Is This Esterbrook? Age Of Nib, And Body Please?

[pen2paper]

Found in the wall of a 1904-09 building. The clear end appears to be modern plastic, (glass seems far fetched) so later era Esterbrook is it not?

 

Edit to include the building windows, and wall that this pen was found in are stated to be original to 1904-09. It has however been owned, used by other companies, and though the walls/windows are original, perhaps an unknown repair occurred?

 

Here's the building history from their page:

"...Built: 1904 Neighborhood: Milwaukee Junction

Architect: Field, Hinchman & Smith, Detroit, Michigan

Architectural style: A late Victorian style brick building, modeled after New England textile mills.

Size: 402 feet long, 56 feet wide, three stories tall.

Windows: 355 windows provided light in an era when industrial electric lighting was still in its infancy, and ventilation in the days before air conditioning.

Powerhouse: A separate building, 36 feet x 57 feet.

Fire suppression features: Divided into four sections by three firewalls with fire doors. Each section has fire escapes. A 25,000-gallon water tank on the roof fed an automatic sprinkler system.

Cost: The board approved $76,500 for construction in April 1904.

History Second home of Ford Motor Company, and the company’s first purpose-built factory. Ford Models B, C, F, K, N, R, S, and T were built here. The Ford Model T was developed here, introduced in 1908 as a 1909 model. The first 12,000 Model Ts were assembled here and shipped out by railroad. Ford Motor Company relocated to its new Highland Park Plant in 1910, selling the building to Studebaker in 1911.

Studebaker used it for automobile production until 1933.

Occupied by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company and

Cadillac Overall Company until purchased by Heritage Investment Company in 1989.

Sold in 2000 to the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex..."

 

Thinking the clear end dates it after Studebaker.. so neither Henry F. or Studebaker's, staff held this pen???

Edited May 3, 2015 by pen2paper

[gweimer1]

A better picture of the nib and feed could help.

[pen2paper]

A better picture of the nib and feed could help.

thanks for responding. would if I could, but this all there is for now.

Is it possible that the nib and body (HR?) are earlier? the clear tip tells me it must be later.

the dates + clear don't match

[gweimer1]

The feed could give us a hint. A flat feed would be an earlier date. The rounded one with the ribs came later. Answering this one could be tough with what you know. The building was occupied during many of those years. Esterbrooks were designed for nib replacement, so it's very easy to put a new nib on an old pen, and vice versa.

 

My g-g-g-g-grandmother was Mary Studebaker. Her brothers made wagons. Their sons made wagons, and after that, the family went into the automobile business.

[ANM]

The feed looks like it is broken off. The desk pen looks to me like a a plastic one from the 1940's.

 

How or when It got in the walls is a mystery. I could speculate one possibility is during remodeling for insulation, updating the wiring, new lighting, plumbing, or putting up dry wall to replace lathe and plaster walls.

Edited May 3, 2015 by ANM

[pen2paper]

Given the earliest date, initial thought was an early dip nib inserted into the early holder.

It appears we're seeing the nib from top angle, so maybe there is a feed on the back, and this is a dipless model (no lever).

 

I have an early HR Parker which had the typical tulip shape, and does have a screw-on end tip in HR, but no sharp edged like in this photo.

 

The clear end tip looks wrong for Pre-WWI.

 

Thanks for adding your Studebaker history! How amazing you were the first to reply.

 

Once enjoyed the show, "If These Walls Could Talk". That title caught my eye, because years ago I knew someone who lived in a Colonial era house. When repairing a failing wall, a George Washington Inaugural button was found.

 

ANM, your thought on updates is plausible. Even though the building was advanced for its time, (Smith, Hinchman well known locally), walls could have been opened for repairs, and updates. I grew up around the building business - all sorts of stuff can be found in wall cavities.

Edited May 3, 2015 by pen2paper

[gweimer1]

It looks like a lever-fill desk pen to me. I have one of each, and the dipless model should have the contoured finger grips on the barrel.

[pen2paper]

It looks like a lever-fill desk pen to me. I have one of each, and the dipless model should have the contoured finger grips on the barrel.

Thanks for your impression. I'm going to ask if they can take a shot of the other side. You do see this as definitely Esterbrook?

[Brian Anderson]

It's pretty clear to me that is a late 1940's - mid 1950's model W desk pen. The earliest desk pens were 1934 and looked different, they had black or red tapers. The taper is plastic, not glass, and the feed on the renewpoint has broken and is missing.

[mmg122]

I have a pen that looks exactly like that which I bought from John C. Loring as a Presidential Bill Signer allegedly used by JFK. It was used to sign the Community Mental Health Act and was the last bill JFK signed...3 weeks before his assassination. It is engraved "The White House". It was manufactured in the mid 50's.

[delano]

I'm in awe of what you guys know....

 

I'll get there...

[Brian Anderson]

I have a pen that looks exactly like that which I bought from John C. Loring as a Presidential Bill Signer allegedly used by JFK. It was used to sign the Community Mental Health Act and was the last bill JFK signed...3 weeks before his assassination. It is engraved "The White House". It was manufactured in the mid 50's.

Bill signers were dipless pens with short barrel and longer taper, this is either a model XX dipless (which I highly doubt) or more likely the model W lever fill pen. The taper on the XX and W are interchangeable and shorter.

[jdllizard]

I agree, it looks like a typical 40's or 50's lever fill desk pen with clear Lucite taper and a broken nib feed. If the remaining nib unscrews, put a new nib in it and find yourself a base.

 

Who knows how it got into the wall.

[SteveE]

Considering how tight those old buildings were (NOT), there are countless ways in which something as small as a pen could get into a wall. I'm betting that it fell off someone's desk on one of the upper floors and rolled over to the wall. There was probably enough of a gap somewhere along the baseboard, between the floor and the wall, for the pen to fall through. It then fell down between the two sides of a wall (plaster on both sides of the stud) or between the plaster wall and a brick exterior wall where it then rested until found.

 

You would never guess all of the things people have found inside walls of old buildings. Fascinating. . .

[ANM]

Many years ago, they were reconfiguring the office space at the school where I worked and they found a large bottle of half used Script ink in the wall.

[pen2paper]

I'm in awe of what you guys know....

 

I'll get there...

Me too! I knew with that the wildly diverse incalculable knowledge base among our FPN'ers this pen would be identified, with additional interesting possibilities about its find in the early wall.

 

I also knew the historians in the Model T plant were hoping it had a direct connection to Henry Ford. I hesitated to burst their bubble, but they're seeking accurate history of their artifacts to share with visitors, so it was the right thing to do. As one who appreciates historical finds myself, I know the "good stuff" is usually at the bottom, so they simply need to dig deeper towards the foundation for the "Henry-era". Extra Interesting that this inquiry notes that they may find some gweimer1 family artifacts first : )