And Show Us Your Rare Sheaffer's

[Dennis B]

http://www.parkvillepen.com/images/sheaffer/s3overlay.jpg

 

Sheaffer #3 gold filled overlay. Gothic pattern. The only vintage Sheaffer overlay I own.

 

Dennis B

[Sarj]

So you like 14K? (For you since you started the thread and all).

 

Roger, that is a maginificent overlay. I love the hand engraved finish. If this is not featured in any catalogue, are you assuming that it was a custom-made pen?

 

The 'In honour of' pen is also superb. I have the standard Crest Masterpiece in vac and lever fill forms So I suspect that the honour pens could easily have been sold in vac fill, the caps are interchangeable.

 

Don't get me started on the pigmies and mottled pens...

Lust overkill can be detrimounious to health

[kirchh]

I've seen an Honor pen with sterling cap. Wonder where it is now?

 

--Daniel

[Guest PeteWK]

Hi Roger and all. I like the 14k Nostalgia Prototype. I've seen quite a few in sterling and vermielle (spelled wrong, I'm sure) but only heard rumors on the 14k. This photo shows from the top down a lever fill Masterpiece from about 1945, an Imperial Masterpiece from about 1965 (virtually perfect), a 1950 TM Touchdown Masterpiece that pretty nice and a 1970 Nostalgia 14k that's cherry. I have some gold pens in other companies but I prefer not to mention their names as that would be heresy. The flattops are for Phthalo. The mottled is pretty nice but the 1928 apple jade is really superior in every way. No cracks, no problems, excellent medium nib. I guess it does have a bit of brassing on the ball. Its my number one daily user.

 

PeteWK

 

http://webpages.charter.net/petewk/Pens1.jpg

 

http://webpages.charter.net/petewk/Pens2.jpg

[Phthalo]

Pete: That Jade is a perfect example. Are you doing anything to prevent discolouration? I haven't found one with good enough colour to buy, but when I do I had wondered if there was something you can apply to the finish to help.

[RonB]

I'm glad I didn't embarrass myself by posting my run-of-the mill Sheaffers.

 

Beautiful pens!

 

Ron

[Roger W.]

Jade.

 

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1024361/2-5-30s.jpg

 

Two distinctive shades, though you could argue that there are varying degrees or maybe one or two other distintive shades (lighter one is on its side - won't line up as it is a store "dummy"). Regardless, Jade was a problem right out of the gate. First used in 1924 it could so badly discolor as to be called uncleanable in the 1927 repair manual - three years - great track record. Still, nice pen when the color is there.

 

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1024361/jadeLT.jpg

 

Laura, there isn't any coating you can put on as a preservative. Contemporary stories talk of good looking jade discoloring with use. So great jade should remain unsaced and unused in a well ventilated storage area. I know, no fun in that. So if you use great jade you use it at you own risk - silicon sac might help.

 

Black and Pearl (Pete - where do you get mottled from?) DeLuxe. Only catalogued in LT and only in the three standard configurations (K8C, K8SC, and K8SR - Clip, Short Clip and Ring Top) it is known in 5-30, 3-25 and different variations of the lifetime though, it is not known in a 7-30.

 

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1024361/bandp.jpg

 

I wish the cap was better on this one but, the barrel is a stunner.

 

Roger W.

[Univer]

Well, I wouldn't presume to compete with the blue Pygmy and the "in honor of" Crest. So I thought I'd offer up a few other odds and ends - mostly Sheaffer sub-brands. Maybe some of these will be new to you.

 

Left to right:

 

1. Oversize Jade Univer. Marked on barrel "Univer Pen Company, New York - Ft. Madison, IA U.S.A." The nib is marked "Univer 7-40 (not 7-30!), Made in U.S.A."

 

2 & 3. Univer Black-&-Cream pen and pencil set, in what I call - purely for my own private organizational purposes - the transitional shape: not the flat-top, certainly, but also not the fully streamlined shape of pen #4. This is not Sheaffer Black-&-Pearl; there's no iridescence in the cream color, and the patterning is different.

 

4. A really pretty Univer streamlined pen, in a pattern that's a dead ringer for Waterman Turquoise. (There are also examples in a facsimile of Waterman Onyx.)

 

5. WASP twist-filler - an unusual filling system for a Sheaffer product. This one is in the interesting black-and-white spiral pattern.

 

6. WASP pen - not an Addipoint, but similar design - in a pretty pattern that's looks like a cousin to the Parker True Blue.

 

7. A really obscure sub-brand: a Sheaffer "Prosperity." Marked on the barrel: "Prosperity Pen/Made by Sheaffer."

 

8 & 9. Nothing really rare here, but a nice pair of early Stratowriters: full-size on the left, complete with point guard, and Tuckaway model on the right (I rarely see the Tuckaway version).

 

10. Speaking of service pens...how about a really late one? This is marked with a printing company's name, followed by "Sheaffer Service Pen." It's a Fineline pen, but fitted with a non-Fineline Feather Touch nib.

 

11. A humble little Fineliner pencil, interesting (to me) for the engraving: "IBM/W.A.S.P. Co." This came from a former Sheaffer employee, who told me that "IBM" was the company name for the typing pool - outfitted, presumably, with IBM typewriters.

 

Anyway - nothing really amazing here, but I hope somebody finds these interesting.

[Roger W.]

