Happy David Finds an Un-Catalogued Sheaffer (Balance Era) Golf Pencil

All pics in this thread can be enlarged via a click. 

Sheaffer- to best of current hobby knowledge- never catalogued its Balance-era golf pencil in colors as late (era) as Ebonized Pearl. Indeed, the latest color I consistently find (and it is uncommon, though possibly- i must double check- catalogued) is Gray-with-Red Veins.

Given that Balance is the second most prevalent pen in my personal collection, I was quite charmed to spot for auction  this Ebonized Pearl golf pencil. It was part of a set of four items all with same personalization, the other three being of the relatively uncommon "Stubby Standard"  size.

This was the first Ebonized Pearl golf pencil I've seen.   Of interest, the MOP chips run all the way to the ferrule, unlike in other Ebonized Pearl pencils.

Internet chat revealed- and I was not surprised- that a couple other active collectors of Sheaffer have seen such pencils here and there.

Here are all four pieces found at once.  All- again- personalized. All in very clean condition.    The image shows two "Stubby" pens, one with white dot. Note the excellent color preservation. While originally I planned to keep only the golf-pencil, given that all four items have the same name and are quite clean, I likely will keep the set together, even though I have- i believe- both of the "Stubby" variants already.

Just for kicks, below I've shown my current collection of Sheaffer Balance-era golf pencils. The "Autograph" with solid-gold trim (longer pencil) might also be un-catalogued. I am aware of  a similar black pencil, but do not yet own that one.

Prototype (?) Lady Sheaffer FP's.

Hi,

Picked up recently a few Lady Sheaffer FP's, purportedly prototypes. Yeah, I know the baggage that goes with the term.

In any case, price was right even if a regular issue pen. Mint condition. Metal contruction (i believe). Patterns I'd never seen before. Working on a mini-essay (incorporating some shots of more common patterns and a shot or two of some Lady Sheaffers Ron Zorn had acquired, apparently made for foreign market.

You might need to hit the magnifier if your browser shrinks the image to fit screen.


Thoughts?

regards

David

A Vacumatic Question from (waaaaaay) Southwest. Cap-band on Single Jewel Sr. Maxima

 Jose, wrote...

hi, david--was wondering if you could comment on the possibility or the likelihood of a single-jewel but wide-banded silver-pearl senior maxima i got being the real thing instead of a frankenpen, given the apparent fact (from your own examples) that SJ senior maximas had thin cap bands. here's the pic (which you can reproduce on the vac blog, if you'd like, to help in the discussion). many thanks!

just to add to my previous post, my SJ sr max has a date code of .2.

Hi Jose,

Ya mean these answers are not already all over the internet discussion boards?  :)

Keeping in mind that most of our expectations regarding this subject are based largely on observation, I... observe... the following:

1) USA-production single-jewel Vacumatic Sr. Maxima appears in first quarter 1942. The pens  appear to pack- as you note- the thinner cap-band previously seen in the Major, having dispensed with the 1937-41 "fat" Maxima band as shown on your pen.   I have plenty of first quarter (including mint stickered... yes at least four mint stickered) 1942 Maxes with the thinner band.

2) Canadian pens, however,  appear to pack the wide band through the end of the run for Vac Maxima there.  I have handled many post-1941 Canadian Maximas;  all have the wide band. Many came from the (relative) wild.

3) Again, as we lack preserved (and likely imagined) memos from Parker explicitly stating,  "We will start using thin band Jan 1, 1942, we will start stamping barrels "2" the same date, we will toss all remaining "1" code barrels (for 1941) and toss all remaining fat cap-band stock", and given the hobby (perhaps again imagined) view, that parts vats abounded with last month's and next month's parts  mixing readily, allowing some fuzziness at the edges of parts change, it would be a bit concrete to insist one could not find a last-quarter 1941 thin-band pen or first-quarter 1942 fat-band pen that indeed came from the factory, though I am somewhat uncomfortable even with those.

Where to run with this?

Well, if your pen is Canadian... problem solved.

If you pen is of USA origin, my "comfort zone" (i'm hesitant to claim absolutes) would be stretched at best even finding a last quarter 1941 or first quarter 1942 pen with a mix of parts not meeting expectation, but I have hard time picturing a second quarter 1942 pen still with an "original" fat band, given  that the thin band was overwhelmingly (absolutely?) prevalent by first quarter. If your pen has a lurking third date dot (for first instead of second quarter 1942), one can at least make some sort of  argument for originality. Still, strange things... happened.

