Vintage Sheaffer Cartridge Pens

[Lothianjavert]

My introduction to fountain pens came when I was in elementary school in the 1980's upon the discovery of a Sheaffer cartridge pen in a sort of red demo color in the the "stationery" section of Giant (grocery store). I absolutely had to have it. My mother was far less than enthused, having grown up using fountain pens, all she could think of was ink everywhere. After a couple months of persistent begging, the red Sheaffer pen came home, along with a box of 6 cartridges in Skrip Blue. It was instant love. It was so smooth to write with, and it didn't make my hand hurt like the cheap ball point pens. I used those inexpensive Sheaffer cartridge pens through secondary school and college. I lost quite a few, but inevitably replaced them as soon as possible. As they became more difficult to find, I would pick up several when possible. I have a stash of them now, most in very, very well used shape. Yes, the feel inexpensive (well, they were inexpensive, and still are...), but they are still amongst the most reliable writers I have. The nibs are steel and not flexible, but the are very smooth and pleasant to write with. The shapes changed over the ages, from more bullet shaped, to having tapered ends to flat tops (the flat tops being the last produced). I also have a few that have semi-hooded nibs. I never cared for how they looked, but they performed equally as well as their normal looking counterparts.

 

Please ignore the truly hideous handwriting. It has always been atrocious.

 

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Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

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[Octo]

Nice review. I started with the clear barrel version and still use them. They are still among the most reliable writers in my small accumulation of pens.

[penemuel]

My first fountain pen was one of the ones 2nd from the left in the OP's first picture. I think I started out with an opaque bodied one, but my favourite of all was transparent purple. I've since lost them all, but managed to find a few more (clear, and transparent blue, red, smoke, & green) on eBay. These really are great workhorse pens -- I used mine all through high school & college, and did NOT take care of them. I never cleaned them, and just popped a new cartridge in when the old one was used up.

 

Great pens. I'm sad they don't make them anymore - they actually used to sell them in the grocery stores here, which would give more people exposure to fountain pens...

[pickles]

I had a few of these Sheaffers when I was in high school--I really wish I had hung onto them.

[Ceilidh]

Completely agree. After years of rollerballs, I returned to fountain pens when I found my old cartridge pens from school in the back of a drawer. And I've bought a few more. I have some more expensive pens, but these write smoothly, always start instantly and are really quite good pens. In fact, I have two of them in use on my desk now, along with a Parker 51 and Levenger.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Ceilidh

[KrazyIvan]

I have the pen/pencil set.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/5782874203_70e269c691_z.jpg

Sheaffer's Fountain Pen-Pencil set by IvanRomero, on Flickr

[ThirdeYe]

That was a great story to read. Thanks for sharing it. Here is my Sheaffer School pen from 1961/1962:

 

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/6213/sheafferschoolpen.jpg

 

I also have a few NoNonsense pens from the 80s/90s.

Edited September 23, 2011 by ThirdeYe

[PenTieRun]

It stuns one how well these little pens write. They're always smooth and reliable. Funny, they write better than many of the hundred dollar pens I own.

[Blooze]

Those were some of the first ones I bought several months ago when I started this little slide downward because they were really, really cheap locally

 

I've got 3 out of the four you have in the first picture, then a red transparent one as well. They are fun pens and always seem to work perfect.

[Velma]

I was never a real fan of the school pens -- my love is the No Nonsense style -- but I have to join in the chorus: they are smooth writers, and durable, and comfortable to use. (I gave away all my school pens a couple of years ago, and actually regret not keeping at least one or two.)

[Anne-Sophie]

  On 9/24/2011 at 7:18 PM, Velma said:

I was never a real fan of the school pens -- my love is the No Nonsense style -- but I have to join in the chorus: they are smooth writers, and durable, and comfortable to use. (I gave away all my school pens a couple of years ago, and actually regret not keeping at least one or two.)

 

I am a No Nonsense foutain pen love too, gorgeous!

