Two Very Interesting Sheaffer 1950 Advertisements

[PenHero]

Hi, Folks!

 

I'm in the process of updating the Sheaffer advertisement page on PenHero.com and adding new ones to the list. I've rescanned or resized them so they are all 1280 pixels on the longest size, so they are each more readable. There are 99 ads on the page now and more will be added over the next week. You can find the page here:

 

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/SheafferAds01.htm

 

In the process of doing this, I found two ads from 1950 that caught my attention.

 

This first ad is the first and only time I've seen Sheaffer use the phrase "Mark of Superiority." "White Dot of Distinction" is the typical reference from 1949 to 1954 ads.

 

The Sheaffer marketing team must have been eating their Wheaties when they came up with this, but it didn't stick!

 

Seeing it on black with the White Dot glowing like that is kind of ominous...

 

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/Ads/SheafferAd1950_1280_04.jpg

 

The second thing I noticed in this and the ad below is the price range, "from $3.75 to $2,000.00."

 

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/Ads/SheafferAd1950_1280_05.jpg

 

I don't recall any other ads that mention any Sheaffer pen retailing for $2,000! Nor do I recall a catalog that refers to such a pen. Was there an all platinum Touchdown? Or, more possibly, were there leftover solid gold and platinum lever fill honor masterpiece pens from war time production that had that price tag?

 

Any ideas? Facts? Clues?

 

Thanks!

[pen lady]

Jim, what a massive task! Thank you so much.

[Roger W.]

The range of prices outpacing the catalog happened before. The 1930 catalog states that desksets are available downwards from $500 though the most expensive one cataloged is $111. Did they have 14K solid desk pens? Don't know. The ultra high end stuff, if it sold at all, sold in very low numbers and finding it today is almost impossible.

 

Soon I should have my 800+ ads back up on my website which is some sort of blog to be - some people have asked. You can go on the internet way back machine and find 675 ads on my old website sheafferflattops.com - https://web.archive.org/web/20140624041728/http://www.sheafferflattops.com:80/?page_id=16. They are arranged in groups in date order from early hard rubber to modern. Edit - I tried to drill down and you can't get tot the ads themselves - sorry, though you can get to the articles.

 

Roger W.

Edited July 15, 2017 by Roger W.

[Roger W.]

Jim;

 

There are another 7 ads that run the tag price to $2,000 in 1950 the year your two ads are from. Good catch on the Mark of Superiority as that ad does not contain the "white dot of distinction" tagline that the other contemporary ads that year have. Some ads I've read a lot closer than others and there are just so many of them. I got a new (to me) 1951 ad today - one of the black ads from 1950 to early 1953.

 

Roger

[PenHero]

Jim;

 

There are another 7 ads that run the tag price to $2,000 in 1950 the year your two ads are from. Good catch on the Mark of Superiority as that ad does not contain the "white dot of distinction" tagline that the other contemporary ads that year have. Some ads I've read a lot closer than others and there are just so many of them. I got a new (to me) 1951 ad today - one of the black ads from 1950 to early 1953.

 

Roger

 

Roger,

 

When you get your site back up, I would love to see the ads! They are great references, which is why I am scanning and sharing what I have.

 

Thanks!

[mitto]

$2,000 for a pen in 1940s-50s? So where have gone those pens?

[PenHero]

Hi, Folks!

Daniel Kirchheimer contacted me back channel with this scan from the March, 1948 Sheaffer's Review.

http://penhero.com/Temp/SheafferReviewMarch1948.jpg

Sheaffer's Industrial Artist Bill Bunn created the desk set shown in the photo with solid gold castings. The price of the set was $2,000 and was custom made for a particular customer as a unique gift. Sheaffer even had a gold foundry on premises that they used to make the gold bars that were then made into nibs. If this is an example, then the $2,000 Sheaffer pen would be a high end custom desk set such as this.

Thanks!

[mitto]

Interesting. So only a single piece was made. Wonder where now that set would be?

 

Thank you, jim and Daniel K.

[PenHero]

Interesting. So only a single piece was made. Wonder where now that set would be?

 

Thank you, jim and Daniel K.

 

 

The implication in the box in the article is that Sheaffer was now offering "trophy" desk sets, so there were likely more of these one of a kind pieces.

[tamiya]

Lost Wax casting - the wax form and the cavity mold is destroyed for each pour... but does not mean the original sculpt's mold isn't available to make subsequent wax forms.

