Is this a Sheaffer Imperial?

[Inkysloth]

Any information would be appreciated - I know very little (well, nothing really) about Sheaffer pens so although I think I've narrowed this down to an Imperial I can't work out a rough date it might be from. The nib is 14kt. 

Thanks in advance! 

Sheaffer Imperial (?) by Robin Inkysloth, on Flickr

[joss]

I think that your pen is a Sheaffer 444XG from the mid to late 1970s. In this period, the Imperial line of pens only included the model numbers 7xx and 8xx which all had a long inlaid nib in solid gold. The Sheaffer 4xx and 5xx pens with the short inlaid nib (stainless or 14kt) initially had no general model name (as per a 1976 service manual) but by the end of the 1970s Sheaffer called this range of pens "Triumph".  The name "Imperial" disappeared in the early 1980s and the surviving 4xx, 5xx, 7xx and 8xx models were then all included in the "Triumph" line of pens.

 

So theoretically your pen is a Triumph and not an Imperial. But because the name Triumph causes confusion with the 1950s Sheaffer pens, many collectors simply include all the 4xx to 8xx models into the Sheaffer "Imperial family" line of pens.

 

More details and a list of all the 1970-80s Imperial & Triumph pens can be found here:

http://www.sheaffertarga.com/Imperial and Triumph/Imperial Write Up.html.

http://www.sheaffertarga.com/Imperial and Triumph/Imp Triumph Ref List.html

 

[Inkysloth]

58 minutes ago, joss said:

snip

Thank you Joss, much appreciated! 

[Boiling Black Coffee]

It is a Triumph 444XG. However, we usually call it Imperial 444XG to distinguish it from the Triumph series produced in the 1940s.