Charles Schulz "Peanuts" favorite nib and holder

[schin]

I came across this and thought it's super interesting... this beloved American artist uses a humble Esterbrook 914 Radio nib.. and the famous story is that he loves this nib so much that when Esterbrook went out of business, he bought out their remaining stock, hundreds of boxes enough to last him a lifetime!

You can see it in action here:

From: https://schulzmuseum.org/collections/pen/

[Milonguera]

Very cool.  Now I want to try one of them just to see what it does.  Damn you, Schin.   

[Bianca M]

I have driven by this museum many many times... never been in. But, this may change that!

[Briana]

How cool! I have always LOVED Peanuts-- as a kid my mom (who is an accountant) used to bring home old giant pads of ledger paper that were meant for use in a big printer (I don't know the exact name of them, but they had perforated edges and yellow copy paper behind them). I would take the Sunday comics and redraw a panel from the Peanuts strip at like 10 times the size. No idea why I loved this so much, but I did it constantly. I had about 15 years of Sunday comics stacked on a shelf before my dad, who was a volunteer Red Cross fire response team leader, made me recycle them because they were a huge fire hazard

Now I work in Santa Rosa where Charles Schultz is from There're statues of Peanuts characters all over the place, and my office has a giant statue of Joe Cool pretending to be a surveyor, haha.

Sorry for the story vomit, but I just love cartoons <3

[Briana]

I have driven by this museum many many times... never been in. But, this may change that!

Where do you live? I feel like you must be very, very close to me... Maybe we could have a meet-up some time!

[Jennifer J]

That's so neat! I am in that area about once a year and have never gone there either. Maybe next year!

[Linda Y.]

I stopped by the Schultz museum on my honeymoon many years ago, it was awesome!! Loved the giftshop especially.

Great story Schin - do you have an Esterbrook 914?

[jeanwilson]

Another detail about Charles Schulz:
Almost everyone (in the states) has seen the ads for the *Draw Me* correspondence art school.
I thought of it the other day and Googled it to see if it was still in business - and it is.
It is based out of Minneapolis and Charles Schultz was a graduate of the school and also a teacher until he could support himself on his cartoons.

I thought it was very interesting that the school is *old school* (learn how to draw - no digital art) and still in business.
The way the school is run would be an interesting model for a calligraphy correspondence school.
More about the school:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Instruction_Schools

More about Charles Schultz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Schulz

[FlowerCityLetters]

How cool! I have always LOVED Peanuts-- as a kid my mom (who is an accountant) used to bring home old giant pads of ledger paper that were meant for use in a big printer (I don't know the exact name of them, but they had perforated edges and yellow copy paper behind them). I would take the Sunday comics and redraw a panel from the Peanuts strip at like 10 times the size. No idea why I loved this so much, but I did it constantly. I had about 15 years of Sunday comics stacked on a shelf before my dad, who was a volunteer Red Cross fire response team leader, made me recycle them because they were a huge fire hazard

Now I work in Santa Rosa where Charles Schultz is from There're statues of Peanuts characters all over the place, and my office has a giant statue of Joe Cool pretending to be a surveyor, haha.

Sorry for the story vomit, but I just love cartoons <3

I loved reading this! What a great thing to do as a kid .

Tanks for sharing Schin - this is mega cool, I had no idea.

[flummoxed]

Thanks Schin and Jean! Always nice to read these interesting stories. There has been a resurgence of "art" schools here in India.

[AAAndrew]

Very cool.  Now I want to try one of them just to see what it does.  Damn you, Schin.   

The 914 is really just a re-issue of the Esterbrook #14 Bank Pen but with the coating that distinguised the "Radio Pens."

I really like the 14. It's big, lays down a fine line but also has a bit of flex. It's also very durable. While the 914 is harder to find and always gets a premium because of the connection, the #14 is more common and cheaper.

Just don't buy them all up because I still want to get some more. I have 3 and use one fairly regularly for regular, daily writing like letters.