Esterbrook Guru Needed In Aisle 2

[gweimer1]

The more Esterbrook pens that cross my path, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more details I start to pay attention to. Which leads me to my latest question.

 

I received a lot of pens not too long ago - mostly black Dollar pens, or so it seemed. Armed with my trusty Esterbrook book, and looking over some of the resources, I began to question the pens. On the surface, they looked right, but as I checked the imprints, I need some clarification. I have two pens in particular that are black Dollar pen caps, on barrels with the imprint simply "Esterbrook". According to the book, these barrels are 1944-47 dates, and belong to the second transitional pens with a jeweled cap. The Dollar pens should have one of the "R Esterbrook" imprints, and would not extend into the late '40s. Am I correct in this assumption?

[Hobiwan]

True as far as I know, especially if the "Made in USA" text is on a second line under the "Esterbrook". A picture would help.

 

Some of the earliest ("V-Clip") pens had simply "Esterbrook", with the "Made in USA" off to the right and perpendicular to the "Esterbrook" (Page 10). I never found any of those imprints on "regular" Dollar Pens or Trannies, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't exist.

 

(Edited to add ..) Nor does it mean that the company wouldn't have put leftover DP caps on Tranny barrels later just to get production out once the war was over. I once thought that the Transition pens were a bit rare, but from what's showed up in the market, it seems that a lot of them were made and sold in the immediate post-war years.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Hobiwan

[gweimer1]

Thanks. Sounds like Ford...who were known to do the same with engine parts by using up the old before settling on the standard for the new model year.

[Brian Anderson]

I suspect you have a dollar pen cap on a transitional barrel. Like Paul mentioned, I have not seen anything other than a V clip with just an Esterbrook imprint.

[gweimer1]

I suspect you have a dollar pen cap on a transitional barrel. Like Paul mentioned, I have not seen anything other than a V clip with just an Esterbrook imprint.

 

That was my gut reaction for opening this thread. So now, my two complete pens have become four incomplete. My parts box grows.