Well, I've come across a circa 1933 85TC but, it has an 8 Feathertouch nib. It probably shouldn't have such a nib though it is a fairly rare nib so how did it get there? It is a DeLuxe - 14K band and clip.
Roger W.
Hi Roger,
Thanks for sharing. I'll toss couple observations.
First, no one has yet offered info on the Feathertouch #8 nib. It is a bit of a niche buster at the moment. One page of hard Sheaffer literature could explain the import of this pen, but we lack that.
Second, One post in this thread shows the pen in a non-White-Dot oversized pen, similar to the finding of the #7 Feathertouch that we now have explained, and similar to pens with the 5-30 nib in NWD OS pen that might be same niche but earlier, or might be yet another subtle tweak on the them. A FT #8 nib in a non-white-dot pen at least is consistent with Sheaffer's general use of Lifetime nibs in White Dot pens of any size, and of Feathertouch (or lower line) nibs in other Balance lines.
Third, with your Autograph white dot pen with that #8 FT nib, and with my recent find of a double cap-band (off catalogue) White Dot OS pen of that sort, we now have 2 white dot OS pens, both interesting pens (Autograph is high line+, and catalogued, the Double Band pen high line and uncatalogued) with that nib. And, while swaps are possible, unlike most swaps, we seem to know of NO pen that normally would have that nib, thus we have no obvious donor for the imagined swap.
A charming puzzle, indeed.
It leaves us with the possibility that there was a stratum of Balance that had white dot and non Lifetime (the mysterious Feathertouch #8) nib. I hardly insist, but it must be considered.
This is... fun
regards
david
