A collaboration of two iconic American brands
The crackle of transatlantic broadcasts joins the two sides of the world.
The lyrical poetry of Bob Dylan and the raw rasp of Janis Joplin fills the airwaves.
A British invasion is on the horizon, bringing with it the moves of Mick and the mop tops of the Beatles.
The eight-track tape clicks and squeaks, while the world’s first computer whirs.
John F. Kennedy calls for our nation to literally reach for the stars, promising to land a man on the moon and bring him safely back to earth.
Listen closely and you can also hear the faint, hypnotic, hum of the Bulova Accutron. This is the sound of near silence.
This is the soundtrack of the 1960’s.
Accutron and Esterbrook.The DNA is the same. Two founders from across the Atlantic, settled in the North East. Guided by ingenuity and the spirit of innovation, they both pursued excellence. Their brands represented what was beloved about the past and the great possibilities of the future.
One manufactured watches, the other pens.
They both made history.
The Accutron, Bulova’s revolutionary timepiece, made its debut in 1960.
It was launched during the Space Race, revered for its inventiveness, the heart of which was the tuning fork, powered by a one-transistor electronic oscillator circuit, making it one of the first electronic watches manufactured. In 1961, President Kennedy, with a stroke of his Esterbrook, wrote the historic speech then presented before a joint session of Congress that set the United States on a course to the moon.
Both companies are set to memorialize this time in their history.
In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the two occasions, Accutron returns with one of their most iconic design and celebrates and Esterbrook .
Using elements of the Accutron, the Esterbrook [insert name of pen here] represents what is most distinct about the watch. It speaks to the past, present and future of watchmaking and pen making, alike. It evokes the harmony of the Accutron, paying homage to the original, while introducing the new. It harkens to what made Richard Esterbrook’s pens revolutionary in their time and what made Joseph Bulova’s Accutron highly collectible upon its debut.
JFK sketch created by Andrew Lensky
These two companies are now joined together more than a century after their founding, to commemorate the two men who originated them and brought to the world modern instruments of the analog, paving the way for the digital.
Image by The Gentleman Stationer
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We all love fun little elements that bring a touch of joy to our personal accessories. Look around and you’ll see people adding shiny metal clips, buttons and pins to their satchels, as they are familiar sites in our inked fountain pen world. Another fun way to let people know that you’re part of the writing community is through stickers. We all love stickers! Especially the ones that add some color and cool connections with the brands we love. Well, you may be interested to know that our Esterbrook team and creative friends of the brand have developed some fun vintage inspired stickers. The designs are creative, colorful and perfect for your laptop, notebook or favorite park bench. The stickers are available the entire month of February through participating retailers – ask us!
Notes on the sticker designs:
The retro icons were originally created by Akanksha Adivarekar, as she helped us launch the “Vintage Soul” campaign when we relaunched the brand in 2018. It was Akay’s inspiration for each design which includes a locomotive, retro telephone, vintage car and more. The idea for the Vintage Soul campaign was developed in an effort to link the feeling of the Esterbrook brand and its long history. A connection to our past, so to speak.
These retro icons seem to make people feel good and with some illustration refinement from Ana Reinhart at ” The Well Appointed Desk,” voila! We added some color and printed the stickers. We will offer the stickers for the month of February and then they too become a part of Esterbrook history.
How you can acquire the stickers:
For more information about Esterbrook and suggestions for where to buy, please contact us at info@esterbrookpens.com or call 516-741-0011
]]>The Arkansas Pen Show 2019 is happening on March 15th – 17th at the Crowne Plaza Little Rock. Come see the full line up of Montegrappa, Aurora & Esterbrook. This will be a great show for hunting down those vintage Esterbrook nibs!
See the full show details HERE
]]>“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” – Martin Luther
A pen, a simple pen, can be the most powerful tool known to humanity. A pen can be used to decide the fate of many. It can influence the history of entire nations. It is a device that can be used to enslave and destroy. Most importantly, it can also be used to set people free and to create wonderful works. This is the story of when a pen was used for freedom; a pen used to change the world. All that was required to change the course of history for the betterment of all men was for one man to pick up an Esterbrook pen… and write his name.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is one of the single greatest achievements of its time. That single act of legislation changed the face of the United States of America forever. However, the history of how the Act came to be is as fantastic as the effects of the Act itself.
