Sheaffer Desk Set of the Week #4

[Roger W.]

This week we've gone to the dogs in figurals and motifs. (Skipped last week - I was at the Chicago show and had the best of intentions...)

 

There are two Scottie dogs. The first is an early 30's base (with a mid 40's socket). This base has yet to be documented but is similar in most respects to the small chrome bases of 1933 such as the Gazelles. Reminds one of Asta in the Thin Man Series (if you don't know the reference you might be too young).

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/chromescottie.jpg

Circa 1933 Scottie

 

The second scottie is a piece Sheaffer did in heavy brass. Seems to me these bases were 40's but the socket on this is mid 30's.

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/brassscottie.jpg

Circa 1943 Scottie

 

The figurals are of two dogs. The first is a scrawny hunting dog. This one is not catalogue and is found on a small base. Small bases are generally not catalogue with figurals but they do appear in ads of the period.

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/smhunter.jpg

Circa 1930 Hunting Dog

 

The most famous of the Sheaffer dogs are the German Shepards. The first is of a small single dog sitting which is number 1009 which was not continued in the 1930 catalogue. Originally priced at $28.

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/smallgerman.jpg

1928 Sitting German Shepard

 

The best of the dogs is the two German Shepard base. This was advertised a great deal in Natural Geographic. The base first appeared circa 1928 and is also in the 1930 catalogue as number 1014. The base is Brazillian Onyx 7 1/2 x 12 x 7/8 originally listing for $70 and reduced to $63 in 1930.

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/2germanfront.jpg

1928 German Shepards Standing

 

The detail on the dogs is impressive.

 

http://sheafferflattops.com/images/2germanclose.jpg

1928 German Shepards Standing

 

I would say the value today on these would be $125 on the chrome scottie, $50 on the brass scottie, $75 on the hunting dog, $100 on the small german shepard and $250 on the large german shepards.

 

Roger W.

[RonB]

Thanks for sharing these, Roger!

[Univer]

Hi Roger,

 

Thanks, as always, for sharing these. I've got one of the hunting-dog bases, and "scrawny" is definitely a fitting adjective.

 

A trifling correction, if I may: that first dog - like Asta - is a Wirehaired Fox Terrier. Among terrier folk, this sort of error is as reprehensible as...well...a pen misidentification among pen folk.

 

Wirehairs were quite popular in the 30s - hence the choice of the breed for the Thin Man films. Many years ago I was acquainted with the owner of one of Asta's descendants. This little guy had the charming habit of tearing the kitchen phone off the wall whenever it rang. (Typical wirehair, in other words.)

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[Roger W.]

Jon;

 

Thank you for the correction on breed of dog. I personally love the giants so I don't know the littl'ens very well. We have a St.Bernard and and Irish Wolfhound. We also have a Siberian Husky and a Beagle. Now the Beagle is a little one and I don't know if she keeps of the coyotes and racoons or if the big dogs do - I suspect her yapping does the trick and she's got the big dogs for backup.

 

Roger W.

[Maja]

Roger, thank you so much for the information and photos!

 

It's too bad that some of the dog figures are not catalogued; it makes it harder for people like me to distinguish between a Sheaffer desk set or some other companies' product (assuming any sticker on the desk base has been lost/worn away).

 

As for the first dog.....well, it's not a Scottie...but you're right about it being a dog like Asta.

It's actually a Wire-Haired Fox Terrier (like the little dog in my avatar---one of my parents' two Wires), a breed whose popularity peaked in the 20's and 30's.

 

[sheafferkid]

Thanks for showing us those awesome sets, Roger! Very neat indeed! And I can't believe how much that double German shepherd base sold for! $70 back then has the same buying power as about $840 today! Someone must have been VERY wealthy to have bought that in the late 20s!

 

Evan

[Maja]

:embarrassed_smile:

Jon (Univer) beat me to it, with his ID'ing of the wire-haired fox terrier! Sorry, Roger...

:embarrassed_smile:

 

As for their behaviour, yes, having grown up with the breed, I can attest to their feistiness....

 

 

[goldie]

Hi!

I'm new and found this site and this thread through a Google search.

Thought you might be interested in seeing the Scottie dog silhouette

desk set base with the original label.

