I just got a nice vacuum-fill Sentinel and its matching pencil (I think 1948, as the dot is on the cap above the clip), and there's a funny extra mark on the pencil's impression. The impression itself runs belt-wise rather than length-wise, and in line with the "W.A." of the first line of the marking, but below the "Made in U.S.A." there is a very distinct "FA". I can't even begin to guess sensibly, as "FABRIQUE EN E.-U." seems unlikely. Anyone got an informed, or even quasi-informed, stab at it?
Full Version: Funny marking on Sentinel pencil
QUOTE(Ernst Bitterman @ Jul 8 2008, 12:45 PM) [snapback]663948[/snapback]
I just got a nice vacuum-fill Sentinel and its matching pencil (I think 1948, as the dot is on the cap above the clip), and there's a funny extra mark on the pencil's impression. The impression itself runs belt-wise rather than length-wise, and in line with the "W.A." of the first line of the marking, but below the "Made in U.S.A." there is a very distinct "FA". I can't even begin to guess sensibly, as "FABRIQUE EN E.-U." seems unlikely. Anyone got an informed, or even quasi-informed, stab at it?
David from Vacumania has run across similar imprints on some of his Sheaffers. I don't think he's figured it out yet... at least, the descriptions on his web site don't seem to indicate that he has. This is curious to me, also, and I'd love to see the mystery solved.
I dimly recall seeing something about this in an old Sheaffer's Review. I believe this has something to do with the "Fair Trade" price that you will usually see next to the FA (such as 600 for $6). Sheaffer was a big supporter of fair trade laws that allowed a manufacturer to set the minimum price an item could be sold at. Or maybe it had to do with a federal ad valorem tax of some kind. I'll see if I can pin it down.
Anyway, Sheaffer had to give it up; fair trade laws were failing in the courts. From Time magazine:
Retreat of the Fair Traders
Monday, Dec. 19, 1955
Defeat after defeat in the U.S. marketplace and in the courts rocked fair-trade pricing during the last year. Last week, fair-trade's retreat seemed about to turn into a rout.
The biggest blow came when the W. A. Sheaffer Pen Co. gave up its long fight for price fixing, announced that it would sell to certain "large-volume retail outlets," i.e., discount houses. To police its prices, Sheaffer spent $2 million over the past two years and lopped off some 700 dealers.
But the cost was high; sales for the fiscal first half ending Aug. 31, 1955 were down 9.5% from 1954's comparable period, and earnings tumbled 35%.
Anyway, Sheaffer had to give it up; fair trade laws were failing in the courts. From Time magazine:
Retreat of the Fair Traders
Monday, Dec. 19, 1955
Defeat after defeat in the U.S. marketplace and in the courts rocked fair-trade pricing during the last year. Last week, fair-trade's retreat seemed about to turn into a rout.
The biggest blow came when the W. A. Sheaffer Pen Co. gave up its long fight for price fixing, announced that it would sell to certain "large-volume retail outlets," i.e., discount houses. To police its prices, Sheaffer spent $2 million over the past two years and lopped off some 700 dealers.
But the cost was high; sales for the fiscal first half ending Aug. 31, 1955 were down 9.5% from 1954's comparable period, and earnings tumbled 35%.
Well... it's moved from "baffling" to "perplexing", at least. It seems odd that they'd pre-stamp the "FA" rather than just building it into the price-code stamper, given that they so frequently neglected to apply a price-code.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.