Sheaffer Triumph Lifetime Manufacture Dates

[RayCornett]

I just for a Sheaffer Triumph lifetime desk pen that looks to be NOS except for the nib. Lots of the plating is gone. I am wondering how to date this pen.All it has on it besides the normal imprint is "1050". I was just told there were two different versions of this vac filler. Is there a way to know without taking it apart?

[Jon Szanto]

Have you looked in the online catalog archives of the PCA? Always a good place to start. Also, you mention the nib condition, but didn't show it in the photos. It would be hard to imagine it as NOS if the nib has actually suffered plating loss. Lastly, if you track down Roger Wooten, he is pretty much the expert at Sheaffer desk sets.

[RayCornett]

Just posted a partial nib shot with the others. I will get a better one in a bit.. As for the NOS comment I was just stating that everything but the nib looked brand new.

[gweddig]

Triumphs started around 1942 so start looking at those catalogs. Lots of desk bases shown in some of those catalogs.

Looks like the section is cross threaded or something wonkey with the barrel. If you can pull the plunger out a bit you can gently try unscrewing the outer barrel. I'm not sure if it has the inner barrel or not.

[Jon Szanto]

Looks like the section is cross threaded or something wonkey with the barrel. If you can pull the plunger out a bit you can gently try unscrewing the outer barrel. I'm not sure if it has the inner barrel or not.

That 3rd photo wasn't there when I made my initial post. Greg, did the Sheaffer desk pens actually have the threaded metal ring at the back of the section, like the pens that used a cap? I'm wondering if that isn't just a case of bad Frankenpenmanship - a desk pen taper with a standard section pressed into it? Boy, not my area of expertise. Roger would suss this out in a second.

[gweddig]

Greg, did the Sheaffer desk pens actually have the threaded metal ring at the back of the section, like the pens that used a cap? I'm wondering if that isn't just a case of bad Frankenpenmanship - a desk pen taper with a standard section pressed into it? Boy, not my area of expertise. Roger would suss this out in a second.

Jon, some of them do have threads so they don't dry out when you aren't using them. And presumably for when a guest tries to use your desk pen, the whole works ends up on the floor.

I'm not intimate with the desk stuff as much and I don't remember if Roger plays here. The barrel ring throws me off more than the threads do but there is much I don't know.

It's yet to be determined if this is a Frankenpenmanshipistic example or not.

--greg

[gweddig]

Okay Ray and Jon,
I did a survey of my limited desk pen stock and I was wrong, they all have the barrel ring and the metal threads.

The Touchdown would be after about 1949 according to Penhero.com
Right to left: Vac-fill / Touchdown / Vac-fill

[Roger W.]

I'd give it 1942-1949. That would be late '42 as the type two dry-proof was still in use most of that year. Yours is a rod filler so it predates the touchdown which started in 1948 though they were first advertised in July '49. The desk base itself is a very standard design used before, during and after the entire period so it doesn't help date the base.

Jon, dry-proof II was abandoned for a pocket style cap/socket arrangement which probably eliminated a lot of doubt as to how it worked. The early screw in cap style is actually called desert-dry "It's action is the same as the Sheaffer pocket pen cap." (Instructions June 1946)

I play here - I've just been busy.

Roger W.