Dating Skrip Bottles?

[inkyletters]

Hello all!
As some of you may know my day job is student archaeologist. My latest independent research project I'm undertaking (for those of you keeping track the homestead project is just short a final write up for an article to be published and final artifact curation) is to work on the campus dig that is student run. We are excavating a turn of the century trash dump and we have a host of bottles that I'm trying to determine if there are settlement patterns or specific socio-economic indicators.
Unsurprisingly, we have found a couple intact or mostly intact bottles of Sheaffer Skrip. I was curious is anyone could point me to a resource to try to date these? I have a pile of books about medicine bottles and cosmetics jars but nothing about ink and obviously I'm most interested in those.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Hello all!
As some of you may know my day job is student archaeologist. My latest independent research project I'm undertaking (for those of you keeping track the homestead project is just short a final write up for an article to be published and final artifact curation) is to work on the campus dig that is student run. We are excavating a turn of the century trash dump and we have a host of bottles that I'm trying to determine if there are settlement patterns or specific socio-economic indicators.
Unsurprisingly, we have found a couple intact or mostly intact bottles of Sheaffer Skrip. I was curious is anyone could point me to a resource to try to date these? I have a pile of books about medicine bottles and cosmetics jars but nothing about ink and obviously I'm most interested in those.


I'm pretty sure I saw just such a thread on FPN. If I can find it again I will link it.

Are the labels intact? If so, what color are they? Do the bottles have an inkwell? That will help date them, too. (I have a small collection of Skrip bottles).


Here's one. (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/240126-sheaffer-inkbottles-through-time/)

And another. (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/191982-the-first-bottle-for-skrip/)

Hope this helps!

[mrcharlie]

I'm sure there is an item on FPN that I've contributed to, but it was incomplete. I know a little bit, but am far from authoritative.

One of your best bets is the label and the box if you have them; the bottles themselves may have mold marks that help but I don't know anything about them.

The earliest possible jar with the ink-well in the top was late 1930s and did not use the blue and yellow colored labels. The FPN item has a picture of one. I don't know the exact year that the blue and yellow became standard but I believe it was 1939 plus or minus one, maybe two.

After that, the box is really helpful because often there is advertising on the dust flaps or the top flap for a particular model of pen, and we know the range of production years for, say, the Triumph or the Snorkel varieties. "Sheaffer's Skrip" == independent company; "Sheaffer Skrip" == owned by Textron so that tells you pre or post 1966 (I think 1966; I'd look it up on this page at sheaffertarga.com (http://www.sheaffertarga.com/Sheaffer%20History/History%20of%20sheaffer.html)). Anything blue and yellow with a large but lower case "ink" on the label is approximately 1980 or later.

I have some very verbose notes on the old boxes and labels I have and how I've approximately dated them; I don't have pics to go with that, but it might help. I'll pm or email that to you.

[Jon Szanto]

I would also consider sending a note to Sam and Frank at Pendemonium. They spent so many years in Ft. Madison and are very knowledgeable about Sheaffer history. What they aren't able to contribute themselves they might be able to suggest some other sources. You might also consider joining the Pen Collectors of America, because one of the perks is access to a very large online collection of pen catalogs, the largest bunch (I think) of which are Sheaffer.

[mrcharlie]

I've never looked at the archive of catalogs (never been a member) and have wondered if they bothered showing the current labels/boxes/ink line up in them or not.

If the Pendemonium people are willing to help, they are probably the best possible human resource for your project.

IE all of Jon's suggestions FTW.

[inkyletters]

Thank you guys for your help. I don't have box or label but I can confirm it was a 2 oz bottle of Shaeffer Jet Black with the built in inkwell. That's super helpful for research.