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Hi all, Recently I've been looking into getting myself a vintage Sheaffer imperial IV with a fine or XF nib, but the prices seem rather high on some products and I'm not sure if they are worth it / reasonable, it seems I could invest that money elsewhere, but I am rather new to Sheaffer vintage pens so I'm not sure what boundaries I'm working with. This is purely so I can decide to wait on a better offer to come up or to get something relatively soon with existing offers. These are what I found so far: NOS with fine nib, guaranteed working $95USD (+$15 Intl' shipping)Used with fine nib, "seems working" according to seller, with a crack in the barrel (from grip section and a few cm up, looks like a white line) £48 (Auction price, not sure if this will hold)Used with XF nib, most likely working, tiny crack just before blind cap on the barrel. I don't know if this will affect the touchdown mechanism? £86 As I said, I'm not sure if these prices are reasonable or not, there seems to be an awfully big range, and I don't want to spend more than I need to if that money could be spent on something better instead. The first offer is from a website selling vintage pens, the other two are on eBay. If anyone have any other recommendations on where I might find a good deal, please send them my way (or maybe you want to sell me a pen ), many thanks!

Hi guys, I need a little help with choosing which vintage Sheaffer Imperial to buy! Recently I've been looking on eBay and am quite intrigued by the vintage Sheaffer pens with the inlaid nibs, they're absolutely gorgeous! Anyway, I've spotted three good deals and am having trouble deciding which is more worth it. I would like to hear your opinions! 1) Sheaffer Imperial 330 NOS, Black, Fine steel nib. £59 (Also comes with ballpoint pen) The price is attractive to me especially as there is both a fountain pen and ballpoint included, and they are both new old stock.However I have been told the weight of the pen is not ideal as it is cheap (?) plastic, can anyone weigh in on this?Comes with converter. 2) Sheaffer Imperial 444 Flighter, Chrome, Fine steel nib. £70 The price is higher for this one and I'm not sure if it's worth it, but the metal body does look good and it should weight better.Converter is not included.The description says the pen is "unused" and there is still a sticker on the barrel, but there is no box, and also an "imperfection" on the barrel.In working condition. 3) Sheaffer Imperial Touchdown VI (I believe), Gray, Fine 14k nib. £? (Auction, I'm aiming for lower than £50) 14k gold nib is a steal if I can win at a low bid.Filling mechanism is interesting, can anyone vouch for how good / bad it is?Used. Has a few scratches that are not very noticeable but there none-the-less.In working condition. So those are the three I'm looking at, can anyone give any advice? Thanks!

I won a Victory AF (mark IV?) on ebay recently, I knew the pen had a slightly damaged barrel which doesn't bother me (although I may look at ways to repair that at some point), the seller didn't know much about pen but thought everything was complete. The pen arrived this morning as is exactly as described only it's missing the pressure bar, I know this is an easy fix but have no idea what size would fit the pen, can anyone advise me please? http://i62.tinypic.com/25hzcrb.jpg Picture showing the damage to the barrel, I think as some point it may have been a cigarette burn that someone has sanded smooth, it's a small indentation, I may look into a way of either filling it or just matching the colour to hide it a little. http://i61.tinypic.com/2vn4az9.jpg The nib has 20 8 on it, I don't know what size that is as I'm going to soak and clean the pen before trying it, I was surprised to find that the sac is still really supple and I'm tempted to keep it but I'll probably order a new one when I get a pressure bar. The pen looks black in the pictures but it's actually a really dark blue EDIT: I'm currently cleaning the pen and now realise that the damage isn't a sanded smooth burn but actually a filled hole(still possibly a cigarette burn from the size) it looks like it's been filled with wax or something of a similar texture. I've never heard of a repair using wax, if it is I may either use heat to removed it and either find a better way of repairing it or redo it in wax and get a better finish.