I Should Have Been Warned

[Misfit]

Super find @Catpaws

[Catpaws]

@MisfitThanks! It was the only fountain pen I saw there. 

[Nantucket Workbench]

Sigh...

 

I think I'm up to around 18 desk sets now. I need a bigger desk. I even have two on the bench in a woodworking shop.

[Katharine]

On 7/11/2022 at 4:56 PM, AAAndrew said:

I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

(a small sample)

 

 

The burgundy set, third from the right in the bottom row... what is the pen like?  (I can't quite tell from the picture.)  I inherited just a base like that from my grandfather and have toyed with finding a pen to replace it, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for... burgundy or black.  (Although I can't see me using it, so that's part of the reason I've never actually looked seriously into replacing it.)

[AAAndrew]

On 11/17/2022 at 9:35 PM, Katharine said:

The burgundy set, third from the right in the bottom row... what is the pen like?  (I can't quite tell from the picture.)  I inherited just a base like that from my grandfather and have toyed with finding a pen to replace it, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for... burgundy or black.  (Although I can't see me using it, so that's part of the reason I've never actually looked seriously into replacing it.)

 

The pens for these were traditionally black with a clear or red taper, depending on whether you were using red ink in it. Almost all of the pens in single ink wells were black with a clear taper (you can see several in the photo). You usually only find red tapers in double wells. 

 

The pens that came in different colors for the body were almost always the fountain pens that were used in the desk bases. You can see a few of these on the far left of the picture. The Dip-less pens for the base you were talking about are still quite common and relatively inexpensive. The base holds ink and the pen sits in the ink so it's always ready to write. Because the ones from this era all use the standard Esterbrook nib units as you find in their fountain pens, they hold a decent amount of ink and come in different styles. 

 

Andrew

[Katharine]

14 hours ago, AAAndrew said:

 

The pens for these were traditionally black with a clear or red taper, depending on whether you were using red ink in it. Almost all of the pens in single ink wells were black with a clear taper (you can see several in the photo). You usually only find red tapers in double wells. 

 

The pens that came in different colors for the body were almost always the fountain pens that were used in the desk bases. You can see a few of these on the far left of the picture. The Dip-less pens for the base you were talking about are still quite common and relatively inexpensive. The base holds ink and the pen sits in the ink so it's always ready to write. Because the ones from this era all use the standard Esterbrook nib units as you find in their fountain pens, they hold a decent amount of ink and come in different styles. 

 

Andrew

Thank you!

[Misfit]

Weakening… so pretty, these Esterbrook desk sets. I have a Sheaffer desk set with a calendar cylinder on top on an onyx base. 
 

Some of those Esterbrook sets (drool)

 

I scrolled through the eBay offerings, and didn’t see one that said Buy Me. I did see one with a price that made me wonder what the person thinks they have in the Esterbrook set, solid gold maybe?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334459404088?hash=item4ddf557f38:g:LZQAAOSwpntilfMp&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoDXIBkINNBXlOhvXO7L5Qmtbfjxxkvv3gZ5SUAhWlUXKduHnTefu8%2FecAuPAcRRpU6BIodEWihcptlVJeChs7qtz9kfJyLfpdl5f5TOcgSaVnUwGzWzubE5jHmT7y7RzE5xxC%2BNLuHJOyJyq0ZLLh1Lbzsu0u%2BusjN3p5jOY7QTIYHPGy03R552oK7b%2Bs2t0ATit1fvK0LCgB9erIEFJ6ok%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR7jk2MuVYQ

[Misfit]

Well, I found one on Etsy that looked good, and was reasonably priced. I took a screenshot, that isn’t in great focus. After I went through the checkout, I saw another one from the same shop that the seller thought had never had ink in the base.  
 

The nib is (I think) a 9968. The base is a 444, and is burgundy. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

My Dip Less is plain ol" black, but I love it.

[Misfit]

Since the pen has a sac, I’m thinking I won’t put ink in the base. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

It's a mis-match, perhaps?  DipLess (or however it's spelled) pens don't have sacs.  It might work with the base as a dipper, even if it's not re-sacced.

[Misfit]

Hmm, I think it has one. The listing on Etsy disappeared after I bought the set. I should have done more research. 
 

I liked the looks of the base, and never thought about it beyond that. I’ll have to wait and see. It has shipped. It’s the first vintage pen I’ve bought from Etsy. 

[Misfit]

My “set” arrived today. The pen does have a sac.  The lever seems to be the newer style, which I recently learned about thanks to Gary. It has a spoon look at the end. 

 

Evidently I either need to find the right pen, or forget about it. I didn’t know enough about that particular base. I’m not sure if I want a base filled with ink.

Can others who have this style, and fill it with ink write about how they like it, please?

 

Will it be easy to find the right pen for the base?

[Misfit]

After checking the pen, there is no sac. I unscrewed the nib, and it came away easily with no sac. The clear end unscrewed to show a rusty j bar.  Oh, and the tip of the clear part is broken off. 
 

I seriously did not do the due diligence on this Esterbrook desk set search. The base is very nice though. And the  nib is a 9968, which looks like a stub.  That’s good for me as I love stub and italic nibs. 
 

[Sailor Kenshin]

44 minutes ago, Misfit said:

My “set” arrived today. The pen does have a sac.  The lever seems to be the newer style, which I recently learned about thanks to Gary. It has a spoon look at the end. 

 

Evidently I either need to find the right pen, or forget about it. I didn’t know enough about that particular base. I’m not sure if I want a base filled with ink.

Can others who have this style, and fill it with ink write about how they like it, please?

 

Will it be easy to find the right pen for the base?

I LOVE my DipLess pen base, and it's always filled with any old ink I can throw in it.  Every couple of months, I unscrew the top, clean it, and refill it.  If your sacless sac pen fits into the base, you can use it that way.  
 

If you look for DipLess on fleabay, you might find just a pen without the base.  There's a thread in the Esterbrook sub-forum about these, I think.

 

My base is heavy and sturdy, unlikely to tip, but I keep it in a small flat-bottom plastic bowl for insurance.  👍🏻

[Misfit]

I’m not sure if it fits the base correctly since I’ve never had one of these to know how the pen should sit. 

Edit here:

The discoveries on this set continue. I used a gripper to remove the section, and there was a sac, which feels fairly new. I wonder if it’s long enough. Hmm, what to do?  I might look for a pen that is right for a Dip-less base. I feel lucky to get the nib, especially if it shows line variation.  I don’t know which ink I’d put in the base. 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Misfit

[Misfit]

Well the 9968 nib might look like a stub, but it doesn’t write that way. The Esterbrook chart describes it as for broad writing. 
 

The pen does not fit the base. Would it fit any of the smaller bases?

[gweimer1]

The 9968 nib is a Firm Broad, which could be somewhat of a stub with use over the years.  That would suggest that someone really liked that nib.

[FarmBoy]

3 hours ago, gweimer1 said:

The 9968 nib is a Firm Broad, which could be somewhat of a stub with use over the years.  That would suggest that someone really liked that nib.

Or it got in a fight with a Dremel tool

[gweimer1]

2 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

Or it got in a fight with a Dremel tool

 

The question is - which was the winner?  The nib or the Dremel?  Inquiring minds want to know.