 

These days digital artists can 3D print in wax or use a CNC mill to carve wax form, as many copies as you like.

[Ron Z]

The Department of Labor has a CPI calculator. That $2,000 of 1948 converts to $20,936.32 in June 2017.

 

A valuable gift indeed!

[Roger W.]

Sheaffer was known for doing custom desk bases. By and large I can't say that there are many of these extant. I have a few desk bases that are not catalog that are likely custom. One particular one is made of granite which is generally too hard for the type of bases Sheaffer made in the early days and it states that it was made for a particular purpose (don't have it in front of me)(granite bases are found in the 60's). Then there were the custom award/presentation bases such as the Pontiac award base that I've seen half a dozen of which has a '57 or '58 Pontiac on it. Also AC Delco Sparkplugs gave their executives bases with "Sparky" the horse on it from the late 50's (I have one and have seen another). I have another base that was supposed to have been from a Frank Lloyd Wright home - non catalog but not particularly spectacular. Any of these bases may have been worth around $100 new and I've not seen any base that I think would have brought $2,000 yet.. I hadn't seen the '48 article which demonstrates some of the custom effort that Sheaffer made. Custom work would have been only a small percent of what came out of the factory so finding much of it today is very hard. I've documented 736 desk base models from 1924-1941 and I still don't have half of them - so of the ones that were cataloged you won't find all of them. If I find 75% of them that is likely as good as I will ever do so 227 to go.

 

Roger W.

[3rdlakerobert]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, which seems to have taken a turn toward high-end desk sets. I just bought this on eBay because I thought it was beautiful and the price was only $25 plus shipping.

 

The shipping turned out to be about the same as the selling price, but still, I think it's worth it. I was amazed when it arrived in a heavy cardboard box about the size and weight of a case of beer. I had no idea it was so big. The photos on eBay were good but gave me little idea of the scale. I put a pen and pencil on it to try to convey that here.

 

The balls that hold the tulips can be rotated or removed from their brass cups.

 

I tried for an hour in vain to find it in a Sheaffer catalog in the PCA archives. I wonder if Roger might be able to tell me when it was made and the price.

 

[Roger W.]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, which seems to have taken a turn toward high-end desk sets. I just bought this on eBay because I thought it was beautiful and the price was only $25 plus shipping.

 

The shipping turned out to be about the same as the selling price, but still, I think it's worth it. I was amazed when it arrived in a heavy cardboard box about the size and weight of a case of beer. I had no idea it was so big. The photos on eBay were good but gave me little idea of the scale. I put a pen and pencil on it to try to convey that here.

 

The balls that hold the tulips can be rotated or removed from their brass cups.

 

I tried for an hour in vain to find it in a Sheaffer catalog in the PCA archives. I wonder if Roger might be able to tell me when it was made and the price.

 

This is a good example of custom. The dogs look to be the ones Sheaffer used except there is not a large sitting dog in this style (that is really cool to see). Sheaffer did use ball holders in the 40's so the dogs are typically earlier but, the holders are later which is still all good. New I'd say this set was over $75. You did very well and Sheaffer stickers or not on the base I would have bought this and been glad at less than $100. Has the base got stickers anywhere?

 

Roger W.

[PenHero]

Jim, what a massive task! Thank you so much.

Thanks!

[3rdlakerobert]

This is a good example of custom. The dogs look to be the ones Sheaffer used except there is not a large sitting dog in this style (that is really cool to see). Sheaffer did use ball holders in the 40's so the dogs are typically earlier but, the holders are later which is still all good. New I'd say this set was over $75. You did very well and Sheaffer stickers or not on the base I would have bought this and been glad at less than $100. Has the base got stickers anywhere?

Roger W.

No sticker on the bottom, just rubber tipped brass feet . Thanks Roger!

The custom desk sets are an interesting subject. Bet a lot of them went to corporate buyers.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Robert111

[Orpilorp]

... Wonder where now that set would be?

 

 

 

Your question reminded me of a nightmare scenario I once heard. Only a few months after I began collecting fountain pens, my son said he had founds "about a hundred" pens just a year before.

 

He was remodeling a very large home which in the 1940's had been owned by a president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Down in a basement storage room was found several cases of pens. My son figured they weren't worth anything because they were all fountain pens and were all engraved with the president's name, so he tossed them in the dumpster.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Orpilorp