Need Advice: Pastel Yellow Esterbrook

[Francis]

Hi, new member here and i have been a casual collector of Esterbrooks and it is great to see this forum here.

 

Picked up a small yellow Esterbrook for four dollars yesterday at an antique shop. Missing piece of barrel jewele and monogrammed and needs a sac. It's a smaller pen possibly a purse pen, but does have a clip. I have seen instructions here for replacing the jewele and I can do the sac myself once I find a source for new sacs

 

My question to all of you is what would you guess the general value of this pen to be? In 8-10 years of looking in shops I've never come across a pastel yellow pen before and a quick look at e-bay didn't show any either.

 

Is this anything unusual or rare? I would really appreciate any feedback.

[Elaine]

The yellow pastel Esterbrooks were "Purse Pens" They are harder to find than the usual J's etc, but they are not super rare. It is hard to find them without cracks or discoloration. I had wanted to buy a bunch of them in different colors but was put off by the prices. Typically I'd find them for $65 - 80. I bought the following set for a song at the last DC pen show. (I wasn't supposed to buy any pens, but it was offered at a price I couldn't refuse). Oh, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think these are the later "pastels" from 1957 on. They were darker than the earlier pastels (1950-57).

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/elainepnj/137_3742edited.jpg

Edited January 23, 2006 by Elaine

[acfrery]

I love my Pink Purse Esterbrook. It has a broad smooth nib.

 

One working in excellent condition may cost here in Brazil more than U$ 100.

Edited January 24, 2006 by acfrery

[Brian Anderson]

I'm with Elaine on this one, I have very few pastels in my collection and for that very reason they show up in the $65+ range and many have cracked cap lips and are generally in poor shape. Yellow with black jewels is more common, and in perfect shape might fetch $40 or more, depending on who's in the market. Why pastels are worth more is beyond me, they use the same nibs, are generally more uncomfortable in the hand, and crack if you look at them wrong. Give me a solid J or B anyday and you've got better value for your money (of course $4 is good no matter how you look at it).

 

I think the later pastels, 1957 on, have colored jewels (meaning not black) to match the pen. If yours has black jewels Francis, you'll be able to grab good jewels from any SJ or LJ cap or barrel, or any J barrel (only, the cap jewels are larger).

 

Good find at $4 in an antique shop. In the last eight years of looking in more antique shops, flea markets, and junk shops thank I can remember, I've never seen a single pastel Esterbrook at any price.

 

Best-

Brian

[Francis]

Thanks everbody for all the help and advice. It's good to hear feedback from people that actually know about Esterbrooks. Even though it's a small dame's pen I had to pick up since I had never seen one before, plus it really stands out in my collection of large red, blue, green, and grey Esterbrooks. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that hadn't seen a yellow Estie in shops before.