Additions To The Gang

I was working away on my commentary on the Epistle of James this past week, when Margaret popped into the office with a small but bulky package. In that package was a very lovely note from my friend and former student Suzie Stark, and within were two very elegant pens that had been Suzie’s mother’s.
 
One of them is a handsome ‘mottled Vulcanite’ pattern, manufactured by Conway Stewart for Lyon, Ltd., of Glasgow. As far as I can ascertain, it’s from between the wars; it resembles pens to which Conway sTewart assigned the model number 200M:
 
Lyon - Conway Stewart
 
The other is a Waterman, a cracked-ice body with flat black caps at top and bottom. I don’t have enough reference material to pin down the date on the Waterman, but I’d bet that it was the successor to the Lyon/Stewart pen for Suzie’s mother, so from the 40s or 50s:
 
Waterman's
 
I will entrust these to a responsible restorer when I can. The Lyon/Stewart pen will be especially tricky, because it has a chip out of the screw threads, which will make it very hard to remove the section (the bit you grip that holds the nib in) without further damaging the threads. The Waterman shouldn’t be too hard. For less special pens, I’d give it a try myself, but I would hate to cause these any harm — and I’m very eager to set them to writing.
 
I’m a little frustrated about the photos. Our flat is smallish, with no north light, and I haven’t rigged a light tent to even out such light as I can muster. I don’t even have a tripod here to hold my camera still — so these photos are not as fine as I’d wish. Making a light tent and tracking down a second-hand tripod go on my to-do list, for after the James book is finished and after taxes are all sorted.
 

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