 

 

 

 

 

[goldie]

Edited February 8, 2008 by goldie

[penburg]

Fantastic. Don't you wish you could go back in time with some of today's federal reserve notes and buy up a bunch of them.

[philm]

Roger,

 

What would be the matching pen for the 1930s Hunting Dog (albeit scrawny) shown by you above?

 

Thank you!

 

Phil

[Roger W.]

Roger,

 

What would be the matching pen for the 1930s Hunting Dog (albeit scrawny) shown by you above?

 

Thank you!

 

Phil

 

The matching pen to the hunting dog is a flat faced section pen in in a lot of varieties. I did a series on the pens about three years ago as well - here's the pics. There will be no key (metal "staple") as these are the second generation desk pens with the advent of the dry-proof sockets.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/30sdeskpens.jpg

Lifetime desk pens black, jade, pearl and black

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/30sdeskpens3-25.jpg

The 5-30's are hard to come by. Either people went top of the line with Lifetimes or they went cheap with the 3-25's. Pencils are almost impossible to find.

 

Roger W.

Edited October 31, 2011 by Roger W.

[Possumtops]

Thank for sharing your wonderful and interesting collection. Its threads like yours that make FPN both an interesting and learning platform.

 

Cheers

 

Possumtops

[philm]

Roger,

 

Thank you for your detailed answer. It is much appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Phil

[ANM]

I like your collection of Sheaffer pen holders and always enjoy seeing what you post. I hope I won't be booed off by posting a dog on a Parker but I got this one recently because it reminded me of the Airedale I used to have though it's probably a smaller terrier too.

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/matthewsno/DSCF3712.jpg

[Roger W.]

I like your collection of Sheaffer pen holders and always enjoy seeing what you post. I hope I won't be booed off by posting a dog on a Parker but I got this one recently because it reminded me of the Airedale I used to have though it's probably a smaller terrier too.

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/matthewsno/DSCF3712.jpg

 

Oh, ANM, thanks but, this is an ancient thread and I don't mind people throwing in alternative ideas anyway. I wonder if it was part of the Pen Desk Set Company's domain to handle these questions. Parker - our guy have an idea for a standing terrier. OK, Sheaffer no standing terrier but, you can do an enamel terrier (or vice versa). Sheaffer, Parker and Wahl don't have the same stuff in desk bases after 1928.

 

http://www.sheafferflattops.com/images/916b.jpg

Model 916 circa 1933

[Roger W.]

I guess most of my desk set of the week series is gone. The dog one popped up again in 2011 so I found it. It was actually the one I was looking for as it has the large double dogs as this set achieved $405 on Ebay about a week ago!

 

I had thought of adding to the old posts some new bases. It is hard to believe I ran that series 7 years ago. It ran for about a year and probably showcased some 100 different Sheaffer sets. Well, now that it is gone I suppose I could do it all over again. I've probably doubles the amount of dogs I had in '07. I bet the desk lamp series is gone too - I think I did that one in '08.

 

Roger W.

[AAAndrew]

I would love to see some of these desk sets. I have four sets, three Sheaffer ones of which only one is working. (the two that aren't are piston fillers, haven't gotten around to it yet). One is never used with the sticker still on. I enjoy seeing sets that aren't just the slab of onyx with brass plate. I also really like using my one working Sheaffer desk set. (my other working set is of another make we won't mention here but uses the number 51 in it)

 

Glad this zombie thread came back from the long-forgotten.

[Hanoi]

the bases Roger posted seem like unicorns to me. I haven't seen them online so I surmise that they only surface at pen shows or at some serious collector's estate sale.

[Roger W.]

the bases Roger posted seem like unicorns to me. I haven't seen them online so I surmise that they only surface at pen shows or at some serious collector's estate sale.

At this point it is years and years of looking. Sometimes at shows but, most do come from EBay. While I have looked extensively for the past 15 years or better and EBay has uncovered items that would have taken a lifetime to uncover in the past I wonder how many more years it will take to try and find all of the bases? At this point I don't it is possible to find them all. I've identified 746 bases from 1924-1942. In that there are some Sheaffer duplication and renumbering of models still, I have found only about 300 models or not even half. Some I wonder may have only been made for the catalog and never actually sold. Others are the continued product of carefully locating ones I don't have so I add a few more every year and certainly not at the pace that I imagine they could have been found at. The thrill of the hunt still drives me on.

 

Roger W.