Venus Nib

[kathleen]

I have seen an Esterbrook pen with a Venus nib. Is this a good thing?

What can you folks tell me about a Venus nib? Would such a nib be made by Venus Pencil Company? I read that in 1967 the Esterbrook Pen Company worldwide was taken over by the Venus Pencil Company, forming Venus Esterbrook did they then manufacture nibs to fit a J series Estie marked Venus? (That's my guess, would that be right?)

Could, should a Venus nib be in an Esterbrook J? Every Estie I have (I am now up to thirteen, I just began with my first Estie in April, this is a fervid addiction) all have an Esterbrook nib.

What do you experts know, please share.

Edited June 26, 2010 by kathleen

[FarmBoy]

I have seen an Esterbrook pen with a Venus nib. Is this a good thing?

What can you folks tell me about a Venus nib? Would such a nib be made by Venus Pencil Company? I read that in 1967 the Esterbrook Pen Company worldwide was taken over by the Venus Pencil Company, forming Venus Esterbrook did they then manufacture nibs to fit a J series Estie marked Venus? (That's my guess, would that be right?)

Could, should a Venus nib be in an Esterbrook J? Every Estie I have (I am now up to thirteen, I just began with my first Estie in April, this is a fervid addiction) all have an Esterbrook nib.

What do you experts know, please share.

No problem with a Venus nib in an Esterbrook.

 

There was a series of them Fine, Medium, Broad, etc.

 

Consider them some of the last nibs made.

[kathleen]

I have seen an Esterbrook pen with a Venus nib. Is this a good thing?

What can you folks tell me about a Venus nib? Would such a nib be made by Venus Pencil Company? I read that in 1967 the Esterbrook Pen Company worldwide was taken over by the Venus Pencil Company, forming Venus Esterbrook did they then manufacture nibs to fit a J series Estie marked Venus? (That's my guess, would that be right?)

Could, should a Venus nib be in an Esterbrook J? Every Estie I have (I am now up to thirteen, I just began with my first Estie in April, this is a fervid addiction) all have an Esterbrook nib.

What do you experts know, please share.

No problem with a Venus nib in an Esterbrook.

 

There was a series of them Fine, Medium, Broad, etc.

 

Consider them some of the last nibs made.

 

Thanks for the reply. One more thing, how would their quality compare to a 9xxx series nib?

[FarmBoy]

I have seen an Esterbrook pen with a Venus nib. Is this a good thing?

What can you folks tell me about a Venus nib? Would such a nib be made by Venus Pencil Company? I read that in 1967 the Esterbrook Pen Company worldwide was taken over by the Venus Pencil Company, forming Venus Esterbrook did they then manufacture nibs to fit a J series Estie marked Venus? (That's my guess, would that be right?)

Could, should a Venus nib be in an Esterbrook J? Every Estie I have (I am now up to thirteen, I just began with my first Estie in April, this is a fervid addiction) all have an Esterbrook nib.

What do you experts know, please share.

No problem with a Venus nib in an Esterbrook.

 

There was a series of them Fine, Medium, Broad, etc.

 

Consider them some of the last nibs made.

 

Thanks for the reply. One more thing, how would their quality compare to a 9xxx series nib?

Not having any near me I recall they are like 2xxx nibs with folded tips. They tend to write as well as any other similar point.

[Rabbit]

Apparently they have a sneaky way of disappearing too... I was going to take some close up photos of one for you, but I cannot find it anywhere! I did find the empty box though--exact same size and shape as an Esterbrook renew point box. (who knows, it's very well possible that I just have an empty box and never had the nib. But I'm pretty sure I've had one at some point in time... it was in my box of random pen parts... no telling what's going on in there!)

 

--Stephen

[pmorin]

I have a Venus 55P nib, NOS in box, Fine I picked up from Brian Anderson. It is a folded tip. It was inexpensive to purchase, I think when I picked it up last year I paid $5, maybe $6. Price on the box is 35 cents. It's not the most stellar nib I've ever used, but not the worst by a long shot. It's definitely lower quality than the Esterbrook nibs, but at the time they were produced they would have been competing against ball points most likely and looking at reducing cost to compete.

 

For anyone interested, here are photos of a minty new Fine with box.

