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Want some advice regarding buying vintage pens.


Spatil

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Today I found some pre-owned/used vintage pens in working condition listed on a couple of website and came across some Sheaffer pens (Sheaffer imperial) around ₹5-6k with inlaid 14k gold nib (😱 at this price?) and touchdown filler .

 

I was quite surprised to see this kind of pen design, which caught my interest and to clarify I never paid attention to them before and don't know much about them other than that they could be quite different from modern pens, need some careful handling and sometimes restoration maybe required to make them work.

 

Is buying a vintage pen online viable on Website, Facebook, WhatsApp etc? Since only photos are available for reference (and words of seller 😅). And is there anything I should know about the rubber sac or similar part which could degrade with time/usage, along with its replacement/restoration options?

 

It would be good if the pen could stand being used as daily writer and not be restricted due to unavailability of certain parts or components which are necessary to make it work.

 

My budget is ₹5-6k so spending more for any restoration is difficult.

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I really like these pens, I have six of them, and they are all excellent writers, and fit very comfortably in my hand, especially when posted. 

 

I'm not an expert in Sheaffer pens, but here is what I have gleaned from my own experience. The Sheaffer Imperials with inlaid nibs were produced over a number of years, in slightly different versions. There were, as far as I have seen, two different filling systems made for these pens: cartridge/converter, and the Touchdown system. Touchdown fillers work on pneumatic compression of a sac (described in detail here, scroll down). Personally I avoid the Touchdown filling system, because I don't like trying to fix them, but some people seem to love them. The cartridge/converter fillers use standard Sheaffer cartridges; it may be a chore to find a converter to fit, but managed to find four of them, three aerometric style and one button converter. 

 

Personally I wouldn't buy from a  private seller on Facebook or similar apps, because you have no protection if the pen turns out to be a bad pen. If they are a seller with their own website, that is a little better. I have bought most of my vintage pens on eBay, which does offer protection to the buyer (make sure returns are accepted by that seller before you buy). You don't want to spend your pen budget and end up with a useless pen. 

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I have bought two Sheaffer Targas through ebay - and I am new to fountain pens so I had to rely on general experience buying used. I look for sellers who have good ratings and regularly sell fountain pens. The prices you cite seem possible. Gold nibs can be much cheaper in used pens and still perform beautifully!

 

Not sure about the Sheaffer Imperial, but the standard (not slim) Targa fits a modern Sheaffer piston converter. The 1st vintage I bought had an old leaky squeeze converter.

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What Jayebird said -- with the additional caveat that you should see what the seller's feedback ratings and reviews are; any more, if a seller doesn't have 100% positive feedback (for pens or anything else), I generally want to know WHY -- although I was recently surprised that a seller I've nearly ALWAYS had good experiences with (the one time there was an issue it was eBay's lousy IT, NOT the seller's fault at ALL, and he was very good about adjusting, in spite of him literally being up all night) did NOT have 100% positive ratings.  [OTOH, the WORST experience I've ever had was with a seller who literally has tens of thousands of transactions but NOT 100% positive rating; I got screwed and filed a dispute but was then NOT permitted to give feedback after the dispute was judged in my favor....  And yes, the seller sells pens, and has a B&M store as well....  But I'm not allowed, under site rules, to "name and shame".... :angry:]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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18 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Personally I avoid the Touchdown filling system, because I don't like trying to fix them, but some people seem to love them.

One website mentions that the pen is in working condition (touchdown filler) but they won't accept returns on used/pre-owned pens that are sold (under the condition as given in pen description section). But I read that rubber sac degrade quickly compared to other parts, so it may need to be replaced?

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36 minutes ago, Spatil said:

One website mentions that the pen is in working condition (touchdown filler) but they won't accept returns on used/pre-owned pens that are sold (under the condition as given in pen description section). But I read that rubber sac degrade quickly compared to other parts, so it may need to be replaced?


A statement that the seller won’t accept returns is a ‘deal-breaker’ for me.

It makes me not trust the seller’s claims about the pen.

But that’s just my opinion.

 

If you think that the price for the pen is very low, you might decide that you are willing to take the risk of buying the pen and finding that it needs to have its sac replaced.

 

Do you know of anyone near you who can repair Sheaffer’s ‘Touchdown’ fillers?

 

Going back to my own opinions - and do bear in mind that I may be being over-cautious - when I am thinking of buying anything from auction sites I go by the mantra ‘if there is any doubt, then you should have no doubt at all - walk away!’.

Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.

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2 hours ago, Spatil said:

One website mentions that the pen is in working condition (touchdown filler) but they won't accept returns on used/pre-owned pens that are sold (under the condition as given in pen description section). But I read that rubber sac degrade quickly compared to other parts, so it may need to be replaced?

 

My opinion agrees with Mercian's opinion expressed above. It sounds like they might accept returns if the pen is not actually in working condition, but even that can be a point of contention. Once you give them them money, all the power in the transaction lies with the seller. Again, that is my opinion.

 

By the way, in addition to the sac, there is at least one o-ring in a Touchdown filler that should probably be replaced at the same time, if it does need repair. If you do buy a Touchdown filler, be sure to read the instructions (in the link in my first post) about how to use it.

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I will try to contact the seller for confirmation of refund in case the pen does not work, along with better pictures etc. If they don't give satisfactory response, I won't buy.

 

Anyway they are not accepting new order till mid April so I have time, till then I will also search for other sellers.

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On 3/25/2023 at 3:23 PM, Spatil said:

I will try to contact the seller for confirmation of refund in case the pen does not work, along with better pictures etc. If they don't give satisfactory response, I won't buy.

 

Anyway they are not accepting new order till mid April so I have time, till then I will also search for other sellers.

You can try peytonstreetpens. This is not in India, but the seller (Terry) is well reputed and has a great collection of old sheaffer and other brands. Price is very competitive too.

If you are in chennai area then you can reach out to Prataph from Gama pens. In Mumbai, there are few good pen stores which sell vintage pens

"It's simple to be happy but difficult to be simple"

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That was what I was about to say: when starting, try to buy from a reputed seller, either well known of with great "karma" in the selling system score points. That or either be ready to take the risk. If the price is low enough and your interest high, and you do not mind risking getting a non-functional or suboptimal pen, that may be a good chance.

 

I have got some pens that were sold very cheap -and dirty. They might have not worked. One was relatively easy to clean, but the feed wouldn't stay put and I had to "thicken" (well, reduce the diameter of) the section with shellac. Another was a Montblanc with gold nib, this took me over a year of flushings and only worked well after I disassembled it and run an x-acto knife very lightly and carefully on the feed channel. But for the price, they were very cheap. Others had their own histories. The bottom line was that I knew the risks and factored in advance the potential costs.

If you are to be ephemeral, leave a good scent.

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Well after looking around more online I dropped the idea of buying vintage pen online as there were many variables which could make me regret the purchase. I can still try in a brick and mortar store when I have the chance to visit there untill then I am holding it off. BTW thanks for your input.

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