ES390 Esterbrook Relief No. 2-L. (Medium Oblique)

ES390 Esterbrook Relief No. 2-L. (Medium Oblique)

Date: c1930s

Size: Capped - 132mm; posted - 168mm.

A very unusual Esterbrook Relief No. 2-L - Esterbrook's second lever filled pen that came straight after the Relief no.1 and was made in England.  These pens were actually manufactured for Esterbrook by Conway Stewart.  The pen is made from black polished celluloid.  Both barrel and cap are very nice and glossy but do have some very minor surface wear and a few very fine scratches.  The trim is all gold plated, with no apparent wear and a lovely bright appearance.  The cap has a domed hard rubber top and a washer-style pocket clip.  The pocket clip is imprinted "RELIEF" down the stem and has a teardrop at the bottom end.  The barrel imprint is still in nice condition - lovely and crisp and easily read.  The short gold plated filling lever has a small circular end tab imprinted with "R" in a circle.  The nib is a 14 carat gold Esterbrook Relief No. 2 in a medium italic point.

I have fully serviced this pen.  The nib writes very smoothly with a very good wet line.  It produces some rather attractive line width variation from a fine to a good solid medium width with no effort at all.  Usually, the nibs on these pens are broad obliques - this makes a nice change, and as it is not as broad as usual it would make a very manageable every day writer.