ASSOCIATED PENS

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This page will be used to document those pens that are believed to have been manufactured by Lang based upon Summit models. At the current time you will find the following brands detailed below:

Conway Stewart Eversharp Kingswood The John Bull The Lewis
Major Service National Security / Rosemary New Bond Easiflow New Ideal
The Regent The Regency The Rufford The Savoy
The Slik The Stephens The Strand The Velvatip
The Whitehall Pen      

         

 CONWAY STEWART

Okay, tongue in cheek, but I do believe that certain Conway Stewart models were made by Lang during the 1940's. I think the four  CS240's below are such examples, sporting the straight lever typical of the S range of the era, and often found carrying Warranted 14ct nibs:

 cs240

And if there is any doubt in the above, this CS 440 should satisfy any jury:

440

There are a number of theories about why Conway Stewart would have sold pens made by other companies, one is around a general shortage of plastics post war, and another very plausable one is that it was during a period when Conway Stewart were relocating their factory after WW2. In either event, Lang were regarded as the major supplier of "bought in pens", and may have been a commercially more preferable source than to have gone to a company like Mabie Todd or Watermans.

Eversharp Kingswood

Eversharp were a major US manufacturer of quality pens, whose name was used on a small number of pens sold into the UK market. These were almost certainly manufactured locally, and it is variously claimed that Valentine, Mabie Todd, or Lang were the source. They might all have been involved at different points in time, but this example should confirm the Lang connection:

Kingswood

A theme that repeats itself in the 'third party' pens of this era is the button filler, something that Summit never really committed to in their branded models. .

The John Bull

There is some evidence to suggest that Lang were one of the manufacturers used to produce the John Bull range. Further details will be included at a later date. 

 The Lewis

Manufactured for the Liverpool based department store (not to be confused with the rival John Lewis store) in the late 1920's. This pen appears to be based upon the standard H.100, measures 135mm, and carries a Warranted 14ct nib. I originally suggested that the unusual pocket clip shown below might have been a later addition, but I am now convinced it was standard on this pen.  It has also been suggested that Conway Stewart made pens for the Lewis store, but I am not currently convinced that this is an accurate claim.

 

lewis

 

lewis bs   

 

MAJOR SERVICE

It has been suggested that the Major Service name was a model name used by Summit, but I am inclined to believe that Major Service was a brand name used by Lang. There is evidence to suggest that Lang 're-branded' the models that were being marketed by Curzon under the Summit, Auotvac, Pinnacle, etc, with Major Service being just one of the brand names used.  

 The picture below will confirm the link between Curzon, Lang and Major Service:

Major Service Pen

The Lapis blue pen is certainly based on the H 100, and the Black HR example below it  also has a H Model feel about it. It is the bottom example (which came in the box) that provides confirmation. It is modelled on the Pinnicle (with interchangable parts), carries the Major Service barrel stamp, and the BCM mark on the pen and the side of the box is known to have been used by Curzon / Lang for London based production.   

National Security Pen / Rosemary

The National Security brand, like its sister the Rosemary "That's for Remembrance" brand, were manufactured for the British Carbon Papers company. (this appears to have been what in today's terminology would be called a large office supplies company ).  It is often claimed that the early examples (1920 - 1935) would have been manufactured by Henry Stark, Son & Hamilton, who operated out of the same London address as BCP. There might be some truth in this, but there is also likely to be some truth in the suggestion that BCP bought up almost any surplus stock and sold it off under the National Security name.

Personally I find all these early National Security pens to be of excellent quality irrespective of their origin. Those pictured below are I believe Lang products:

National Security 

The top pen is clearly based upon the Autovac, and the next three on the S.175. 

I am coming to believe that most of the  "Rosemary - thats for Remembrance" pens were also Lang products. Below is a photoshowning the early Curzon "4 leaf shamrock" logo on a BCHR Pinnacle, above a similar logo on a very small Rosemary pen.

rosemary lever 

 

Irrespective of the original manufacturer the barrel stamp appears to have remained pretty much the same: the lion holding a pen and the motto "Highest Grade English Manufacture"

ns bs 

The New Bond Easiflow

This brand appears to have a poor reputation, judging by the prices they attract on ebay! This might have something to do with the fact that they appear to have been manufactured for  Woolworth's ( a low end high street department store). As with many of the store brands, it is probable that they were produced by different manufacturers at different points in time. I have seen some early New Bond EasiFlow  333's in black that  resemble the S.75, and this nice colourful NBEF 333 has similarities to the S.100 Cadet:

NBEF

NBEF BS 

 whilst these NBEF 444's below are almost certainly based upon the later S.70 model:

444   

 My latest addition, complete with box, gives no suggestion of it being a product from a cheap high street outlet:

444 box 


At the current time I am able to confirm the existence of NBEF models 333, 444, 555, and 666.

New Ideal  15/6 & 21/-

The New Ideal always seems to use the price point within the model name. Below are two examples of pens sold for 15/6 (that is about 77 pence). I believe both of these are based upon early examples of the Pinnacle.

New ideal

Possibly another pen made for Woolworths? 

