Masterpiece TD TM?

I believe this to be a 14K masterpiece Touchdown (TM?). It has a diamond nicely mounted instead of the white dot, a very small 14K mark at top of smooth clip. Marked Sheaffer's along bottom front of cap and made in USA along bottom back of cap. I had always guessed the diamond was probably a custom jeweler's addition, but over the years have heard that there may be documentation somewhere of Sheaffer replacing the white dot with a diamond and giving as an award pen to employees. Has anyone ever seen one of these, know where I can find Sheaffer documentation on award pens, or maybe heard of this being an option offered to the public? I've seen a picture of an Imperial Masterpiece with a diamond dot someplace (maybe penhero), but believe it was made in England. If given as an award to Sheaffer's USA employees for high sales, I do wonder if Sheaffer employed women as sales people at this time? I kind of think they did not so maybe I'm back to this being a custom job. This pen is personalized with the name Josephine McKinney not Joseph . Any thoughts?

Regards,
Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,

New to me but definitely a TM TD. A masterpiece should be hallmarked on the cap, barrel and filler nob as well as the clip (in theory anyway). I'm not aware of diamonds in pens from this era so would . like you, think a later addition/custom made. The 14ct clip on a non hallmarked cap is an oddity, again this leads to a custom item, the diamond to my mind looks out of place size wise ( in that it would not be that practical ) . At present I'd lean to the pen being gold plated rather than 14ct , a very nice and unusual item . I look forward to other more informed opinions on this one.

Regards
Hugh

Hi,

Larger image would help. The pattern seen on gold-filled Triumph model is different from the pattern seen on solid-gold Masterpiece. I cannot quite make out the pattern in the small image.

best rgards

david

I honestly never really looked for or noticed the other hallmarks. I just assumed and you know what that usually makes me.





Picture of back of clip. Somewhere between the glare and the reflection maybe you can see the hallmark above the made in USA.




Picture of barrel and piston cap.

I've gone back and tried to find the picture of an English made Sheaffer 18K Imperial that I just know I saw somewhere. At the time, I felt the size and setting looked about the same as my pen. Have found someone trying to sell one on FPN, but the pictures are gone. Speerbob seems to have had one at some time and says it was produced and given to VIP's and for sales awards. Maybe just in England? I found mention on Pens@zoss a possible Snorkle Masterpiece w/ a diamond on the clip, but again no pictures. It's a little difficult to research when there is so much out there with a diamond pattern or diamond point nib. The only picture I could find of a Sheaffer with a diamond on the clip was at a sheaffertarga website.

http://www.sheaffert...Ref%20List.html

IMO the diamond on this Imperial Sovereign does look somewhat out of place. Regardless if my TD diamond is an after market addition or not, I think it's pretty, but then again, I've always liked diamonds The diamond is about the same size as the original white dot and mounted so as not to stick out much and snag on anything. So maybe Josephine was a VIP or just had a generous friend/husband. Unless someone has anything definitive, I will probably never know for sure. It does seem possible that Sheaffer might have had jewels installed on the clips occasionally, but then would they have had an outside source do the deed? If so, it seems to me, the only difference would be the order to a jeweler coming from Sheaffer or a doting husband. Unless someone had one marked "Sheaffer appreciates your business" or "Thanks for all the Sheaffer sales" how would a person really know? For what it's worth, unless someone has one that definitively came from Sheaffer this way, I think I'm leaning towards the opinion that the few diamond clips that I have heard are out there were probably installed after the pen was purchased or surely there would be more examples.

Anyway, appreciate the replies and look forward to any thoughts.

Cynthia

One point to consider Cynthia is that pens like this where very expensive and generally only the wealthy could afford them, even after the original owner had departed in a lot of cases there was no financial pressure to dispose of items such as these and a lot simply remain with the family as a keepsake. We've had this discussion about gold PFMs, of the 100 rumoured to have been produced only 2 have surfaced, only one sold ( twice) now in the hands of a person well known here !! There may well be more "out there" that will surface in time, still the Snorkel hunters don't seem to have turned up a diamond snork yet. You certainly have a wonderful pen there, now if only we knew who Josephine was...

Regards
Hugh

1361480840[/url]' post='22614']
One point to consider Cynthia is that pens like this where very expensive and generally only the wealthy could afford them, even after the original owner had departed in a lot of cases there was no financial pressure to dispose of items such as these and a lot simply remain with the family as a keepsake. We've had this discussion about gold PFMs, of the 100 rumoured to have been produced only 2 have surfaced, only one sold ( twice) now in the hands of a person well known here !! There may well be more "out there" that will surface in time, still the Snorkel hunters don't seem to have turned up a diamond snork yet. You certainly have a wonderful pen there, now if only we knew who Josephine was...

Regards
Hugh

Very good point I had not considered. Maybe someday a computer savvy relative runs across this post years from now looking up the family genealogy. Just in case that does happen, this pen was probably purchased in Oklahoma or less likley California. Hey you never know....
Regards

I can't add a lot to this conversation, but I can say that the Masterpiece that Bob Speerbrecher had that had a diamond on the clip was an Imperial Touchdown in the Fine Barleycorn pattern, and that he obtained it from Gary Ellison who owns the SheafferTarga.com web site. I know this because Gary had two Imperial Touchdown Masterpieces for sale at that time (actually there might have been three) and Bob got the one with the diamond. I got one just like Bob's but with the standard White Dot. As I remember, the diamond in Bob's pen was significantly smaller than Cynthia's. If Bob doesn't still have photos of it, perhaps Gary does. Here's a photo of mine, but that doesn't help with the diamond size. Oh, and both Bob's and my pens are 18K.




Duh! I should have looked at www.sheaffertarga.com first. The Imperial Touchdown Masterpiece pictured there is almost certainly the pen that Gary sold to Bob Speerbrecher. I didn't remember that the diamond was that large.

Edited by sexauerw, 11 April 2013 - 01:14 AM.

I can't add a lot to this conversation, but I can say that the Masterpiece that Bob Speerbrecher had that had a diamond on the clip was an Imperial Touchdown in the Fine Barleycorn pattern, and that he obtained it from Gary Ellison who owns the SheafferTarga.com web site. I know this because Gary had two Imperial Touchdown Masterpieces for sale at that time (actually there might have been three) and Bob got the one with the diamond. I got one just like Bob's but with the standard White Dot. As I remember, the diamond in Bob's pen was significantly smaller than Cynthia's. If Bob doesn't still have photos of it, perhaps Gary does. Here's a photo of mine, but that doesn't help with the diamond size. Oh, and both Bob's and my pens are 18K.




Duh! I should have looked at www.sheaffertarga.com first. The Imperial Touchdown Masterpiece pictured there is almost certainly the pen that Gary sold to Bob Speerbrecher. I didn't remember that the diamond was that large.

Now that pops

d