Newbie Interested In Your Favorite Estie Colors

[Anaxyrus]

I've been able to get the one's I wanted for less than $20. The ones I see restored can go for twice that amount. There might be some start up with replaceable parts and tools, but over all, I think you will enjoy being able to restore and save money.

 

I do plan to get to that point. For now I'd like to see a couple in person that I can use to get a taste of what they're like. I found what appear to be a couple of nice examples for less than 40 each. If for some reason I don't like them and decide to sell, the experience will be worth even a small loss.

[corgicoupe]

With some sellers you can get a restored pen with the nib of your choice, which is an advantage. But yes, they are quite easy to restore yourself.

[Anaxyrus]

With some sellers you can get a restored pen with the nib of your choice, which is an advantage. But yes, they are quite easy to restore yourself.

Yeah, seems there are so many possibilities with these!

[Estycollector]

I do plan to get to that point. For now I'd like to see a couple in person that I can use to get a taste of what they're like. I found what appear to be a couple of nice examples for less than 40 each. If for some reason I don't like them and decide to sell, the experience will be worth even a small loss.

 

My favorite nibs so far are 3556 and 2778. The 2556 is a good writer for me as is the 9668. I've found nibs I wanted with a pen attached. The early pens made from black rubber are exceptionally well made. Some nib have a flat feed and other the more modern rounded, but they all work and work well.

 

Esterbrook pencils are not expensive and work well. Most take .9mm lead and the older rubber ones I have take 1.1 Autopoint lead.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Estycollector

[gweimer1]

The thing to remember is that there are a multitude of variations within the six basic Esterbrook J series colors. The red and blue can be found so dark that they are just stunning. I don't care for the green, but on the very light end, it becomes almost a Sage, and is really cool. The Copper can be so dark, that it becomes the root beer that people look for.

Then there are the Visumasters, with their own unique colors.

 

Moving into the '50s, you find colors like Turquoise, Willow Green and Mint Green. And Red. And the pastels....

[Anaxyrus]

The thing to remember is that there are a multitude of variations within the six basic Esterbrook J series colors. The red and blue can be found so dark that they are just stunning. I don't care for the green, but on the very light end, it becomes almost a Sage, and is really cool. The Copper can be so dark, that it becomes the root beer that people look for.

 

Then there are the Visumasters, with their own unique colors.

 

Moving into the '50s, you find colors like Turquoise, Willow Green and Mint Green. And Red. And the pastels....

Thanks. I've only done a limited amount of searching so far, but it's already become obvious that it could be tempting to own more than one of the "same" color. Very dangerous...

[Anaxyrus]

 

My favorite nibs so far are 3556 and 2778. The 2556 is a good writer for me as is the 9668. I've found nibs I wanted with a pen attached. The early pens made from black rubber are exceptionally well made. Some nib have a flat feed and other the more modern rounded, but they all work and work well.

 

Esterbrook pencils are not expensive and work well. Most take .9mm lead and the older rubber ones I have take 1.1 Autopoint lead.

I'm excited about trying out some of the nib variation. I was surprised to read that so many don't use tipping material.

[Misfit]

I won an eBay auction for an Esterbrook with a 2314-M nib. I got it for less than you would pay for that nib alone. If you like italic nibs, the 2314-M(edium) is a very, very nice nib. I put it on the LJ with Bell System Property on it because I bought that pen from a seller I know well for quality. The Bell LJ was resacced and ready for use.

[Anaxyrus]

I won an eBay auction for an Esterbrook with a 2314-M nib. I got it for less than you would pay for that nib alone. If you like italic nibs, the 2314-M(edium) is a very, very nice nib. I put it on the LJ with Bell System Property on it because I bought that pen from a seller I know well for quality. The Bell LJ was resacced and ready for use.

Thanks for the info! I've never used an italic nib so this sounds like an inexpensive way to give it a shot.

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, the great thing about the vintage Esterbrooks is the nib variety, and that it's easy to swap nib units from one pen to another. At this point I have nearly all the 9xxx series nibs (both on pens or as just the nib unit) as well as a few of the 1xxx and 2xxx series nibs, to the point that I actually had a couple of duplicates of 2xxx nibs (so I was able to send one to someone a while back who was looking for that specific number).

Sadly, though, I'm at the point where the nibs I still want are super expensive, like the 9312 Italic, (and one of the 8xxx series nibs -- the 8440 Superfine/Cartography nib; I want that one for when I get the red J restored for my husband and swap out the 9668 nib that came on it in case he doesn't like the line on any of the EFs I've got, including one of the Manifold nibs); I just hate the idea of paying more for a single nib unit than I did for most of the pens -- COMBINED (a lot of the Esties I have I got a few years ago when the prices tended to be in the $5-$15 US range, not counting any repairs).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Anaxyrus]

All but one of my modern pens have fine nibs. The two Esties I have incoming are an LJ with a 2556 and a J with a 2668.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Anaxyrus

[Estycollector]

All but one of my modern pens have fine nibs. The two Esties I have incoming are an LJ with a 2556 and a J with a 2668.

 

My 2556 nibs vary. Esterbrook listed the 2556 as fine and the 2668 as a medium

http://snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm

[Anaxyrus]

 

My 2556 nibs vary. Esterbrook listed the 2556 as fine and the 2668 as a medium

http://snyderfamily.com/current/estienibs.htm

Exactly the reference I've been using!

[Misfit]

This is from Richards Pens website;

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Misfit

[Misfit]

And that is just half of the list, but includes the 2314-M I bought.

[Anaxyrus]

And that is just half of the list, but includes the 2314-M I bought.

Thanks. I've been perusing his J-series pen for some time, but hadn't discovered the nib page. Really handy!

[Anaxyrus]

And that is just half of the list, but includes the 2314-M I bought.

I've been perusing his Estebrook pages but hadn't found the nib page. Great resource, thanks!

[Gloucesterman]

Guess I would agree with "Inkstainedruth" that the ble, then root beer and then copper are my first choices. One thing though, I don't have a big issue between root beer and copper. The thing that I totally enjoy about "Esties" are the wide range of nibs available (at what used to be reasonable cost.

[Anaxyrus]

Guess I would agree with "Inkstainedruth" that the ble, then root beer and then copper are my first choices. One thing though, I don't have a big issue between root beer and copper. The thing that I totally enjoy about "Esties" are the wide range of nibs available (at what used to be reasonable cost.

This swappable nibs are very cool, but the color variety really ups their collectable factor for me.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Anaxyrus

[pajaro]

I like some of the oddball greens. Lighter, grayish, especially transitional.