Sheaffer 14k nibs, genuinely solid 14k?

[Pepin]

I notice that a lot of Sheaffer nibs are marked "14k". I have a pair of vintage desk set pens (marked 14K) with these identical Sheaffer nibs(pics from PenHero):

 

http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/Pics/SheafferTriumphNibs02.jpg

 

Notice that the top portion of the nib is silver. So what exactly does 14k connote here? Gold plated?

[Splicer]

It's my understanding that a gold-plated item cannot be stamped "14K". So what you're looking at is a gold nib, possibly part in white gold (58.5% gold and 41.5% nickel or platinum) and part in yellow gold (probably 58.5% gold, and the remainder equal parts copper and silver). Either that or it's all gold (58.5% anyway) with the forward part plated with something else, like nickel or platinum. I think it being different plating is more likely than different alloys, but no one ever accused me of being an expert.

[Glenn-SC]

I believe the entire nib is 14kt gold but the "silver" portion has been masked and plated with platinum.

[Ron Z]

I believe the entire nib is 14kt gold but the "silver" portion has been masked and plated with platinum.

 

This is correct. The nib is gold - you could (if you were silly enough) polish the palladium silver plating off of the nib to reveal the gold under it. You do see the occasional pen where the plating is wearing or has worn off.

[kirchh]

...you could (if you were silly enough) polish the palladium silver plating off of the nib...

Note that the plating is platinum, not palladium silver, according to Sheaffer documents.

 

--Daniel

[framebaer]

Was this purely a cosmetic issue or was there something about better flow off the platinum?

[PenHero]

Was this purely a cosmetic issue or was there something about better flow off the platinum?

 

Sheaffer made claims that platinum plating improved ink flow, In a mid 1930s dealer fact sheet called, "Fountain Pen Selling Facts", Sheaffer touted the merits of the Feathertouch nib, as compared to the "other type of gold and platinum point." The basic argument is that Sheaffer uses platinum plating in the slit of the nib as a "lubricant" which improves the ink flow and "greases" the "ridges" caused from cutting the slit by "smoothing" the path for the ink. Sheaffer claimed that this platinum plating actually "speeds the flow of writing fluid" down the slit to the tip of the nib. Sheaffer also claimed the platinum also makes two-way writing more effective by also providing the same lubricating properties when the nib is inverted.

 

This is a dubious claim, more marketing than fact. I would call it a cosmetic feature.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim Mamoulides

www.PenHero.com

Edited December 1, 2008 by PenHero

[davefoe]

So, if these nibs are plated, what is the advantage to a 14K nib? Why didn't they just use steel and plate that with platinum?

 

Dave

[Roger W.]

Dave;

 

Because steel nibs in the 1930's, from a top maker, weren't likely to sell regardless of what they'd be coated in. When did Sheaffer finally use steel? 1960's?

 

Roger W.

[PenHero]

Dave;

 

Because steel nibs in the 1930's, from a top maker, weren't likely to sell regardless of what they'd be coated in. When did Sheaffer finally use steel? 1960's?

 

Roger W.

 

I believe Sheaffer first used steel nibs on WASP Addipoint pens in the 1930s, though technically not branded Sheaffer. Fineline pens followed in the late 1940s, and then the Sheaffer Cartridge pen in the mid 1950s, the first Sheaffer branded pen with a steel nib.

 

A well made steel nib will write just as well as any gold nib (try some Esterbrooks and see), so the material is not the important part, it's the quality of the nib itself.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim Mamoulides

www.PenHero.com

 

[Univer]

Hi,

 

The boundary between Fineline-Division-branded pens and Sheaffer-branded pens seems to have been a porous (or elastic) one. I've got a pen/pencil set that's a Fineline set in every respect...except that it bears standard Sheaffer branding. Actually, I asked about it a while back in this thread. To date, that's the only such set I've encountered.

 

I'm not sure whether the Fineline-branded and Sheaffer-branded pens ran concurrently, or whether one came first and one second; but I reckon we can probably move the date for the first Sheaffer (as opposed to Sheaffer sub-brand) steel-nibbed pen back just a bit.

 

As for the sub-brands, I believe the Sheaffer "Prosperity" pens - some of them, at any rate - had steel nibs as well. On the basis of styling cues and historical context (i.e., "Prosperity" as a likely Depression-era brand name), the Prosperity pens may well have predated the Addipoint.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[Roger W.]

Jim;

 

Agreed, steel makes a great nib. I'm just saying that a top maker wouldn't have been able to convince the general public that they were getting a quality nib if it were steel in the 1930's. The 50's makes sense for Sheaffer using steel nibs as the ballpoint proved you didn't need a quality nib to write with and the pen needed to be cheap as dirt - not the valued investment that it once was.

 

Roger W.

