8 replies to this topic

[david i]

Killer Sheaffer 1930's Balance from the Baltimore Pen Show March 2013...or... Happy David.

Picked this one up from Lisa and Brian. It is an interesting Balance, no doubt. Anyone care to hit the high points, or shall I... ?

regards

David

[sloegin]

Reverse trim.

[david i]

Reverse trim.

Seemingly, as it has gold-filled trim on a Gray Pearl pen, though the context can get a bit muddled for this pen. Anything else?

regards

d

[sloegin]

Reverse trim.

Seemingly, as it has gold-filled trim on a Gray Pearl pen, thought the context can get a bit muddled for this pen. Anything else?

regards

d

Not a clue. Could be the lack of white dot, could be size. Context does help.

[david i]

Not a clue. Could be the lack of white dot, could be size. Context does help.

The reverse trim does provide a strong clue about context. But, at least two more things are interesting about the clip on this standard size Balance...

regards

d

[Terry Brack]

No Sheaffer imprint on the clip. Could it be 14K?

[gweddig]

To me the taper looks longer than usual and the clip seems low, but I'm a novice at this kind of stuff.

--greg

[ihimlen]

Anyone care to hit the high points, or shall I... ?

No high point brassing that I can see (kidding!) Anyhoo, though I'm not really a Sheaffer expert, I think I'll try my luck on this one.

Apart from the reverse trim, instead of the later Radius Clip, the pen has the earlier streamlined clip usually seen on the lower line Craftsmans/Juniors - however, in this case the clip has no Sheaffer'S [Jr.] imprint.

There is also a narrow cap band, no WD and probably a less hefty (5-30?) nib, so it means it was a higher model than the Craftsman but lower than Lifetime - almost like an oversized Craftsman :-)

The idea behind this model was obviously cutting the production costs a bit to get the price slightly down and the marketing target group were probably those customers that wanted full size 'lifetime quality pens' but wanted to save a few pennies (very wise considering the economic climate of the Great Depression).

I would suspect Eversharp did the same with the Popular Priced Doric - there were models with (catalogued) and without the Gold Seal....and Parker probably started the trend with its DQ models.

i.

Edited by ihimlen, 08 March 2013 - 12:24 PM.

[Teej47]

Must be Canadian.

Tim