The REGENT

Another example of a model marketed by Lang, based upon Curzon branded items. Below are two Regent pens that are based on (top) the Pinnacle and (bottom) the Autovac.

regent pens

 The bottom pen is featured in this advert from 1934:

Regent Pen ad

Below is another Lang product, the box and barrel stamp both carrying the BCM/777H marking, an indication it was made at a London branch of the Lang empire. I am of the view that this button filler model is based upon the later Pinnacle model:

regent 

Also like the Pinnacle, the Regent Pen was sold with a matching pencil. The example below comes in a very attractive hard case, and with separate instruction sheets for pen and pencil (which give no indication of manufacturer)

regent set 

 

The REGENCY

Whilst there is little doubt that the Regent is a Lang product, I am less certain about the Regency.  The two examples I have come across both have features that are very reminiscent of the Summit S range, yet both carried Osmiroid nibs. My best guess at the moment is that these pens were produced in the Liverpool factory but after the demise of Summit,  Any information others have on this brand would be gratefully received:

regency

bs 

The RUFFORD

Thought to be named after an area in Nottingham, The Rufford Pen (like the Chatsworth) were a brand made for Boots The Chemist - a company whose headquarters was in that city.. As the Chatsworth was produced by both De La Rue and Burnham at various times, so The Rufford appears to have been manufactured by both De La Rue and Lang. 

The most commonly available examples appear to a button-filler range based upon the Summit model "The Pinnacle", see pens 2, 4, 5 & 6 below, and the green boxed example in the bottom picture:

rufford

 rufford

 

THE SAVOY

I have seen it suggested that The Savoy was a model name within the Summit range, but I believe that not to be the case. The brand name appears on a number of pens that are clearly based upon Summit models, but it also appears on pens that do not clearly fit into the known summitry. I therefore believe it to be a brand that purchased from different manufacturers.

The Savoy models are often attractive and collectable:

savoy pens

Here are seven examples from my collection (from the top):

1, 2, 3, & 6 are quite typical Lang / Summit items

4 is in colour that I have seen used in Auto-vacs and S.100 / S.175's (all rather scarce)

5 & 7 have a "transparent window" design I have yet to come across on a Summit pen, but have seen in similar styled Valentine pens

THE SLIK

A pen that came in a number of designs:

slik pen examples

The frequency with which they currently turn up would suggest that most common are the Slik Vacuum, based upon the Curzon Autovac. the second down from the top is a hexagonal design lever filler.

Slik Barrel stamps

slik advert

THE STRAND

Details to follow

THE STEPHENS PEN

Stephens was primarily known as an ink manufacturer, with its leading light "Inky" Stephens leaving the family home Avenue House to the London Borough of Barnet. This now hosts an small but interesting museum covering the history of this company.

Below a vintage Stephens Travelling Ink well:

ink well 

From the mid 1930's onwards the company also marketed a range of fountain pens.  Not all the Stephens models were Summit  / Lang items, and the more modern ones were certainly manufactured in Europe. However many of the earlier examples were outsourced to Lang:

An unusual presentation of a private collection courtesy of Prof. Jose Lastra,  at least five of which I believe have Summit links:

family 

The earliest model was the unique Stephens button filler, which did not require the removal of the blind cap. These were pre-WW2 items, and have model numbers that reflected their price ( a practice that Stephens possibly copied from the Summit Autovac range). From Jose's collection is this picture of both the 56 and 76 models, followed by the accompanying receipt for the lower value item:

56 

invoice 

The 10/6 price  (thats 52 1/2 pence in today's money)  was an important sales point, it representing half a guinea. A number of Stephens pens thus carries the 106 model number:

106 bs

106 pearl

ice

The pearl coloured example (middle above from David Thal) and the reverse cracked ice model example above are clearly based upon the earliest Summit S.100. The later Stephens 106 below (courtesy of Alan Everard) appears to be based upon a later S.100

106 black

 

There is little doubt that the Stephens range deserves a whole site to itself, so for now I will restrict myself to one further example that is probably of Summit / Lang origin, the top of the range Stephens 270 ( note the similarity of the clip with that found on Summit based National Security pens):

270

 

The VELVATIP


Details to follow

THE WHITEHALL PEN


An early example of Lang using a typical London location as a name for one of its products. This pen is clearly based upon the H.60 model, and a picture of the whole Whitehall Pen can be found in the appropriate H Range part of the site.

whitehall

 

NO NAME & OTHER POSSIBLE LANG PRODUCTS

 

Lang certainly produced 'unbranded' models that appear to have been based upon a number of the S models. These were typically fitted with a warranted 14ct nib, a familiar but unbranded pocket clip (ball end, arrow, or stepped), and a straight lever 13/16" in length. They were usually marked "Made in England"

green     

above is a typical no-name lever-filler, based upon a S.125, and being of interest in that the green marble has the red veins I associate with some of the Mabie Todd products.

THE KOPYKLEEN 

 The KopyKleen Pen was manufactured for the Thames Manufacturing Co Ltd, and the pen manufacturer usually associated with this company was Burnham.  The example below has been "disowned" by the Burnham collectors I have consulted with, and could have been a Lang product: The arrow pocket clip design, blind cap tassie might point in that direction, and the attached "Koppykleen 14ct nib" was not something that the Burnham own branding service ever seemed to extend to:

kopykleen