The Conway Stewart 75

That looks like one of those puzzle pictures – “Is one of these things bigger than the other or is it an optical illusion?” Actually, they’re the same size and they’re Conway Stewart 75s. Though it’s not depicted here, there is a slightly shorter 75, and even a bandless one. Judging by the frequency with which it appears in eBay, the 75 may well have been Conway Stewart’s most popular post-war model. It was inexpensive, mostly because the trim was chrome plated instead of gold plated. In 1955, when the 60 cost three pounds and six shillings, and the popular 27 cost one pound six shillings and sixpence, the 75 retailed at a mere seventeen shillings including purchase tax. As the build quality was as good as that of the bigger, more expensive pens and the nib is comparatively large, this made the 75 a good deal back in the nineteen-fifties, and it still is.

This was meant to be a clever side-by-side photo of the two 75 nibs but one was out of focus, blast it, so you only get one! That’s an elegantly-shaped CS 3 nib, if you think of the broad, short 84 nib, or the narrow, somewhat wraparound nib of the 55 for comparison. That’s just about the way a fountain pen nib should look!

If you prefer white-metal trim, as many do, this may be the post-war Conway Stewart for you. After all, these pens were made soundly enough that they have survived intact more than fifty years in their thousands. They come in a rainbow of colours and will likely cost around half what you’d pay for a Conway Stewart 60.

Flexibility And A Waterman 52

Though I enjoy flexibility and I know many of my customers do, I don’t try to buy flexible pens. Buying from photographs, as I do, it’s impossible to judge what will be flexible and what won’t. I’ve had nibs with long, slender tines that you’d swear had to be superflex and they were hard as nails. Conversely, I’ve had short, stubby nibs that had wonderful line variation. You just can’t tell by looking at ’em.

Of course I buy a lot of pens, and on average somewhere between a third and a half of those I buy will have an appreciable degree of flexibility, so I get to play with lots of interesting nibs. I often see people raising questions about how to buy a flexible-nibbed vintage pen on FPN and I feel sorry for them, because there really isn’t a good answer. They only want to buy one Swan or one Waterman, not four in the hope that one will turn out to be what they want, and the odds are against them. Hope is at hand, though because online sellers are increasingly including writing samples and good descriptions of the attributes of nibs these days.

All of which is a long and wandering preamble to today’s pen, a rather ordinary Waterman 52. It’s clipless and probably one of the earlier ones. It has nice gold trim, hallmarked in the case of the cap band, but it’s quite faded and worn.

None of that matters a bit when you see what the nib is capable of. It’s towards the fine end of medium unflexed and it flexes readily to double broad or more, with instant return. It’s a gem, and it goes to show that there are many superb writers out there awaiting restoration and to be returned to use.

Parker 51 Pen & Pencil Set

As those of you who have been around this blog for a while will remember, I’m not especially enamoured of the Parker 51, nor, indeed, of hooded-nib pens in general.  I’m making an exception for this set:

Everything about this set suggests that it has been treasured.  The pen and pencil are in wonderful condition and the box is pristine.  The little I know about Parker 51s includes that the Aerometrics had a long production run, from 1950 to 1969.  At its last possible date of production, then, this set is 43 years old.  In all probability it’s older.  I know a few forty-three-year-olds and none of them look as good as this!

 

Waterman No 14 Eyedropper Filler.

 

The Waterman Ideal 14 differs only in size from the No 12. It’s close to as simple as a fountain pen can get and yet there is still, rightly, huge demand for these excellent writers. I believe it came out in 1899, breaking new ground with its cone cap and the overflow reservoirs in the feed, which Waterman now christened the “spoon feed”.

I think it’s worth saying with regard to this particular example that I’m not totally convinced that the cap is original. The person I bought it from, to be fair, wasn’t sure either. It fits perfectly in length and diameter but it’s a little darker than the rest of the pen and I view it with mild suspicion.

Waterman made a virtue of the minimalist simplicity of these pens; there’s a barrel, a cap, a feed, a section and a nib. That’s it. It’s all you need to make a perfect pen! Later models came with a fixed clip as an option, and so popular was this range of pens that it continued on sale until around 1925.

The main reason for their continuing popularity today is the nib. The No 14 nib is noticeably bigger than 12, but otherwise it conforms to the same “Ideal” design. These are wonderful nibs. This particular one is very fine, perhaps an EF, with superb flexibility and snappy return.

I should have photographed the barrel thread. Waterman’s have quite short barrel threads, but they’re deeply cut and unless they’re completely worn out, which is rare, they hold ink absolutely securely. No need to go slapping silicone grease on these pens!

Because the cap may be a replacement, I can’t date this pen with certainty but it’s unlikely to be much, if any, less than a hundred years old. What a privilege it is to share the pleasure of writing with such an exceptional pen with its original buyer all those years ago!

