Vintage Conway Stewart Pens

In 1905 Frank Jarvis and Howard Garner started a pen company, they named the company, not 'Jarvis Garner' but 'Conway Stewart'.  The reasons for the anomalous name choice are not clear, but perhaps the most compelling explanation is that, at the time, both partners were currently employed by companies handling pens and didn't want to jeapordise a secure livelihood on a risky venture.  They needn't have worried, in the 'golden era' of fountain pens they sold at least as many pens in the U.K. as any of their main competitors. 

The company went into recievership in 1975 but the name lived on and, after a number of 'resurrections', now produces extremely high quality pens, many of which are 'tributes' to the originals.

The Conway Stewart story is brilliantly told in Stephen Hulls 'Fountain Pens for the Million' book.