This is almost certainly a late 1940s model, though maybe early 50s. The lever fills were phased out for all but black after the war. Re-sacced this one many years ago, IIRC with the polysac out of a Sheaffer converter, but I’m not inclined to crack it open to verify. Conical 14K triumph nib in a western F/M. Smooth with a hint of feedback, and no flex whatsoever. This was a thoroughly midrange offering, meant to be used daily. It slotted in between the Admiral and Craftsman below it, and several models and trims above it. The 1/4” gold fill band is the giveaway. The nib is STOUT, and the gold fill on the clip and band has held up beautifully.
They were not fucking around with these pens. Even this one retailed for around ten bucks in 1949, making it an $80-100 pen today, roughly equivalent to the cheapest solid gold nib pens from major makers today, funnily enough. Really though, general purchasing power inflation is a weird analogue in this product category, which changed so drastically in the 60s and 70s.
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That is a real beauty! A lever fill too, interesting. I didn’t know that bit of history about Sheaffer pens. I have a similar looking Signature with a Triumph nib and touchdown filler (I think… Or was it a vac fill?.. it has been ages since I used it last).
The Sheaffer nibs I have used are really something special. The triumph is my favorite type. Such an unusual, elegant look.
I suppose because fountain pens are more of a luxury item, now, there is some markup versus back in the day. I wonder what kind of longevity we will get out of modern top end pens?
Well, they were being phased out of the higher end stuff in the late 40s, and the Craftsman and Admiral still came in lever-fill in any color, but the Statesman and Valiant only had it in black. I think they were doing a lot of “cap engineering” in those days where you were largely paying for more gold bling on the cap, going from skinny little ring all the way up through the whole cap being chased and gold-filled. The 1949 catalogue is HERE. Sometimes the Statesman came in conical nib, sometimes in traditional. The main thing is that it was whichever one they were charging ten bucks for that year, LOL.
Here’s a pretty similar one that Peyton Street Pens sold sometime in the last few years.
I’m actually pretty optimistic about most modern pens, both because materials science has obviously improved, and they are as you say sort of niche luxury goods where people will pay extra for quality. I think the average FP user is no longer going through life with their main pen in their pocket using it all day, every day. Most of us baby our pens quite a bit, and probably write a lot fewer words per pen.
That, and these days most of us seem to be the types of
nerdsaficionados who own about 427 million different pens which we switch between, so the mileage is spread out thinly across them. That’s certainly how it works for me, at any rate.For longevity, I think the switch to cartridge filling has been a major but overlooked boon to keeping pens in operation well past their sell-by dates. Plastic cartridges last functionally forever – I have some from the 1970’s that still look and act brand new – and can be refilled indefinitely as well as fairly easily replaced (or bodged well enough) if you eventually do cack one. Contrast this to the rubber bladders in all the vintage lever/vacuum/snorkel/whatever fillers from back in the day which inevitably disintegrate and require the efforts of a dedicated individual to both want to restore the pen and have the parts and ability to do so. I think a lot of vintage pens wound up in the landfill over the years much to the chagrin of modern collectors because their sacs gave out and nobody at the time could be bothered to repair them.
Very possible. Re-saccing a pen is fiddly but simple, and I bet most towns had a few people who could handle it. The more complicated mechanisms that still relied on rubber bladders and gaskets probably took the hardest hit.
Then there’s the Aero 51 and 21… find pen in drawer, flush pen, start writing with pen. Of course Parker bodged that up with the 61, LOL.
That’s a beauty, and I did not even know I was into pens.
Yet another rabbit hole hobby. :-)
A lever filler! That’s pretty cool. I only have one lever Sheaffer, and it’s not a triumph. But I do have a few Triumph Touchdowns and Snorkels, and they are fantastic nibs.
Yeah, years and years ago, I had a palladium conical-nib Snorkel. It had an air leak and was beyond my skill to repair, but when dipped it was also very smooth and easy. I know there’s a lot of survivorship bias with what we have left, but it is so interesting to me to see what the companies and customers expected during that half century when pencil and fountain pen were the only viable options for writing things down.
My palladium snorkel I bought refurbished, and it was done with a latex sac. Well, the sac dissolved… my fault wrong ink. And I have not wanted to take the time to fix it, since it is a little time consuming. My two tone snorkel and touchdowns all have silicone sacs. The palladium is my favorite, though.
I hate to say it, but Sheaffer kind of overthought themselves after the era of the lever fill. Parker did the Vac, but then said, "hey guys, this is ridiculously complicated and kind of a pain… why don’t we just add a little extra ventilation and tell them that it’s high tech to actuate the pressure bar by hand!
Meanwhile, Sheaffer kept doubling down on complexity, from vac fill to touchdown to snorkel, right up until they just said “Fuck it. Everything is a cartridge now!”
Oh, definitely. I can’t think of a more complicated mass produced filling mechanism. But I love them. Especially the Snorkel. Maybe because I’m an engineer. It reminds me of mechanical watches with lots of complications. But when they are in fully working order, they are so simple and convenient to use! Just unscrew, fill, and close it back up. Nice clean nib, no fuss.
Yup, that’s absolutely fair, and the fact that any of them are even repairable is a testament to the quality that went into it. It would be a boring world if everything were eyedrop fillers and cart pens. :-)
