Nib On Relief 90

[pal38]

I had the luck of getting a quite inexpensive Relief 90 on eBay (the seller sold the original box with another, the wrong, pen! and nobody else bid on it).

 

Something is bothering me with this pen: Completely un-Esterbrookish, this model Relief has gold plating on clip, cap band and lever and the plating is in very good shape, as you can see on the pics. Not in this picture fits the nib, an admittedly beautiful sunburst Osmiridium tipped medium Relief renew nib made in the US of stainless steel and - and this I think looks sort of out of place - without any gold plating.

 

Brian says on his webside in the chapter Relief 66 + 90:" ... as opposed to the gilt panel and lined sunburst osmiridium nibs of the 90." I don't understand "guilt panel". I thought "guilt" in this context was the equivalent of 'goldplated'. Am I wrong? Because on my nib there is not the slightest breath of gold.

 

Can somebody make me any wiser?

 

I feel this is a mismatch: Gold plated clip, cap band and lever and stainless steel nib

 

What a beautiful nib - but no gold!

Edited July 31, 2011 by pal38

[Hobiwan]

I personaly don't think the nib was ever plated. I have an 8440 nib that WAS plated gold, and then worn off because (I think) it was wiped a lot. If this nib had been plated, my feeling is that you'd still see traces of the gold in the recessed stamping of the sunburst and/or the central oval working (as my 8440 shows).

 

I also don't think it's a mismatch. Sez me they just made 'em that way. This is because the nib doesn't sport a "3xxx" number, like the production renew points.

 

You've got yourself a nice, unusual find there. Good Catch!

My opinion, subject to discovery of the real truth.

[pal38]

Thanks Hobiwan for your kind reply.

 

So there was a 2-tone nib! Pity I can't find a picture anywhere.

 

Did it perhaps look somehow like this?

 

Relief nib, electronically gold plated

Best regards,

Peter

Edited July 31, 2011 by pal38

[Lacrimosa]

Here you are!

 

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr271/firevappor7/84401.jpg

 

Courtesy of Richards Pens.

 

Edit: Image didn't work at first...

Edited July 31, 2011 by Lacrimosa

[gregamckinney]

For what it's worth, the Relief 90 in my collection has the same exact nib, pal38.

The overall condition of mine is not as nice as yours, but the same parts are gold vs. silver colored.

 

Regards, greg

[pal38]

Thank you Joshua and Greg.

I am slowly finding my peace of mind again. Still remains the cryptic description on Brian's website ...

Edited July 31, 2011 by pal38

[ANM]

AFAIK the 8440 was the only nib with the gold wash panel. It was not electro-plated but applied in a way where the gold was not well bonded. I had one and the gold wiped off the first time I polished it.

Edited July 31, 2011 by ANM

[pal38]

Hello ANM,

 

The only other way I know of to gold plate something beside electroplating is to roll on gold foil, and this is considered more pemanent than electroplating.

 

On the other hand, judging from my plating experience, gold electroplating directly on stainless steel doesn't hold well at all! To create a more permanent bond you have to nickel-plate the stainless steel first, if you want to gold plate it. Maybe this was not known to Esterbrook or, more likely, this process was too cumbersome and too expensive.

[Hobiwan]

Nice job, Peter. What does it cost these days to do something like that?

[ANM]

Hello ANM,

 

The only other way I know of to gold plate something beside electroplating is to roll on gold foil, and this is considered more pemanent than electroplating.

 

On the other hand, judging from my plating experience, gold electroplating directly on stainless steel doesn't hold well at all! To create a more permanent bond you have to nickel-plate the stainless steel first, if you want to gold plate it. Maybe this was not known to Esterbrook or, more likely, this process was too cumbersome and too expensive.

 

 

Ah. I supposed it was not plated because it came off so easily. I didn't know about plating over stainless.

[pal38]

To avoid any misunderstandings, this picture above shows a computer gold plating. It's done with CorelDraw, a computer software, and not in reality.

 

To do that in reality in the proper way, i.e. nickelplate and then goldplate the area on the pen should cost around 20 dollars. But I would not do it, unless I was completely sure that this nib really came in such a way. Up to now this was not confirmed as yet.

[antoniosz]

Paul and Pal they were gold plated. Actually back in 2005 (

early FPN thread ) when I posted these pictures, Brian told me that this was the "best" condition nib that he has seen as the gold layer is nearly ... atomically thin and washes away easily. Needless to say that I have not re-inked that pen again...

 

So this is NOT a photoshop image...

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/2rel90.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/1rel90.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/3rel90.jpg

Edited September 25, 2011 by antoniosz

[pal38]

Paul and Pal they were gold plated. Actually back in 2005 (

early FPN thread ) when I posted these pictures, Brian told me that this was the "best" condition nib that he has seen as the gold layer is nearly ... atomically thin and washes away easily. Needless to say that I have not re-inked that pen again...

 

So this is NOT a photoshop image...

 

Thanks a lot Antoniosz for this reply and for the link to the older post, which BTW put a lot of clarity into my mind. Reliefs are still a great mystery and I doubt that everything will be cleared for some vital company information is lost for ever.

The comments about the durability of the gold plating confirms what I said above, that gold plating on stainless steel is quite flimsy and the correct way to do this is to zinc or nickel plate the stainless steel first. But that was perhaps too costly.

[DanDeM]

Mine looks like this. With that nib and the Visulated section, it'll never see ink.

[pal38]

Mine looks like this. With that nib and the Visulated section, it'll never see ink.

 

Usualy I don't steal, but for this pen and nib I would make an exception! I almost stared a hole into my computer screen!!!

[DanDeM]

Mine looks like this. With that nib and the Visulated section, it'll never see ink.

 

Usualy I don't steal, but for this pen and nib I would make an exception! I almost stared a hole into my computer screen!!!

 

Thanks pal38. Considering the pens you've shown here, that's a nice compliment. I like this one, too. Black Visu's are hard to find, and that frosted nib makes a wonderful line.

[pal38]

Thanks for sharing! It's beautiful!!!

You wouldn't have any Visus lying around somewhere? No problem if it isn't perfect ..

[DanDeM]

Thanks for sharing! It's beautiful!!!

You wouldn't have any Visus lying around somewhere? No problem if it isn't perfect ..

 

LOL. Fresh out of Visus. Would a couple of Relief 2-Ls do? One with and without the red casien band.