The end of the Civil War meant all slaves were free and all men now had the right to vote. While this was a major step forward the southern states still used tactics that allowed racial violence and segregation to flourish. Decades passed without any expansion upon what was started after the Civil War. Finally, as protests sprung up in the South during 1963, John F. Kennedy decided to act. The Civil Rights Act was proposed.
“I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” – John F. Kennedy
Unfortunately, it is never an easy task for good men to do the right and just thing. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in November of that same year. The entire country was shaken and the Civil Rights Act was in danger of being defeated with inequality continuing its reign. The power of a pen remained strong in spite of the political and racial divides of this time. Information and inspiration flowed through many pens to create powerful speeches, poetry, and written articles that highlighted the hardship, inequality, and hope of African-American people in America.
With John F. Kennedy’s passing the country was lost and needed a strong leader. The burden was now upon Lyndon B. Johnson to champion the Civil Rights cause that had been left behind. Just five days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Johnson went before Congress and spoke to the nation.
“We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for one hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
The time for talking was finally over and the time for writing had just begun. It was not an easy process and Johnson, with the fate of the Civil Rights Act riding upon his shoulders, faced extreme opposition. Johnson would have to rally all of his allies and enlist potential new ones to pass the bill in the House of Representatives before it could be moved on to the U.S. Senate. Each step of the process required signing. These signatures are a testament to the power of a pen used for good. In the U.S. Senate, the bill faced the strongest resistance. It was filibustered by Johnson’s opposition for 75 days with one Senator speaking for over 14 hours. Johnson and his allies persevered throughout it all.
In the end, Johnson and the Civil Rights movement had achieved their victory. On July 2, 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law with over 70 custom Esterbrook presidential fountain pens. Johnson had accomplished what he set out to do. He helped to write the next chapter and wrote it into the books of American law. These pens had signed documents that changed the world. The pens were then handed out afterwards as mementos to the various people that had assisted in the fight to pass this important historical legislature. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was among the first to receive a pen along with Senator Hubert Humphrey who had been a key ally in the political fight. Six pens were given to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to pass down to top members of the Justice Department that worked to pass the Act. Each of these pens became a unique and powerful symbol of the change that occurred that afternoon. It is a change that still resonates with American life to this day.
“This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our states, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country. So tonight I urge every public official, every religious leader, every business and professional man, every working man, every housewife — I urge every American — to join in this effort to bring justice and hope to all our people, and to bring peace to our land.
My fellow citizens, we have come now to a time of testing. We must not fail. Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole. Let us hasten that day when our unmeasured strength and our unbounded spirit will be free to do the great works ordained for this nation by the just and wise God who is the father of us all.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy began a dramatic expansion of the U.S. space program and committed the nation to the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on. The Soviets’ triumph jarred the American people and sparked a vigorous response in the federal government to make sure the United States did not fall behind its Communist rival President Kennedy understood the need to restore America’s confidence and intended not merely to match the Soviets, but surpass them. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on “urgent national needs.” He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” President Kennedy settled upon this dramatic goal as a means of focusing and mobilizing the nation’s lagging space efforts. Using an Esterbrook pen , President Kennedy signed a bill on July, 21st 1961 which increased the budget of NASA in order to fulfill the goal of landing a man on the moon.
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn Jr. became the first American to orbit Earth. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Friendship 7 capsule carrying Glenn reached a maximum altitude of 162 miles and an orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour. After more than four hours in space, having circled the earth three times, Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere and landed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda.
Glenn’s success helped to inspire NASA and the Nation to continue President Kennedys mission to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
To the Moon.
As space exploration continued through the 1960s, the United States was on its way to the Moon. Project Gemini was the second NASA spaceflight program. Its goals were to perfect the entry and re-entry maneuvers of a spacecraft and conduct further tests on how individuals are affected by long periods of space travel. The Apollo Program followed Project Gemini. Its goal was to land humans on the moon and assure their safe return to Earth. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr.—realized President Kennedy’s dream that begin with an Esterbrook pen and his signing of the bill that increased the size and budget of NASA with the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely back to earth.
