Is It A Craftsman Or An Admiral?

[gewalker]

Hey all. I recently bought my first vintage pen from ebay and I'm trying to identify it. It's a marine green striated balance type with the smooth, minimal ball clip and "Sheaffer'S" on the clip. It's imprinted with 350, and has a Feathertouch #5 two-tone nib. The cap band is the "wire" type right on the end of the band. It was listed as a Craftsman, but my understanding from Richard Binder's site is that all Craftsmen had #33 nibs. I'm thinking that this is an Admiral, probably from '46 or '47 as I believe the wire band was introduced after '45 and there was no celluloid after '47. I can take some pics to post if that'll help.

[gewalker]

Haven't taken my own pictures yet, but here are the ones from the ebay auction:

 

http://img839.imageshack.us/i/i01151.jpg/

http://img510.imageshack.us/i/i01153.jpg/

http://img534.imageshack.us/i/i01154.jpg/

 

You can't really read the nib, there, but it's Feathertouch 5, which I've always found associated with the Admiral model name.

[Jimmy James]

I wonder if this is a pen that has had its nib replaced. I wouldn't associate the 350 price point with a 5 nib, but I'm hardly an expert.

[gewalker]

I wonder if this is a pen that has had its nib replaced. I wouldn't associate the 350 price point with a 5 nib, but I'm hardly an expert.

 

I wondered about that too as it looks like a Craftsman but everything I've read says the Craftsman pens had either No. 3 or No. 33 nibs.

 

Also, this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/SHEAFFERS-CRAFTSMAN-500-LEVER-FILL-FOUNTAIN-PEN-c1945-/320600589184

shows the same pen in black but with a 500 price code.

 

The only pens I find with the No. 5 Feathertouch nib are later touchdown and snorkel Admirals--but I've seen an ad from '45 which showed Craftsman, Admiral, and some other non-white-dot model gift sets grouped together.

 

Anybody got a '46 or '47 Sheaffer catalog?

Edited October 10, 2010 by gewalker

[Jimmy James]

As half-Balances show us, catalogs will go a far way to determining this, but it isn't impossible that, intentional or accidentally, this pen even left the factory this way. I like the look of the pen and hope it's a good one for you.

[esterbex]

I have a green striped wire band lever-filler exactly like yours with a 500 code and a #5 Feathertouch nib. Gave up trying to differentiate.

[gewalker]

As half-Balances show us, catalogs will go a far way to determining this, but it isn't impossible that, intentional or accidentally, this pen even left the factory this way. I like the look of the pen and hope it's a good one for you.

 

Yeah. I haven't inked it yet--just got it, but I'm really pretty excited about it. I bought it to use as a writer, and have high hopes. Apparently the #5 nibs have some flex to them.

[kirchh]

It's a mismatch, and by the looks of the picture, the nib wasn't installed with care. Also note that the Half Balance is cataloged.

 

--Daniel

Edited October 11, 2010 by kirchh

[Pen Is Mightier]

As half-Balances show us, catalogs will go a far way to determining this, but it isn't impossible that, intentional or accidentally, this pen even left the factory this way. I like the look of the pen and hope it's a good one for you.

 

Yeah. I haven't inked it yet--just got it, but I'm really pretty excited about it. I bought it to use as a writer, and have high hopes. Apparently the #5 nibs have some flex to them.

Feathertouch nibs are nice and smooth usually, but I wouldn't hold your hopes up for a flex nib as most feathertouch are nails.

[gewalker]

It's a mismatch, and by the looks of the picture, the nib wasn't installed with care. Also note that the Half Balance is cataloged.

 

--Daniel

 

I inked the pen yesterday for the first time and I believe you're right. The nib is slightly crooked and seems like it's too far up the feed. How hard is this to correct (keeping in mind that I have no experience with this). Would I be better off to send the pen off and have it repaired? Everything else appears to be good (fill, etc, work fine) but it doesn't write as well as I'd like.

 

Thanks, all, for the information.