This new addition to my collection is, paradoxically, the oldest! A good 60 years my senior, in fact, as it was produced in the UK in the 1950s, for the Australia market. A friend who lives in Australia heard that I was starting a fountain pen collection and offered to send me an old Conway Stewart she no longer used. She wasn’t sure of the condition of the filling system though. After packaging the pen securely, it was on its way back to its country of birth.
The pen arrived today in all its shiny green and black glory!
I hope I age as well as this pen has! I can’t see any scratches, the Conway Stewart logo is still clearly visible and there is no problem with the clip. The 70 model seems to be relatively obscure online so I only know fragments of information about it. I believe the body of it to be casein, a plastic derived from the by-products of milk. It has astonishing memory, so don’t be getting it hot or wet because it will immediately try to flatten itself out! The nib is 14ct gold tipped with either iridium or steel.
I had a hard time figuring out the filling system. Then I looked at the metal bit on the barrel and tentatively flipped it upwards. Ah, a lever-fill system! There was a hint of rust inside but it seemed to be in good condition. So I put the nib in ink, flipped it shut again then waited for 15 seconds. Tada! A perfectly writing Conway Stewart pen! It has a thin- medium writing thickness. The nib is very springy, so press down harder and you get a thicker line. I believe it will be wonderful for calligraphy.
The cap as you can see, can be posted.
The nib, though many decades old, feels lovely to write with and isn’t really scratchy at all, which surprised me.
From my experience of this beautiful and functional pen, I would be encouraged to buy a modern model. It is everything a fountain pen should be!
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