Esterbrook Brand Being Revived This December?

[JonSzanto]

Where do you put the '95 skyline in comparison? Also how much of a value are you placing on the metal cap?

 

Former: what is a '95 Skyline? That "Taxi" pen? Latter: enough.

 

Skyliner 50's have metal caps too. Just no ribbing.

 

Ack, good catch! Why did I mistake that? Well, $159 for a nice polished metal cap seems eminently reasonable.

[daoud62]

And all of the kerfuffle and uncertainty about the alleged relaunch of a respected brand with many admirers here and elsewhere could be alleviated if the new owner would merely give some basic information, say in an FAQ section on his website: Is Esterbrook still made in America? Does Esterbrook use interchangeable nibs? I, for one, cannot understand the rationale that "I cannot give this information yet because of my agreement with my suppliers" because the website was supposed to go public on December 1st.

 

I agree with an earlier post that extending the uncertainty into mid-December, thereby missing the Christmas buying season, is probably the worst mistake that could have been made. All of this does not augur well.

Edited December 5, 2014 by daoud62

[KBeezie]

Former: what is a '95 Skyline? That "Taxi" pen? Latter: enough.

Yes the Taxi pen under the ownership of Caltagirone, was just curious construction wise (other than plastic/metal cap which doesn't make much a difference to me) what differed to the newest.

[sirgilbert357]

Wait, some of you actually *want* one of these? There is no aspect of these new pens that draws from any previous Esterbrook. Someone bought the rights to the name and claims a heritage going back to 1858, by making a pen that resembles a 1970s Christmas ornament.

 

The guy who started this up obviously knows sweet ****** about the history of Esterbrook. Personally, the whole thing offends me and I wouldn't take one for free. Also, cos they ******.

 

No no no...I was saying this whole ordeal just makes me want the original Esties more and sadly they are either overpriced or I'd expect to lose in a bidding war (on the sumgai deal ones) against some of the members of FPN (on ebay). And that's when greensparcs said "if some one expresses an interest in a pen on here I have no problem stepping aside I shouldn't be buying it anyway ".

[FarmBoy]

The new Wearever pens will be Ergonomic.

[LamyOne]

......I agree with an earlier post that extending the uncertainty into mid-December, thereby missing the Christmas buying season, is probably the worst mistake that could have been made.....

 

Hello Daoud62 & Anyone Else Who Cares,

 

I don't know... if you ask me, the worst mistake the new owner could have made is taking a classic lineage pen brand with a blue-chip legacy and reversing everything the original company stood for, e.g., being made in China instead of the U.S.; having a fixed, friction fit nib/feed instead of interchangeable nibs; costing $85 when the original was priced for blue-collar and entry-level white-collar workers at $2.98, (even adjusted for inflation, the new price is high - it should be something akin to the Safari/Al-Star price field), and not re-claiming the beautiful, classic look of the Estie J. (At least Palomino Pencil Co. made a concerted effort to make the new Blackwing look like the original).

 

I do not wish anyone any ill will or "bad luck," but I fear this whole endeavor is going to flop; all they are using is the name, but none of the principles - and that is a crying shame - if they had focused more on the latter, I think this venture would have taken off like greased lightning; which would have been a boon for all parties involved.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited December 6, 2014 by LamyOne

[ANM]

If the nib says Germany, not Made in Germany, it is probably Chinese.

[daoud62]

 

Hello Daoud62 & Anyone Else Who Cares,

 

I don't know... if you ask me, the worst mistake the new owner could have made is taking a classic lineage pen brand with a blue-chip legacy and reversing everything the original company stood for, e.g., being made in China instead of the U.S.; having a fixed, friction fit nib/feed instead of interchangeable nibs; costing $85 when the original was priced for blue-collar and entry-level white-collar workers at $2.98, (even adjusted for inflation, the new price is high - it should be something akin to the Safari/Al-Star price field), and not re-claiming the beautiful, classic look of the Estie J. (At least Palomino Pencil Co. made a concerted effort to make the new Blackwing look like the original).

 

I do not wish anyone any ill will or "bad luck," but I fear this whole endeavor is going to flop; all they are using is the name, but none of the principles - and that is a crying shame - if they had focused more on the latter, I think this venture would have taken off like greased lightning; which would have been a boon for all parties involved.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Hi Chris,

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

This disappoints me to no end.

[daoud62]

If the nib says Germany, not Made in Germany, it is probably Chinese.

