DRAFT – This page is incomplete. More information will be added at a later date, including updating the Reference section.

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Description:

• Name(s):
• Shape:
• Finishes:
• Tip:
• Prices: ¢

Comments:

• The 404 was involved in the lawsuit with Gillott, after which Esterbrook was required to change it to 444. The image above is from a salesman’s sample book from around 1873, just a year or so after the lawsuit. They most likely still had a bunch of 404s they couldn’t legally sell, but could use for this kind of purpose.

Other Images:

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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.
• Listed by Internet Vendor(s)
• Listed in Internet Auctions

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