Leigh Reyes. My Life As a Verb.

Good pens can come by way of good pen friends, and this set would not be here without the kindness of Andy Russell. In my little pen world, he’s the Conway Stewart-and-other-English-pens encyclopedia.

Students who struggled through Shakespeare might catch the allusion. Ophelia said, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance” in Hamlet. My Rosemary set came in a presentation box, whose colors make me think of Van Gogh’s sunflowers caught in the rain. Then, as now, pens were popular gifts. According to writetime.co.uk, Rosemary pens were established in the early to mid 1920s.

The golden-colored foil lining is mostly intact. Inside the box is a product leaflet and a black reticule. (I love that word. Reticule. Mmm. So much better than purse.)

Rosemary seems to have been a sub-brand of National Security, which in turn was a mark owned by British Carbon Papers, Ltd. British Carbon outsourced the manufacture of these pens to other English pen makers, including Conway Stewart.

Inside the reticule (made flirty with a swinging tassel!), everything a bright young lady zipping around the city needs. A pencil to dash off a grocery list, a powder puff in crushed silk to freshen up between appointments, a ringtop fountain pen for thank-you notes, and a pocket comb to smooth adventurous ringlets before rushing home.

Here’s another shot of the set.

Whoever owned this set took it out once in a while to admire it, and used the pen and pencil sparingly.

I have many RMHR (red mottled hard rubber) pens in my collection. These are very fine examples. I’m lucky they were kept in their reticule, away from sunlight. And the imprints are stunning. I love how the y descender in Rosemary loops up and becomes a sprig of what else, rosemary.

The nib is smooth and firm. I wasn’t able to take pictures of writing samples; I’ll do that next week.

Thanks, Andy, for paving the way for me to have this sweet piece of history.

I don’t have too many matching sets. There’s a Waterman 100-year in red, and there’s this, a Conway Stewart Dinkie No. 526 with a matching No. 2R  pencil. That’s about it.

Conway Stewart Dinkie No. 526, matching no. 2R pencil

I imagine a lady carried these in a matching purse – oh, or even a reticule (I like that word, no one uses it outside of period romance novels) – with a set of notecards.

Conway Stewart Dinkie - it writes

These are impossible to use unposted. (Unless you have impossibly small hands.) (Or are too young to be reading this blog.) 

Conway Stewart Dinkie, nib

Sailor Jentle Ink in Green matches. In for a penny, in for a bottle.

I love red rubber. Mottled, woodgrain, ripple, it makes me think of bikers in flames.

It’s a classic material in pens, like vinyl in bondage wear. The earliest hard rubber pens came in any color you wanted, as long as it was black. Then manufacturers brought on the bling – repoussé bands, filigree overlays, full shiny metal jackets. It was the Industrial Revolution. Nothing was impossible. Yes, rubber could be red.

What pleases me in particular about red and black pens is  the patterns are integral to the material. They’re not painted on. No two are alike.

From bottom to top:

Waterman 12. I found this in Tiendesitas, of all places. The lady I bought if from said, “Only engineers buy those.” Call me Engineer Leigh. It came with an incorrect nib – an Eversharp with a good amount of flex.
Conway Stewart 200. A rare early Conway Stewart I bought from Jonathan on eBay. I hope Jonathan is somewhere in heaven surrounded by the few Conway Stewart pens he didn’t have in his earthly collection.
Swan S.F. 130. I have its cousin in black rubber. I swapped their nibs. Now this one has a broad stub that lays down a wet, juicy line.
Wahl Eversharp Gold Seal in woodgrain. Fitted with a flexible nib that’s easily one of the stars of my collection.
Waterman 7 with a Pink nib. Another favorite writer.
Oldwin. A modern pen, crafted from fifty-year old ebonite.

I am very conscious of these pens’ age when I use them. That is a huge part of their appeal; that they remain so stridently, bravely red, two world wars and many revolutions after.