It is probably listed somewhere but I can't find it. What was the last year that the Esterbrook J was made?

Thanks,

James

No one can answer this question? Come on all you Estie Lovers out there!

I have the Esterbrook history book but am on the road on business, will look in there when I return.

I don't believe they were made all the way to 1971, but venture mid to late 1960's would be fairly close.

Anyone with some late Esterbrook/Venus catalogs out there?

Best-
Brian

The "J" itself was made into the 1960s, Brian? Wow!

Dan

Keep in mind, stores may have had supplies of J series pens for quite a while after they ceased production, so it is entirely possible you could have walked in to a stationer in 1970-1 and still found them, maybe even later, who knows.

Best-
Brian

I think the last J's were made in 1959, or maybe '60.

-- Brian

What's more fun than renewing old threads?

I've just gotten a J and was skimming for this very item of data. I notice over at esterbrook.net that there are a couple of different shapes to the "handle" on the lever. It seems that some are fan-shaped, while others are more rounded. Is there a hint here on the relative age of the pen, or was it a whimsy at the factory what shape might come out any given week?

It's my understanding that the fan shape is older, while the round ``spoon'' shape is more recent.

One data point I can offer is that my mother-in-law was given an Esterbrook SJ (marbled grey) w/ a round/spoon shaped lever as a graduation present in 1950, so the cut-off, if there is one should be sometime before then, though how much I don't know. It might have been a cyclical thing w/ the supplier(s), but I don't believe so given the advertisements I've seen.

Further muddying the issue is that it's of course quite likely that a pen was repaired and the lever replaced.

William
(who really does need to pick up three more marbled grey SJs so that all the grandkids can have one... make that 4, I'm not giving mine up anytime soon)