This would be a travesty.

[daoud62]

Another thing that has not been discussed: Are the new Esterbrooks supposed to be lever-fillers or piston-fillers? If they are converter-fillers, then they are not in any way related to what we all know as Esterbrooks.

[maksim]

Another thing that has not been discussed: Are the new Esterbrooks supposed to be lever-fillers or piston-fillers? If they are converter-fillers, then they are not in any way related to what we all know as Esterbrooks.

 

If we all hung on to memories of years ago, there would be no progress.

 

Esterbrook as a company, people, products, is dead. Gone, Forgotten. Of years ago.

 

Someone decided to buy the name. that is it. They can do with it whatever they want. That is their right.

 

Look, obviously they are not trying to cater to the old school people on this forum, you know, the die hards. Why should they? We always have something to (bleep) about anyway.

 

We know exactly what this is... Someone bought out name to slap on a totally new product made in China or somewhere else, like MOST things these days. There is nothing wrong with that. There are better produced Chinese goods than american versions.

 

They need to cater to the retail stores, like Staples, etc... to attract new people into the fold... and hey, if they have some older people who buy it because of the name... all the better.

 

Fountain pens, or more or less all pens in general are a dying breed. Here we are standing on a pedestal complaining that a new company is not true to name... to a company that failed.

 

Fountain pen users and collectors are a dying breed, in a dying industry. We are doing nothing as "collectors" to change that, by complaining about a company that is not producing the same product as a prior failed company did 50 years ago.

[gregamckinney]

The new Wearever pens will be Ergonomic.

 

Did D.L. buy the rights to the company name?

[KBeezie]

Another thing that has not been discussed: Are the new Esterbrooks supposed to be lever-fillers or piston-fillers? If they are converter-fillers, then they are not in any way related to what we all know as Esterbrooks.

I highly doubt they bothered to make plans for an acrylic piston filler, my money is on a basic C/C configuration. Though having both options (C/C and integrated piston filling) would be nice to pick from if they do turn out to be decent.

 

Do we have any modern day lever fillers?

Edited December 6, 2014 by KBeezie

[Brian Anderson]

Another thing that has not been discussed: Are the new Esterbrooks supposed to be lever-fillers or piston-fillers? If they are converter-fillers, then they are not in any way related to what we all know as Esterbrooks.

 

I don't know why people still keep thinking this new pen is going to be anything other than a cartridge converter. Granted the marketing has already been shown to be unimpressive, but if there were to be a lever filler in the new lineup (and certainly nothing to say there couldn't be at some point), they would have mentioned it. No $85 pen will have a lever. If the limited edition pen had a lever, you'd think one picture would show the lever somewhere. Look at all the pictures. No lever anywhere. There are trays of the New J. Not a single lever, unless they were all conveniently turned towards the bottom of the tray. Not a piston filler either, too expensive (Yes, I know, Noodler's Konrads are $20 and have a piston, as well as $50 TWSBI), and there is no evidence of a blind cap or cut in the end of the barrel, and there are images good enough to be able to tell that.

 

If it were to have a removable interchangeable nib unit that was compatible, it _should_ have been mentioned. Now, it is common faire nowadays in modern pens to have a threaded nib assembly (almost all inexpensive pens do have them), so maybe this was just missed, but it won't be backwards compatible. And being most JoWo or Bock nibs have the feed nipple attached to the nib assembly (which is also the most economical option, just buy a unit already in production and put your logo on it), then you have the perfect start for a cartridge converter.

 

Think about the sales channel, Let's call it $80 retail on the fountain pen to make the math simple. In the most common scenario (100% markup), that means it is $40 to the dealer, maybe $20-25 to the wholesaler (if there is one), and then margin on top for the manufacturer to make money. So we're talking $10-15 cost each. I doubt anyone is going to make these for only 100% markup, so probably even less. You can't make a lever filler for that.

 

I'm not sure what to think on the LE. $400? I don't know. Maybe that cap is Sterling Silver. But if you think about it, Esterbrook DID make cartridge pens, CA101, CX100, Phaeton 300, Safari, and Deluxe Safari, so it's not out of the question to say it is related in that manner, you're just changing the style of the converter. Technically speaking they made pistons too, The twist fillers were piston fillers.

