A Surprise (To Me) On The Sheaffer 3 Friends Of Winter Pens 2011

[PenHero]

Hi, Folks!

We just moved out a large number of closeout Sheaffer 3 Friends of Winter pens. Cross is clearing out the inventory from the Sheaffer purchase including many discontinued lines. During this process, we've seen 14 karat gold nib Prelude Signatures that we did not know existed and were never catalogued for the US market. In this case, we discovered that many of the closeout Sheaffer 3 Friends of Winter pens had Chinese character markings on them. When we first saw these pens in 2011, none of them had the Chinese characters.

http://penhero.com/Temp/3FOWSetCharacters_1280_01.jpg

In researching the story of the Sheaffer Three Friends of Winter 2011 Special Edition I found the meaning of the Chinese characters that appear on the pens. The Three Friends of Winter characters 歲寒三友 appear on each pen along with a block representing the characters for pine 松, bamboo 竹, and plum 梅, corresponding to the silk screen design on the cap and barrel. Pine, bamboo, and plum are able withstand harsh winters and became symbols of encouragement to see things through. According to Wikipedia, the Three Friends of Winter, pine, bamboo, and plum, "symbolize steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience, and are highly regarded in Confucianism and as such represent the scholar-gentleman's ideal." The pens shown top to bottom are the pine 9298, bamboo 9297, and plum 9299 designs on fountain pen (final retail price $50), rollerball pen ($40) and ballpoint ($35).

Even though the Sheaffer 100 is the low end pen in the Sheaffer line, I have a feeling that years from now there will be collectors seeking out this particular edition, especially the ones with Chinese characters.

Thanks!