There's a nice article up on usatoday about the revival of the Esterbrook brand. Does anyone here know if these new Esties are any good?
I found this comment and reply particularly telling.
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So basically, the new philosophy is to crank out as many high priced pens of unknown quality banking on the Esterbrook name. Then when that fails, introduce cheaper models? I'm not hopeful. Esterbrook pens were workhorses. Not show pieces.
This pretty much sums up my viewpoint on it. While I think it's a bit unfair that the community is completely trashing the new company and bringing up Esterbrook's pricing from the past, the new company also isn't doing itself any favors by just slapping the name on the pen and expecting us to buy based on the name alone.Actually, they sort of have a point (the company that is; although the pens have points too). Esterbrook in its heyday did not have to compete with ballpoints. They had a very large slice of the fountain (and dip pen) market, between the cheaper third tier brands and the more prestigious ones. They were selling millions of pens, which helped them to keep prices down. Fountain pens were used by everybody; they were not a rarity used by a minority. Today, when fountain pens are a niche market, it would be harder for a startup to charge the same low prices as say, Pilot does for its cheaper models.
Even given that, however, that's no incentive for any of us to take a chance on these pens. Simply putting the Esterbrook name on a pen does not establish a connection to the old company. The pens have to stand or fall on their own merits, and they have plenty of competition at their own price level and well below it.
This pretty much sums up my viewpoint on it. While I think it's a bit unfair that the community is completely trashing the new company and bringing up Esterbrook's pricing from the past, the new company also isn't doing itself any favors by just slapping the name on the pen and expecting us to buy based on the name alone.
$25 for a fountain pen with replaceable nibs does not sound outrageous to me.
Of course we all know the brand revivals (or model revivals) that went wrong, so the name "Esterbrook" does not say much on its own.
Well, although I do think that Yafa is seriously overcharging for the "Crescent-Fill" Conklin models and the Stylograph, I got my dad a Duragraph for Christmas and I was stunned at the quality of the pen for the $44 price. And really, all the Conklin designs I've seen from the new brand have been handsome.I'm sorry, but those pens look like garbage to me. They smack of Jinhao and the revived Conklin pens. The latter are OK at best and not very good value for the money, imo. Every revival of a storied American fountain pen company from the past has been a huge disappointment. Consumers who are interested in fountain pens are far better off saving their pennies and buying Pelikan, Franklin-Christoph, Edison, Pilot, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, or any number of other well-made pens that are available in prices ranging from $10 on up. I'd take a Pilot 78G over that "Esterbrook" any day.
-Andy