[RevAaron]

Indeed- Parker and Sheaffer touted gold as making for smoother writing nibs, a misconception that lives on today. I think the public's skepticism toward steel in as a first-rate nib material is evidenced by Sheaffer's use of PdAg nibs instead of steel on the lower-end Snorkels and PFMs. There are advantages of PdAg over steel, specifically a better corrosion resistance- not as good as gold, but better than steel.

 

Other than corrosion resistance and a better shape-memory in some gold alloys, there isn't much you can do with a gold than you can't with steel as far as nibs are concerned.

[kirchh]

There are advantages of PdAg over steel, specifically a better corrosion resistance- not as good as gold, but better than steel.

How do you come by the information that Sheaffer's PdAg nibs have inferior corrosion resistance to their gold nibs?

 

--Daniel

[PenHero]

Indeed- Parker and Sheaffer touted gold as making for smoother writing nibs, a misconception that lives on today. I think the public's skepticism toward steel in as a first-rate nib material is evidenced by Sheaffer's use of PdAg nibs instead of steel on the lower-end Snorkels and PFMs. There are advantages of PdAg over steel, specifically a better corrosion resistance- not as good as gold, but better than steel.

 

Other than corrosion resistance and a better shape-memory in some gold alloys, there isn't much you can do with a gold than you can't with steel as far as nibs are concerned.

 

I'm not so sure that the issue is skepticism, but perceived value. Gold nibs have a value premium over steel. I don't know the Sheaffer history on palladium silver nibs, but palladium silver would certainly sound more valuable than steel. The other issue is malleability. Steel would be more difficult to draw into the cone shape Triumph nibs used on Sheaffer pens in the 1950s, where a palladium silver alloy would likely be easier to work with.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim Mamoulides

www.PenHero.com

 

[grimakis]

Well it is safe to say that any nib containing silver would not be nearly as resistant to Hydrochloric or Nitric Acid as gold would. Although we all know that not even Gold can stand up to Aqua Regia(A mixture of the two aforementioned acids.), exposing Silver to either acid would most likely produce Silver Chloride and Silver Nitrate. Silver corrodes fairly easily, and based on the content of the nib, it could very well mean that the nib will corrode easily aswell.

 

THEN AGAIN....

 

Palladium is a very corrosive resistant element, and would be just about as corrosive resistant, if not better, than gold.

 

Since I really don't know what is actually in PdAg nibs(someone once told me that unmarked silver nibs were actually stainless steel, can anyone confirm or deny this?), it really is impossible to say if PdAg == Au as far as corrosive resistance goes.

 

~George

[PenHero]

Since I really don't know what is actually in PdAg nibs(someone once told me that unmarked silver nibs were actually stainless steel, can anyone confirm or deny this?), it really is impossible to say if PdAg == Au as far as corrosive resistance goes.

 

~George

 

There are Sheaffer nibs from the 1950s that are hallmarked PdAg (palladium silver) and should be an alloy of only palladium and silver. Adding palladium to silver as an alloy improves its resistance to tarnishing / the formation of silver sulphide (the black stuff), which would be a desirable property in a nib. I don't know what palladium cost in the 1950s, but you need a pretty large percentage of it to make silver appropriate for a nib, and they are definitely tarnish resistant. There are a very few early 1960s non-hallmarked PdAg nibs, specifically on the Target and Imperial. These disappear after 1963.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim Mamoulides

www.PenHero.com

[kirchh]

Well it is safe to say that any nib containing silver would not be nearly as resistant to Hydrochloric or Nitric Acid as gold would. Although we all know that not even Gold can stand up to Aqua Regia(A mixture of the two aforementioned acids.), exposing Silver to either acid would most likely produce Silver Chloride and Silver Nitrate. Silver corrodes fairly easily, and based on the content of the nib, it could very well mean that the nib will corrode easily aswell.

 

THEN AGAIN....

 

Palladium is a very corrosive resistant element, and would be just about as corrosive resistant, if not better, than gold.

 

Since I really don't know what is actually in PdAg nibs(someone once told me that unmarked silver nibs were actually stainless steel, can anyone confirm or deny this?), it really is impossible to say if PdAg == Au as far as corrosive resistance goes.

 

~George

But you fail to account for the fact that Sheaffer gold nibs aren't pure gold, and therefore your points regarding their resistance to chemical attack may not be accurate. 14K gold has over 40% non-gold elements in its alloy.

 

--Daniel

[Ray-Vigo]

I have some 14k gold Sheaffer nibs with the masking and some without it. I haven't noticed any kind of writing quality different between the two from a materials standpoint. I've found the tipping condition and nib+feed setup/combo has the larger impact. I'm no expert, but having written many lines with many Sheaffers, I couldn't tell masked or unmasked in a blind writing test.

[jonro]

Mr. Sheaffer believed in selling premium products (that would last a lifetime) at a premium price, and people are willing to pay premium prices for products containing gold. I believe that is one of the primary reasons that Sheaffer only sold pens with gold nibs under their label for so many years.