I am being pulled in an entirely new direction: Sheaffer pens with "Triumph" conical nibs and Vac-Fil plunger fillers. Funny, but I've owned a red Triumph Vac-Fil EF that I had restored ten years ago, but I never filled it. Two well-known pen restorers independently sang the praises of Sheaffer plunger-fillers, so I decided to seek them out. I already have a set of 1930s Balance lever-fillers, so I am concentrating on the later conical nib pens, which turn out to be low in demand (i.e., easy on the wallet).
Here are the two pens I now have. The first is a Carmine Red Triumph Vac-Fil EF that I neglected for a decade. I've filled it with Montblanc bordeaux ink to match the celluloid, but the nib is so very fine that I really need to switch to a darker ink. The second is a Gray Pearl Valiant Vac-Fil F that just arrived today, and I filled that with Aurora black ink. I don't know how many more of these I'll collect, but according to the RichardsPens webpages, there weren't many variations produced, so a "complete" collection would be rather small. Perhaps just one of each striated celluloid color will do, with a factory broad or stub conical nib.
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