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dmendel
April 13th, 2016, 06:02 PM
Posted this over in the "general" discussion, but hasn't seen any action. Thought I would post it here, since I think Jackie is using a Sheaffer Autograph. Any ideas?


Was watching Ken Burn's excellent documentary on Jackie Robinson last night and they showed a picture of the famous moment when Jackie signed his contract with the Montreal Royals. I immediately wondered what kind of pen he used to sign. Here are a couple shots of the famous moment and a close up of the pen (behind the getty watermark -- even with the mark it is the clearest photo I could find). Looks like a Sheaffer Signature to me. Any ideas?


http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/image.jpeg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/72723855.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/Screen%20Shot%202016-04-12%20at%2011.52.28%20AM.png

Lady Onogaro
April 13th, 2016, 07:00 PM
What makes you think it is a Sheaffer Signature?

stub
April 14th, 2016, 01:30 AM
Looks like a Triumph wideband to me.

dam
April 14th, 2016, 06:51 AM
A Crest maybe?

stub
April 14th, 2016, 07:16 AM
Don't think so. Wrong cap.

It's either an autograph band or a wide band no?


A Crest maybe?

distracted_mom
April 14th, 2016, 08:22 AM
I love that you all know enough to have hypotheses. :)

stub
April 14th, 2016, 10:46 AM
Looks like picture was taken Oct 23 1945 so ... That helps us cheat a little too. I am sticking with Wideband Triumph.

dmendel
April 14th, 2016, 11:04 AM
Sorry, I meant to write that I thought it might be a Shaeffer Autograph, not Signature (I have edited the post to reflect that). The Signature was not released until 1950, 5 years after Jackie signed the contract. I think it is either a wideband Triumph or Autograph, which I believe is a Triumph with a plain band for engraving a signature. Can't tell from the photo if the band is adorned or plain.

This from Pen Hero:

"From 1942-1945 both the all gold-filled trim and Autograph Triumph pens had wide cap bands. The Autograph pens can be distinguished by their plain cap bands and the 14K hallmark at the top of the band under the clip. From 1942-1944, gold-filled cap bands were decorated with a repeating parallel line engraving, a vertical chasing."

Here is a picture of the Triumph with vertical chasing (from Richard Binder's site):

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/wwii_vf_black.jpg

and from Pen Hero:

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/balance_wideband_vacfil_5.jpg


Here is a c1942 Autograph Triumph (from an ebay listing):


http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz88/dmendel5/Jackie/s-l1600.jpg

Lady Onogaro
April 14th, 2016, 12:01 PM
Thank you for raising the topic, dmendel. I just did not know the features of the Sheaffer pen you were thinking of--thank you for posting pictures of the relevant pen.