It Appears The Esterbrook Subforum Has A New Convert

[ac12]

 

Oh, New Zealand. From the pictures and TV shows i've seen about that country, it seems pretty awesome. The shipping would probably get annoying though. Same as how my family has always wanted to move to Hawaii but i'm always seeing on the internet that quote "shipping to continental US only". Kinda detracts from that goal knowing i'm going to be slammed on the shipping costs and even availability. The island life would be really cool though.

 

Figure your food cost as double.

 

But you save on not needing COLD winter clothes.

When I moved from HI to CA, cold for me was below 70F.

 

There are companies that will freight forward your stuff. Ship it to them in CA, they will fill a container with similar stuff to forward, then ship it to HI.

Pens are not bad, wait till you buy heavy/bulk stuff...ugh. I was forwarding stuff to my brother. He had it shipped to me UPS, and I would rebox it and US mail to him.

[Runnin_Ute]

The one that got me addicted (the one that already got to me) was a Pearl Gray Model J with a 2556 nib.

 

The three on the way are;

 

A green (not sure which green yet) Model J with a 1555 nib

 

A green (also not sure which green) Model SJ with a 9550 nib

 

A Pearl Gray Model J with a 2668 nib

My first was a green J - came with a 9550. I also have a 1555 (currently installed) and a Venus Fine

Today I received from Cryptos a black Bell System LJ "skunk" with 2464. I am already enjoying it.

 

Welcome to the land of Esties!!

[Dj Shift]

I'm dreaming of a sandy Christmas, just like the ones I used to have,

Before wanting to make my wife happy softened my brain,

And we moved from Pensacola to Michigan to her home town.

 

Gah, back to Esties.

I don't know why people get all obsessed with those J series. The real beauty is in the nibs. Hunt down the stubs, italics and reliefs (obliques). Ferret out of ebay flexible nibs, always making the hunt about getting a nice one for a low price. If one comes in a pen, and the nib is among the more unusual, try to grab it at a bargain price. Don't get caught up in top dollar for resacked, etc. You can resac them easily. Remember that in the day these were generally low end pens, and they are not generally rare now except for the Reliefs (gold nibs), Visumasters, and a few others that come up uncommonly.

 

After buying a selection of the more common pens and a good sampling of the nibs I sobered up. After some fun trying out the nibs they are now dustables, but it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. I still know little, though, and I discovered that is perfectly fine.

Right now i've been trying to buy a bunch of different nibs to try out to see which i like best since i'm into more of a mix between the medium and fine but eventually i want to try getting one in every color. Especially the pastels since i love space-age era things and the colors they made the pastels in fit perfectly with that kind of decor. Just ordered a pink one last night actually even though i was actually trying to get a turquoise one. Was too nice to pass up though. Edited November 21, 2014 by Dj Shift

[Dj Shift]

My first was a green J - came with a 9550. I also have a 1555 (currently installed) and a Venus Fine

Today I received from Cryptos a black Bell System LJ "skunk" with 2464. I am already enjoying it.

 

Welcome to the land of Esties!!

Just wondering, what is that "Bell System" thing engraved on some of the esterbrooks? I saw a couple on Ebay and was wonderring why they said that.

[Dj Shift]

Esterbrook advertising from about 1950 spoke about the "point". You, the target audience, were supposed to go to a "5&10", which was an old old old name for a store in which most tings were inexpensive...5 or 10 cents. In My neighborhood, it was "Kresge's".

 

Not a pen store.

 

At the counter, you picked out the nob that fit you. Then asked for a pen...SJ, LJ, or J, but the Esterbrook advertisements didn't talk up the pen size or the glorious colors.

 

Advice for Cryptos: find a pen you like, keep it, and buy nibs until you find "yours". There are only about 36 different type of nib! Esterbrook slogan: buy one pen and three nibs: it's like owning three different pens!

 

(Just for grins, look at the Esterbrook advertisements on US EBay. By the way, if you need an Estie repair, it will probably only be to replace the sac. There are some skilled people -- not me -- on this sub-forum.)

I really wish i was around in the 20's to 60's era. It sounds like it was so fun back then and the music and styles were so much better than what's around now. I never even got to live through the disco era since i was born in 1995.

 

I can't pretend now isn't a nice era as well though. I mean, we have computers and phones that can do whatever we want them to on the go, can see what's going on around the world at the click of a button, and have medications to cure almost any disease or ailment in a matter of days. But i would have loved to see what it was like in the past as well having to work for what we wanted.

[Hobiwan]

Just wondering, what is that "Bell System" thing engraved on some of the esterbrooks? I saw a couple on Ebay and was wonderring why they said that.

 

These were pens sold wholesale in large lots to BellSys companies to be used by employees in their daily tasks. They're affectionately called "skunks" by some. Other companies like ATT and AAA also purchased Esties for their employees' use. This was, of course before the invasion of the ballpoint. There have also been found some BellSys ballpoints....

[OcalaFlGuy]

DJ,

 

Many years ago, the entire countries phone system. hard wired, cells didn't exist then, was One Company, the Bell System. There was Southern Bell, Northern Bell, etc; It was probably the largest non-government employer in the country at the time. (And every single one of those employees needed a couple of good pens on their desks doncha know.)

