Hi David,
Nice Flex points collection, none of my traditional Flex point snorkels come with label !
Are thos Reverse Trim snorkel only in Black ?
CC
Hi Snork,
Yeah, given that a minority of Snorks have nib grade stickers still in place-- though Snorks are found minty more often than are pens from older series-- and given that flex nibs are very uncommon amongst Snorks, I am not surprised that not many "Flex" section stickers are seen. In fact, these are the first "Flex" stickers I've had. Both pens-- better still perhaps-- have engraved codes indicating flex, "FF" for the flex fine pen and "FM" for the flexible medium pen. These were part of a largely NOS hoard of 20 pens I bought from a fellow dealer at the Ohio show, a batch that included several of the pens shown in the two earlier photos I posted.
My current experience is that reverse trim is found on Snorks only for black pens.
While I have done a Snorkel profile (still needs tweaking) and have a couple original Snorkel catalogues, I have not researched Snorkels with quite the intensity I've put into my Parker Vacumatics. My recollection is that Sam Marshall's authoritative review of Snorkel in PENnant back in 2002 did not mention reverse trim pens. My catalogue does not cite the reverse trim pens. I have one set that has some attached tags with handwritten codes that might be model/variant codes. I really must review the number shown. I cannot insist, but I have vague recollection that Kirchheimer dropped hint that the reverse trim variant might not be undocumented by Sheaffer, but at this point I do not have such documentation.
The reverse trim pens are frankly scarce, recognizing that individual experience can vary and that it is possible to miss items up for sale, either at shows or on ebay. Still...
Since learning of the pen perhaps 2.5 years ago (perhaps more recently) when I stumbled across one, I've managed to score boxed sets both white dot and non white dot. I've seen one or two sets which I did not manage to buy. My big score was buying from a Sheaffer employee cartons of NOS 1940's-1950's Sheaffer parts, which included 7 NOS reverse-trim Snorkel caps. I am (or will be) offering those caps (either alone, or integrated into complete black pen) through the website, You can see two in the photo above, the white dot cap having been claimed by a want list. So, all told, with aggressive hunting and with a lucky strike of 7 caps, I've seen about 10 or 11 reverse trim Snorks total, fewer than Fern, fewer than I have demonstrators and all the "rare" colors save of course for the mythic all-Fiesta. in theory a black NWD Cap pen can have three different nibs (three models) and a White Dot plastic cap pen can have two nibs (two models). Since I have no information on reverse-trim caps other than observation of them, I cannot say if they were meant for release in black in all possible models.
Since stumbling into Snrokeldom a few years ago (it was an accident, really!), I've owned hundreds of Snorks, mostly for resale, but have-- inevitably-- built a small collection, currently fewer than 15 pens, and likely never to exceed that number. All the Snorks I own are better variants, recognizing the subjectivity of that. The only two I really would like to add to my own collection are the 9k and 18k "Masterpiece" variants of the sort shown above by Pat and Roger.
Here's a shot of my reverse trim white-dot set.
regards
David