Esterbrook #303 Extra Fine

Description:

Name(s): After the lawsuit from Gillott, this and the 404 were renumbered to 333 and 444 respectively.
Shape: Straight
Finishes: Bronze
Tip: Pointed
Prices: ¢

Comments:

The 303 was originally produced by Esterbrook and marketed as an extra fine and flexible pen.
Unfortunately, Gillott’s biggest selling pen in the US was their 303 extra fine, and they had been selling them in the US for 40+ years when they sued Esterbrook for trademark infringement.
After losing the lawsuit, Esterbrook renumbered their 303s as the #333 Extra Fine.
The additional imprint of “National Series” on the pen below, and on the #1 is still a bit of a mystery, but I suspect it is probably a co-marketing name to go with a popular set of educational books, popular from the 1860s through the 1880s. The National Series of School Books included readers, spellers, arithmetic, geography, etc… It was not unusual to market pens alongside popular school books or styles of penmanship. Just see all of the Vertical Writer, Natural Slant and other styles Esterbrook made over the years.

Other Images:

Esterbrook 303 “National Series”

Detail of “National Series” imprint

Photograph courtesy of Jiayang Kong, NIBOLOGY

Widely used in Pennsylvania in this 1867 ad in Harrisburg Telegraph •
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania • Sat, Dec 21, 1867 • Page 2

Ad from The Buffalo Daily Republic, Buffalo, NY, Aug 1, 1873

References:

The existence of this pen is confirmed or surmised by the following:

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

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