14 Facts About Esterbrook

Esterbrook Pen Company is a former American manufacturing company founded by English immigrant Richard Esterbrook and based in Camden, New Jersey.

Esterbrook produced dip pens, then concentrating on fountain pens until it was acquired by Venus Pencils in 1967, ceasing activities in 1971.

Richard Esterbrook was a Cornish Quaker from England who saw an opportunity in the United States to manufacture steel pens.

At its height, the Esterbrook plant had 450 workers and produced 600,000 pens a day.

Richard Esterbrook did not see the "empire" his company was to become as he died in Atlanta on October 12,1895.

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The Esterbrook Company began using the metal Iridium, which they called "Durachrome", in their nibs.

In 1947 Esterbrook bought out John Mitchell and then acquired Hazell Pen Co.

Esterbrook continued to thrive until the beginning of 1960 when it started to see a decline in export trades with England.

In 1967 the Esterbrook Empire was bought out by the Venus Pencil Company and thus the name changed to "Venus Esterbrook", which continued to produce replacement nibs for fountain pens.

Venus Esterbrook would be finally taken over by Berol in 1971, and all Esterbrook operations ceased.

Esterbrook produced a wide range of dip pens for art and calligraphy.

Esterbrook pens were among those used by Presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson to sign legislation.

Esterbrook particularly used a Nº 356 model to ink and letter his famous Donald Duck comic-book pages.

Esterbrook liked the nib so much, he bought the remaining stock when Esterbrook went out of business.