Sheaffer Snorkel Pencil Identification

October 11, 2016

I bought a few Sheaffer pencils on eBay on a whim, and am having trouble identifying them. I think that (most) are Snorkels, but there are some features that are throwing me off. Pic of them side by side with my already owned sets.

Sorry for the awkwardness of the pic, had issues rotating it.

From top to bottom: Buckskin Statesman pen, pencil; Pastel blue Saratoga pen, pencil; unsure blue pencil; Peacock Statesman pen; unknown pencil x 2; Pastel gray Statesman pen, pencil; unknown pencil; Mandarin valiant pen; unknown pencil; Sage Admiral pen, pencil; Pastel green clipper (for color comparison); Sage Sovereign pencil, pen; Black sentinel pen, pencil; unknown pencil.

The unknowns:

Blue uncapped pencil: No clue, a throwaway, but curious -there is no texture to the barrel, 2-tone top.

Peacock? Pencil (x2): Reason I bought the lot. Doubt the SS cap on first is original. Could these be anything other than from a Snorkel set? Are they peacock? Textured barrels, 2-tone top.

2nd Gray Pencil: Probably a throwaway, but has texture, 2-tone.

Orange pencil: In rough shape. White dot, does not have texture, is 2-tone. Could this be anything besides a Mandarin snorkel pencil?

2nd black pencil: Throwaway, non-white dot, texture worn, appears monotone.

The part I'm confused with is the smooth barrel and the mono/two-tone.

My pastel blue Saratoga pencil and sage admiral pencil came monotone. The other pencils are 2-tone. Can't just be a non-white dot thing, as the sage sovereign is 2-tone.

End long rambling post.

Edited October 11, 2016 by ELSpartan44

October 12, 2016

I bought a few Sheaffer pencils on eBay on a whim, and am having trouble identifying them. I think that (most) are Snorkels, but there are some features that are throwing me off. Pic of them side by side with my already owned sets.
Sorry for the awkwardness of the pic, had issues rotating it.

From top to bottom: Buckskin Statesman pen, pencil; Pastel blue Saratoga pen, pencil; unsure blue pencil; Peacock Statesman pen; unknown pencil x 2; Pastel gray Statesman pen, pencil; unknown pencil; Mandarin valiant pen; unknown pencil; Sage Admiral pen, pencil; Pastel green clipper (for color comparison); Sage Sovereign pencil, pen; Black sentinel pen, pencil; unknown pencil.

The unknowns:

Blue uncapped pencil: No clue, a throwaway, but curious -there is no texture to the barrel, 2-tone top.

Peacock? Pencil (x2): Reason I bought the lot. Doubt the SS cap on first is original. Could these be anything other than from a Snorkel set? Are they peacock? Textured barrels, 2-tone top.

2nd Gray Pencil: Probably a throwaway, but has texture, 2-tone.

Orange pencil: In rough shape. White dot, does not have texture, is 2-tone. Could this be anything besides a Mandarin snorkel pencil?

2nd black pencil: Throwaway, non-white dot, texture worn, appears monotone.

The part I'm confused with is the smooth barrel and the mono/two-tone.

My pastel blue Saratoga pencil and sage admiral pencil came monotone. The other pencils are 2-tone. Can't just be a non-white dot thing, as the sage sovereign is 2-tone.

End long rambling post.

I looked through my Snorkel pencils and can contribute this much:

As far as I know, all Snorkel pencils except the GF Triumph and solid gold Masterpiece had textured grips.

The white dot models had two-tone nose cones, and the non-white dot models--Special, Admiral, Saratoga, and Sovereign--had monotone cones.

The Sovereigns apparently have either steel or gold filled monotone cones, depending on the color, but the other non-white dot pencils I believe all had gold filled cones. My sage Sovereign has a steel cone and my vermillion Sovereign has a gold filled cone. Those are the only Sovereign pencils I have.

So I think your Sage Sovereign pencil is probably a Frankenpencil.

I'm guessing the mandarin pencil without texture is not a Snorkel pencil or someone removed the texturing. My Statesman mandarin pencil has texture.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Robert111

October 12, 2016

So I think your Sage Sovereign pencil is probably a Frankenpencil.

I'm guessing the mandarin pencil without texture is not a Snorkel pencil or someone removed the texturing. My Statesman mandarin pencil has texture.

Thank you for your help. I'm kinda surprised that you would say the sage sovereign is a frankenpencil, since it and the buckskin are the only chalked ones that I have. I really know no nothing about the pencils to argue about it though.

I don't have any plans to do anything with the Orange pencil anyways (it is in pretty poor condition), but I'd be curious to know what other model it could be from, if not Snorkel.

Same with the two Peacock-looking pencils... Was there another Sheaffer model with that color?

October 12, 2016

I'll have to say if your sage Sovereign pencil has the correct chalk marks, that's definitive.

I looked in the 1953 catalog and it looks like the Sovereign pencil has a two-tone cone, but maybe the pencils changed later in the Snorkel period. I did note that the Cadet, which I think came in sage in later years, has a monotone cone, so maybe my sage pencil is a Frankenpencil.

I can't tell from the catalog illustration if the Cadet pencil has texturing. But I think it's certainly possible that Cadet pencils had some of the Snorkel colors. I have some sage and vermillion Cadet FPs. I'll have to make a trip to the cellar to see if I have more colors than those.

The 1953 catalog illustrations from PCA are pretty fuzzy, so it's hard to tell, but I think the Admiral pencil has a monotone cone.

Should we be talking about pencils on this forum???

The only Sheaffer catalog from PCA from the Snorkel years is the 1953. I recall that Lazard sometime in the last couple years posted some catalogs, but I don't remember the years and I can't find the post. Advertising from 1953 to 1959 would be another good place to look.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Robert111

October 12, 2016

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into the cadet, a pen which I have very little knowledge of.

Is this a topic that doesn't belong in this site in general? If not, where? I don't normally care about/use pencils, but the (possible) peacock intrigued me.