Description:
- Name(s): Falcon, Falcon Pen
- Shape: Falcon
- Finishes: White, Bronze, Gray, Copper, Gold, Black, Nickel
- Tip: Pointed
- Prices: (see table below)
Comments:
- The Falcon, as the name of a pen style, pre-dates Esterbrook and goes back to the 1840s. I have not found any actual examples from that time period, so tying the name to the distinctive shape is still just speculation. I have found at least four different companies marketing a “Falcon Pen” before Esterbrook started making pens, so it may well have already been a common style of pen. Regardless of who invented the shape, Esterbrook made the most well-known Falcon in the world, and sold more of them than any other maker, and more of them than any other style of pen they made.
- The 048 Falcon was Esterbrook’s top-selling pen for most of the 90+ years that Esterbrook made steel pens. We’re not sure when they started making Falcon pens, but the earliest Esterbrook records we have include the Falcon as already a major style.
- One hint for just how long they made Falcons comes from a 1911 Trademark extension application. In it, Esterbrook states “[The 048 Falcon] Trade Mark has been continuously used in the business of the applicant since 1863.” Esterbrook opened their factory in Camden, NJ in 1861.
| Number: | 87,1894 |
| Reg. Date: | 7/2/1912 |
| First Use: | 1863 |
| App Date: | 2/10/1911 |
- The 048 Falcon is a medium point, semi-flexible, general business and correspondence pen. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it holds a fair amount of ink and has enough flex and spring to allow for some modulation while stiff enough for general writing. It is also a handsome pen.
- Pretty much every Esterbrook Falcon you find today will have the bronze finish, though it was produced in other finishes over the years.
- Below is a table of the records that include finishes and costs.
| Source | Finish | Price |
| c1873 Salesman Card 1 | (bronze) | |
| c1873 Salesman Card 1 | (copper) | |
| c1874 Salesman Card | (bronze) | |
| c1874 Salesman Card | (copper) | |
| 1876 Price List | (bronze) | 60¢ per gross |
| 1876 Price List | Amalgam (gray) | 60¢ per gross |
| 1876 Price List | Gold plated | $1.50 per gross |
| 1876 Price List | Tar plated | 75¢ per gross |
| 1879 Trade Price List | Gray | 60¢ per gross |
| 1879 Trade Price List | Bronze | 60¢ per gross |
| 1879 Trade Price List | Copper | 75¢ per gross |
| 1879 Trade Price List | Gold plated | $1.50 per gross |
| 1879 Trade Price List | Tar coated | 75¢ per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | Gray | 60¢ per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | Bronze | 60¢ per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | Copper | 75¢ per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | Gold plated | $1.50 per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | White | $1.00 per gross |
| 1883 Catalog | Black | 75¢ per gross |
| 1887 Anderson & Krum | (bronze) | 60¢ per gross |
| 1918 Cameron Amberg | (bronze) | $1.00 per gross |
| 1918 Cameron Amberg | Nickel Plated (white) | $1.00 per gross |
Other Images:
They mention here that they were offering a turned-up point option for the Falcon. There is no other record of a turned-up tip Falcon pen made by Esterbrook. The only Falcon pen Esterbrook made with something besides a pointed or stub tip, was the #905 Radio Pen, which had a ball tip.
References:
The existence of this pen is confirmed or surmised by the following:
- Displayed on the 1873 Salesman Sample Card
- Displayed on the 1874 Salesman Sample Card
- Listed in the 1876 Illustrated Price List of the Esterbrook Steel Pen Company, January 1, 1876; courtesy of The Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware; contributed by Andrew Midkiff
- Included in the 1877 or 1878 ads in the American Bookseller
- Listed in the 1879 Trade Price List of the Esterbrook Steel Pen Company (The American Stationer, September 4, 1879) (Contributed by Andrew Midkiff)
- Listed in 1883 Esterbrook Catalog
- Listed in the Anderson & Krum price list in the 1887 Publisher’s Trade List
- Listed in the c1890 Esterbrook Pens and What They Will Do
- Listed in the Cameron Amberg & Co Stationery Catalog #85, Chicago, May 1918, p 67 & 68. (Contributed by Andrew Midkiff)
- Listed in the 1918 Announcement to the Trade: Esterbrook Steel Pen Mfg. Co. Standardization of Esterbrook Pens
- Listed in the 1921 School Supplies Catalog, J. L. Hammett Co., Cambridge, Mass., and Newark, N. J., Catalog #21, 1921; courtesy of The Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware; contributed by Andrew Midkiff
- Listed in the 1926 Esterbrook Catalog: while I got this from another source, it appears that this pdf may originally be from the collection of the Pen Collectors of America, or from the same source from which they got their scan.
- Listed in the 1938 Esterbrook Pens Catalog
- Listed in the 1941-42 Esterbrook Pen Catalog: from the Pen Collectors of America library of resources.
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