Help Identifying 1970's Scheaffer Fountain Pen

[EireRainmaiden]

Hello! I could use some help identifying a vintage Sheaffer pen that was most likely purchased between 1974-1977. It was my mother's pen when she was in school and she passed it on to me about 12 years ago and I used it very happily (it was my favorite pen) for several years before it stopped working. After some rather uneducated attempts to repair it I believe in a moment that I have now come to seriously regret, I threw it away. This means that unfortunately I do not have any pictures of it, so my description will have to suffice:

 

A small pen, between 4.5-5 inches in length, roughly 4/16s inch diameter. It was very light feeling with a medium blue plastic body. The grip was untextured black plastic. The cap was silver colored metal with a pen clip built in. It was a fountain pen that had a plunger type refillable ink chamber. There was a silver ring that was removable when the pen was taken apart to refill it. The nib was silver color, Fine (I think), and I did find a picture of what it looked like which I will attach, it detached by screwing on or off. I found another picture of a pen on eBay that I think may be it (a memory nearly a decade old is a tad inaccurate I think), which if anyone could help identify that pen or by my description it would be most appreciated!

 

The pictures: the two blue pens, I believe the pen I am looking for may be the solid body one. The nib looked like the nib on the red pen in the picture with three various pens, but it was a Fine nib and I think perhaps was made in Germany like that nib.

 

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

Regards,

Valerie

[jar]

Hello! I could use some help identifying a vintage Sheaffer pen that was most likely purchased between 1974-1977. It was my mother's pen when she was in school and she passed it on to me about 12 years ago and I used it very happily (it was my favorite pen) for several years before it stopped working. After some rather uneducated attempts to repair it I believe in a moment that I have now come to seriously regret, I threw it away. This means that unfortunately I do not have any pictures of it, so my description will have to suffice:

 

A small pen, between 4.5-5 inches in length, roughly 4/16s inch diameter. It was very light feeling with a medium blue plastic body. The grip was untextured black plastic. The cap was silver colored metal with a pen clip built in. It was a fountain pen that had a plunger type refillable ink chamber. There was a silver ring that was removable when the pen was taken apart to refill it. The nib was silver color, Fine (I think), and I did find a picture of what it looked like which I will attach, it detached by screwing on or off. I found another picture of a pen on eBay that I think may be it (a memory nearly a decade old is a tad inaccurate I think), which if anyone could help identify that pen or by my description it would be most appreciated!

 

The pictures: the two blue pens, I believe the pen I am looking for may be the solid body one. The nib looked like the nib on the red pen in the picture with three various pens, but it was a Fine nib and I think perhaps was made in Germany like that nib.

 

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

Regards,

Valerie

 

The blue pens in your picture are second generation blister pack cartridge pens (AKA "school pens") but they never had a plunger filler.

 

In the 70s it would have been nearly impossible to find a Sheaffer pen with a nib made in Germany.

Edited October 29, 2012 by jar

[Bearcat]

Scheaffer "School Pens". Lightweight cartridge pens that have surprising good nibs, if they have not been abused.

[mrcharlie]

The pens in the top picture are Sheaffer Cartridge Pens, frequently called student pens although not officially. The pens in the bottom picture are the current Sheaffer Calligraphy Kit pen called Viewpoint, and two No Nonsense pens. The nibs on the Sheaffer Cartridge Pens are exactly the same as the No Nonsense nibs in shape and look, and perhaps are the exact same size or maybe just slightly smaller; I don't have a No Nonsense handy to compare right now.

 

None of them has a plunger fill. You generally don't need to take anything apart to fill a Sheaffer pen with the Touchdown mechanism. The Sheaffer Cartridge Pen has a ring that comes off when you unscrew the body to change the cartridge; you can use a "convertor" instead of a cartridge, and you would need to unscrew the body to get to it. All the 1970s Sheaffer convertors I've seen are squeeze convertors.

 

Somewhere in the early 1970s or late 60s the Cartridge Pen was changed to have a flat bottom of the barrel and top of the cap instead of the shallow cone on the one you pictured. All three generations/shapes of the Cartridge Pen came in both solid colors, translucent colors, and transparent. Here is a picture of what the Cartridge Pen would look like disassembled, but with a squeeze convertor, and un-capped with a convertor. This one is translucent red. Sorry for the low available light phone cam photo; the nib is actually stainless steel's normal silver color in real life.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img402/3296/2ndgenuncapped.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img802/7827/2ndgenapartwithconverto.jpg

Edited October 29, 2012 by mrcharlie

[mrcharlie]

Sorry for the consecutive posts, but if the above is not the pen you remember, you might try poking around the various models of Sheaffer pictured on the website of fpn user "Ernst Bitterman" and see if any ring a bell. Perhaps a snorkel, tip dip, or thin model? The "Cadet" Tip Dip is about the right size, and the nib looks pretty similar to the later Cartridge Pen and No Nonsense nibs.

Edited October 29, 2012 by mrcharlie

[EireRainmaiden]

Thank you everyone so much for the quick replies! I think I was confusing some features of a calligraphy pen I used a lot around the same time, but your comments really helped clear everything up. The pen was indeed a cartridge pen/school pen, funny that I never searched for that since that was what she purchased it for! I remember using cartridges in it sometimes but also a squeeze converter like mrcharlie said, as that's how I remember it looking uncapped. I believe the plastic wore out on it eventually and I had to switch to only cartridges until it gave up the ghost some other unknown way. It did have the shallow cone on the bottom of the barrel and top of the cap as well. And like Bearcat said it really had a nice nib that I enjoyed writing with far more than anything else I've tried. I have purchased several other modern fountain pens in an effort to regain the "magic" but haven't been pleased with them; some dry up between uses, too broad a nib, too wet, too scratchy, nice looking on the outside but too heavy for me to write with comfortably for long periods. It appears I can purchase one of these oldies on eBay rather cheaply, so hopefully I'll come across one that can bring back that smooth writing magic for me! Are the cartridges still available for purchase or does anyone perhaps know where to purchase a convertor that would be compatible? Thanks again everyone for the help!

[jar]

Are the cartridges still available for purchase or does anyone perhaps know where to purchase a convertor that would be compatible? Thanks again everyone for the help!

 

Sheaffer cartridges are still available but in most cases the newer Sheaffer converters won't fit. You can still find the old Sheaffer squeeze converters online though.

[pencils+pens]

It appears I can purchase one of these oldies on eBay rather cheaply

 

You should be able to get it for less then $10 before S&H. Very often, you will end up with more then one. You should know that the nibs are not always marked or sold as "F" or "M". A 304 nib is a fine nib and a 305 nib is a medium nib.

 

It shouldn't take more then a few days to find one of these on eBay.

[EireRainmaiden]

Sheaffer cartridges are still available but in most cases the newer Sheaffer converters won't fit. You can still find the old Sheaffer squeeze converters online though.

 

 

Excellent, thank you!

[EireRainmaiden]

It appears I can purchase one of these oldies on eBay rather cheaply

 

You should be able to get it for less then $10 before S&H. Very often, you will end up with more then one. You should know that the nibs are not always marked or sold as "F" or "M". A 304 nib is a fine nib and a 305 nib is a medium nib.

 

It shouldn't take more then a few days to find one of these on eBay.

 

 

Very helpful to know about the nib sizing; thanks!

[mrcharlie]

FWIW, 302 is "EX-FINE" (I have one) and 301 is "Accountant" (don't have one, but have picture). I'm not sure what 303 is. They also made some Italics for these pens, but the one I've seen was not from the number marking era (also do not have, but have seen a picture).