Trying to curb my tendency for excess, I've gotten pretty selective about my restorations. But I do have a soft spot for Erskine brushes, so when I came across this one in excellent condition ... well, let's just say that the shelf is now a little more crowded. I set this one with a new (to me) 22mm finest knot from Maggard, and I like it very much. After a couple of test runs, I found this knot to have very substantial backbone, so I set it at a higher-than-usual (again, for me) loft of 53mm. Performance so far is excellent. I think this knot is quite comparable to my favorite TGN finest; perhaps not quite as soft, but with a little more backbone. It is a few bucks less than the TGN, and shipping time and service from the good folks at Maggard's was as always stellar. Nice to have another domestic supplier of knots in the game.
The handle polished up very nicely and I really like the slightly off-red color. BTW, the lettering is original, no restoration required.