Skyline Without Derby Cap, This Is One...

[lahlahlaw]

I picked this pen up a few days on the bay and I did some research online while it came in, I tentatively thought it could be a Streamliner, but the clip wasn't quite right.

 

While cleaning it, I look at the clip ring and there it read - "SKYLINE"!

 

Maybe I'm just not finding them but I thought all Skylines had derby caps.

 

[Tylerjordan]

http://www.vintagepens.com/skyline.shtml

 

There is a picture of a Skyline without a derby cap here!

[lahlahlaw]

http://www.vintagepens.com/skyline.shtml

 

There is a picture of a Skyline without a derby cap here!

 

There it is! Except David N. calls it a "short economy Streamliner". Hmm, the mystery continues...

[Wahlnut]

The pen shown is indeed the Streamliner (not the Skyline® The Streamilner came in 2 versions and 2 sizes:

98 and 99 and 98L and 99L (The "L's were not guaranteed). There were a umber of colors (black, blue, brown, green and gray - maybe a few more.

[LBpens]

The Streamline also came in the grooved plastic cap. Those are far less common. The most rare is the grey with grooved cap.

[lahlahlaw]

The pen shown is indeed the Streamliner (not the Skyline® The Streamilner came in 2 versions and 2 sizes:

98 and 99 and 98L and 99L (The "L's were not guaranteed). There were a umber of colors (black, blue, brown, green and gray - maybe a few more.

The Streamline also came in the grooved plastic cap. Those are far less common. The most rare is the grey with grooved cap.

Do you all have any Streamliners to check and see if yours says SKYLINE? I'm very curious..

 

I hypothecise that Wahl-Eversharp was up to some funny business, member DCPRITCH check his Streamliner and it too says SKYLINE on the clip band. Now, if the clip bands were the same on both models with the Skyline having the derby part as an add-on of sorts, one could say that WE was just economizing by sharing the clip band.

 

BUT, that is not the case, the clip bands are clearly different. So I wonder, why call it a Streamliner, but stamp it SKYLINE?

 

 

Did they see a need to differentiate the two lines too late into the process such that Streamliners were stuck with clip bands stamped SKYLINE?

 

Interesting...

 

-Art

[lahlahlaw]

Here's a stickers attached "Streamliner" that came up online. Boy I'd love to know what the label says!

[BamaPen]

I have two Streamliners. One has the grooved cap and the clip band is marked SKYLINE. The second is part of a still stickered pen and pencil set in the original box (Model 99). The pencil has a metal cone, which tells me that it is postwar production. That Streamliner's clip band is NOT marked Skyline.

 

So, I suspect that Art is on the right track. The early production Streamliners were marked SKYLINE on the band, but a name change went into effect and when those bands were used up, the next batch did not have that marking.

 

John

[lahlahlaw]

I have two Streamliners. One has the grooved cap and the clip band is marked SKYLINE. The second is part of a still stickered pen and pencil set in the original box (Model 99). The pencil has a metal cone, which tells me that it is postwar production. That Streamliner's clip band is NOT marked Skyline.

 

So, I suspect that Art is on the right track. The early production Streamliners were marked SKYLINE on the band, but a name change went into effect and when those bands were used up, the next batch did not have that marking.

 

John

Thanks John for checking your pens!

 

So I guess in the interim we could call these "Pre-name-change Streamliners", or "Skyline-clipbanded Streamliners". If we simply called them "Early Streamliners", then the Skyline clipband explanation will be lost. Albeit, with such an uncommon and lower level model, this doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things, but it's fun to wonder what was going on over at Wahl-Eversharp when these rolled out....

[LBpens]

Companies often had a wide gulf between design, production and especially marketing. I think this is a case where they were all considered Skylines, and Streamliner was just a name marketing came up with after the fact to differentiate the economy version. I can pretty much guarantee you no-one at Eversharp sat around worrying about what that little imprint said or didn't say. I have a couple dozen "Streamliners," and they all say Skyline.