Any Idea What This Is?

[ushat]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/ushat/greenestie.jpg

 

I acquired this Esterbrook among some other spares and repairs bits and pieces. It's in poor condition though not beyond repair. I haven't seen one like it before, either in reality or online. It seems late and shoddily made in comparison with other Esterbrooks. Worst of all, it's a cartridge pen that doesn't take the usual sizes.

 

It has a superb 9556 nib.

[Brian Anderson]

That's a 1957 model Safari. These were made for one year, before quality control decided that the plastic caps were too brittle and cracked easily, like yours. They were replaced with a metal cap in 1958, like on the plunger filler (which was also introduced in 1958). The design is great, but the engineering wasn't. Even when they went to the metal cap, the internal threads scratched the ends of the barrels quite easily.

 

Oh, and that metal band below the threads looks to be the cap band from the cap, in case you hadn't figured that out.

 

I've got a whole page of safari pens on my website: www.esterbrook.net and click on safari pens on the left menu bar.

 

Best-

Brian

[ushat]

Thanks, Brian. I hadn't worked out what that metal band was It looks quite stylish now that the band's where it should be.