The Eserbrook J is actually miles ahead of those pens in terms of
quality. The washer-style clip is a lot less likely to drop off
in normal use. The plastic is astonishingly resistant to
scratches. The points, while steel, are extremely smooth, and are
one of the Estie's great claims to fame. The points are
interchangeable.
Back in the day, you would go down around the pen shop, and if you were
in an Esterbrook mood, you could choose the colour of pen you liked
best, then select from a separate rack entirely which point you thought
would suit your writing best. The point and feed screw into the
section as a unit, and if you're a mercurial writer, you can keep
several points around to fit to the day's fancy. This was not a
trick known only to Esterbrook, as Sheaffer dabbled in it a little and
Osmiroid pursued it fairly vigorously-- in fact, the latter's points
will fit an Estie and vice versa, giving the modern owner a very broad
range of selection indeed. This particular pen came to me with an
Esterbrook 1551 point, which seems to be extremely common. I've had several Osmiroids in it as well, all working without complaint in the foreign holder.
The great thing about these pens is that they were inexpensive enough
to be common, but quality enough to be kept. There's a lot of
them still around, and they can be gotten for less money than
first-tiers of a similar finish.
Specifications:
Interchangable point-- in this case, a fine 1551. Lever
filler. 12.9cm long capped, 13.4cm to the face of the section
posted (because the end-to-point length can vary depending on the
point).
Condition: Almost no wear showing. The tipping has worn off the point, rendering it slightly scratchy.
Repairs: Clip had
been bent out of shape and wouldn't grip-- it's now back to where it
should be. Original sac, stamped with the makers name, was
completely hard and has been replaced with silicon.
Eventually, I'll get some more Estie points to replace this one.
Location: My collection.
For sale?: No.
Please use your browser's BACK button to return to the page you came from.
Website design
by Dirck de Lint, renaissance thug, with the great assistance
of 
