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I just acquired an Esterbrook Relief 12 made by Conway Stewart in the 1950s. The pattern is called, I believe, gray hatch. The nib tipping measures about 1.1mm and lays down a ton of ink. It also appears to be a left foot oblique. Would this nib be classified as a Broad? The gray hatch pattern is every bit as lovely as the mackerel pattern on my J-models. This should be my last Esterbrook purchase.
Thank you for informing me of the Esternrook Conway Stewart connection.Quote:
Originally Posted by corgicoupe
If you compare the images of the Esterbrook Relief 12 on esterbrook.net with images of the Conway Stewart 28 on the Peyton Street Pens site (the main photo on the Conway Stewart tab) you will see the striking similarity.
For reasons that escape me, that's what Esterbrook meant by "Relief". And 1.1mm sounds plenty broad. All in all I'm salivating at the thought of it. Enjoy!Quote:
Originally Posted by corgicoupe
Some have said it's a relief to write with this nib, which is based on the #314 steel nib and was later incorporated into the x314-F,M,&B nibs for the J-series. I lean toward Fine nis so will have to work at practicing with this Broad nib. My 9314-F & 9314-M are my favorite writers.
My Relief 12 looks just like the gray hatch on esterbrook.net. It's quite lovely! I had to beg the seller; he was offering me a black one but finally agreed to sell the gray hatch one.
I have a couple of the old Esterbrook gold "Relief" nibs on what appear to be blah 1930's hard rubber bodies made by C-S. Both pretty beat up. and missing caps. I bought them years ago, because of the left Oblique grind. I too have heard that "relief" indicated such. I am not sure if I have ever seen the old Esterbrook gold nibs with any other grind. Maybe it is just due to their popularity among collectors that they get all of the attention, but I suspect that it was a marketing niche that Esterbrook worked out with C-S.
Bob