Legendary cartoonist Charles M. Schulz used an Esterbrook Radio 914 nib exclusively to draw Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the famous “Peanuts” cast of characters. In 1950 the “Peanuts” comic strip began appearing in seven newspapers with the characters Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, and Snoopy. Within a year the strip appeared in thirty-five papers, and by 1956 it was in over a hundred. The Peanuts cartoons were centered on the simple and touching figures of a boy, Charlie Brown, and his dog, Snoopy and their family and school friends. Adults were never seen, only hinted at, and the action involved ordinary, everyday happenings.
Charlie Brown had a round head with half-circles for ears and nose, dots for eyes, and a line for a mouth. Things always seemed to go wrong for him, and he was often puzzled by the problems that life and his peers dealt out to him: the crabbiness of Lucy; the unanswerable questions of Linus, a young intellectual with a security blanket; the self-absorption of Schroeder the musician; the teasing of his schoolmates; and the behavior of Snoopy, the floppy-eared dog with the wild imagination, who sees himself as a fighter pilot trying to shoot down the Red Baron (based on a famous German pilot during World War I) when he is not running a “Beagle Scout” troop consisting of the bird, Woodstock, and his friends.
Peanuts appeared in over twenty-three hundred newspapers around which made Charles Schulz an International Icon. . The cartoon branched out into television, and in 1965 the classic special A Charlie Brown Christmas won Peabody and Emmy awards. Many more television specials and Emmys were to follow. An off-Broadway stage production, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, was created in 1967 and ran for four years (it was also revived in 1999). Many volumes of Schulz’s work were published in at least nineteen languages, and the success of Peanuts inspired clothes, stationery, toys, games, and other merchandise.
His affinity for Esterbrook nibs was well known . When the original Esterbrook Pen Company announced it would be closing, Mr. Schulz purchased all of the remaining inventory of his preferred Esterbrook Radio 914 nibs so he could be sure he was able to continue using them for drawing his beloved “Peanuts” comic strip.
Schulz announced in December 1999 that he would retire in the year 2000, the day after the final Peanuts strip. Schulz died on February 12, 2000, one day before his farewell strip was to be in newspapers.
On August 15th 2002 , the Charles M. Schulz Museum opened its doors in Santa Rosa California. Millions of Peanuts fans have visited to learn more about the life and legacy of this American Icon and the Peanuts cast of characters. . A second museum opened in Tokyo Japan called the Snoopy Museum. The Charles M. Schulz legacy continues today with a new generation discovering Charlie Brown, Snoopy through new forms of media.
Carl Barks, is the once anonymous ”duck man” for Walt Disney whose draftsmanship and writing gained him a cult like following among artists and fans of Donald Duck comic books and of his very own creation, Scrooge McDuck. His exclusive use of an Esterbrook nib to draw his iconic illustrations is well known.
Mr. Barks detailed and witty adventure stories attracted a large following from 1942 to 1966, the years he drew comic books under license to Disney. Because Disney artists did not sign their work, most readers, who could spot his distinctive style at a glance, learned his name only after he retired and received attention from comic-book collectors. His fondness for Esterbrook fountain pens developed early in his career and he, like other illustrators during this era, used the Esterbrook brand exclusively.
Mr. Barks most famous creation, the fabulously wealthy Scrooge McDuck, is a native Scot who lives in a three-cubic-acre money bin and wears a red broadcloth coat that he bought in a rummage sale in 1924. Scrooge, a forerunner, however unintended, of today’s mergers-and-aquisitions executives, first appeared in 1947, in a story called ”Christmas on Bear Mountain.”
Other characters created by Mr. Barks are the Beagle Boys, masked burglars scheming after Scrooge’s loot; Gladstone Gander, Donald’s lucky cousin; the inventor Gyro Gearloose; and Gyro’s helper, a walking light bulb. Mr. Barks depicted Himalayan panoramas, downtown Atlantis or a Klondike saloon brawl in the confines of single cartoon panels.
With this fall’s introduction of the Esterbrook Estie in Lilac, we are pleased to introduce our vendors and clients to Esterbrook’s new symbol, the Esterbrook Eternity.
