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Is It Just Me Or Have Estie Prices Skyrocketed?

jdllizard

By jdllizard
in Esterbrook

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jdllizard Vintage

jdllizard

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Seems to me like Esterbrook prices have skyrocketed on the well known auction site. When I first started collecting less than a year ago, it was easy to get a decent Estie for under $20. Now I see pages of them in the $50-$80 range. Ones that still need to be rebuilt even. Why the huge increase in price in such a short time? Could it really be related to the brand being revived? Or is it just a natural increase due to more people like me collecting Esties?

 

There's still deals out there to be found but they are getting harder and harder to find.

John L

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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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The real question becomes whether the pens are actually selling at those prices, or if people are just more optimistic in their listings. I think prices have gone up, in general, for a lot of pen makes, but there are still good deals to be found. Among the pens I've sold, I've had some outstanding results, and some that were a lot lower than I expected.

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Charles Rice Collectors Item

Charles Rice

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They may be going up on E-bay et. al., but they are still easy to find for cheap at garage sales. And by all means ask around. Especially your older friends. Back in their time, Esterbrooks were the Bic of their day. Chances are good that Granny has a couple of them collection dust in a desk drawer. I've never paid dime one for an Esterbrook.

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OcalaFlGuy Museum Piece

OcalaFlGuy

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The real question becomes whether the pens are actually selling at those prices, or if people are just more optimistic in their listings. I think prices have gone up, in general, for a lot of pen makes, but there are still good deals to be found. Among the pens I've sold, I've had some outstanding results, and some that were a lot lower than I expected.

 

^^^ That THERE, what He said.

 

I don't see prices for Sold unrestored Esties as having gone up That much.

 

I Might agree that prices for the nicest restored examples Have gone up but that is mainly due to there being so few people who really take the time to make the pen as nice as it can be.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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pajaro Museum Piece

pajaro

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Now that I am thinking of selling some of these pens I am noting that you cheapskates don't want to pay much, and I don't think it will pay to sell them. I don't think I will be even able to recoup the bargain prices I paid for some of those stub and italic nibs. So, I don't see much price movement. I guess the Esterbrook is a pedestrian line of pens . . .

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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FarmBoy Museum Piece

FarmBoy

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I just checked in with one of my sources. Judging by how many Esterbrooks I need to pick up, I'd say the prices have not gone up.

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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Charles Rice Collectors Item

Charles Rice

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Now that I am thinking of selling some of these pens I am noting that you cheapskates don't want to pay much, and I don't think it will pay to sell them. I don't think I will be even able to recoup the bargain prices I paid for some of those stub and italic nibs. So, I don't see much price movement. I guess the Esterbrook is a pedestrian line of pens . . .

Yup, just best to give them all away. (Not me though - if I see another one I'll freak)

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Cryptos Antique

Cryptos

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I don't think I will be even able to recoup the bargain prices I paid for some of those stub and italic nibs.

 

What sort of things are you talking about here?

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fullfederhalter Rare

fullfederhalter

Posted
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They may be going up on E-bay et. al., but they are still easy to find for cheap at garage sales. And by all means ask around. Especially your older friends. Back in their time, Esterbrooks were the Bic of their day. Chances are good that Granny has a couple of them collection dust in a desk drawer. I've never paid dime one for an Esterbrook.

My experience at garage sales has been different. Yes, Esties are relatively plentiful compared to other brands from the same period, but I'm finding fewer and fewer in the wild.

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bfg Near Mint

bfg

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It seems to me that the prices vary wildly. I see restored J pens go for $25-50 and then I see some listed for $75-100. I paid $50 for my first one may years ago but i didn't know any better then. I still find some bargain prices but I'm only looking for unusual ones. Fortunately many sellers don't really know what they have.

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bbycrts Rare

bbycrts

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I think there are sellers who think "this is old, therefore I can call it vintage, therefore I can slap a huge price tag on it!" There are a lot of Buy It Now prices that go unsold time and time again. On the other hand - I picked up a gorgeous green icicle for under $20 and a very nice (but needs new sac) dollar pen for $17 in the last couple of weeks. Both were under-described....

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KBeezie Donor Pen

KBeezie

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I think there are sellers who think "this is old, therefore I can call it vintage, therefore I can slap a huge price tag on it!" There are a lot of Buy It Now prices that go unsold time and time again. On the other hand - I picked up a gorgeous green icicle for under $20 and a very nice (but needs new sac) dollar pen for $17 in the last couple of weeks. Both were under-described....

There was a lever filler just the other day that said "still has ink in it, it writes"... and I'm thinking in the back of my mind 'dear god man, flush it already'.

 

:P the winner is gonna have an inky surprise in the mail.

KarlBlessing.com - KBeezie's Pen Porn
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bbycrts Rare

bbycrts

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There was a lever filler just the other day that said "still has ink in it, it writes"... and I'm thinking in the back of my mind 'dear god man, flush it already'.

 

:P the winner is gonna have an inky surprise in the mail.

The ones that make me laugh say, "Doesn't work - needs ink."

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jdllizard Vintage

jdllizard

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It seems to me that the prices vary wildly. I see restored J pens go for $25-50 and then I see some listed for $75-100. I paid $50 for my first one may years ago but i didn't know any better then. I still find some bargain prices but I'm only looking for unusual ones. Fortunately many sellers don't really know what they have.

 

It's those pages full of auctions with the BIN of $49 all the way up to $100 for a simple Estie J that got me wondering. I don't remember ever seeing as many on auction with those kind of BIN prices. I suppose there are sellers out there who don't know better, they see them priced like that, and assume that's what they are actually selling for. Sort of a snowball effect. One that I'm sure can't/won't last, the bubble will burst and prices will settle back down to where they belong. Surely sellers won't/can't keep listing them at those prices if they aren't selling. But in the mean time, it's pricing many Esties out of the reach of most of us who love them.

John L

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SockAddict Extremely Rare

SockAddict

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I am new to vintage pens and to Esterbrooks, so I can't say anything about that specifically, but I've spent about 18 months stalking vintage sewing machine prices on various sites (largely the same era as the pens). Many, many people think that old things are both valuable and rare, simply because they are old, and especially if they are from a technology that isn't used much now. People who look at Grandma's old sewing machine think it must be rare, but forget that in that time, everyone sewed their own clothes, so everyone's grandmother had at least one machine. I'm going to guess it's the same with fountain pens. People think they must be rare and therefore valuable.

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FPgal Near Mint

FPgal

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Love your socks, SockAddict! We must talk pens and knitting sometime. I have been trolling the big auction site to check out the Esties and I will say that it is tempting to pick up something pretty for $10.00 but then it's not clear how the parts are working. And then the pens that are "restored" cost three times as much. It can be really confusing, and it makes me wonder how much it might cost to restore a pen and if it is worth putting down money for a restored one. I should learn how to do it myself...

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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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Love your socks, SockAddict! We must talk pens and knitting sometime. I have been trolling the big auction site to check out the Esties and I will say that it is tempting to pick up something pretty for $10.00 but then it's not clear how the parts are working. And then the pens that are "restored" cost three times as much. It can be really confusing, and it makes me wonder how much it might cost to restore a pen and if it is worth putting down money for a restored one. I should learn how to do it myself...

 

It's not just cost, it's time and effort. Replacing the sac and J Bar inside completely is less than $10, but I'm finding that I spend about 1-2 hours of time on the cosmetics and getting some of those beat up pens to look nice and shiny, and I am still learning.

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