Salz Favorite Fountain Pen and Pencil Combo c. late 1930s

by Jim Mamoulides, May 23, 2025

Salz Favorite blue and plum marbled fountain pen and pencil combo c. late 1930s

Definitely someone’s favorite!

I am attracted to obscure, less documented pens and pencils because I find it a fun challenge to try and track down who made them and the story behind them. This tiny blue and plum marbled Favorite fountain pen and pencil combo was going to be difficult as it had no maker’s marks other than FAVORITE stamped on the clip and nib. Several pen companies made these diminutive writing instruments, with the Salz Brothers Peter Pan line likely the most famous and collectible. Clearly novelties, some were marketed specifically to women, such as the Eagle Elfin line and some to children, such as the Wearever Shirley Temple line. The Welsh Manufacturing Company also made quite a few. But who made this Favorite combo?

It shouldn’t surprise the reader to hear that internet searches on “favorite fountain pen” might be a longshot. Searching for advertisements turned up no hits, which is no surprise, given the generic name, but amazingly I got a very interesting hit on Jon Veley’s LeadHead’s Pencil Blog. In his article, "SB" is for Salz Brothers,” Veley describes how he identified a pencil with Favorite stamped on the clip as a Salz Brothers product because it has “’SB’ in a wreath or a circle” at the top of the clip. In that same article, he shows a black fountain pen and pencil combo with FAVORITE stamped on the clip, just like the blue and plum marbled one shown here and identifies it also as a Salz product. Both his black and this blue and plum marbled combo have PATD stamped at the top of the clip.

U. S. Design Patent 83,672 awarded to Harry Esterow March 17, 1931

I asked Jon about the PATD stamp at the clip top. That is often a clue to the manufacturer, because many pen and pencil patents are assigned to specific companies, not just the patent holder. In this case the patent is for the clip design, filed on December 31, 1930 and awarded as U. S. Design Patent 83,672 to Harry Esterow on March 17, 1931. If you look at 1930s Eagle Pencil Company EPENCO pens and pencils, you will see the same clip design and same PATD stamped at the top of the clip.

Salz Favorite blue and plum marbled fountain pen and pencil combo c. late 1930s

Esterow has about nineteen patents in his name, fourteen for clips, awarded from 1925 to 1949. He also had a patent for a mechanical pencil, U. S. Patent 2,035,225, awarded March 24, 1936, and three for a lighter. His lighter patent, U. S. Patent 1,646,085, awarded October 18, 1927, was manufactured as the Morrison Lifetime Lighter, made c. 1928 by the Morrison Lighter Corporation, Paramount Building, Times Square, New York City. It appears that Esterow, who lived in New York City, went around to the local pen and pencil companies with his dossier of clip patents and sold or licensed them to several manufacturers as some of the designs show up on several brands.

Searching for information about Harry Esterow was about as difficult as finding out about the writing instrument itself. If I found the right person, it appears that Harry Esterow was born January 7, 1897 in the Miory district of Belarus or Russia and died in Miami-Dade County, Florida on March 24, 1951 at the age of 54. He was buried at Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, Queens County, New York.

Salz Favorite blue and plum marbled fountain pen and pencil combo c. late 1930s

The very small, 4 1/8 inch long, Favorite tiny fountain pen and pencil combo shown here is made of a pretty blue and plum marbled celluloid. Although the clip patent is from 1931, the overall look is so similar to the late 1930s Eagle Pencil Company’s Elfin line it makes me think it, too is from the mid to late 1930s. The cap and barrel have eight facets, and the marbled celluloid is wrapped at an angle. It has FAVORITE stamped on the gold plated clip and nib. The light gold plating is easily worn off, and on this example is almost completely gone. There are no other markings except a personalization. For comparison, Eagle’s Elfin combos, fountain pens, and pencils each retailed for 25 cents in 1937.

I’ve only ever seen three Favorite pens, all very small: this one, a black combo, and a green and black marbled fountain pen. I do not doubt that matching pencils were also made. All of them have the same PATD clip, there are two versions of the cut or punched out wide cap band.

This "Favorite" fountain pen and pencil combo would appeal to collectors who like the tiny pens made by Salz, Eagle and Welsh. They are fun and the Salz Peter Pan pens come in an amazing array of colors and decorations, and many models have gold nibs.

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Acknowledgement

Thanks to Jon Veley for helping to identify the maker of this fountain pen and pencil combo and for the patent information.

References

“Before Salz Was Salz, Part I” by Jonathan Veley, September 5, 2016, Copyright Jonathan A. Veley, 2011-2016

Eagle Pencil Company 1937 catalog, pages 22-23

“Harry Esterow” Copyright © 2025 Find a Grave

“Harry Esterow - Genealogical Records” © 1997-2025 Ancestry

“Morrison Lighter Corp, New York, NY (USA)” LighterLibrary @ 2014-2025 Visceral Verbiage LLC

"’SB’ is for Salz Brothers” by Jonathan Veley, October 9, 2016, Copyright Jonathan A. Veley, 2011-2016

U. S. Design Patent 83,672 awarded to Harry Esterow March 17, 1931