Question on odd bandless Dollar color

[hermesrouge]

Hello! I have a bandless Dollar that puzzles me… I wondered whether the pen shows aging and has darkened, or if there was a bandless color I just wasn’t aware of before. To the eye, in natural light it looks dark grey, nearly black. In brighter light it, it looks dark brown (darker than root beer).Richard Binder’s color chart doesn’t show a color like it. Does anyone have thoughts on it?
 

It’s difficult to photograph - the pictures show more variations of color than it has in person - it looks actually uniformly brown OR uniformly grey, depending. In the photos it’s against a black background, and seems to show both. A bit of a dicey nib, but it’s a lovely pen. Hoping to solve the mystery!

[FarmBoy]

The Esterbrook colors are

Black

Red

Blue

Green

Grey

Copper

 

no fancy names appear in Esterbrook literature I’ve ever found. 
 

colors vary a lot. 

[hermesrouge]

9 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

The Esterbrook colors are

Black

Red

Blue

Green

Grey

Copper

 

no fancy names appear in Esterbrook literature I’ve ever found. 
 

colors vary a lot. 

Thanks @FarmBoy May be that it is a Copper or a Grey, but the colors must vary a huge amount. It looks nothing like either!

[Estycollector]

On 3/22/2024 at 8:54 PM, hermesrouge said:

Hello! I have a bandless Dollar that puzzles me… I wondered whether the pen shows aging and has darkened, or if there was a bandless color I just wasn’t aware of before. To the eye, in natural light it looks dark grey, nearly black. In brighter light it, it looks dark brown (darker than root beer).Richard Binder’s color chart doesn’t show a color like it. Does anyone have thoughts on it?
 

It’s difficult to photograph - the pictures show more variations of color than it has in person - it looks actually uniformly brown OR uniformly grey, depending. In the photos it’s against a black background, and seems to show both. A bit of a dicey nib, but it’s a lovely pen. Hoping to solve the mystery!

 

Information on bandless Dollar Pens. Dollar Pens (esterbrook.net)

[hermesrouge]

13 hours ago, Estycollector said:

Information on bandless Dollar Pens. Dollar Pens (esterbrook.net)

The Bible! ❤️

 

I guess the pen is just odd, and we’ll never know whether it was actually originally meant to be Copper or Grey….So, to me, it will be always be my very dear Magic Black bandless. Thank you!

[Brian Anderson]

This is Grey.

[hermesrouge]

Thank so much @Brian Anderson. I think so too - I’ve come to wonder if it’s a touch of celluloid rot that is bringing out some red tones, giving it its strange brown/grey hue. It does have a distinctly camphor-y smell too. It’s a shame if that may what’s happening - it’s a lovely pen in so many ways. I haven’t seen celluloid degradation before in an Esterbrook.