Sheaffer Triumph 1250

Here is my new to me Sheaffer Triumph 1250. I believe Sheaffer Made these pens from 1942-1945. I love all things '40s so the association with the war years is interesting and appealing to me. Its also a beautiful pen. Mine is a vac filler.
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Unfortunately, the pen wrote super fine and dry when it arrived. I flossed the tines and it is a bit better, but still an extra-fine for sure, and a little more dry than I would prefer. Ill keep working on it, but as it is, it's great on cheap paper!

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Here is an ad from 1942 hanging in my hallway. I just realized how bad of a picture this is, but the letter is addressed to Camp Young, California. Camp Young was a desert warfare training center in use 1942-1944. Sheaffer was really tugging at American heart strings here. Marketing these high-end pens as a tool to keep families connected with sons preparing to ship off to war. I'm sure this ad symbolizes a building anxiety as the United states really ramped up its presence overseas and servicemen deployed to battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8BiarUbUJE&t=1388s

Here is a 30 minute film done by Sheaffer in 1943. The first half details Sheaffer's commitment to the war effort. The second advertises Skrip "writing fluid" and Triumph pens and pencils.

Thanks for looking! Who else has a Triumph out there!

Nice pen. The 1250 was not a model number but rather the price point; it had an MSRP of $12.50.

He's a 1947 Sentinel Deluxe with a 1940s Lord Elgin watch.

http://www.fototime.com/548CE36CA633ABF/medium800.jpg

and the various nebs offered in the Triumph pens:

http://www.fototime.com/7AFF4FEBB5D0D44/large.jpg

Nice pen!
12.50 was quite a pretty penny on 1942. About $200 adjusted for inflation. I feel like collectors often use the pricing as “model numbers” to differentiate between different pens in the line. Balance 350 etc. I put the 1250 to distinguish between the triumph pen and triumph nib.

My nib must be an accountants nib or extra fine, but it does have just a bit of give and flexes our to maybe a standard fine or medium.

I've gotten the bug for these Triumph-nibbed Vac-Fill pens over the past year, and I've ended up with a least a half-dozen. They are reliable writers, and the Vac-Fills have prodigious ink capacity. The one I use most is a Triumph desk pen, simply because it's always right there, ready to go.

We have a few. Some are vacs, one or two touchdowns, one is a lever-filler, a couple are Tuckaways. One five-dollar beater was transformed into a bulb-filler. I love these pens!

That’s a cool nib chart by the way jar. I would love to find one of these in a stub.

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Originally Posted by jar

...and the various nibs offered in the Triumph pens....

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"Offered" is the key word. I've never seen most of those.

One of the best runs of pens Sheaffer ever did, IMO. Such great writers when you find just what you want. Here's a Triumph Crest set I had Stacy Hills restore last year, simply wonderful, quality writing instruments.

https://i.imgur.com/ohDct3Xh.jpg

As a personal bias, the Triumphant nib is more visually pleasing than the Parker et al hooded design. I especially am drawn to the two tone characteristic. Mine is the less sort after lever fill, which I prefer because I can change the sac economically if needed myself. After all, its is the nib that touches the paper.

Ooh, I have something like this.

https://i.imgur.com/0r0OVRFl.jpg

Not sure if it is exactly the same model (I know next to nothing about Sheaffer pens). Mine has a very battered gold band and a Gerry Berg restored filling system (plunger). Not inked at present though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds

Ooh, I have something like this.

https://i.imgur.com/0r0OVRFl.jpg

Not sure if it is exactly the same model (I know next to nothing about Sheaffer pens). Mine has a very battered gold band and a Gerry Berg restored filling system (plunger). Not inked at present though.

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You at least, obviously, have a conical Triumph nib, same as me, EOC. :)

I have a Signature from a decade later but I would love to add a war years Triumph. The conical nib on this one (and on my later Skripsert) are pretty phenomenal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds

Ooh, I have something like this.

https://i.imgur.com/0r0OVRFl.jpg

Not sure if it is exactly the same model (I know next to nothing about Sheaffer pens). Mine has a very battered gold band and a Gerry Berg restored filling system (plunger). Not inked at present though.

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I’m pretty sure that’s the same pen I have. The wide cap band was popular. Same material too. You have a Triumph!

This thread sparked my enthusiasm to ink it up again. As mine writes an extra fine line it is filled with a good old standard Parker Quink Black. The domino effect is that my Lamy 2000 is now rocking Maruzen Athena Sepia, and a custom pen has been swapped from Noodler's Omaha Brown to KZI IG Gummiberry.

(I don't like to have pens filled with the same inks as each other!).


Anyhoo, the Sheaffer lays a really precise line, so it's going to be running Hobonichi duties for a while. Old and new.

When I was filling the Sheaffer I noticed, for the first time cos I are dumb, the excellent transparency of the barrel stripes. It is very easy to see the ink level in even moderate lighting. That was a bit of a surprise.

I recently swapped the ink in my Triumph from Waterman Mysterious Blue to Sheaffer Blue. I think its a good match. My pen definitely writes with a needle point. Way finer than anything else I own. Not really my thing, but I like the pen so much I'll live with it. It comes in handy when signing or using cheap paper, making lists in my small pocket notebook, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tleek

I recently swapped the ink in my Triumph from Waterman Mysterious Blue to Sheaffer Blue. I think its a good match. My pen definitely writes with a needle point. Way finer than anything else I own. Not really my thing, but I like the pen so much I'll live with it. It comes in handy when signing or using cheap paper, making lists in my small pocket notebook, etc.

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Being left-handed, fine points are also an issue for me, and some of the Sheaffers are the best of those. One other use to add to the list is that they are good for postcards (if you are into that) - you can fit more in the small space and the poor stock of most cards makes having the small point an advantage to keep down the feathering and spread.

The black one at top is the only Triumph (as a pen model, not the nib) pen I have or have had. Picked it up from an Antique store for $20 and cleaned it up.

https://i.imgur.com/DD95J0g.jpg

I'm told that one of the advertised features of the Triumph (and the nib it's named for) is that it "Writes Both Ways" (or is it "Two Ways" like on the WASP?), since the one I have is a Medium (almost architect-ish point doing medium on the cross stroke and fine on the down), but on the reversible side of the nib it'll do an EF.

I haven't found an ad to that claim yet tho.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KBeezie

The black one at top is the only Triumph (as a pen model, not the nib) pen I have or have had. Picked it up from an Antique store for $20 and cleaned it up.

https://i.imgur.com/DD95J0g.jpg

I'm told that one of the advertised features of the Triumph (and the nib it's named for) is that it "Writes Both Ways" (or is it "Two Ways" like on the WASP?), since the one I have is a Medium (almost architect-ish point doing medium on the cross stroke and fine on the down), but on the reversible side of the nib it'll do an EF.

I haven't found an ad to that claim yet tho.

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Sheaffer claims you can flip it for “fine writing” in the video I linked.