Sheaffer's Military Clip Pens From Wwii Era

[BamaPen]

Some time ago I found that I had accumulated a number of the Sheaffer'S pens with the unusual over-the-top military clip, made about 1942-44 to meet military regulations. I decided then that it would be interesting to focus on acquiring a full set of these pens. Some investigation revealed that, in each color, there are a total of eight pens and two pencils. I was making pretty good progress toward my goal, with a nearly complete set in Golden Brown (brown striated) and Black, plus about half of the Marine Green (green striated) items. Last year at the Atlanta Pen Show I was dealt a stunning setback.

 

As I examined the wares of the vendors offering vintage items, I came across a Sheaffer'S pencil with a military clip - in Carmine (red striated). Oh no! There was another color in the military clip style that I had never encountered before and did not realize was made. I did not let this revelation stop me in my search for the complete set, but I have found the Carmine items to be quite uncommon.

 

As of yesterday, though, I now have the complete set of Golden Brown items. A Commandant lever filler arrived in the mail, the least expensive of all the pens, and filled the 12th and final slot in that color. In Black I am two pens and one pencil from completion and in Marine Green, three pens and both pencils (I do have an unusual Marine Green pencil with the jeweler's band). But Carmine remains a challenge: I now have two pencils in that elusive color, and one pen is coming in the mail, maybe arriving today.

 

Ignorance may be bliss, but if anyone knows of other colors in the over-the-top military clip style, please do let me know...

 

Having a goal like this is for me an exciting way to engage in the pen collecting hobby.

[joss]

Ignorance may be bliss, but if anyone knows of other colors in the over-the-top military clip style, please do let me know...

 

Having a goal like this is for me an exciting way to engage in the pen collecting hobby.

 

An exciting goal indeed! Share pictures if you can.

 

Talking about scarcity: did you consider that also the Skyboy clips came in military style, even on the Carmine?

[BamaPen]

I've never quite understood the Skyboy clip. I've seen it in both the over-the-top style and the more usual Balance style. What was its significance?

[joss]

The Sheaffer Skyboy was most likely just a marketing trick. The pen was advertised as "the airplane special" although the pen itself did not differ from the standard model. In hindsight, the marketing trick was extremely effective because even today we still pay significant amounts of money for these pens.

 

[BamaPen]

The Skyboy pictured in your ad has a conventional clip. Here's one currently on ebay with a Skyboy over-the-top military clip:

 

[joss]

Indeed, the ad above is from July 1940 while the military clip was introduced a year later.

 

This ad is from July 1941 showing the Skyboy military clip on a carmine Sheaffer (Valiant?).

The text of the ad is quite funny as the Skyboy is advertised as being made for aviation but could as well be used in the mountains and on the beach!

 

[BamaPen]

Do you happen to have any advertising for the non-Skyboy military clip pens?

[joss]

They can be found everywhere on the interweb, search for Sheaffer ads of the 1941-42 period and you will find plenty of them.

 

Check for instance also the collection Sheaffer ads of PenHero (Jim Mamoulides):

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/SheafferAds01.htm

[PAKMAN]

Didn't know about the Skyboy... Grr, now I have to find one!

[Lazard 20]

[BamaPen]

The arrival of my first Carmine military clip pen in today's mail encouraged me to photograph the collection. I posted about the collection in my blog and added the pictures there. You may want to visit the blog to read what I posted. CLICK HERE TO VISIT MY BLOG ENTRY

 

I have not attempted to take into account any "Skyboy" variations, nor can I find any information on how widespread the Jeweler's band may have been in military clip pens. I do have one Marine Green pencil with a Jeweler's band (see the second picture below), so that indicates that there probably were pens with that band as well.

 

The pictures below also appear in the blog post. This is the collection as of today:

Edited January 26, 2019 by BamaPen