david i
September 1st, 2014, 02:49 PM
I picked up a special Sheaffer Balance last week.
I'm in my sixteenth year or so as a Hack Amateur Newbie (no, I haven't trademarked it yet) pen collector. It's a philosophy thing. But, along the way I've built what might be the most complete Parker Vacumatic fountain pen collection. Both Vacumatic and Sheaffer's Balance are key 1930's American fountain pens, perhaps the two best sellers of the era, head to head competitor in their market niche during their period of overlap. Both offer hefty evolution of features, a huge range of catalogued models, and progressively esoteric off catalogue variants.
My photography work and my visits to 100+ pen shows have let me handle tens of thousands of old pens.
I go back to the beginning with Balance-- my second or third FP was one-- but I have never pursued it with the completist bent I have for Vacumatic. I seem to have acquired 200-300 different variants anyway. Good thing I'm not trying to be thorough ;)
So, using my inclination to hunt minutia acquired during my coin collecting days (mint marks, die varieties, grading based on nearly microscopic marks, oh my!), and having largely exhausted the pool for exotic Parker Vacumatics years ago, I turned the minutia-scope on Sheaffer's Balance, that series offering at least fair competition to Parker's Vac in the realm of anomalies and off-catalogue findings.
Though I am a mere wee dabbler in things Sheaffer, the result of this hunt for a decade or so has resulted in what many consider the heftiest collection out there of off-catalogue cap-band Balances along with a fair bit of other anomalies.
I realize FPG is not chock-full of hard-core vintage pen folk, so I won't drag the challenge out at length, and will offer answer later tonight, but the challenge is, what's funky about this USA-issue Sheaffer Balance from the late 1930s? Seen another?
http://vacumania.com/penteech2/sheaffer_balance_OS_marine_reversetrim.jpg
regards
david
I'm in my sixteenth year or so as a Hack Amateur Newbie (no, I haven't trademarked it yet) pen collector. It's a philosophy thing. But, along the way I've built what might be the most complete Parker Vacumatic fountain pen collection. Both Vacumatic and Sheaffer's Balance are key 1930's American fountain pens, perhaps the two best sellers of the era, head to head competitor in their market niche during their period of overlap. Both offer hefty evolution of features, a huge range of catalogued models, and progressively esoteric off catalogue variants.
My photography work and my visits to 100+ pen shows have let me handle tens of thousands of old pens.
I go back to the beginning with Balance-- my second or third FP was one-- but I have never pursued it with the completist bent I have for Vacumatic. I seem to have acquired 200-300 different variants anyway. Good thing I'm not trying to be thorough ;)
So, using my inclination to hunt minutia acquired during my coin collecting days (mint marks, die varieties, grading based on nearly microscopic marks, oh my!), and having largely exhausted the pool for exotic Parker Vacumatics years ago, I turned the minutia-scope on Sheaffer's Balance, that series offering at least fair competition to Parker's Vac in the realm of anomalies and off-catalogue findings.
Though I am a mere wee dabbler in things Sheaffer, the result of this hunt for a decade or so has resulted in what many consider the heftiest collection out there of off-catalogue cap-band Balances along with a fair bit of other anomalies.
I realize FPG is not chock-full of hard-core vintage pen folk, so I won't drag the challenge out at length, and will offer answer later tonight, but the challenge is, what's funky about this USA-issue Sheaffer Balance from the late 1930s? Seen another?
http://vacumania.com/penteech2/sheaffer_balance_OS_marine_reversetrim.jpg
regards
david