"Esterbrook Broad" on flat feed. Does it make sense?

[antoniosz]

I always thought that the inscription "BROAD" "MEDIUM" or "FINE" belong to late renew points.

In auction 140157245394 an "ESTERBROOK BROAD" nib appears on an early flat feed.

Am I wrong or is this item a mismatch?

 

[Rabbit]

Interesting! I wish I had more flat feed nibs to compare it to. Of the three I have, it looks the most like my 3550 with orange collar and 7 mini-fins.

 

It looks like instead of a crimp, the collar is held in place by a pin.

 

The seller seems to have a pretty good knowledge of Esterbrook nibs, knowing that flat feed nibs are on the rare side. But it seems like it would be a lot of trouble to do a swap for the purpose of deceiving--could it have been a swap of necessity that ended up in someone else's hands later on down the road only to cause confusion?

 

Looks like a fun nib regardless!

 

--Stephen

Edited September 19, 2007 by Rabbit

[Quicksilver]

As I know them, renew points with the tip size stamped in them are Prewar nibs, with the early pinned collars. I have not seen one with a later crimped collar. Doesn't mean they don't exist, I just haven't seen one.

Edited September 19, 2007 by Quicksilver

[Rabbit]

I have a later Esterbrook cartridge pen that has a nib marked "MEDIUM" and "Made in USA"-- however, now that I have taken a closer look, it also has a clear collar--maybe that makes it a Venus nib? It doesn't have a manufacturer listed on it at all...

 

--Stephen

[Brian Anderson]

Almost all the "Fine", "Medium", and "Broad" nibs you'll see are in later cartridge style pens. They are essentially the 2556, 2668, and 2968 nibs. To have one with a flat feed does seem odd, as I've never come across one, and flat feeds were gone long before the cartridge pens came around. I'm not sure what's happening here, but if anyone has a legitimate pen with a similar flat feed "Broad" nib I'd like to see it. Better yet, show me a catalog or heck, even an advertisement for these before the late 1950's and then maybe I'll believe it.

 

Of course, I've been wrong before. Frankie does have a large accumulation of Esterbrook pens, but that does not mean this is a legitimate pre-war nib.

 

Best-

Brian

[EventHorizon]

The two I have are on cart pens............

[Rabbit]

Ooh... also, from the same seller, look at auction: 140159744515

 

Did they make clear collars at the same time they made flat feeds? If you ask me, this clear collar would be more appropriate on the "BROAD" nib from the other auction... not sure where the flat feeds are coming from. Is my time-line accurate?

 

--Stephen

[Brian Anderson]

Slow day at the esterbrook factory? Newly discovered batch of old parts they needed to use up?

 

Who knows. I don't put a whole lot of stock in weird renew-point oddities like these, too easy to fake (not saying this is what's happening here) and call it a rare variant. After all there are some Esterbrook collectors out there (I might happen to know one ) who occasionally speculate on the weird and unusual.

 

Brian