Rarest Sheaffer.

[akrishna59]

dear friends,

 

sheaffer has had a long, innovative and a large number of lines and variants, as we all know.

 

this topic is to know which ones are considered ultra rare in present times. also if any of you feel that a really beautiful sheaffer fp exists which may or may not be rare pls. go ahead and comment. any details that are added like history, price, pics will be delightful indeed.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[barleycorn]

there was a 1920's gold pen with a flex nib that sold for almost $500 ebay recently. That Fred force ten Targa someone asked about recently is pretty cool looking. There were also commission specials throughout the years. I would be curious to find out what suggestions are for the "holy grail" pen.

[georges zaslavsky]

would have to be the abalone/ebonized pearl oversize balance vac fill and the sheaffer crest oversize in striated green with the jeweller's band and a flexible nib.

[adyf]

I'm currently looking out for a PFM IV in blue and grey. These don't seem to show up very often.

[rroossinck]

I've owned a couple of rare-ish ones.

 

I took a gamble on an eBay Balance with some fuzzy pictures, and ended up scoring a first-year OS Balance in black & pearl with a factory stub nib! Sadly, the pen had a cap-lip crack and a barrel crack that couldn't be stabilized, so the pen itself sort of turned into a parts pen.

 

I also had, at one point, a prototype Levenger Seas pen (identical to the Connaisseur with the exception of the nib, which in this case was a 14K variant like you'd find on the Balance II models - it was branded with a Sheaffer banner as well as a Levenger insignia). The pen itself was the translucent yellow version, but it had the gold-plated metal tassies from the Sheaffer Grand Connaisseur models instead of the plastic versions. It was a really nice pen, but it deserved to be in the collection of someone more appreciative of the Connaisseur lineup, so it went to Dennis Bowden's collection of Connaisseurs and Levenger Seas pens. I don't know that it ever made it into one of his beautiful photo spreads, as he passed away not long after I had sent it to him.

 

The Sheaffer Museum in Fort Madison has a pretty impressive collection of examples of some of the rarest pieces from the years. If you're ever able to make the trip to the southeastern corner of Iowa, it's definitely not to be missed. Only three doors down the street from Pendemonium, too!

[DrPJM1]

I had only seen one in a website and none in person until spotting this one in Chicago and purchasing it years later in Columbus. It was just waiting for me.

I believe that early demonstrators are hard to find, small Balance demonstrators are truly scarce but the Sheaffer OS Balance Demonstrator is a truly rare pen.

I have yet to see or find an OS Balance Music nib or an OS Vaccu-Fill demonstrator. The other OS Balance pens that are uncommon are the Roseglow pens.

Finally, Sheaffer made mostly Manifold or stiff nibs in the small tip sizes, so Flexible and Stub nibs in early pens are quite uncommon.

 

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/DrMonzon/IMG_5214.jpg

Edited December 24, 2011 by DrPJM1

[ticoun]

easy, there's an intrigue that was made as a single piece and sold for auction: 1 of 1 intrigue

[sexauerw]

There were two different Targa Masterpiece models that were reportedly made in limited editions of only ten pieces each. There was also a wooden Targa model, the Palissandre del Rio, that is quite hard to find.

[Happy Harry]

Gold PFM is rather rare, still with numerous uncatalogued and undocumented pens/models the question probably has no definitive answer.

[wekiva98]

The problem is that the pen I want keeps changing. I've managed to get most of what I want over the years -- I have a solid gold balance set and a white-dot balance demonstrator that I'm as proud of as anything else in my collection -- but these days I'd be happy to find a simple early self-filler in mottled hard rubber.

 

[Roger W.]

I've been letting this peculate a bit. I liked bills answer on targas for a more recent Sheaffer. Some OS's may be more uncommon but "rare" I don't know. Some pens are rumored to exist such as white, sterling or even canary yellow snorkels. I've never seen any color besides those that are well known to exist even in very limited quantities such as the full fiesta red models. Red hard rubber Sheaffer's I've seen 2 of. 8 sized mottled hard rubber pens 3 of. The "In Honor of" pen that I own is the only one I know of. The In Honor of pen was available in Platinum - rumored to be for sale in 1980 for $10,000. Basically Sheaffer's that are worth more than $1,000 are rare (not counting anything new like that Egyptian pen).

 

Roger W.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/mottled.jpg

Someone mentioned mottled - a 4 and a 2. Mottled's are rare but only the big ones would be worth more than $1,000.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/InHonorofCap.jpg

In Honor of Cap - 1940

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/14Klong.jpg

14K solid overlay marked Sheaffer's - very rare.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/2secretaries.jpg

Mint Secretaries are pretty uncommon (these are both stickered).

