of bounce, as well as the slightly-shaped nib grind);

If you want your nib grind to be smooth and to be wider, go for a post-1997 nib.