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This Just In From "across The Pond", Via Peru


Hobiwan

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I’ve come to enjoy the slightly different viewpoint taken by the English when making Esterbrook fountain pens. Seems to me that they liked to go a bit “one upish” on a lot of the products.

After the first American eyedroppers, we see the English go fancy-dancy with the Relief series in eyedropper, lever- and button-fillers, sporting all manner of beautiful colors.

America makes Dollar Pens, England makes Relief 66 and gold-fill trimmed Relief 90s with 3xxx style sunburst points.

In addition to the common 6 American production colors, English J-pens can be found in nice solid colors, and their “fancy” model J has gold-filled trim and a 14K Relief Renew Point.

But I was a bit surprised when this latest pen arrived from a seller in Peru, which was listed only as a
“VINTAGE ESTERBROOK / AKUOMAN COLOR GREEN FOUNTAIN PEN”. Now, I’d never heard of anything Esterbrook described in that fashion, so I looked into the listing to find a rather beat-up looking green LJ pen. The next pictures revealed only the script “Esterbrook imprinted on the barrel, a chipped end jewel, a flattened cap jewel, and the name “AKUOMAN” stamped on the clip. I just HAD to see what this was all about.

Waiting for it to arrive, I Googled the name on the clip and came up with nothing.

The pics below show how the “devil is in the details”. The clip stamp is actually “A. KUOMAN”, and the barrel imprint shows “Made in England”; but when I absent-mindedly spun the clip, the whole rig screwed off! Looking into the cap, I saw that the inner cap had been precisely drilled through, and the top is threaded! So, obviously it was made for one to be able to remove the clip and engrave it with the owner’s name, eh?

Another English wrinkle on an otherwise standard product? A Peruvian “local field modifiction”?

Anyway, Google shows an A. Kuoman brand of Czechoslovakian razor blades made of Swiss steel, so the name looks legit.

Any other speculation, opinion or amusing comments (factual or otherwise) gratefully accepted.

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Best Regards
Paul


“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
– Albert Einstein

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Cool stuff! One of my favorite pens is a Relief 66 that I got off eBay listed as just "old Esterbrook". I found an old Relief nib to go with it.

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Fascinating. I keep coming across bits and pieces, hints and glimpses of Esterbrook in England. I've got my first box of English Esterbrook dip nibs coming to me now. I've got a nib here and there, but not a box yet.

 

One day I hope to have one of those beautiful red ripple relief pens.

 

As for your pen, I have no idea. But I highly suspect that the removable clip was a post-production enhancement. Having tried to remove a jewel without damaging the cap, I would bet that this was built into the pen from the beginning.

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Very interesting. I might look for one of those English pens. Something beyond the ordinary.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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