 

It was in effect, a monopoly.

 

I believe it was either the late 60's or early 70's (just too lazy to look it up) the government "busted up the monopoly" into basically smaller regional phone companies instead of one huge one.

 

Another point on skunks I don't ever see discussed.

 

Most knowledgeable pen peeps with tell you that either the Sheaffer Snorkie or P-51 were the most sold pens in history.

 

IMO, they would be just wrngh.

 

No other pen company in the history of fountain pens went after institutional sales like Estiebrook did. While Parker and Sheaffer were working hard to sell Joe Blow Sixpack his one P-51, Estie was selling Truckloads of pens to Bell Systems, AAA and school systems around the country.

 

Parker stopped counting P-51 sales, (those one at a time sales to Joe and Josephine Sixpack) at around 20 million. Estie sold so many Truckloads of pens I've never heard any reliable total sales figures for the DJ Js or earlier pens.

 

I would be willing to bet that at least for several years, Estie sold By Far the most fountain pens in the country when you include their institutional sales.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

 

[gweimer1]

I have an Esterbrook pencil that is embossed with the name of an insurance company from Plymouth, WI. I passed on another that was a car dealer in Sheboygan.

[Runnin_Ute]

DJ,

 

Many years ago, the entire countries phone system. hard wired, cells didn't exist then, was One Company, the Bell System. There was Southern Bell, Northern Bell, etc; It was probably the largest non-government employer in the country at the time. (And every single one of those employees needed a couple of good pens on their desks doncha know.)

 

It was in effect, a monopoly.

 

I believe it was either the late 60's or early 70's (just too lazy to look it up) the government "busted up the monopoly" into basically smaller regional phone companies instead of one huge one.

 

Another point on skunks I don't ever see discussed.

 

Most knowledgeable pen peeps with tell you that either the Sheaffer Snorkie or P-51 were the most sold pens in history.

 

IMO, they would be just wrngh.

 

No other pen company in the history of fountain pens went after institutional sales like Estiebrook did. While Parker and Sheaffer were working hard to sell Joe Blow Sixpack his one P-51, Estie was selling Truckloads of pens to Bell Systems, AAA and school systems around the country.

 

Parker stopped counting P-51 sales, (those one at a time sales to Joe and Josephine Sixpack) at around 20 million. Estie sold so many Truckloads of pens I've never heard any reliable total sales figures for the DJ Js or earlier pens.

 

I would be willing to bet that at least for several years, Estie sold By Far the most fountain pens in the country when you include their institutional sales.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

 

If memory serves correctly the break up was between 1979-1982....

 

The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by an agreed consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies that had provided local telephone service in the United States up until that point.^[1] This effectively took the monopoly that was the Bell System, and split it into entirely separate companies which would continue to provide telephone service. AT&T would continue to be a provider of long distance service, while the now independent Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) would provide local service, and would no longer be directly supplied with equipment from AT&T subsidiary Western Electric. (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System

 

The article says the initial filing by Justice was in 1974 however, it took the better part of 8 years to make it happen.

 

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if Esterbrook sold more pens for the reasons you cite, Bruce.

[spaceink]

I kind of love company logo pens, especially old, defunct ones (Pan-Am, etc.). Will be on the lookout for Esties with those labels. Have seen ones with school district names, but those don't interest me as much, for some reason.

Edited November 23, 2014 by spaceink

[welch]

If memory serves correctly the break up was between 1979-1982....

 

The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by an agreed consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies that had provided local telephone service in the United States up until that point.^[1] This effectively took the monopoly that was the Bell System, and split it into entirely separate companies which would continue to provide telephone service. AT&T would continue to be a provider of long distance service, while the now independent Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) would provide local service, and would no longer be directly supplied with equipment from AT&T subsidiary Western Electric. (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System

 

The article says the initial filing by Justice was in 1974 however, it took the better part of 8 years to make it happen.

 

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if Esterbrook sold more pens for the reasons you cite, Bruce.

 

Your memory is pretty close. In 1984 my division of GE, General Electric Information Services (GEISCO) got the contract to build a "system for tax asset reporting" that would replace the "integrated federal income tax system" that the Baby Bells had used from "Mama Bell", American Telephone and Telegraph. We had requirements meetings and testing in the New York Bell HQ. They had just been split off; had a statement on one wall saying, approximately, "some dummy judge has broken up the most advanced telephone and communications company in the world".

 

Our go-live target was the 1985 tax season, so the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) would have been allowed '83 and '84 to prepare the split.

 

(Yes, it was grimly amusing to see the RBOCs merge...)

[OcalaFlGuy]

 

had a statement on one wall saying, approximately, "some dummy judge has broken up the most advanced telephone and communications company in the world".

 

 

I think the split also was murder on Bell Labs. 60 minutes had a special on them once (YouTube). Bell Labs is a shadow of it's former glory.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Dj Shift]

Looks like you guys are as much into the history of the Bell System as you are the pens themselves. That's pretty interesting though.