Isaac Newton LE

[andyk]

Just been looking at this pen online following receipt of the CS newsletter, whilst the basic pen is fine and I love modern CSs, the design on the pen does little for me.

 

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my pens not to have elaborate art work on them as for me it screams DON'T USE ME - I'M DELICATE and using is after all the reason most of us buy pens. Don't get me wrong, I love all the different coloured designs (swirls, specks, lines etc etc), but pictures are not really my thing.

 

Just my opinion of course and the rest of you may well love it, but somehow it doesn't do much for me and somehow 'ruins' a nice pen.

 

Edited for spelling etc

Edited July 20, 2007 by andyk

[Jimmy]

Andy,

 

Where can one see this Newton ? I don't see it on CS english site nor Luxury brand site. Could you provide a direct link ?

 

Jimmy

[andyk]

Jimmy,

 

Try this

 

http://www.mvburke.com/limitededitions/isaacnewton.htm

 

 

[Jimmy]

Thank you, Andy. Don't like too much this kind of pen, but I am curious : how is it done ? Individually handpainted, then varnished ?

[Mary Burke]

Hi Jimmy,

 

The Isaac Newton pen has a resin base and then painted by hand. It is finished with a very strong varnish, and in fact, it is the same strength used by car manufacturers to seal and protect the paint finish. The art on this pen will definitely not rub off!

 

Regards,

 

Mary

http://www.mvburke.com/images/limitededitions/isaacnewton1.jpg

[andyk]

Mary,

 

Thanks for clearing up the delicacy issue, but as a bit of a traditionalist I still can't really take to pens with pictures/paintings on, although I probably wouldn't say no to Maki-e type pen.

[markc]

CS are beautiful pens.. In fact there are a few up there that I would love to add to my collection.. Next to my Churchill Italic.. But I agree.. pens with pictures scream gaudy to me.. I'm a fan of subtle elegance.

 

-Mark

[parilla]

For me this pen marks the absolute end of any spiritual connection between the original Conway Stewart company and the pen manufacturing firm which bears its venerable name. To be quite frank, I am appalled. Ah well, the world moves on....

[Titivillus]

Just been looking at this pen online following receipt of the CS newsletter, whilst the basic pen is fine and I love modern CSs, the design on the pen does little for me.

 

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my pens not to have elaborate art work on them as for me it screams DON'T USE ME - I'M DELICATE and using is after all the reason most of us buy pens. Don't get me wrong, I love all the different coloured designs (swirls, specks, lines etc etc), but pictures are not really my thing.

 

Just my opinion of course and the rest of you may well love it, but somehow it doesn't do much for me and somehow 'ruins' a nice pen.

 

Edited for spelling etc

 

It is a bit painted, don't know if I could use it

 

 

k

Edited July 22, 2007 by Tytyvyllus

[andyr7]

I agree totally with Kurt and parilla, though I believe all spiritual connection with the past ended when Don Yendle left the scene. The present company seems to have no real interest in their history at all.

 

However, I guess if people stopped buying these fancy pens, they would stop making them. Or maybe they have stopped buying them and CS is addressing the problem by moving their output even further towards the so-called 'luxury' end of the market!

 

Thank heavens there are plenty of beautiful vintage CS pens still available for a fraction of the cost of the modern offerings......

 

Andy

[andyk]

I still like the basic CS FPs, it's just some of the LEs that really don't appeal, to be honest pens like Krones (to name but one maker) have never appealed (in fact none of the really ornate jewel encrusted ones do), I am sure they are popular with some people, just not me.

 

I think some of the resin CSs are gorgeous (I have a 100 in Peppered White and a Duro in Cherry Red), but no matter how well made or how well some of the LEs may write I couldn't bring myself to buy one as I don't think they are designed with using in mind. It isn't just this particular pen, some of the other LEs are a bit 'over the top' for my tastes.

[Titivillus]

However, I guess if people stopped buying these fancy pens, they would stop making them. Or maybe they have stopped buying them and CS is addressing the problem by moving their output even further towards the so-called 'luxury' end of the market!

 

Andy

 

That's the annoying thing. :roflmho: CS only needs a few people with a 'taste' for these very expensive ornate pens to sell out and make a profit. Don't need to worry about writing characteristics or anything beyond making a limited edition So I don't ever see them trying to move downmarket as they have pretty much burned those bridges going into the extreme high end.

 

 

K

 

[Titivillus]

I still like the basic CS FPs, it's just some of the LEs that really don't appeal, to be honest pens like Krones (to name but one maker) have never appealed (in fact none of the really ornate jewel encrusted ones do), I am sure they are popular with some people, just not me.

 

I think some of the resin CSs are gorgeous (I have a 100 in Peppered White and a Duro in Cherry Red), but no matter how well made or how well some of the LEs may write I couldn't bring myself to buy one as I don't think they are designed with using in mind. It isn't just this particular pen, some of the other LEs are a bit 'over the top' for my tastes.

