There is an obvious chronological progression in clip style that enables one to roughly date the Conway Stewart pen or pencil according to its clip. The earliest pens, probably made in the US for Conway Stewart and not by the CS Company, are either clipless or have an inserted fixed clip without a flange as shown in Figs. 1 to 3. I believe that many of the early pre-1920 pens made by Conway Stewart were clipless.
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| Fig. 1: Pre 1920 USA. Imprint on cap. Not a Cs feature | Fig. 2: Pre 1920 USA. The rotating ball is reminiscent of Wahl clips | Fig. 3: Pre 1920 USA. No number & imprint on cap | Fig. 4: Circa 1920, first Conway Stewart clip, patent pending |
The first clip style made by CS is the one shown in Fig. 4, and dates to about 1918. It is typified by the oval shaped flange with logo and also occurs on the earlier Duro pens. By the early 20's the oval flange was replaced by the oblong flange as shown in Fig 5.
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| Fig. 5: Red Duro No.2 classic fixed clip | Fig. 6: Typical washer type ball clip | Fig. 7: A Scribe 336. Note domed top and large logo | Fig. 8: Like Fig. 6 but with diamond tip. |
The washer type clip terminating in a ball, dates from the early 30's until mid 30's and is capped typically with a flat top or slightly domed top (Figs. 6 - 8). In the late 30's and the years of WW2, the ball clip was replaced with the "diamond" clip while the peaked top became predominant (Fig. 9).
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| Fig. 9: Peaked top & diamond clip typical between c1935 and c1945 | Fig. 10: No. 33 pencil with cowling around brass stud | Fig. 11: Another pencil with delicate clip | Fig. 12: Plastic stud & diamond tip but no logo |
In the post-war era and until the early 60's, the diamond clips were fixed with a stud which in more prestigious pens was of aluminium or brass and in cheaper models was plastic (Figs 10, 11).
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| Fig. 13: Anodized is the name for this brassy cap | Fig. 14: No style here | Fig. 15: "El cheapo" | Fig. 16: 570 Lumina - remeniscent of Parker clip |
Lastly in the downhill stretch before bankruptcy, the clips lost any uniform appearance, as they tried to vie with the styles of the modern ballpoint pens. (Figs 12-16).
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| Fig. 17: This is the W.H. Smith logo on a custom pen made by Conway Stewart | Fig. 18: This is a lever made in Germany for the "flighter" type ball-point | Fig. 19: The Esterbrook Relief logo on a Relief pen equivalent to the CS Cracked Ice No. 28 | Fig. 20: The Le Tigre logo on typical CS clip |
Above are some clips made by Conway Stewart for Custom pens.
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| Fig. 21: I'm fairly certain the Empire clip and lever are made by CS, but require more verification | Fig. 22: This looks like a Burnham clip, but everything else is Conway Stewart | Fig. 23: In preparation for the next update | Fig. 24: In preparation for the next update |
And here (above) are some levers on what I think are probably pens made by Conway Stewart. Perhaps you can help?
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