Hi David,
I don't recall seeing "buckskins" with metal caps ( or if I have it's not often..), the all plastic seeming to be the "norm". Is this what makes them interesting?
Regards
Hugh
I will preface the following by noting that because so many Snorkel parts are physically interchangeable it is a series that lends itself to inaccurate parts swaps making frankenpens, both with feature mixes that are inappropriate (eg. open nib with white dot cap) and with feature sets never produced for a given color (eg. Peacock Crest). On the other hand, so many colors were made in so many models, with both matching caps and with relatively generic metal caps, that one oftren can mix original pens to make different models that still are good proper kosher pens.
I also will note that collector stratification of Snorkels by model, color and nib-grade are a relatively recent phenomenon in pendom and even today large swaths of models generally price at similar point, without big interest differences amongst collectors.
Finally, I will note that there is a saying in our (and no doubt others), that "
collectors cannot add". The idea is that a basic pen will gain value for the presence of a "better" feature, but will not gain the full value of two special features compared to single pens each featuring one special feature.
A yellow Parker "51" well outvalues a black parker "51". A black Parker "51" with solid gold Empire cap well outvalues a black Parker "51" with common steel cap. However, perhaps a Parker 51 in yellow and with the empire cap, will not gain the total value that one might expect based on the value bump from each of the two prior pens' upgrades. Makes sense. Some collectors want yellow and will pay a bonus. Some collectors want a solid gold cap and will pay a bonus. But, not all those collectors want both the special color and the special cap, thus decreasing the demand for the pen with both special features.
OK. Time to address the nuances (or is that the insanity) that make the two Buckskin pens with metal caps somewhat interesting to me.
The gold-filled cap indicates a
Snorkel Crest. This already has been mentioned. Pen is in superb condition, though indeed there is a hint of yellowing to the white dot. Crest was the most expensive model offered for Buckskin. And, Buckskin does not turn up so often as Crest. Even if a nice one does appear, for those selling pens, taking a common black Snorkel Sentinel (steel white dot cap) and swapping caps with the Buckskin Crest, will yield a Buckskin Sentinel and a Black Crest. The Black pen gains great value being a Crest. The Buckskin arguably does not lose much value being converted from Crest to Sentinel, given that the price of the Buckskin and the value of the Crest cap in one pen can be hard to extract. Some people want a Crest. Some want a Buckskin. How many will pay the full value to get both features in one pen?
Still, I plan to keep this pen as it was found. It is a neat feature mix and even if it pulls a bit lower price than splitting up the parts... so be it.
The Steel cap Buckskin is a
Snorkel Sovereign. It is the fanciest non-white-dot Snorkel found. I would speculate that by spending just a bit more than this model cost, buyers were able to get into the loftier white-dot models, and... they did so. I find the Sovereign to be an appealing model and as per the Crest, we start with a better color pen with better cap, noting that only recently has much noise been made that the Sovereign is worthy of some extra attention. But, unlike Crest which lends itself to easy cap swaps, mainly from the common steel white-dot cap, Sovereign does not permit trivial cap swaps. The only other cap one can put on a Soevereign barrel assembly (open two tone nib) is a Buckskin plastic cap. Such caps are not trivial to find. So, the Sovereign as Buckskin is not so common, probably the first or second most scarce Buckskin pen. One can argue if Crest is more rare as Buckskin; the Crest cap overall is more common than the Sovereign cap, if one hunts parts. So with an uncommon trim form and with the only available swap being a plastic non-white-dot Buckskin cap, this is a better pen that likely will stay together as shown.
Thoughts?
regards
David