 

But as I said above they are moving farther and farther away squeezing their basic pens into a higher bracket unless you want to bespoke the lower end but then you are paying more anyways.

 

Oh well after 6 Churchills I think I am through with them as a whole. Not that it would make a whit of difference to them but they are off my desire list.

 

K

[Mary Burke]

I love many vintage and modern style Conway Stewart pens. I do not have a good library of vintage images, (although I bet Andy could chip in here!) but below are some of the modern designs that I particular like and they are not in any particular order.

 

http://www.mvburke.com/images/doctor5.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/dinkie2.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/green2.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/18Kbrick.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/newproducts/dartmoor1.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/sterling2.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/CS6.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/cromwell.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/stardust1.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/board/ssdurolava.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/romanoff4.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/ripple3.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/church1.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/pepperedwhite.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/limitededitions/ss2.jpg

http://www.mvburke.com/images/photogallery/bronze.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mvburkeusa/Conway_Stewart/nelsonresin-classic-green.jpg

 

As I said, the above are just a few and it would be great if the people reading this board would contribute their favorite designs --- covering modern and vintage. I am sure there are many vintage designs that could be posted here that have not been documented in books as there were so many finishes produced.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mary

 

 

[Carrie]

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my pens not to have elaborate art work on them as for me it screams DON'T USE ME - I'M DELICATE

Or you could just say don't use me, I'm tacky. I just saw the pictures of this pen in the newsletter yesterday and I was absolutely appalled. Kurt has summed up one of my first thoughts when he said Kroneification. The new Conway Stewart company has produced some very nice pens with beautiful resins, but to my eyes a pen decorated like that could never be called beautiful. As far as I'm concerned pictures on pens should be limited to the type of school pens you can pick up for less than a fiver.

[HDoug]

Mary, your defense of Conway Stewart is beautiful and heroic, and if Conway Stewart lasts a thousand years, men may say that this was your finest hour. That Newton fountain pen is really peculiar. I think some of us worry that the CS Elvis will be next. (Elvis Costello, of course!)

 

I love the photos you posted though -- thanks for reminding us that CS makes some gorgeous fountain pens. You might want to send your reminder to the people that actually run the company too.

 

This isn't personal, Mary. We know it's not your fault.

 

Doug

Edited July 22, 2007 by HDoug

[andyr7]

This isn't personal, Mary. We know it's not your fault.

 

Doug

 

Doug, you make a good point and I have to say (in her defence) that Mary is the one member of the present CS company that does take an interest in their vintage pens! I found it particularly disappointing that nobody from the modern company saw fit to attend the CS Study day we ran in London last year when they could have heard a full history of 100 years of Conway Stewart pens compressed into about 5 hours and seen some examples of the most fantastic vintage CS pens 'in the flesh'. This array of rare vintage pens is never likely to be seen in public together again so it was a wonderful opportunity missed and, who knows, they may even have been inspired to use some of this history in future designs.

 

Andy

[andyk]

Given the really nice looking resins (plastics, call them what you will) they can produce now, I still find it quite surprising that CS and other manufacturers no longer seem to have the ability (or is it the will) to reproduce some of the earlier designs, I still can't understand why they can't poduce something like the herringbone designs.

 

Not just CS, how about Parker with the various Vac designs or Sheaffer with some of the striped Balance designs.

 

Whilst I guess CS want to keep up the luxury mage, will it really be harmed by having some lower/medium end pens in the range, from memory the cheapest of the new CSs has been the 58 which cost around £180, hardly cheap.

 

The average price of their pens has tended towards the £280+ mark, whilst they are great pens wouldn't it be better to sell a large number at say £100/120 range, the higher end ones will probably still sell and this might actually draw more sales as people trade up. Pelikan amongst others has produced a wide range of quality pens at various prices as have others and people do tend to trade up.

 

Got a bit of the point now, but I still can't bring myself to love pens with pictures on them, sorry Mary, but your post just shows how many other really nice pens they make.

[Reisho]

I totally agree with what's been said, I don't like figurative arts on pens either. Even maki-e pens, as much as I enjoy admiring them, as for buying one, I'd rather go for plain urushi. And as usual, those I really like are above my means.

 

Speaking of above my means, could someone tell me what is the name of the colour of the gorgeous set (a kind of perlescent grey with a pinkish hue) on Mary's second picture?

 

Thank you,

 

Reisho

[Carrie]

I still can't understand why they can't poduce something like the herringbone designs.

 

That got my interest a short while ago when Mary said that the herringbone pattern couldn't be produced on modern pens. I'd love to know the reason why not. Is it expense or has the knowledge of how to create a pattern like that been lost? If CS were to produce a modern pen in the herringbone design I'd be very tempted. I love my two vintage heringbones.