The Eternity symbol is made up of two connected “E’’s. They have no beginning and no end. This represents a timeline of perpetuity, linking tradition and modernity, old and new, past and future, then and now. It serves as a reminder of the trailblazing spirit of the founder of Esterbrook, Richard Esterbrook. It champions facing the future with the same determination and tenacity he and those before us did. It’s a pledge to our admirers and enthusiasts that as they persist, so do we.
Esterbrook endures.
The Eternity symbol will make its first appearance on the polishing cloth included with the Lilac Estie. Estie’s are known for their beautiful high polish and this polishing cloth will help you maintain that shine as your Estie becomes a treasured writing instrument and heirloom.
The cloth is presented in Esterbrook signature red with the Eternity symbol repeated in continuum.
As we release new Esterbrook models, the polishing cloths will be included as a testament that the principles inherent to the symbol are synonymous with the values of our brand.
The Eternity symbol will also appear on some of our new releases, featured as a logo on the tops of the pens. We will soon release The Camden, the first of our pens to include this new mark. We are excited to show it off to you.
As we add value to our offerings, we look forward to sharing more with you about who we are and who we will be.
Esterbrook endures.
As soon as Thanksgiving is over in the United States, we turn the calendar page on November and arrive at the most wonderful time of the year: December. It is a month that is centered on celebration. It is also the season for reflecting on the previous year and reaching out to family and friends, near and far. In the digital age, there is perhaps nothing more special than opening one’s mailbox to a holiday card or letter from someone dear to you hiding in the solicitations and bills. But, where did the tradition of sending greeting cards come from and why do we send them this time of year more than any other?
A short history…
Clay tablets with greetings were found that date soon after the invention of writing itself. In Bronze Age China and Egypt, personalized messages were sent to others celebrating the New Year. These were sent with the intention of giving the recipient the power to ward off evil spirits for the entire year. They were also a way to celebrate the life cycle that begins with a new year and a wish of good luck. In the 14th century there was a Germanic tradition of sending handmade cards with short wishes of good fortune for the new year, but it was mostly reserved for the upper classes as materials were expensive.
In the mid-19th century innovations in mechanized printing and mass production, coupled with better postal routes and cheaper postal rates led to an increase in personal mail.
In 1843, the first known Christmas card was created and sent. Now, over 175 years later we are still sending them!
The card printed for Sir Henry Cole who had given the idea for such a card to printer John Calcott Horsely. Performer Annie Oakley was the first to send personalized greetings to friends and loved ones back home when the holidays found her overseas. Since it was still an extravagant proposition, holiday greeting cards remained uncommon until the 1860’s when they began to be mass-produced and a full fledged part of the holiday season.
Today, postal services all over the world go into overdrive to get mail delivered between the end of November through the first weeks of the new year, harkening back to the well wishes of the ancient civilizations and the first mass mailings in the modern age.
Fitting for the season, the resin of the Esterbrook Estie in Tortoise and Evergreen elicit feelings of beautiful trees dusted with snow; their gold and silver clips the trim and ornaments on a Christmas tree. Matching inks in shades of brown and hunter green are reminiscent of pine cones and pine needles.
It is such a joyous occasion to choose greeting cards or special paper to craft holiday messages with. Whether alone or with a group of family and friends, there is something about writing cards in a space decorated for the holidays that awakens the holiday spirit. Maybe you’re next to a crackling fireplace, perhaps around a kitchen table, always with something festive to sip on while writing, be it cocoa, mulled wine or a celebratory champagne cocktail.
It’s also a treat to go find the coziest corner of a coffee shop and write cards while watching festive holiday shoppers come and go and take in the atmosphere of the season.
However and wherever you decide to express your wishes of the season, choosing a special pen to write with just adds to the delight of the holidays.
As we pick up our pens to send out our own greeting cards, all of us at Esterbrook wish you a season filled with merry writing and a happy new year.
]]>Stop by our booth at this years Paperworld 2020 in Frankfurt !!!
