I've come across a Snorkel that is apparently fitted with a conical steel nib. Is that the case or is it more likely palladium?
I've come across a Snorkel that is apparently fitted with a conical steel nib. Is that the case or is it more likely palladium?
jodylud (November 6th, 2018)
I'm pretty sure it should be stamped PdAg if it is Palladium Silver. If it isn't then it's likely to be steel.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
In the immediate post-snorkel era there were some short conical nibs that were not hallmarked that many assume are steel but some also suspect could be unhallmarked PdAg but oddly none have solved this important vintage pen mystery (See: imperial II. Imperial II DLX and Skripsert pens).
Sheaffer did odd things like that time to time. Note that the Imperial III pens are two-tone but rather than being gold with a platinum mask they are rumored (one model I don't own) to be the standard PdAg nibs with gold plating on the bottom. It is guessed that the machinery was all set up to run all PdAg nibs and that is also why some guess that short ones often advertised as steel could also be PdAg.
There were no steel conical nib snorkels. ever. As far as I know.
Last edited by stub; November 6th, 2018 at 03:53 AM.
The white metal conical nibs, even unhalmarked ones are all Clippers and Statesman with PdAg nibs. It was once thought that the one with the diagonal script "Palladium Silver" had higher Palladium content but that has been debunked. They are all the same. I think something like 95%Pd and 5%Ag. Maybe experts will chime in.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
One hypothesis I have heard is that they didn't expect or want you to know. They left it purposely vague because they didn't want to hurt the sales of the gold nibs. If folks knew they could get PdAg nibs much cheaper a lot of folks mightn't have bothered to pay more for a gold nib.
As anyone who has switched back and forth between a Snorkel Statesman and a Snorkel Valiant will tell you, both the PdAg nibs and the 14k nibs are fantastic. The difference are more down to aesthetics and whether the person who hand finished your nib in Iowa had a good lunch or not.
95% palladium would be much more expensive than 58.5% gold.
The pen looks like a Statesman. The link that Elim gave to Richard Binder's site does mention steel nibs, but I can't find an example of them anywhere. Given the lack of corrosion and shininess of the nib, I'm inclined to believe stub.
The nib in question:
This is completely incorrect. Gold has not always been above $1,000/oz; it first reached that level only 10 years ago, and it was $35/oz (yes, thirty-five dollars an ounce) during the run of the Snorkel pen. Palladium was more expensive than gold from 1911 through 1930, 1967-1970, and 1999-2002. Palladium exceeded $1,000/oz in 2001--years before gold reached that level.
--Daniel
P.S. Sheaffer's PdAg nib alloy formulation is 30% palladium, 50% silver, and 10% each copper and gold.
Last edited by kirchh; November 6th, 2018 at 11:27 AM.
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
RayCornett (November 18th, 2018), stub (November 6th, 2018)
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
I was going off of this tracker dating to 1987 https://www.macrotrends.net/2542/pal...cal-chart-data that accounts for inflation. So my original statement is incorrect.
If you have information on the price of palladium from 1911-1930 or 1967-1970, I would be interested in seeing it.
100 years of gold value: https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/his...100-year-chart
Last edited by kirchh; November 6th, 2018 at 03:15 PM.
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
It never occurred to me that my Skripsert was made with anything other than steel (it says nothing on the outside either way). Go figure.
Much to learn, I still have...
AzJon (November 6th, 2018)
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
azkid (November 7th, 2018)
No steel sheath points; white metal nibs of that shape are PdAg.
--Daniel
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
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