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Wahl Eversharp Airliner Advertisement


Grebo

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Hello,

 

I was wondering if anyone had more information on this advertisement I recently purchased. As you can see it is advertising "AIRLINER" pens/pencils for use in airplanes. I believe the 38 part of the reference code in the corner might represent the year 1938 but not sure. It is printed on solid cardboard material. Any more information or opinions on it would be great, thanks.

 

You can see pictures here: bhcfan

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The pen and pencil that the person in the ad is holding look to me like second generation Dorics. Maybe because the pen had a shut off valve in the section, the pen was safer for flights. I am not aware of a pen specifical designed for flights by Wahl Eversharp. It looks to me more like an advertisement strategy but somebody more expert than me will shed more light.

" I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." -- Albert Einstein

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Yes, those are in fact 2nd gen dorics, probably fitted with the "Safety Ink Shut-off" system that the FTC decided didn't work and made Wahl pull from the market, I believe in 1937 or 1938.

 

Wahl also made a lower-tier pen model called the "Airliner" set, but it was a conventional lever filler with nothing more than a clever name. They were styled with 2 simple center bands, and the pencil had a silver colored (rather than color matched) button on top.

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I think you all are on the right track. The following may help to clarify some:

 

The lower tier pen mentioned above was probably the AirLite (not Airliner) which was from about 1936-8 contemporary with the Varsity (another "student" grade pen.

 

The headline pen of the 1938 Eversharp catalog was the Airliner (nee Doric) which did indeed include the much incorrectly maligned shut off mechanism and a clear ink-vue band above the threads. The nipple was also clear and was a screw-in piece that went into the rear of the section so that the lever filler could also have the see through feature. Although passenger flights were possible all through and increasing during the Thirties, when the Airliner came out trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights - the latter aboard the Clippers ( which were depicted in the 1939 Eversharp catalog, with the picture of a stewardess if memory serves, was new and the idea that a pen could be used on such long flights was both an icon of luxury and modernity that it became the flagship concept behind the Airliner. And yes they came individually and in pen and pencil sets.

 

Curiously another model in that same 1938 catalog was the Doric pen! It had fewer features than the Airliner, and "now" the Doric was relegated to the name of a lower item in the Eversharp line-up!

 

Today we like to simplify our conceptions of pen lines and models for convenience at least or because we don't all know all the details. That is what we have generally done by separating the Doric line into 2 eras: 1st Gen and 2nd Gen. True that the catalogs sequenced in gaps of about 2 to 3 years and that there were major catalog revisions in 1931/2, 1934/5, and 1938/9 that unveiling new or renamed Doric models happened in such sequences, but the transition from one Doric type to another was more gradual than that and new models were released between the full catalog revisions. But that details is not called for here either.

 

For those who want to read further, There is an interesting history to how Wahl and Eversharp (why am I separating these 2 names here - The Wahl Company which was superseded by Eversharp, Inc. - with different management teams to boot - hd a continuing tradition of unveiling the new "top of the line" pen as newer pens came out year after year did not see the demise of the prior top of the line pen immediately, and they fell to a secondary status in the lineup. There is a good business reason for this but that is already in the book I am working on, and takes a lot of room to demonstrate, and it is not called for here to explain things asked.

 

Anyway The Airliner was the name of the 1939 top of the line Eversharp plastic pen. The Coronet was also in that catalog and was a re-entry into a Gold Filled metal pen which had not been produced by Wahl or Eversharp for about 8 years by then, but it was not called Coronet at all in that catalog! Coronet was the name of the Jewelers model that was so named for other business reasons, but I digress terribly fro the original topic, so I stop here.

 

Syd

 

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visualized clear i

Edited by Wahlnut

Syd "the Wahlnut" Saperstein

Pensbury Manor

Vintage Wahl Eversharp Writing Instruments

Pensbury Manor

 

The WAHL-EVERSHARP Company

www.wahleversharp.com

New WAHL-EVERSHARP fountain and Roller-Ball pens

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Syd, thank you very much for the interesting explanation. I am still a bit confused about the difference between the "Airliner" and the "Doric" models. From the photo of the OP I cannot see much difference from Dorics. Do you have some photos that you can share? Was the shut off mechanism and clear ink window what distinguished the Airliner from the Doric? Should I assume that the "Dorics" that I see with shut off mechanism and ink window are indeed Airliners?

Thanks!

" I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." -- Albert Einstein

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I am on holiday as they say until next week and unable to check my library or do much with photos. Im writin so far from memory. I will be happy to send scans when I get back.

Syd

Syd "the Wahlnut" Saperstein

Pensbury Manor

Vintage Wahl Eversharp Writing Instruments

Pensbury Manor

 

The WAHL-EVERSHARP Company

www.wahleversharp.com

New WAHL-EVERSHARP fountain and Roller-Ball pens

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Thank you Syd. Also, it is exciting news the book you are working on, hope it will hit the shelves soon!

" I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." -- Albert Einstein

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