 

I don't want to sound all fuddy-duddy, but people shouldn't get their hopes up that this is going to be anything remotely like what Syd is doing for Wahl-Eversharp. In all honesty, I really do hope to be proven wrong, I really do, but I know enough about the modern pen industry, and certainly enough about Esterbrook to say this isn't going to be what people expect. It's going to be a standard international cartridge/converter pen, probably come with a Schmidt K1 or K2 converter, a Schmidt or Bock nib, and that's that.

[OcalaFlGuy]

You should sic your Googler on Modern lever fill fountain pens.

 

There Are some of them, most LE or SE I think.

 

QUITE pricey. I think in that $400+ area.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl--replicating the good ole days ain't cheap

 

EDIT

Edited December 7, 2014 by OcalaFlGuy

[maksim]

You should sic your Googler on Modern lever fill fountain pens.

 

There Are some of them, most LE or SE I think.

 

QUITE pricey. I think in that $400+ area.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl--replicating the good ole days ain't cheap

 

 

Cool. =)

[maksim]

 

I don't know why people still keep thinking this new pen is going to be anything other than a cartridge converter. Granted the marketing has already been shown to be unimpressive, but if there were to be a lever filler in the new lineup (and certainly nothing to say there couldn't be at some point), they would have mentioned it. No $85 pen will have a lever. If the limited edition pen had a lever, you'd think one picture would show the lever somewhere. Look at all the pictures. No lever anywhere. There are trays of the New J. Not a single lever, unless they were all conveniently turned towards the bottom of the tray. Not a piston filler either, too expensive (Yes, I know, Noodler's Konrads are $20 and have a piston, as well as $50 TWSBI), and there is no evidence of a blind cap or cut in the end of the barrel, and there are images good enough to be able to tell that.

 

If it were to have a removable interchangeable nib unit that was compatible, it _should_ have been mentioned. Now, it is common faire nowadays in modern pens to have a threaded nib assembly (almost all inexpensive pens do have them), so maybe this was just missed, but it won't be backwards compatible. And being most JoWo or Bock nibs have the feed nipple attached to the nib assembly (which is also the most economical option, just buy a unit already in production and put your logo on it), then you have the perfect start for a cartridge converter.

 

Think about the sales channel, Let's call it $80 retail on the fountain pen to make the math simple. In the most common scenario (100% markup), that means it is $40 to the dealer, maybe $20-25 to the wholesaler (if there is one), and then margin on top for the manufacturer to make money. So we're talking $10-15 cost each. I doubt anyone is going to make these for only 100% markup, so probably even less. You can't make a lever filler for that.

 

I'm not sure what to think on the LE. $400? I don't know. Maybe that cap is Sterling Silver. But if you think about it, Esterbrook DID make cartridge pens, CA101, CX100, Phaeton 300, Safari, and Deluxe Safari, so it's not out of the question to say it is related in that manner, you're just changing the style of the converter. Technically speaking they made pistons too, The twist fillers were piston fillers.

 

I don't want to sound all fuddy-duddy, but people shouldn't get their hopes up that this is going to be anything remotely like what Syd is doing for Wahl-Eversharp. In all honesty, I really do hope to be proven wrong, I really do, but I know enough about the modern pen industry, and certainly enough about Esterbrook to say this isn't going to be what people expect. It's going to be a standard international cartridge/converter pen, probably come with a Schmidt K1 or K2 converter, a Schmidt or Bock nib, and that's that.

 

 

Well said. And absolutely a true point. It is an $80 retail high side pen, so end of day, you are right, $40 to dealer cost, $20 to wholesaler, $10 cost.

 

The $400 does intrigue me, I am just wondering how they can justify it, or what it is. Heck, that is MB territory, and picked up a number of Visconti's for less.

[amberleadavis]

Bruce, what is that pen in the picture?

[OcalaFlGuy]

A modern, lever fill, dealer only, Sheaffer Balance demonstrator (at an Atlanta pen show).

 

[EDIT] I would just guess that IF that pen were for sale it'd be at least $500.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Edited December 7, 2014 by OcalaFlGuy

[FarmBoy]

I remain in a sedated state of panic over this whole thing sitting on the edge of my keyboard waiting for the old (read original) Esterbrooks to no longer be on the internet shelves. So far it hasn't happened though my usual source hasn't found me any in about a month, though my source has mostly been in Poland for the month, so they may be drying up in anticipation of the new models.

 

I did see one online venue that seems to have a number of them available. I'm not sure if I should keep it to myself or not.