Just wanted to show off this rich looking pearl brown Esterbrook ...

Seems like every so often a really exceptionally pretty one comes our way and the colors in this guy are awesome. The copper colored ones were my favorites until I restored this one ... now the browns are my fav .. no, the coppers .. no, the browns ... (guess I love them both). Hate to give this one up but it had to go 'cause I need the money to buy more Esties in need of restoration.

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Todd

That's a beauty! Are the Browns uncommon - I have not seen before, only the coppers. Were the browns only produced for certain years?

Very nice! I'm hoping to pick up brown and copper Model J's this year at either the Columbus or Michigan pen shows.

Someone help me here --- I thought they only came in copper. Is the brown just a darker shade of the copper? I am not an Esterbrook expert by any stretch...could someone explain...thank you.

There are six colors; black, blue, red, grey, green & copper but each color tends to have a range of shades with some with more black and some with hardly any at all. Unless someone can show an ad with multiple shades of the same color labeled as such, it seems that there are just variations in the six original colors. However, for collection purposes there are definitely dark brown coppers and very light coppers.


Having said all that, YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL PEN, Todd!!!! That is a keeper!!!

This is true .... Richard Binder has a nice color chart in his Reference section that shows the various shades of the darkest and the lightest. The dark brown he lists as Brown I and the copper he lists as Brown II. As I understand it, Esterbrook didn't plan any of these variations, but one of the great things about these old Esterbrooks is that every one of them is a little different (except the black & the white ones of course).

Todd

Thank you very much for the clarification.

Well I consider myself very lucky. I've just acquired a copper J lovingly restored by Toulouse himself and I'm sooooo pleased with it. Trouble is, it makes my other pens look so drab by comparison! And I fear it also means that I'm going to want to collect some more of these beautiful pens. I just don't understand why so many pen collectors buy dull black MBs when they could have a dozen of these beauties for the same price - or less!

Very nice.......very nice indeed.

Just what I needed to see, T2 making one of the colors that actually appeals to me least, irresistable...

I actually bid on a brown dollar pen on the bay tonight, but it had a really neat "tiger striping" on it along with
a 9788 nib. Someone else wanted it worse though...

VERY nice Todd!

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Copper is copper. But the darker ones - I always think of them as Root Beer. And the Root Beer color is great.

This one appears to be an excellent example.

I used my copper Eastie with NOS 2314M this morning at work and it has started skipping. OK, I'm a leftie and the paper was cheap and cheerful (actually, very cheap and cheerful) but I wondered if I should have done anything to the nib before I filled the pen for the first time........?

A good cleaning is where I start no matter what.

I suspect Toulouse will pipe in here, but if you got that 2314 from him I don't think you'd have to do anything to it first but fill and use. I am pretty sure all of the nibs his pens go out with are either NOS or have been thoroughly ultrasonically cleaned. I KNOW that's the case with the 3 of his pens I already have and the 4th that is on it's way.

I am no expert but maybe there is an issue with the 2314 being a relief nib and you being a lefty. I will say this, one
of my nibs is a 2442 Falcon which has some relief, my 2 9668's have never skipped a beat on ANY paper but the Falcon has skipped a couple times on some paper. And, it wasn't cheap paper either, my Falcon really doesn't like G. Lalo Verge De France.

Switch papers and see if it still skips, if not, there's your answer.

Bruce in Ocala, FL

I suspect you're right Bruce, but when it does write well - which I emphasise is about 95% of the time - it writes beautifully - it actually makes my appalling handwriting look reasonably pretty! So I shall persevere but maybe experiment nibwise - after all, that's the main reason I bought the Eastie in the first place - and it is such a gorgeous pen!

I've just acquired a 9284 at a very reasonable price, so I'll give that a whirl. I've been using the 9314M again this evening in a much better quality notebook with no sign of skipping. Looks like I'm going to have to use better paper at work for my notes........

I used my new Estie again this morning with the 2314M at an important meeting. It was skipping regularly, to such an extent that I had to stop and change pens. Decent paper. So annoying - when it writes it's lovely to use, but then it just stops......

The pen looks like the copper one I bought from Rick Kranz .. the more I read the more confused I become .. whatever its colour its a nice looking pen

Very pretty pen Todd! Thanks for sharing your beautiful workmanship in bringing it back to better than new condition. /Craig

You mention a Michigan pen show. I live in Jackson and would like to learn about the show. I haven't been able to find anything on the link I have to a MI Pen Show website.