 

 

The best person to talk to and get vintage Sheaffers writing instruments and anything related to them is from Sam at Pendemonium.

 

Sam, a lovely woman and Frank Fiorella live and work in Fort Madison, Iowa, the home of the Sheaffer museum.

 

She should have vintage cartridges for the vintage school pens and maybe some vintage pens as well.

[jkingrph]

I never had one of those, Dad was in the office equipment business and a Sheaffer dealer. I started working there part time after my first year in college, in the fall of 1964, and he let me pick out a set. I got one of the lifetimes, classic black with a silver cap, gold clip. I still have it today and use it some. It traveled a bit when I was an Air Force officer, going overseas to Turkey with me for a couple of years, and a few months in England during 91 for Desert Storm duties.

[pmsalty]

I have three, two I picked up at a flea market and my school pen I used almost 50 years ago in Catholic grammar school. Great pens!

PMS

[pokermind]

I lucked out and managed to picked up two of these on ebay for .99 each where I was the sole bidder. The same seller also had a very reasonably priced No-Nonsense where I had a little competition on the bidding, but I still won out. Topped off with a combined shipping discount on an already low priced US first class mail delivery (should get the pens in the next few days). Compared to some of the other auctions I've seen for these pens, with overly high shipping charges, I felt like Sumgai

 

Sheaffer's last incarnation of the student pen has what I consider to be a faux retro look. Eg.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-NEW-Sheaffer-School-Fountain-Pens/300602963500?ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1&ih=020&category=7281&cmd=ViewItem

 

This seller, aub-syb, has a stash of these pens that she lists from time to time in lots of 3 (always green, yellow, and black). There is usually not too much competition for these pens (which I found out only after I managed to beat out two other bidders on her last listing. I still got a good deal, but if I had done my homework before bidding, I would have just waited for the next time she offered up a set). I should get these pens in the next week.

Edited September 26, 2011 by pokermind

[msahrap]

These are great pens. I have a clear version with the round end that I've converted to an eyedropper. It works very well and it looks beautiful. Even though my pen is many many years old it still works very reliably and is smooth. I fill it with some red ink whenever I'm grading, it's never let me down.

[saketb]

Undoubtedly these Sheaffer's are collectible pens which writes like new...

[pamsc]

I have one of these with an open nib and a pointy top in my ultrasonic cleaner right now. I found it yesterday an estate sale in my neighborhood. It was in a $10 box lot and I really didn't want the rest of the things in the box so I offered $1 for the pen. The cartridge in it was Skrip washable so I think it will clean up well.

[Moondrop]

One of these--like the second from the left in the first picture, but red--was my first fountain pen in the early 90s. Got it at a drugstore. When I got really curious about fountain pens and went looking for info on mine (I couldn't remember if it even had a name at the time) I contacted someone who seemed knowledgeable about Sheaffer pens. He simply called it a "cartridge pen" and made it seem like a (much) lesser Sheaffer, and just not a very good pen. I thought at the time that he was kind of hard on the pen, and I still disagree with him, but he's entitled to his opinion.

 

I still have mine and it lives in a case with an Agio, two Pelikan M2xx pens, a Go! and a Parker 21 (another "lesser" pen, go figure).

Edited October 4, 2011 by Moondrop

[th3]

How well I remember those little Scheaffer school pens with the Skrip blue ink cartridges. When I was in elementary school everyone used them. I think I had one with a blue barrel. They were even sold to us by the school. I wrote all my "what I did on summer vacation" essays with my trusty Scheaffer pen. Schaeffer school fountain pens were everywhere, then I went into junior high and everyone went to ballpoint pens. Perhaps that coincided with the dawning of the space age but Schaeffer pens just seemed to disappear from school.

 

Thanks for this great subject and special thanks to ThirdeYe for the outstanding picture.

[Hex]

My link

 

I think I might have just bought one, but I paid too much it seems.