]]>How the contest works:
Since the moment we introduced you to the Esterbrook Estie, you’ve made it a part of the stories you tell. You’ve photographed it with your journals, on your travels, outdoors, indoors, as part of large collections and as your singular everyday carry. You’ve welcomed our classic colors and been wildly enthusiastic about our seasonal editions. You’ve made cobalt, evergreen, lilac, honeycomb and the rest, a part of your daily lives and we’re thrilled that pen enthusiasts all over the world love the Estie as much as we do.
As a thank you for embracing our labor of love, we want to celebrate the creativity of our community with our very first Estie contest.
Introducing #myestiesticker
You:
We:
The legal stuff:
The contest will run from February 17th – March 1st. We will announce the winners shortly after.
This contest is open globally. It is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram and all participants and entrants release Instagram from any responsibility for the outcome. Other details and restrictions may apply.
]]>This year Esterbrook will attend the London Spring Pen Show. This will be the first year Esterbrook will be crossing the pond and attending the show. We will have a full set of inked pens in all the nib sizes to test out and find just the write nib and pen for your writing style. This is a 1 day show on March 8th, 2020 from 10am – 4pm.
The LONDON WRITING EQUIPMENT SHOW (LWES) is the longest established show in the UK and perhaps the largest writing equipment show in Europe.
London Holiday inn (Bloomsbury),
Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT
See the full show details HERE
]]>Since 1966, Charles M. Schulz’s most earnest Peanut character, Linus has been waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Peanuts fans take delight in watching him with Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally, hoping to see the Great Pumpkin rise on Halloween and fly around the pumpkin patch to bring candy and toys to all sincere and believing children. For decades, Linus and the rest of the Peanuts gang were drawn by the deft hand of Schulz, exclusively using his trusty Esterbrook fountain pen. In fact, so dedicated to Esterbrook was Schulz, that when his beloved Radio 914 nib was discontinued, he bought the rest up, using them in his drawings until his last comic strip was published in 2000. Twenty years later, we are all still enchanted by these iconic characters known the world over. And while their appeal is universal, the Peanuts and Esterbrook are a mainstay of Americana in the 1950’s and 1960’s and their story still captivates today. Fans are still celebrating Halloween with the Peanuts, and many of them still honor Schulz by drawing his characters with an Esterbrook pen. Here, all the gang comes to life in the pumpkin patch using the Esterbrook Estie. Happy Halloween!
Thank you to Vanessa Langton for sharing her artwork.
Join our community on Instagram
Schulz Family Intellectual Property Trust. Courtesy the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. The cast of Peanuts. ©️ Peanuts
Happy Fountain Pen Day from all of us at Esterbrook to you!
Nine years of Fountain Pen Day is cause for celebration! Started in 2012 by Cary Yeager, Fountain Pen Day is celebrated annually on the first Friday in November. It is a celebratory day for fountain pen enthusiasts to embrace, promote and share the use of fountain pens.
Though this year’s first Friday in November may look a little bit different (Zoom Fountain Pen Day meetups all over the globe!) the sentiment is still the same.
To celebrate Fountain Pen Day 2020, we wanted to create something special. Our writing community loves washi tape, so we decided to make our own!
We’ve commemorated our most popular Estie’s: Evergreen, Honeycomb, Lilac and Maraschino in washi tape, complete with the Fountain Pen Day logo! It can be used in your journals, planners and notebooks, for making ephemera, letter writing and any other way it sparks your creativity.
Available while supplies last.
Follow the Esterbrook Community on Instagram
Follow Fountain Pen Day on Instagram
]]>Esterbrook celebrates Fountain Pen Day 2020
Started in 2012 by Cary Yeager, Fountain Pen Day is celebrated annually on the first Friday in November. It is a celebratory day for fountain pen enthusiasts to embrace, promote and share the use of fountain pens.
To celebrate Fountain Pen Day 2020, we wanted to create something special. Our writing community loves to stamp, so we decided to make our own!
To create the stamp, we combined a vintage Esterbrook logo with our Esterbrook Eternity symbol. The stamp is our way of expressing the past meeting the future, our dedication to the writing community and the diversity of Esterbrook enthusiasts across the globe. It can be used in your journals, planners and notebooks, for making ephemera, letter writing and any other way it sparks your creativity.
As a thank you for being a part of the writing community, our limited-edition Fountain Pen Day 2020 stamp is a gift with purchase with any Esterbrook pen while supplies last.
