The Esterbrook Project

The purpose of the Esterbrook Project is to generate a complete list of dip pen nibs manufactured by The Esterbrook Company over the years. Contributions of information to further this are greatly appreciated.

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ESTERBROOK DIP PEN NIB LIST

900 TO 999

I'm More Confused Than Ever

The 900 series of Esterbrook nibs are the Radio pens. The Radio Pens were introduced in 1913. I believe they were an attempt by Esterbrook to consolidate the pen line into a more compact offering. Most of the Radio Pens were simply existing popular pens given new numbers and "triple silver plating." The plating was probably nickel plating to prevent corrosion from ink. Radio Pens are still reasonably available and are a good choice even today because of the nickel plating.

Esterbrook claimed they had 26 styles of Radio Pens. I believed I had identified 23 and had photographs of 19 of which I had collected. Then I found a vintage 1913 advertisement which showed line engraving illustrations of all 26 Radio Pens. I thought I was finally going to solve the riddle of the Radio Pens, but it was not to be. Of the 26 line engraving illustrations, two were duplicate illustrations. So are there 26 Radio Pens or 24? Are two Radio Pens missing? Of the Radio Pens illustrated, some did not match the Radio Pens for which I have photographs. There are some new numbers from the ad that I had not seen before. It appears Esterbrook dropped some Radio Pens and added others to the Radio Pen list. All I know for sure is that there are more than 26 styles of Radio Pens.

Then I discovered that Esterbrook had produced two versions of the #968 Radio Pen. One was based on the Majestic style and the other was Based on the Mariner style.

At this point, I threw up my hands and just listed everything. I have marked the ones with photos and the ones that appeared in the 1913 ad.

I believe this to be an incomplete list and ask your help to identify and describe nibs and provide information to improve this list. The entries configured as a link will open a page with what information I have and a picture if one is available.

The nibs are identified by:

   First: the actual imprint on the nib (if available for inspection) (also, this what a collector would first see)
   Second: An Esterbrook catalog or other publication (if available)
   Third: Some third party documentation (Zanerian Catalog)
   Fourth: Collector listings (Chappy's Nibs, e.g.)
   Fifth: Vendor listings

The photos are those I have taken of nibs I own, unless otherwise credited.

If you know of any corrections or additions to this list, please e-mail me and let me know.