Otherwise, read on:
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"Best" often is ill defined when applied in general to any given vintage pen. The appeal of old pens without doubt has subjective elements. Does "best" indicate the most valuable pen, either now or at time of manufacture? Does it signify the most rare pen? The most beautiful (now there is something more than a tad subjective)? Biggest? Smallest? Most unusual? Most charming? Clearly one treads dangerous terrain making claims of "best", when applying it outside very specific context.
No matter. Today I will make such a claim.
For me, a best pen might be an evanescent thing, but within any given category of pen, i can... imagine... that when I recognize a pen that blends outrageous scarcity, value, charm and nuance, I can apply this special label.
At the Washington DC Pen Show August 2009, while perusing oodles of old pens, I found a spectacular 1940's Sheaffer fountain pen. Today, it might not (but might) be the most valuable pen from that era. Indeed, it might not be glamorous or glitzy (but might be). But, it is... very very special.
Recall that Sheaffer features well known, aggressively collected, and well characterized series from the 1930's and from the 1950's-- Balance and Snorkel, respectively. 1940's pens ran - obviously- between these two series.
I'm a bit uncertain that interregnum is a word that can be applied in retrospect. Still, while Sheaffer produced successful fountain pens throughout the 1940's, for collectorsduring the thirty-odd years of organized pen collecting's existence, the 1940's Sheaffers largely have been ignored. This era nearly is a skip period in restrospective collector interest.
Likely this is due to the challenge that the wire (plunger) filling system previously posed to restoration. In the early days of collectable pendom, the unrestored pens were traded in that form. Later, restoration efforts were made, but of limited success, often failing within a year or two. However, highly reliable restoration techniques have appeared during the last few years, increasing interest in the Sheaffer pens from the 1940's.
The 1940's Sheaffers offer a wide array of pens. Models were introduced and discontinued. The end of World War II offers a convenient breakpoint, as one key set of models ran 1942-1945, replaced by another set in 1946, leaving us with "war era" and "post war" pens.
With pens most often made of celluloid, enhanced by metal trim, the 1940's did see, finally, the introduction of injection-molded plastic by Sheaffer, nearly ten years after Parker and Wahl (longer still compared to Esterbrook) began to employ that material.
1940's Sheaffer pens with gold nibs retailed from $2.75 to a lofty $125, that latter number for the impressive solid gold Masterpiece, a pen some might argue is the "best" Sheaffer pen from that era.
Major pen manufacturers often offered to dealers Demonstrator pens. Made from transparent or translucent plastic, they were designed to reveal the pens' inner mechanisms. Unlike modern so-called demonstrators, marketed aggressively to end users, that which collectors today call "capital 'D'" Demonstrators generally were produced in tiny quantity, meant for dealer use only, not offered in catalogues, and not offered to customers. Thus... vintage Demonstrators are scarce.
Some collectors seek to assemble a wide range of Demonstrators. Others seek Demonstrators within their more specific collecting foci. As I do collect Sheaffers and have a significant Balance collection and a more modest Snorkel and Pen-for-Men collection, I do seek Demonstrators from amongst those models. I also buy/sell via my website Demonstrators of all sorts. So, I am... aware... of Demonstrators when I search for good old pens. Browsing ebay nearly every day, having peeked at other retail pen sites regularly, having spent probably 200 days or more during the last ten years at vintage pen shows... I well appreciate the challenge in finding nice Demonstrators
I have handled/seen a couple dozen Sheaffer Snorkel Demonstrators from the 1950's, have seen several Sheaffer Pen-for-Men Demonstrators, and have handled, seen, or owned more than ten 1930's Sheaffer Balance Demonstrators, generally found in two colors, the green-tinged Standard and yellow Oversized. Great pens, really.
Oddly-- or maybe not so oddly, given the 1940's is an interregnum in collector interest-- I had never seen a Demonstrator Sheaffer from the 1940's. Below, see a couple of Sheaffer Demonstrators from my personal collection.
Perhaps by now you have guessed where this essay leads. I generally have not actively collected 1940's Sheaffers, though I have had a couple nice examples (eg. solid gold Masterpiece) lying about for some time. Now that the pens can be reliably restored, I've paid more attention and indeed at the moment have perhaps 150 pens from that era in hand, part of a project for a significant website offering of these venerable pens. I do suspect that after pursuing this project, I likely will keep ten or fifteen pens for my personal collection.
So, imagine my shock when, after ten years collecting old pens, I found an unusual 1940's post-War Sheaffer Statesman at the Washington DC Pen Show last week (August 8, 2009). Statesman is a white-dot level pen, part of the post-War series that is second in size only to the Valiant-related pens, and which features the conical "Triumph" nib, plastic cap and barrel, and gold-filled trim. it is similar in size to the green striped, metal capped Sentinel shown in the first picture above.
This Statesman was... transparent. It was a celluloid Demonstrator, the only Demonstrator from this era I have ever seen. Indeed, even that so-and-so from New Jersey, who far more seriously pursues 1930's-1940's Sheaffer than do I, has never seen another. In the experience of several serious collectors, this pen is unique within collectable pendom.
So, a first for 1940's Sheaffers... a true Demonstrator, fully marked, made of celluloid, seemingly unique. This peaked my interest. The pen was offered at a not insignificant price. I bought it anyway. Non-buyer's remorse would have been too severe.
Below, see for the first time, Sheaffer Demonstrators from 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's.
Is this the best vintage 1940's Sheaffer pen known to collectable pendom? Perhaps. Certainly it currently is the least commonly found 1940's Sheaffer, far more rare than a solid gold Masterpiece, offering the charm of being the first Demonstrator from this era I've seen. It is a subtle, nuanced pen, interesting more to those who like the unusual than those who seek glitz. I consider its retail value at least on par with that of the Masterpiece. The 1939-ish catalogue (pre-Triumph era) showed a Platinum monster pen in the Crest family. Not sure one ever was catalogued for the 1940's-era, proper. I suppose if one of those were to turn up...
Anyway...
Final thoughts...
Lever-filling 1940's Sheaffers are well more scarce than those with the plunger-like wire-filling system. Even if this Demonstrator so far is unique in pendom, I cannot help but wonder if a a wire-pen Demo awaits discovery. As this pen is of celluloid, it is a fragile creature. Clear celluloid seems not to hold up as well as that which is darkly pigmented. This pen shows ambering of the barrel, and will need to have that corrupting ink-sac removed, replaced perhaps by a silicone sac or left sacless. The end-pieces on this one show typical stress marks. Still, it is unlikely I will replace it with a better example in the foreseeable future.
This one made for a very special find indeed.
Regards
David
