Conway Stewart 57

[Jeph]

This is a Conway Stewart 57 from England in the early 60’s. It is made from plastic and has a slip fit cap. The clip has the interlinked “CS” logo at the top. The cap band has a squared chain decoration around the band. The barrel has the imprint “Conway 57” above “MADE IN ENGLAND.” The end of the barrel has an air hole. The pen is filled with an integral squeeze filler made to look much like a Parker aerometric filler. The nib is thin 14K and has a pair of tabs at the back end that engage in a thin slot on the feed. The feed is the longest that I have ever seen at a full 2 1/8 inches long. One interesting aspect of the feed is that it has a separate air channel that runs along the bottom of the feed. Other than a large slot on the back portion of the feed that is inside the ink sac, the top of the feed only has one thin ink slot and no provision for air to travel back along the same path. The breather hole on the nib sits above the place where the ink slit intersects with the air hole in the bottom of the feed that begins the air channel. The end of the section is partially hooded and matches the contour of the feed where the air hole is placed.

This pen has several issues. The fit of the nib and feed is loose within the section so when the pen arrived it looked like a semi-hooded Parker 61 clone. The tip of the section is stained and I made no progress making it better. The plastic is obviously poor quality. The cap lip has numerous longitudinal cracks and soon to be cracks all around the circumference. The barrel is also cracked. The filler works well with water and provides a strong pull, if not particularly sturdy. I did not bother building up the section bore for proper installation of the nib and feed but I tried the nib dry and it did seem to write reasonably well and even had a (very) slight capability for flex. Other than the nib, clip and cap ring the entire rest of the pen looks, well, cheap. If I did not know that it was made in England in the 60’s I would think that it was a modern(ish) Chinese pen. Actually I have seen some Chinese pens that look (and are) better made. This is an example of what people are talking about when they speak of the decline of Conway Stewart. But, it is a way to get a vintage pen with a 14K nib for under $20. Unfortunately I paid 20 euros for it so I got ripped off. I will probably just rob the nib and stick it in another pen. But it does make a nice beater pen if you can get it cheaply.

Dimensions

Length Capped    139 mm  5.47 in.  5  1/2 "
Posted Length    150 mm  5.92 in.  5 15/16"
Unposted length  122 mm  4.82 in.  4 13/16"
Cap Length        64 mm  2.54 in.  2  1/2 "
Barrel Max Dia  11.1 mm   .44 in.     7/16"
Section Min Dia  7.1 mm   .28 in.     9/32"

CS57 Capped.jpgCS57.jpgCS57 Parts.jpgCS57 Feed Top.jpgCS57 Feed Bottom.jpgCS57 Nib.jpg