Just picked this one up. For those familiar, general features should be key to origin of pen.

However, what puts it over the top is that... amazing... capband.

Recognizing I hardly can have seen all the Balances out there today (who could have, really?), I am charmed to note that amongst the thousands i have seen or handled, this is the first pen i've seen with this cap-band. Had the pleasure to show it to a friendly acquaintance from the midwest who has considerable expertise in Sheaffer. We checked it out top to bottom; he's never seen one either.

Sheaffer anomalies do have their charm. The Balance is my second most collected pen, following the Parker Vacumatic. Always fun to add one to my collection. Sorry for the quick n' dirty pic. I'm on vacation without my formal photo lab

regards
david

That band reminds me in many ways of the later Touchdown TM cap bands that are wide, but then have the grooves at theird edges. I do believe most of those only had one grove on each side though.

In any event it is a nice band on that pen, and the Carmine really is a great color. I acquired a Carmine Balance pencil awhile back for low money, but was impressed at how it cleaned up and just how "warm" the red glow could be from the stripes. Celluloid really does have some appeal.

Lovely! I can't say that I've ever seen one of those in my limited experience either. Any idea whether it's regular GF trim or solid?

It is not hallmarked, and my expectation is that it is GF.



Also, i have yet to post the pic of the killer OS set with which i returned from LA.

Maybe tomorrow.

-d

That's a pretty thing, isn't it? My, my.

David, nice find (again)!
How many different types of bands did the Balance have? I stopped searching for different types of Vacumatics when I realized there were just an enormous variety out there. I'm beginning to think that Balances are almost the same in variety.

Al

Hi Al,

Enjoyed seeing you at Philadelphia.

Hey, neither Vacs nor Sheaffers really have that many band styles

OK... Balance:

Catalogues show, TBOMK, only smooth single band with width of band varying with models.

Solid Gold bands also shown in catalogues (though i s'pose that still falls under "smooth single band")

The Deluxe/Milled/"Jeweler's" band is the most commonly noted uncatalogued capband. TBOMK only one piece of literature in existence demonstrates that band, and i am not at liberty to further discuss that paper.

A double deco band is known and seems to crop up only on early colors (eg. Black/Pearl, Marine marbled)

A triple deco band is rarely seen.

The most nifty weird band is IMHO the fishscale wide band. Very scarce.

Now this new band as per pic above of this obviously Canadian origin pen adds to pile.

Am i forgetting any?

regards

david

David,

The depth of your collection is outstanding. I wonder how easy it was to custom order pens in different configurations from Sheaffer? Perhaps this was possible when ordering through a jeweler? Is it possible that Sheaffer created some prototype capbands that were given away or that some jewelers purchased special edition versions of pens that offered unusual capbands? I would think that if that wide fishscale capband were readily available, we would see more of them out in the field.

Jon

Heck, you should see what Kirchheimer has buried in the basement. I'm just a wee hack-amateur-newbie Balance collector. It's just that i've kept my eye out for the funky stuff

Those hypotheses have merit though we remain in the realm of speculation. I concede i have doubts that the double band, etc represent custom single orders as too many are out there, even whilst they are rare overall. Given some other low-run items found out there in pendom, i have on occasion wondered about "niche market" product. A company wanted a pen to sell in its chain of stores, something a bit different from usual. If they were willing to order in quantity, perhaps the pen makers provided a tweak on the usual trim. An order of thousand(s) back then would yield a "very rare" pen today amongst the zeelions of usual variants produced.
regards
david

It's almost like being an archeologist, but on a different timescale. We have to pull together a hypothesis on how these unusual pens came to be sold based mostly on their physical existence. Now, if we could locate an original owner of one of these pens, we would have more than conjecture. At any rate, they are special pens and you are fortunate to be able to recognize them when you find them.

Jon

I know of at least two widths of milled band as well as a wider-than-standard smooth non-14K band.

--Daniel

Worthy tweaks indeed. LIke the little guy on the right



d

Don't believe i've seen an extra-wide GF band yet. Something to hunt.

d

I'm going to retract that assertion, as I have no examples and I cannot find any specific notes about it -- it's based on memory, and I don't trust memory sufficiently to be confident about the accuracy of my earlier claim. We don't need any more unsupported 'facts' floating around.

If I come up with better evidence I will post here.

--Daniel

Hi All,

Well, here's one more oddity. I wasn't sure what to make of it when I originally posted the photos, and I'm not sure what to make of it now.

Cheers,

Jon

I wish I had some wisdom to impart about your pen, but I don't, and I can't add much to your observations. What's the nib number, if any?

--Daniel

Hello there Daniel,

The pen's at home at the moment, and I'm at the office - I'll post the info this evening.

Thanks!

Jon

Hello again,

Following up with nib information: two-tone, code C36864 above SHEAFFER'S in an arc; LIFETIME below; Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. and Made in U.S.A. below that.

Hope there's something helpful there!

Cheers,

Jon

Barrel imprint?

--Daniel