I am a new member (joined yesterday) and will be going through past posts regarding Sheaffer pens -- my favorite. I have used fountain pens for the past 50 years and never acquired any fondness for anything other writing instrument. Ball pens do not have the style and/or grace nor the subtleties of ink flowing from the end of your pen.

I have just made a purchase on Ebay which was listed as a Sterling Silver Imperial Pen. After reading some posts here I am beginning to question if the pen is something other than an Imperial Pen. This is the url to the EBAY listing :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...43121&rd=1&rd=1

I would appreciate it if you would kindly go there and render an opinion as to:

1) Type of pen I purchased
2) Did I pay too much for such a purchase?
3) If you can provide any information as to how to properly fill such a pen (I believe one pushes the button and leaves the nib in the ink for 10 seconds...but I would like confirmation).
4) Any other comments you would care to make.

Changing the subject -- other pens I have:

1.Sterling Silver Pilot pen from the 1960's (not sure of the model)
2. Cross Pen to match the ubiquitous cross sets (I have the fountain, ball point, pencil and rolling writer all in the same matt black finish)
3. Sheaffer Legacy
4. Pilot VP with Broad Italic Nib
5. Inexpensive Lemay (works very well for the cost)
6. the most UNIQUE pen I have come across the relatively inexpensive SAILOR SUPER SCRIPT FOUNTAIN PEN -- One of the most innovative and fun pens we've found in a long time! Nothing too fancy to look at, but the nib is where it's at with this pen. Writes extra fine lines and everything in between up to a wide paintbrush looking stroke. Think of it as a fountain pen with 4 different widths, all built into one nib. The lower the angle you hold the pen, the wider the line. The sky is the limit with this pen!

Not to get thrown out of this forum on my first day let me be clear....I am not a collector and firmly believe that the Sheaffer is my favorite pen and while I have others NOTHING writes nor holds up like a Sheaffer -- they are war-horses and work like slaves.

Thank you for your time and response to this request.

John

My Recent Purchase on EBay

Looks like a fairly new Imperial. Cartridge/converter if that is the case -- unscrew the barrel, inside will be either a converter or nothing, awating a fresh cartridge.


Peter

The pen is indeed a sterling Imperial, and it looks like a nice one. The seller's mention of a button that you push indicates that the converter that's supplied with the pen is one of the relatively uncommon button-type ones. You can replace it with a cartridge, but the barrel of the pen probably won't accept a squeeze converter without a little modification. A piston converter is right out, I'm afraid; it's simply too long.

Congratulations! I bought one of these at least 20 years ago, can't remember exactly when. I preferred it to the Parker 75 then, and still do. Probably the smoothest writer of any of my pens, and beautiful to boot. Mine's just got more wear than yours. Beautiful--

Thanks for your comments, I'm still a little confused about the proper way to fill the pen. I expect to receive it sometime next week and will see what makes sense at that time.

John

For all practical purposes, it's a button filler. Filling instructions (clickable link) are on my Web site.

Thank you for the reference to your web site it is most informative!

John

Richard, I own 4 cartridge/converter Imperials and this one looks exactly the same size. Moreover, I'm planning to buy one such Sterling Imperial next year from a dealer I know downtown Mexico city; I've inspected the pen already and it is exactly the same size as my other Imperials and is equipped with a standard Sheaffer squeeze converter. All cartidge/converter Imperials I've ever seen accept these old squeeze converters as well as the newer piston converters; I have one myself.

Hi All,

Just checked my gold-filled version of the same model; button, squeeze and piston converters all seem to fit fine.

Lovely set, by the way. Happy to welcome another Sheaffer fan.

Cheers,

Jon