 

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/messiah_FPN/IMGP0068.jpg

 

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/messiah_FPN/IMGP0066_1.jpg

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/messiah_FPN/IMGP0065_1.jpg

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/messiah_FPN/IMGP0064_1.jpg

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/messiah_FPN/IMGP0063_1.jpg

[Silvermink]

Out of curiosity, did Venus make pen bodies that took these as well, or did they just make them to fit Esterbrook's bodies?

 

I don't have any Venus nibs, but I do have a Venus President I randomly scooped at an antique store for $5. Still needs some work, but the sac was actually just fine (might've been restored).

[Johnny Appleseed]

Venus did make pens that took the replacable nibs, and you can find them frequently on Ebay. The President series did not (though I did a little franken-penning to make one that does take the interchangables). Presidents, iirc, take a Venus 14K nib.

 

The Venus pens with interchangable nibs are not the best made pens, but they aren't junk. Fit and finish around the lever is a little shakey. I actually prefer the tapered profile of the Venus to the Esterbrook design, but I would go for a 9xxx series nib over Venus any day.

 

There are also a number of other penmakers that made Estie-replacement nibs, including Osmaroid and a couple of others.

 

This auction is for what is almost certainly an Estie-style nib model.

Blue Venus on ebay

 

And here is an Ebay seller who is selling a some of the venus nib units.

Venus nibs on an Ebay Store

 

John

[Silvermink]

Venus did make pens that took the replacable nibs, and you can find them frequently on Ebay. The President series did not (though I did a little franken-penning to make one that does take the interchangables). Presidents, iirc, take a Venus 14K nib.

 

Yep, mine has a 14K Venus nib. Needs some work, though.

 

Interesting about the Venus pens that take the interchangeable nibs - might have to have a look at those.

[riff raff]

Interesting. Knowing that Esterbrook and Venus were somewhat related, I picked up a Venus President (rose-glow-ish celluloid, 14k fine nib) some months ago. Re-sacced it, and it's a nice writer, with a surprising degree of flex. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

[docholt]

Hello All,

 

The Venus Pencil Company bought Esterbrook in the late '50's early '60's - I'm sure someone can fix the exact date -

and produced fixed nib and interchangeable nib pens until bought out in '71 by Berol (???). After the Venus purchase

 

the range of nibs was reduced to five, XF, F, M, MB and B in an effort to cut costs and simplify inventories as well

 

as make the line more attractive to retailers. I have only ever seen the MB nib in one ad published shortly after the

 

take-over after which only four were listed. As far as I can tell all replacement points were exactly the same as the

 

Durachrom line only with a Venus roll-mark. These units work well in my Estie's and like the originals may or may not

 

need a bit of smoothing and adjustment.

 

As an aside, but stll on the topic of nibs, Esterbrook offered their Renew Points in two grades; Durachrom and

 

Master, the latter touted as being longer lasting. I would like to live long enough to wear out one of the cheaper

 

Durachrom points and have done so by writing something that someone might want to read someday.

 

Doc

[antoniosz]

Hello All,

 

The Venus Pencil Company bought Esterbrook in the late '50's early '60's - I'm sure someone can fix the exact date -

and produced fixed nib and interchangeable nib pens until bought out in '71 by Berol (???).

 

1967 merger with a lot of drama.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Interesting. Knowing that Esterbrook and Venus were somewhat related, I picked up a Venus President (rose-glow-ish celluloid, 14k fine nib) some months ago. Re-sacced it, and it's a nice writer, with a surprising degree of flex. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

 

If this was on The Bay, maybe 3-4 months ago, I almost bid on it. It was a pretty neat looking pen.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Speterson1000]

Interesting. Knowing that Esterbrook and Venus were somewhat related, I picked up a Venus President (rose-glow-ish celluloid, 14k fine nib) some months ago. Re-sacced it, and it's a nice writer, with a surprising degree of flex. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

 

If this was on The Bay, maybe 3-4 months ago, I almost bid on it. It was a pretty neat looking pen.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

I continue to learn something on this site every time I come here. I was posting some items and I knew that Castell and Faber joined together but as I looked at a box of Venus President Pencils, I did indeed see the Esterbrook name. I would have never looked if it were not for this thread. So it looks like Faber+Castell+Venus+Esterbrook became either the Venus Esterbrook Corporation or the Faber-Castell Corporation. Both names are on the box.