I like Esterbrook the most. The red looks good together with the man's face.
I have only one box aside from ''Hunt 100'' which is pretty common I guess.
It is from an Italian nib maker named ''Presbitero''.
The nib is ''Presbitero 500 EF'', which can be used for fine lines if held steeply and extremely broad but very difficult to get even lines if held as flat to the paper as possible due to its characteristic of being a very flexible, long beak nib. ..[/URL]
I've seen those Presbitero boxes before, they're pretty cool. I want a hat like that.
The red Esterbrook boxes are fairly late. I do have some quite early Esterbrook boxes in there, but the oldest one, and probably the rarest one, is at the top, just left of center.
The Washington Medallion Pen Company box can be dated to exactly 1864. It's not just any Washington Medallion Pen box (which are rare enough), it's a Harrison & Bradford's Washington Medallion Pen box.
It was made by Harrison and Bradford Between January and April of 1864, between when they discovered that Albert Granger, for whom they were making Washington Medallion Pens on contract, no longer owned the design patent, and when they were sued by said Mr. Granger and slapped with an injunction against making any more Harrison & Bradford Washington Medallion Pens. It could also be from August of the same year when the injunction against them was lifted and they went back to making pens, until they lost the case some time later that year and had to stop.
Then there's the Esterbrook box, second from right on the top row, that was a giveaway at the 1914 Stationers' Association dinner at the famous restaurant Delmanico's in NYC. Only 347 guests attended, and presumably not too many more boxes than that were made.
Not all of the boxes have a story, but a few are definitely more interesting than others.
Anyone have a cool box they want to share? They did make some great designs for them, especially over in Britain and the Continent.