Some claim parts repairs at factory could so account for the mix.  Who knows?  However, my recollection is that the 1947 parts catalogue (repair catalogue) still shows jeweled blind caps available.

For kicks, here is a Single Jewel Sr. Maxima (with expected thin band) sold on the website couple years back.

Your pen leaves me... suspicious.

PENnant Magazine from Pen Collectors of America. Giving Credit where due...

PENnant Magazine is the publication of Pen Collectors of America.  While I gave up around 2003 my membership for a few years due to disagreement with certain behavior of its board, I've enjoyed participation with the group again for the last couple years, after the board fixed that behavior.   The magazine of course is an excellent resource for collectors of old pens.  I've had an ad for the www.Vacumania.com website in PENnant for the last year or so. Did so primarily to support the organization, not with any great expectation it would lead to significant business dealings.  Guess I was wrong ;)

The ad clearly sent the occasional customer to my website leading to pens sold. But, last month a new-to-me collector emailed with interest to grab 20 pens in one fell swoop (always wondered, I did, just what is a "fell swoop").  Mostly high-cachet Snorks and other 1950's-1970's Sheaffers.  The pens are shown in the attached pic.

I asked how he found my website. Too my pleasant surprise,  rather than from my usual internet noise, it was my wee ad in PENnant led him my way. 

Guess I must credit PENnant.

The website for PCA is

http://www.pencollectorsofamerica.com

regards

David

A Parker Lucky Curve "Big Red" NON-Duofold. Plastic pen with "Medium" imprint

Click on Pic at left for large image (and will have to hit your "magnifier" as it fills more than a vertical screen on many monitors)  

I just picked up an interesting 1920's Parker "Big Red" sort of pen.   Is it a Duofold Senior with anomalous (NON "Duofold") imprint? Or, is it a red  Duofoldesque Lucky Curve (itself thus anomalous and certainly uncatalogued) that looks quite like a Duofold? 

Here is some information about 1920's plastic Duofolds, about Duofold-like pens without "Duofold" imprints, and about this pen in particular.

1) non-Duofold imprints are known on otherwise Duofold style pens (often have non-DF nibs along with the non-DF imprint)

2) Green non-DF-marked  "Lucky Curve" pens otherwise like DF  are known to have been advertised without the Duofold name. I believe i've seen similar Lapis and maybe Yellow pens, although we can but speculate as to whether they too represented a hypothesized test marketing of "scary new color" before allowing the "venerable Duofold name" on the pen. I've never seen a red before, though one book on Duofold does show some imprints of this general sort (lacking "Duofold").

3)  IIRC, all the lucky-curve-sans-Duofold imprints so far cited are of the "small" variety, as one would expect since the progression from Large to Medium to Small imprints took place during the Hard Rubber era (pre-plastic) and since the pens we discuss are plastic.

4) The actual pen under discussion is Canadian, which tweaks the game a bit, as often we recognize that Canada did not always follow Parker USA "rules", but this finding does not obviate the question as to the significance of the imprint variation, as one still wonders- in either country- what is suggested by the finding of a non-DF "Sr-DF-size non-DF  Lucky Curve"

5) The actual pen under discussion has a larger imprint that the other non-DF-imprinted pens of this sort. I must pull up some pens and/or images to decide if it is utterly different from typical "Medium" imprint or if it represents "simply" a Medium imprint sans "Duofold". In any case the medium-ness of the imprint raises new questions as one would not expect a medium-size imprint on a plastic pen, though perhaps here the Canadian origin of the pen has something to do with this second anomaly.

So, was the pen ever meant to be a Duofold?  I don't know.

At what passes for my stage of collecting (and I know others share this trait), finding pens that surprise can be as much or more fun than "just" finding big, glitzy or even valuable pens.  Anomalies offer a peek away from the main sequence of collecting.  I don't ascribe high dollar value to this pen, but that it packs a constellation of findings that I have not before seen and cannot readily find in texts, adds charm to the game. Speculation as to significance no doubt is part of the fun.   Should it turn out this finding is more common than I expected... so be it ;)