I spotted a double pen Esterbrook base at a local antique mall.
It is heavy ceramic material, dark burgundy, round with two round black metal inset pen holes.
I believe it said Dipless.
What kinds of Esties work in this- FP's? (That may be an incredibly stoopid question, given that the "dipless" probably means fountain pens-- but maybe not)
Is it hard to find replacement pens?
Is it worth $32?
The condition is very good- no cracks or chips anywhere.

Jack

Jack-

You probably found a 484 double, sometimes referred to as the "hockey puck" since the singles look like them.

You would use a dip-less pen which is basically a dip pen which takes the standard esterbrook re-new-points. They came in two sizes and commonly for that vintage are black with a clear taper. You can find them in the standard marbled colors too, but a little less common than black.

$32 is ok, provided everything is in good condition, however, you'll now have to find two pens for it, and make sure the re-new-points are good too, so you might be in for another $25-40 or so for the pens. Personally, I'd try to get them down a bit on the price, letting them know how much it's really worth with two pens. I don't know to many people who would pay $70 for one of those.

Best-
Brian

Thanks, Brian.

I'll stop in next week and offer the seller $10.

Given that it's the end of the season- summer travel, leaf peepers and even PSU football home game traffic is over, maybe they'll take it.

I am pretty good at walking away.

Last week I got 3/4 of a quart bottle of Parker Quink Blue Black in the original bottle and box for $15 there. Maybe not the Deal of the Century, but I feel ok about it.

BTW- anybody who wants an ounce or two of this stuff can email me. I've strained it through a coffee filter and it smells and writes fine.

Jack

Hey- Check out the Esterbrook desk sets at Pendemonium this week!!
Pendemonium Midnight Madness

Someone has a double dipless pen set on eBay right now - unused, in the box... Tempting but I've already exceeded my pen budget for the month.

(a search for "double pen set" should find it.)

Thanks, I'm on it.

Jack

OT, but I have to express my love of any topic that references Mingus.

Well, here it is.
Not exactly as I'd remembered it- no hockey puck style reservoirs, just simple plastic lined holes.
I like it, tho.



[Edited to resize pic]

Ah, that's the 2-pen version of the "8 ball" desk set. It's not a "dip-less" inkwell, just a pen holder. If the pens match, they should be lever fillers.

I love these sets, I was about to post a picture of mine in another thread.