Esterbrook ESTIE tortoise GT Ballpoint

The model name "Estie" is a nickname for Esterbrook, a tribute to the brand and its legendary heritage. The use of “Estie” also evokes the nostalgia of the 1930s, an era when slang like “jazzy,” “groovy,” “doggy,” and “brodie” colored everyday speech.

In 1858, entrepreneur Richard Esterbrook founded his pen company under the trademark Esterbrook Pen Company. It quickly grew to become one of the largest and most beloved pen manufacturers in the world. At its peak, Esterbrook was the biggest pen producer in the United States, manufacturing 216 million pens per year, that’s 600,000 pens a day, crafted by its 450 skilled workers.

A significant part of American history was written with Esterbrook pens. U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson all signed legislation using Esterbrook pens. Famed Disney artist Carl Barks brought Donald Duck to life with an Esterbrook No. 356. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz used the No. 914 for all of his comic strips. And for decades, millions of students learned to write with Esterbrook pens.

The Esterbrook Pen Company, An American Original, was revived in 2018 by Kenro Industries, fifty years after the brand had faded from the market.