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bell systems

magan

By magan
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magan Rare

magan

Posted
Posted

what is/was bell systems and why are esties printed with it? will an estie be rarer/costlier than others if it has a bell systems imprint? if yes, by how much?

 

sorry for the noob question. if this has been covered before please point me to the thread. thanks! :)

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Cedar Extremely Rare

Cedar

Posted
Posted (edited)

Bell Systems referred to the Bell Telephone Company back when there was essentially ONE telephone company in the U.S. I think Esties were mass purchased for office use. Bell had "Bell System" put on just about everything, diagonal cutters, chairs, step stools, ohm meters, etc. to mark it as company property.

As to cost, I've seen them on eBay and it didn't seem like they went very high but that I'm not sure on. I never followed that market for any period of time.

 

Cedar

(former Ohio Bell (System) employee....back in the day and has considering buying one for nostalgia purposes)

Edited by Cedar
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OcalaFlGuy Museum Piece

OcalaFlGuy

Posted
Posted

Farmboy says a Bell System J is almost a requirement for an Estie collection/collector.

 

I wouldn't know, I not only don't have one, I don't even have a Black Estie. :wacko:

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FarmBoy Museum Piece

FarmBoy

Posted
Posted

Farmboy says a Bell System J is almost a requirement for an Estie collection/collector.

 

I wouldn't know, I not only don't have one, I don't even have a Black Estie. :wacko:

Yet, You don't have one YET.

 

Todd

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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PaFitch Extremely Rare

PaFitch

Posted
Posted

I bought my Bell Estie on E-Bay for about $10 (spring 2008). It worked from the time it arrived and had a 9XXX nib. My father-in-law worked over 30 years at MI Bell and my purchase was primarily nostalgia motivated. It is a good usable pen.

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Rabbit Vintage

Rabbit

Posted
Posted

I've got one in my collection, but the condition is no better than "good" and I probably purchased it for around $20 (just guessing though--I got it years ago). I'd like to get one in mint condition at some point just because they a little unusual yet so common. If I find one in mint condition, that'll be the last one I'll buy though--I don't know why I'd need more than two! (Mine is LJ size. Are these made in J size too? That could complicate things a bit...)

 

--Stephen

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Enai Extremely Rare

Enai

Posted
Posted

Black Esties are super, like the Beetles of Volkswagen.

I keep coming back to my Esterbrooks.

 

"Things will be great when you're downtown."---Petula Clark

"I'll never fall in love again."---Dionne Warwick

"Why, oh tell me, why do people break up, oh then turn around and make up?

I just came to see, you'd never do that to me, would you baby?"---Tina Turner

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Kabe Vintage

Kabe

Posted
Posted

have one, no extra cost for being a bell

The voice of this guitar of mine, at the awakening of the morning, wants to sing its joy;

I sing to your volcanoes, to your meadows and flowers, that are like mementos of the greatest of my loves;

If I am to die away from you, may they say I am sleeping, and bring me back home.

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/7260/postminipo0.pnghttp://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8703/letterminizk9.png

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EventHorizon Antique

EventHorizon

Posted
Posted

I have two and yes, they are a requirement if you collect/use Esterbrook. The main reason I have two is the fact that if I only had one, and it was lost or broke, no one in the Esterbrook community would like me any more. They would call me names and not let me play kick ball until I got another.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin in "Foundation"

US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

 

There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man--with human flesh.

Frank Herbert, Dune

US science fiction novelist (1920 - 1986)

 

My Pens on Flikr

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MsLoathsome Rare

MsLoathsome

Posted
Posted

I have one, too. Came off eBay as a black LJ with a 9556 nib. I got two black LJs for $18 and I sold the non-Bell one for $9 or 10, so I guess mine was $9 or $8, something like that. It's fun for nostalgia reasons. Writes great.

 

Warning: Farmboy refers to the Bell Systems pens as "skunk," the infamous seventh color of Esterbrook. White imprint on black.

I subscribe to The Rule of 10 (pens, that is)

1) Parker Sonnet 1st gen 2) Pelikan 200 yellow 3) Parker 51 vac 4) Esterbrook trans J 5) Esterbrook LJ "Bell System Property" 6) Sheaffer Snorkel Valiant fern green 7) Waterman 52.5V 8) Parker 75 cisele 9) open 10) open (I'm hankering for a Doric)

 

<img src="http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png" border="0" class="linked-sig-image" />

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magan Rare

magan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

thanks for the replies! now, which models were they (bell systems and salt lake city schools) imprinted on (J series, BHR dollars, etc.)?

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jlepens Collectors Item

jlepens

Posted
Posted

Farmboy says a Bell System J is almost a requirement for an Estie collection/collector.

 

I wouldn't know, I not only don't have one, I don't even have a Black Estie. :wacko:

 

I have a Bell system for sale! just saying.

Joi - The Way of the Japanese Pen

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3387580367_f8a1a5c1df.jpg

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FarmBoy Museum Piece

FarmBoy

Posted
Posted (edited)

Can someone post a picture or a link to a picture. I've never seen this pen before. Thanks.

GASP

Edited by FarmBoy

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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Rabbit Vintage

Rabbit

Posted
Posted

If you're reading this from page 1, you'll notice that I've acquired a new one since my post there... :unsure: (Yes Todd, my first one ran out of ink, so I had to get another one!)

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4384074272_402cd7425a_o.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4384074346_db0fd3c0b9_o.jpg

 

--Stephen

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Brian Anderson Collectors Item

Brian Anderson

Posted
Posted

Can someone post a picture or a link to a picture. I've never seen this pen before. Thanks.

GASP

 

Oh great. Thanks Todd, another interesting forum to peruse in the time I don't have. :)

 

Brian-who-has-more-hats-than-he-cares-to-admit-Anderson

www.esterbrook.net All Esterbrook, All the Time.
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FarmBoy Museum Piece

FarmBoy

Posted
Posted

Can someone post a picture or a link to a picture. I've never seen this pen before. Thanks.

GASP

 

Oh great. Thanks Todd, another interesting forum to peruse in the time I don't have. :)

 

Brian-who-has-more-hats-than-he-cares-to-admit-Anderson

There does seem to be a few people here that also play there.

 

T

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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