That off-catalogue Sheaffer Balance (Carmine Celluloid) fromt the Chicago Pen Show

[david i]

I knew I'd forgotten to post this one. Or had I forgotten I'd known to post it? Or something...

The off-catalogue Sheaffer Balance cap-band called "Jeweler's" style by collectors was offered in a wide and narrow form, both wider than the conventional catalogued smooth gold-filled cap-bands, the narrower form lacking cartouche for engraving found with the wider version.

Typically, the narrower version is found with pens both slender and low-tier.

This one though has that narrow Jeweler's style cap-band on a standard-girth pen with radius clip associated with higher-tier Balances. One of just a couple standard-diameter Balances I've seen with the narrow Jeweler's cap-band

regards

David

[mhosea]

By what paths did off-catalog variants enter the market?

[david i]

By what paths did off-catalog variants enter the market?

From my article in the 2012 or so PENnant Mag (soon to pop up as Profiles at Vacumania.com and probably in the Archive section at Fountainpenjournal.com)

[B]"When confronted by uncatalogued and/or otherwise anomalous pens, collectors variably invoke-- or perhaps retreat to-- a series of words that taken in their entirety can account for nearly any strange finding. A rapid fire sequence passes through the gray matter: “Prototype”, “Experiment”, “Frankenpen/Mixture”, “Transitional”, “Lunchtime Special”, “Niche Market” (eg. specific promotion, store, region or season), and “Special Order”. Some terms inherently are ambiguous. Some lend themselves to grandiose use, allowing the owner of said pens to embrace undue puffery. Some are well overused today. Most-- even if ultimately accurate for specific pens-- do not lend themselves to easy proof. Fortunately, we readily can dismiss several from subsequent consideration.

That the double band, the triple band, and the wide non-smooth bands were used for years argues overwhelmingly against prototype or experimental goals and argues against the infamous lunchtime special notion, the idea that factory line workers with too much time on their hands created anomalies just… because. While caps, barrels and nibs often can be mixed inappropriately by collectors, mixes cannot explain the very existence of pens with these cap-bands, as no potential donor pens exist; too there is huge physical challenge to swapping cap-bands . We are left it seems with the concepts of niche market and of special order. Niche markets might have included the annual holiday season, a particular geographic region, a category of store or even a particular store chain, thus explaining the very low prevalence double, triple, and fish scale cap-bands and the merely relatively uncommon lined “jewelers” cap-bands. "[/B]

I now own what might be the only original non-Sheaffer Jewelers catalogue in hobbyist hands, one that indeed shows some of the lined "Jeweler's" cap-band. I backchanneled it from ebay so it wouldn't disappear into Danny Kirchheimer's collection to be hidden away from people. Probably I'm overdue to use it in an article. Of course, the "pokity poke" process might push him to use his image pulled from the ebay ad, which of course is fine by me. However the info gets out there...

regards

david

[KBeezie]

Pretty... Definitely a difference in the clip and band from my own Milady.