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/Overlay1.jpg

Someone mentioned an overlay that went for more than $500. They used to go regularly for over $700.

[Sarj]

Roger's "in honor of" pen is the only one that I know of, definitely up there with the blue Secretary and black hard rubber pens from 1912 with the earliest imprint. (image from www.vintagepens.com)

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/earliestimprint.jpg

 

I am lucky enough to own a couple of the early red hard rubber 46 Special pens from around 1914

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/RHR_10-2.jpg

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/Autumn-sheaffer_02a.jpg

 

In terms of pens that are easier to find but considered rare in the model line, then the Roseglow OS Balance is the one that has the most cachet. This one is my vac filled version.

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/Roseglow-Vac-2.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/Roseglow-Vac03-2.jpg

 

Pedro already knows how much I covet his OS Demonstrator...

[Roger W.]

Roger's "in honor of" pen is the only one that I know of, definitely up there with the blue Secretary and black hard rubber pens from 1912 with the earliest imprint. (image from www.vintagepens.com)

 

 

I am lucky enough to own a couple of the early red hard rubber 46 Special pens from around 1914

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/RHR_10-2.jpg

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/Autumn-sheaffer_02a.jpg

 

 

 

Sarj;

 

The RHR 46's are from 1923. There are several pens I know I have forgotten such as the blue 7-30's (2 known) and Lifetime (1 known) thanks for bringing those up. The hand engraved pens from 1928 are extremely hard to come by. The 1912 imprint - very few known. Lots of other models that are very uncommon but as rare as they may be just don't have the interest. Short Secretarys are much rarer than the full sized models.

 

Roger W.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/blue-Sheaffer-scan2.JPG

Blue 7-30 from Pat Mohan's collection

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/Secretaryset1.jpg

2 Sets of Secretarys. I couldn't part with one of the duplicate smaller ones as it has a flex Secretary nib. Surprisingly these aren't easy to swap out so I'd decided to just keep it.

[Sarj]

Roger,

Thanks for the correction of the date on the RHR 46 Special.

I am still trying to get over the excesses of Christmas dinner ;o)

 

The blue and red pygmies probably also merit an honorable mention in the rare Sheaffer list (I don't have pics handy)

The others which I own and consider quite rare are the non-Lifetime Crest (just a few examples known) and the brown striated Autograph (I only know of one - mine ;o))

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/IMG_0096-1.jpg

 

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj1/sarjminhas/OS-Striated-Autograph-01-1.jpg

[DrPJM1]

Wekiva:

Would you mind posting pics of the pens you mentioned?

 

 

Roger:

 

That big ol' mottled thing is much nicer than the ones at the Sheaffer Museum, and the "In Honor" pen is certainly the only one I have ever seen.

Do you have any pics of the hand-engraved pens?

 

 

Sarj:

 

The Golden Brown Autograph is certainly off-catalogue.

That Roseglow is certainly a looker but, is that a stub nib?

Would you price it at $400

[akrishna59]

dear friends,

 

this is a serious and venerable collection, to say the least. i can only stand in silence with a beating heart as this thread takes off and the masters of the game slowly and unassumingly give us a peak into their treasure chests.

 

it has always fascinated me that the balance line almost always is in the top collections, though sheaffer had so many lines later. still somehow OS balances still hold their own against all others, it seems.

 

that in honour of pen is stunning although i have never seen the full pen, its cost will send my wallet to the moon.

 

roseglow and brown straited, OS balances, crest, overlays, secretaries, oh my this thread is turning out to be mind boggling. what beauties, somehow these pens though five to eight decades old still have an aura about them.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[Roger W.]

Sarj;

 

Spot on on the 46's I meant as Sheaffer did make the slightly more common RCHR 46's. Also the autograph golden brown - quite nice. I did a ringtop piece that is a bit rare on one -

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/ringtops6.jpg

A RCHR 46, two ringtop Secretarys and the two pigmys (should be with "i" not "y").

 

Pedro - The museum had a nice hand engraved set of pencils in one of their cases. I did not see it in you pics on FPB but you probably have one. Otherwise, I'll I have is what is in the catalogs (I found the paper - tell me again which cats you need).

 

Roger W.

[georges zaslavsky]

some very nice sheaffers in there thanks for sharing everyone

[DrPJM1]

Quote: Pedro - The museum had a nice hand engraved set of pencils in one of their cases. I did not see it in you pics on FPB but you probably have one.

 

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/DrMonzon/IMG_4036.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/DrMonzon/IMG_4037.jpg

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/DrMonzon/IMG_4035.jpg

[bernardo]

This thin Imperial, made in Brazil, is the rarest Sheaffer I've ever seen...