Just received my red 444 desk pen set to sit along side the white, green and black one. Now if I can find a grey I'll have them all!


As a little aside the pen came with a 9555 nib.


K

Congrats, Kurt!

Weird coincidence---there is one winging its way to me in the mail this week! I won it on the 'Bay for less than $10. I had been looking for a nice one (for cheap) for a long time as I had the desk pen for it, but no base.

I have a couple of the black "cue ball" Estie desk sets and a different one that is minty-coloured, but both of them use lever-fill desk pens. The #444 will be my first Dip-Less inkwell so I am just wondering if there is anything to them other than filling it with a couple of ounces of ink....

The white one I got had the box and instructions along with it so I can with some authority what to do


Hopefully it has the red inner ring which gives you an ida of where to fill the base to. Other than that just make sure the collector on the underside of the top is clean and it should be ready to go.


I'm looking for a pen for the black one I just won as it doesn't have one.


K

Thanks for the info, Kurt! (mine is a red 444, BTW, my favourite colour)
Hopefully, there won't be any problems, but as it is my first Dip-Less set, I just may be asking for help in the Estie forum again soon!

Congrats Kurt & Maja! I don't know how many of those I was watching on e-bay about 6 months to a year ago...But I was afraid if I bid on one and won, the dipless would be too handy and I might not use my other pens nearly as much! Maybe someday I'll break down and go for one--I do like the looks of the 444.

Best, Ann

Thanks, Ann!

Just got my own Esterbrook #444 Dip-Less inkwell today, and it looks like it has never been used! The collector on the inside is perfectly clean as is the well and lid. There is a red ring with the words "Do not fill above this level" on it, so that tells me how much ink to use. I'm not sure how *little* ink I can pour into the well and still keep the dip pen wet; I don't want to put a whole lot of ink inside initially...

I'm so happy my Estie dip pen finally has an inkwell to call home after all these years! 9

I just did a buy it now on a picture of two fuzzy 444 bases. I emailed the seller to ask about the color and their reply was that they had tried cleaning out the clear glass but there must have been red and grey ink used that just won't come out


Crossed fingers that my hunt will be over!



four down and 1 to go!

K

The Set is complete! I now have all 5 different colors of the 444 glass Dipless base! The grey was the hardest to find while the black and red seem to be everywhere. Maybe lots of people bought them to match the ink color of the pen.

I just had to add a picture and here it is. From 12 o'clock it's grey red, white green & black.

K

CONGRATS! Thanks for sharing the hunt and the excitement (not to mention the completed set photo).

Great, Kurt--congrats! 1st time I've ever seen them pictured all together.

Ann

I have to say that this is all that I have heard of. Heaven knows that there might be some other one out there. I also have a all black 447 but it's only a close relative.


I also have a duplicate red that I'm not sure what I will do with it.


K

Congratulations on completing the set! I was initially a bit puzzled about the "parts" to my 444 DipLess inkwell, but I asked Brian, our fearless co-moderator, and he assured me that the small part that contained what looked like pencil leads (they are called the "mono-filament") was indeed the "collector"!

Also, I had a Renew-Point nib that was a bit long for the opening (it caused my particular dip pen to protrude) so I switched to a shorter nib in order to create a better pen-opening seal (to prevent drying).