Pen Prices

Back to buying pens in eBay today for the first time in quite a while. It’s one of my favourite things to do. Sitting there for the last few seconds, finger poised over the mouse button – it’s exciting in a good non-stressful way and paradoxically it’s very relaxing, as I shut the rest of the world out and concentrate on the auction.

Strangely, given how terrible the economy is, prices for unrestored pens seem to be rising. Not quite what you’d expect. You’d think that people suffering the squeeze of the wage freeze or the penury of unemployment would be spending the few pennies they have on Rice Crispies and Baked Beans to keep body and soul together, but no, they’re all in there bidding furiously on a tatty Burnham with a missing clip. Perhaps that’s how Britain will rise again from the double-dip depression, by everyone sitting at home fixing up pens and selling them to those who still have some money left, at home and abroad.

Seriously, though, everyday, ordinary old pens do seem to be enjoying a price rise, and they did at this time last year too. While it’s a little annoying to those of us looking to buy in stock, it’s good for the hobby. If old pens have a decent value they’re less likely to be thrown out or cannibalised for the value of the gold nib.

The Shop Door’s Open!

It’s been in planning since April and in development since June. That’s quite a gestation period for a simple little sales website, but it’s ready to go at last! If it ever crosses your mind that you might like a professionally-crafted website, take a look at the bottom right hand corner of mine, note the name and avoid them like the plague! As you know, I’ve had some trouble with those people, she said, using understatement for effect, and though I’ve spent hours checking the operation of the site there are some areas I can’t fully test, so if you come across any glitches drop me an email and I’ll butcher the lot of them have a word with the developers.

Yesterday was a blur of photographing, editing photos, writing descriptions and uploading but looking at the site now I think it will be worth it. There must be around seventy pens there, mostly British, all makes. But why tell you about it when you can go and look for yourself!

http://www.goodwriterspensales.com

Making Progress

I’m hoping to announce the sales site on Sunday. Annoyingly, I had commitments on Monday and Wednesday of this week that were unavoidable and took a whole precious day each. I’ve got some Swans loaded on to the site – I’ll probably add quite a few more – and some Conway Stewarts. There are quite a few in the Bargain Corner and some in Uncommon & Unusual. I still have to load some Watermans, Parkers, Mentmores Summits and others.

My future contains much testing, photographing, describing and uploading.

So Glad That’s Over!

My final communication with my website builders:

Dear XXXXXXX,

I am immensely relieved that the creation of my website is finally over – or nearly over as you will see from the accompanying email. As usual, there is a foolish fault that shows once more that no-one is checking their own work, nor is there any form of quality control in place.

A very simple website that should have taken less than a fortnight to create has taken three months. That was three months of miserable frustration for me, as I spent hour after hour listing the careless mistakes that first the execrable Jugoslav and later Marija constantly made and equally constantly maintained had been put right when they evidently had not. Very little was corrected the first time I pointed out errors, and most things took up to five times before they were truly put right. In what world is that good business practice? It was also three months of lost sales for me, a small fortune that has been sacrificed to the incompetence, carelessness and total indifference to the interests of the customer that is your company’s hallmark, as further evidenced by the negative and condemnatory comments that are all over the Internet.

I understand that you use foreign workers because they are cheap. In the cases of the two who worked on my site, I hope they’re very cheap indeed. They would need to be if you’re going to get value for money. Frankly, I don’t care who does the coding, but you might have provided English-speaking oversight to avoid some of the worst time-wasting linguistic errors. Zoe, apparently, was supposed to supply some form of oversight but never did. You might consider whether her salary is well spent.

I note that you have added your company’s name to my website. That’s up to you. All my customers are well aware of what has been going on, and the almost farcical level of incompetence I’ve had to deal with. I didn’t name you, but if you want to out yourselves, that’s up to you. I would suggest that you don’t use my site in your gallery of sites you have made, listed on your website. If anyone contacts me I will be scrupulously honest and comprehensive in my opinion of your work.

In the survey I had to fill in before the site would go live, I was asked for comments. These are those comments but in case you missed it over there on the survey, I will repeat that this has been the worst experience of my business life. I still cannot believe how awful your company is, and how often a supposedly finished site was presented to me, only for me to find it was laughable in its dereliction, except for that fact that there was nothing funny about it. You managed to make me hate my own website. Bravo.

It would certainly be kinder to those hoping to put their business online if you were to find other work. There are many openings commensurate with your skills; there are ditches to be dug, garbage to be collected and burgers to be flipped. Go on, pack it in and get a job you can do!

Regards,
Deborah Gibson

It Lives! It Lives!

My website is finally online, but I’m not publishing the URL just yet, as I’m still in the process of populating it with pens. Swans, Blackbirds, Conway Stewarts, Stephens, Summits and many, many more! Bargain Corner! Uncommon and unusual pens! Low, low introductory prices! Flexible nibs!

Watch this space!