(PICS!) A very good month or so to be a Sheaffer collector.

[david i]

A Good Month (or so) To Be a Sheaffer Collector: At the Los Angeles Pen Show this year I had great luck adding some significant pens to my personal collection. But, the entire last month or so has been pretty wild on the Sheaffer 1920s-1930s front. Though one or two pens below might have turned up a bit earlier, most of the pens below came from either the LA Pen Show last week or from Ebay within the last month. The basic stuff includes a bunch of clean high quality oversized Balances. From there we proceed to pens that carry increased cachet for being "and/or" scarce, rare, exotic, off-catalogue, gem-condition, etc. Most of these are for my own collection. I'll likely part with some of the spare OS's.

Nearly all of these are worth individual posts here at FPG (and many have had or will receive such treatment), but there is something to be said for a bit of simple sensory overload. I well remember getting my first 10-pen case, then my first 48-pen folder, then my first big wooden (500-pen) pen case and wondering how I'd fill 'em. I remember wanting my first oversized Sheaffer Balance and having a discussionwith the sadly recently deceased west coast collector Saul Kitchener following my purchase around 1998 of a standard size pen from him on ebay.

Time flies. But this group of Sheaffers is pretty nuts. There are more than a couple pens in here that could take a lifetime of collecting to find.


I won't dive into details here, but I will happily address any questions or observations.


Icing on the cake was scoring my first OS Sheaffer Demonstrator Balance, in nice shape (and likely unused) in the context of the typical flaws that afflict these. I've handled perhaps a dozen all told and have had a couple offered to me over the years, but the price/condition thing precluded purchase. This recent ebay find... worked. That I scored my third standard-size Balance Demo the same week was just weird.

Happy to field questions/comments. Horizontal pic will follow in 2nd post.

regards

David

[david i]

Horizontal View

regards

-d

[mhosea]

I wasn't aware that demonstrator Balance pens existed at all! Neat. I'm guessing the carmine red balance is essentially a "military" clip model that never had any clip. Bit late for a ring top without a ring top.

[Jeph]

Very nice. Did they make any vacs with the B2 style coloring?

[david i]

I wasn't aware that demonstrator Balance pens existed at all! Neat. I'm guessing the carmine red balance is essentially a "military" clip model that never had any clip. Bit late for a ring top without a ring top.

Carmine is size of military-clip pen. White dot in appropriate spot for such a critter. But on opposite side of pen is a normal non-military clip. Go figure...

-d

[david i]

Very nice. Did they make any vacs with the B2 style coloring?

B2?

Is that the modern Balance?

regards

David

[Lady Onogaro]

I like the B5 one. I can't say why, except that it looks so different from the rest. I like the cap.

[david i]

Very nice. Did they make any vacs with the B2 style coloring?

B2?

Is that the modern Balance?

regards

David

Eep. Now I get it. The "B2" I myself listed. Not "Balance 2".

I really must start getting more sleep.

OK. B2. The gray/black mottled.

Yes, that color/size was offered with plunger-fill system, the barrel gray-clear instead of gray-black.

regards

David

[david i]

I like the B5 one. I can't say why, except that it looks so different from the rest. I like the cap.

B5 is a standard-size 1930s Balance Demonstrator, 1-in-1000 pen or what have you. Barrel leans toward the typical green. Cap leans a bit more yellow. Sister pen is A1 oversize Balance Demonstrator (all yellow).

regards

d