Not too long ago, I saw an eBay listing of an Esterbrook pen, and the description mentioned the cap had some kind of white mark. I figured the seller was simply being as thorough as possible and the white mark meant nothing.

I recently bought a small, black dollar pen. Nothing special about it except that it seemed smaller than any of my other Esterbrooks, and I like small pens. After I paid the seller I started wiping the pen and using my thumbnail to try to get a white mark off of the cap. The seller told me that the white mark was supposed to be there, and that he read or had been told that some pens have the marks on purpose.

My first thought was that he simply misunderstood or was misinformed, but before I go chipping away at it, I better make sure I'm not the one who is misunderstanding.

Has anyone heard of this on Esterbrook pens?

There are some marks that are supposd to be there and others that aren't. If the dollar pen you bought is an Estie, I know of no such mark that should be on the cap. Can you post a picture? (In the meantime, don't rub anymore. )

Some UK made pens had chalk markings, but I don't recall whether or not they marked them on the cap or not. I don't know of any situation where a US made Esterbrook had any marking on the cap. Take a picture so we can better determine if it's supposed to be there or not.

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Brian

Does it look like the mark in this article?

Gregg Shorthand article at Vintagepens.com

John

That's the most absurd marking I think I've seen. It's almost too small to even get noticed. Thanks for bringing it up though, as I recall having a Sheaffer Craftsman several months back with this mark in the barrel. I thought it was unfortunate an otherwise nice looking pen would have this mark on it. Now who did that pen go to...

You learn something new every day.

Brian

Thanks for all the replies! It's not a chalk mark - more like something is stuck to it. Here's a close-up.

I just measured the pen, and it's barely an inch longer than my Peter Pan pen. Is it possible that "rejects" were marked this way?

Looks like a bit of schmutz to me. I've never seen any similar mark on an Esterbrook. Even if it were part of a display price tag (which it can't be, Esterbrook used paper labels on these pens) it's not of any value at this point.

Were it my pen, I'd probably clean it off. Your seller was misinformed, in my opinion.

What is the actual measurement on the pen? They did make a demi sized model (model H) during this time that was the equivalent to an SJ in size.

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Brian

Funny the Gregg symbol should be mentioned too. I have one of those pens. I know Gregg shorthand and I use it almost every day, so when I saw the pen of course I had to have it. It's one of my more comfortable pens and always available. I must not have re-sacced it right though because it runs out of ink pretty quickly.

The mark on my pen isn't white though. It's more like a black mark on a black pen so it's hard to see. Hard to get a good picture too. I used a magnifying glass so it's not as clear as I like it to show. The symbol in the link is pictured sideways, so I wonder if it was advertised that way or just pictured sideways in the link. Turned 90 degrees to the right, it's the Gregg symbol for "shorthand."

This picture is more clear with some glare helping out.

I'm really sorry about those ugly pictures. They didn't look that bad when I checked them. And sorry I didn't look at the full-sized ad more closely - it seems Shaeffer advertised the symbol sideways.

Anyway, schmutz and misinformation is what I was thinking about the Esterbrook, but I figured it was best to ask the experts first. Thank you for your help! The pen is 4-3/8" closed.

4 3/8" would make it the demi size model or the model H in the series. Definitely nothing incorrect about that. Wish I had one of them in that color with that clip.

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Brian

Thanks again! My hands are small so I usually don't post the cap when I write, but then the cap eventually gets buried under my papers. Not the problem with this one

Hmmm...I have a transitional Black J which has quite a lot of small (smaller than that one) on the cap. When picked at with a needle it appears to be a white powder. I assumed that the previous owner had tried polishing in with a metal polish and some has remained in the deeper scratches/pits.