Doing some sorting last night and realized I had a few different "Falcon" shaped dip pens of various manufacturers.
So, in honor of my birthday gift of a Pilot Falcon that's winging its way to me at this moment, I thought I'd share a Cast of dip pen Falcons.
I'm not exactly sure where the Falcon shape came from. I read one place (it was on the internet so it must be true) is that was first designed by Esterbrook. It's certainly true that the 048 (the zero is always there) Falcon was the most popular pen they made, it was the symbol of the Esterbrook Steel Pen company. They made jewelry and awards all using this nib. It was on most ads and touted as their most popular nib since the 19th-century. And for good reason.
The falcon shape is sturdy, tends to be smooth (depending on manufacturer), and holds a large amount of ink. I'm particularly fond of the nibs. It's also interesting the variation in stiffness of the different nibs, from the very flexible Spencerian, to the super-stiff Woolco. I even threw in my one stub Falcon, the also iconic 442 Jackson Stub.
If anyone has any other info on where the Falcon shape came from, and why it was called a Falcon, I would be most curious to find out.