]]>We have so much to be grateful for in 2020. Our 100+ years young brand, reached across the globe through our partners and retailers and because of them, we met all of you. Reflecting on our year got us thinking about expressing thanks, specifically through the time-honored tradition of sending thank you cards.
Sending thank you cards goes back to ancient times, when the Chinese and Egyptians were writing notes on papyrus as tokens of good luck. In the 1400’s Europeans began a tradition of sending notes socially. These notes were delivered by hand and this tradition carried on through the turn of the century. In the 1800’s this practice made its way to the US. Louis Prang, a lithographer, is credited with introducing greeting cards and thank you notes to America in 1958. The same year, Richard Esterbrook established the Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company.
We love this coincidence: thank you notes and Esterbrook found themselves in fashion at the same time!
What makes for a good thank you card?
-Authentic messages are the most meaningful to the recipient. This means that the words don’t have to be perfect for the sentiment to be. As long as the note is heartfelt it will translate.
-Handwriting matters! This isn’t to say that your penmanship has to be perfect, most people’s aren’t, but taking your time and writing the card neatly makes an impression. We have a few things that might help you out in this department!
-Know your audience.
If you are sending thanks in a business situation, formality might be required. For example, you might need to include a Mr. or Ms. in the mix. With family and friends, you can loosen up your language. After all, your Grandma might find it strange when you send her a thank you note and address her as Mrs.
-Don’t forget the purpose of the note.
Say thank you right up front. The thank you can be in your second sentence, but that’s about as low on the priority list as it should go. For example, you could start this way:
Dear Richard,
I am so touched by your generosity. Thank you so much for remembering my birthday and for the beautiful fountain pen.
-Be specific about the gift or gesture.
In relation to our example above, you might continue this way:
I am planning on journaling much more this year and having such a nice pen will definitely encourage that. I love the color you chose so much. Green is my favorite. How did you know?
-Don’t forget the future aka don’t say thanks and bye!
Thank you notes should include some mention of what might come next.
For example, I can’t wait to tell you how much I’m enjoying the pen when we see each other at Hayden’s engagement party next month (this is assuming that Hayden’s engagement party is not on Zoom!)
-Say it again.
Your note should end where it began, expressing your gratitude.
Finish your note by saying thank you once more. To conclude our example, you might write. I was so surprised that you celebrated my birthday with such a magnificent gift. Thank you so much, again.
-Sign off appropriately.
If the note is business related, love is off the table, but if it is a close friend or family member, share the love. Warmly and best, are great choices for those you don’t know as well or when addressing a boss, colleague or future employer. Otherwise, how you sign off should reflect the relationship you share with the recipient of your note.
A few more tips:
-When in doubt, send a note.
If you think a gesture, interaction or gift suggests sending a thank you note, it probably does.
-Don’t procrastinate.
Send the note as soon as you can. Show the same care that the person you’re sending it to did. Letting them know how thankful you are in a timely manner will emphasize how grateful you are. Having said that, better late than never. Don’t let time passing be the reason to not send a note.
-Don’t send a text.
It’s easier, but it doesn’t really count. Put pen to paper and stamp to envelope. Sometimes it will mean as much to the receiver as the gift meant to you. No emoji can replace that.
-Be real.
Your note should be sincere, but not over the top (unless someone gifted you the Peacock Estie. Then you can effuse endlessly about your love for it without your sincerity coming into question.)
-Spell-check.
Your fourth-grade teacher will thank you. Make sure to check your spelling before sending your note. This is yet another way to show your care is commensurate with the thoughtfulness extended to you.
Now, let’s put it all together.
If we were writing our own thank you note, it might go something like this.
Dear Esterbrook clients and enthusiasts,
You have been so inspiring to us in a year full of twists and turns. Thank you so much for your purchases, enthusiasm and trust in us in 2020. We are so grateful for your appreciation of our writing instruments and your continued support of our team which allows us to do what we love to do. We have lots of surprises and new additions for the new year and we look forward to sharing them with you in the coming months. We want to wish you a happy 2021 and thank you again for your support in 2020.
Many thanks,
Team Esterbrook
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