Univer;

 

Love the 7-40, wish I'd won the one on Ebay not that long ago. You certainly are on the opposite side of Sheaffer - the non-catalogued anybody's guess side. With the 7-40 I assume it had a 40 year gaurantee compared with the Sheaffer 7-30. Was it meant to compete with this relatively unpopular model (they never sold too many of them)? Or did it come out slightly after the 7-30?

 

Anyway, nice spread of sub branded Sheaffers.

 

Roger W.

[krz]

Wow! I didn't know there were so many different kinds of Sheaffer's fountain pens out there. They all look great! I love the Deco look.

[Phthalo]

Univer: A very interesting collection, I would never have thought! I like the Prosperity.

[kirchh]

A humble little Fineliner pencil, interesting (to me) for the engraving: "IBM/W.A.S.P. Co." This came from a former Sheaffer employee, who told me that "IBM" was the company name for the typing pool - outfitted, presumably, with IBM typewriters.

 

You just helped me solve a mystery, albeit unwittingly. I've had a pen with a curious imprint for a few years, and I did not know what it meant; I included it in my 'Cryptopenology' column in the PENnant a few issues back.

 

Based on your description of your Fineliner pencil imprint, it is now clear that my pen belonged to the Pen Assembly department at Sheaffer.

 

--Daniel

 

(edited to fix typo)

Edited August 7, 2006 by kirchh

[Univer]

Univer;

 

Love the 7-40, wish I'd won the one on Ebay not that long ago.  You certainly are on the opposite side of Sheaffer - the non-catalogued anybody's guess side.  With the 7-40 I assume it had a 40 year gaurantee compared with the Sheaffer 7-30.  Was it meant to compete with this relatively unpopular model (they never sold too many of them)?  Or did it come out slightly after the 7-30?

 

Anyway, nice spread of sub branded Sheaffers.

 

Roger W.

Thanks, all, for the kind words. I don't actually spend all my time in the trackless wilderness of obscure sub-brands; I also like to hang out on the sunny side of the street where the good-citizen catalogued models live. The sub-brands are, let's say, a sub-interest of mine.

 

Roger, I wish I could offer more than a guess in response to your musings about the 7-40. To my mind, asking what a given Univer model was meant to compete with is to presuppose a level of marketing rationality that I don't associate with the brand. The 40-year guarantee does seem to make sense. Maybe I'd have a better sense of such things if I had ever seen a Univer advertisement, or sell sheet, or box. (I've got a nice black-and-cream p/p set in a box that seems to be the original...and there's no branding anywhere on it.) Have you ever encountered any of that stuff?

 

Part of the attraction of Univer, for me, is that "anybody's guess" factor: you never know what's going to turn up next. 99% of what I know (or believe) about the brand has been learned experientially, by handling - or at least seeing - actual pens. But that attraction can also be a source of frustration.

[Univer]

You just helped me solve a mystery, albeit unwittingly. I've had a pen with a curious imprint for a few years, and I did not know what it meant; I included it in my 'Cryptopenology' column in the PENnNant a few issues back.

 

Based on your description of your Fineliner pencil imprint, it is now clear that my pen belonged to the Pen Assembly department at Sheaffer.

 

--Daniel

Daniel,

 

That sure looks like the font and engraving style of my pencil. If I get a chance, I'll post a close-up image later on.

[kirchh]

A really obscure sub-brand: a Sheaffer "Prosperity." Marked on the barrel: "Prosperity Pen/Made by Sheaffer."

 

I think I may have one of these in a black-and-bronze; if you're interested, I'll dig it out for a picture.

 

--Daniel

[RonB]

I just bought this on Ebay yesterday. A gold TM Touchdown. Probably not that rare, but it is supposedly near mint. I've bought from the seller before and he is very accurate in his descriptions.

 

Ron

[Univer]

I think I may have one of these in a black-and-bronze; if you're interested, I'll dig it out for a picture.

 

--Daniel

Hi,

 

I'd love to see it. I've got at least one other Prosperity, in a marbled pattern different from the one I photographed. I'll see if I can dig that one out as well.

[DWL]

Here's my only "uncommon" Sheaffer. It's a Lifetime Jr. size silver/grey striated vac filler with the long wide ink vue windows. It's heavily ambered & the clip is scuffed up pretty good but it's still a fun piece to have around. FWIW the imprint is in superb condition.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DennisLively/51andtuckawaysets/51vsetwidewindowsheaffervacfiller10.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DennisLively/51andtuckawaysets/51vsetwidewindowsheaffervacfille-1.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DennisLively/51andtuckawaysets/51vsetwidewindowsheaffervacfiller00.jpg

 

Dennis

[Univer]

Per special request, a close-up image of the Fineliner pencil (c. 1950s) from the Sheaffer typing pool - marked "IBM/W A S P CO"

 

And below it, a close-up image of a c. 1930s Lifetime desk pen, also used at the company, marked "W.A.S.P. CO./MAILING DESK NO. 1" (I don't have the original desk stand for it.)

 

This is a composite of two different images; the pencil image has been resized to match the pen image. So the relative sizes are not 100% accurate.

 

Hope this is of some interest.

[Dennis B]

Here's one that may not be rare, but it certainly is interesting. One that slipped by QC. Unusually wide cap band also.

 

 

Dennis B

 

http://www.parkvillepen.com/images/sheaffer/doubleimprintbalance.jpg