I have been buying snorkels for the last few months. I love them!

I just got one with a gold colored tube which I'm assuming it's made of brass. It's a large black pen with a gold cap.

The question is, when did they use brass to make snorkel tubes? Are they rare?

Thanks in advance,

-Mario

From what I remember reading, a prominent collector had a metallurgical test done on one and it came out as solid 14K gold. Someone please correct me if this is wrong!

I have a Black Valiant with a gold tube... they are kind of cool.

I don't think we ever got the karat content but, they are suppossed to be gold alright. All of the early ads show gold tubes. A snorkel was already an expensive pen to produce so I'm sure if Sheaffer could eleminate the gold tube they wanted to do it right away and did so quickly after the introduction. Therefore, you have an early snorkel circa 1952.

Roger W.

Actually when I look at it with my 30X loupe it sure looks like gold. Does anyone know how long Sheaffer used gold in their snorkel tubes?

Laura and Roger, thanks for your replies!

-Mario