News — Conway Stewart 560 Dinkie

The Conway Stewart 560 replaced the 550 in 1963.  As I have both versions, in the same colour, I thought a quick comparison of the two might be useful.  In the photographs the 550 is at the top. The 560 is noticeably longer, about 5mm., than the 550.  The cap is also more streamlined.  It may appear that the difference in length is due to the cap length but, as the next photo shows, this is not the case. The barrel and section are both slightly longer on the 560. As the 560 nib is 'semi hooded' and the 550...

Although not marketed as a 'Conway Stewart Lady' this little pen has often been compared to the small Parker.  The odd thing is that, when capped the Conway is about 1 cm. shorter than the Parker but it is ever so slightly longer when posted for writing.  The Parker Lady is quite a bit 'fatter' than the Dinkie.  I have read that the Conway Stewart 560 was only produced from 1962 to 1963 to replace the 550 but,in the brilliant 'Fountain pens of the World' Andreas Lambrou dates the pen from 1955, I'll go with Andreas.