Sheaffer Identification

[pan1985]

Hello everyone, i bought a vintage Sheaffer fountain pen and i'd like to know some information about the model and the year of manufacture.

On the nib there's the 14K sign, the company brand name and a code number B31980 (what does it mean?) on it.here is an old tag price (sticker) on the body with the sign "$10.00 TUCKAWAY". On the body of the pen there is an old tag price (sticker) with the sign "$10.00 TUCKAWAY"

 

thank you!

Edited December 19, 2014 by pan1985

[AZBennett]

Looks like a Sheaffers Statesman Touchdown Tuckaway. Not sure on the year but a similar one that is green is listed from 1949 om RichardsPens.com

[jar]

First, welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.

 

Well not sure what you want to know but here goes.

 

Tuckaway pens were a line designed to pit in a man's vest pockets. They were available in both clip and clipless versions with the earliest being clipless.

 

The serial number on the nib has no significant meaning.

 

Your version is a later pen with the Touchdown filling system. Even though it seems the pen you found is unused the rubber sac, gaskets and o-rings are all about a half century old and should be replaced.

[pan1985]

Hello AZBennett, this is what i found too, so i guess it might be from 1949-1952...

 

Hello jar, is it possible to estimate the year of manufacture? The reason ι bought it is because i like antiques so its ok if i can't use it, Ι prefer the old (factory) parts even if there are outdated.

Thank you both for your responses

[lmarine0510]

Hello AZBennett, this is what i found too, so i guess it might be from 1949-1952...

 

Hello jar, is it possible to estimate the year of manufacture? The reason ι bought it is because i like antiques so its ok if i can't use it, Ι prefer the old (factory) parts even if there are outdated.

Thank you both for your responses

I don't think there is a way to know the exact year of manufacture. There is no sense in leaving the pen non-functional. All it needs to get working is a rubber ink sac and a gasket in the top end. There are abundant resources on the internet to help you if you want to go about fixing it yourself (they're not that hard to do) or you can pay about 30 bucks to send it off to somebody to fix it. That pen is in remarkable aesthetic condition (looks NOS to me) and there is no reason for it to be left in non-working order.

[jar]

Hello AZBennett, this is what i found too, so i guess it might be from 1949-1952...

 

Hello jar, is it possible to estimate the year of manufacture? The reason ι bought it is because i like antiques so its ok if i can't use it, Ι prefer the old (factory) parts even if there are outdated.

Thank you both for your responses

 

As mentioned above, get it restored. They are great little pens. Your pen is one that can kinda be dated; the touchdown filling system was introduced in 1949 and IIRC the Tuckaway was dropped from the line in 1950 so you have a pretty narrow date window.

[Ernst Bitterman]

The reason ι bought it is because i like antiques so its ok if i can't use it, Ι prefer the old (factory) parts even if there are outdated.

Thank you both for your responses

 

I'm similarly inclined to OEM parts, but with pens there's some components that were always meant to be replaced; it's rather like coming into a 1965 Mustang and never taking it out for a run because the oil is old and nasty. Your pen, of course, so do as you prefer, but I'd refit the sac and o-ring and let it out on the metaphorical track.

[daffie]

I am looking for a feed for this very same pen...

Please, can somebody help me???

[kirchh]

Tuckaway pens were a line designed to pit in a man's vest pockets.

Not so. The earlier, clipless versions were designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets; indeed it was positioned as a good pen for summer use by a man when vests are not worn. Later versions with the short clip as seen here were aimed mostly at women.

 

--Daniel

[jar]

Not so. The earlier, clipless versions were designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets; indeed it was positioned as a good pen for summer use by a man when vests are not worn. Later versions with the short clip as seen here were aimed mostly at women.

 

--Daniel

 

Yes, ladies purses were also a target market but one did not stop wearing vest simply because it was summer; at least not if one was civilized.

[kirchh]

 

Yes, ladies purses were also a target market but one did not stop wearing vest simply because it was summer; at least not if one was civilized.

No. The earlier, clipless versions were designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets; indeed it was positioned as a good pen for summer use by a man when vests are not worn; I think you are not familiar with the customs of the time, nor of the marketing of the clipless Tuckaway.

 

Later versions with the short clip as seen here were aimed mostly at women.

 

The point is, it is not the case that the Tuckaway line was designed for men's vest pockets.

 

--Daniel

[jar]

No. The earlier, clipless versions were designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets; indeed it was positioned as a good pen for summer use by a man when vests are not worn; I think you are not familiar with the customs of the time, nor of the marketing of the clipless Tuckaway.

 

Later versions with the short clip as seen here were aimed mostly at women.

 

The point is, it is not the case that the Tuckaway line was designed for men's vest pockets.

 

--Daniel

 

 

I know that is your claim.

 

What I question is if you have a clue about when vests were worn. I was alive during the general pre-AC period (some stores and movie houses had AC) and I did wear vests even in summer. Summer was linen or Seersucker vests and sometimes Chamois ones.

 

You provide a valuable resource and I have not questioned that the Tuckaway was also marketed as a purse pen but I have no idea what a "side pocket" pen is and would have been shocked to find an adult putting a fountain pen in a pants pocket.

 

I know Sheaffer did sometimes provide advertising material that depicted people carrying pens in a way no sane person would attempt but real life folk are usually brighter than what is depicted in advertising..

[kirchh]

 

 

I know that is your claim.

 

What I question is if you have a clue about when vests were worn. I was alive during the general pre-AC period (some stores and movie houses had AC) and I did wear vests even in summer. Summer was linen or Seersucker vests and sometimes Chamois ones.

 

You provide a valuable resource and I have not questioned that the Tuckaway was also marketed as a purse pen but I have no idea what a "side pocket" pen is and would have been shocked to find an adult putting a fountain pen in a pants pocket.

 

I know Sheaffer did sometimes provide advertising material that depicted people carrying pens in a way no sane person would attempt but real life folk are usually brighter than what is depicted in advertising..

You made the specific claim that the Tuckaway was designed for men's vest pockets. I have never seen any Sheaffer literature that supports that assertion, and you have not produced any. On what basis do you make that claim?

 

Sheaffer was not stupid. They had very carefully crafted marketing, and decades of experience in positioning their wares. They produced books devoted to the process of selling their pens. Sheaffer catalogs and ads make it clear that the Tuckaway was designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets (suit jackets have side pockets), and thus were particularly useful during the summer when vests are not worn. The later clipped Tuckaways were primarily marketed as ladies' pens.

 

That information is from Sheaffer, not from me. The fact that you chose to wear a vest in hot weather has no bearing whatoever on for what purpose the Tuckaway was designed, and that's the point being examined.

 

As a side issue, I'd be interested in seeing some of those Sheaffer ads that depict people carrying pens in a way no sane person would attempt.

 

--Daniel

[jar]

You made the specific claim that the Tuckaway was designed for men's vest pockets. I have never seen any Sheaffer literature that supports that assertion, and you have not produced any. On what basis do you make that claim?

 

Sheaffer was not stupid. They had very carefully crafted marketing, and decades of experience in positioning their wares. They produced books devoted to the process of selling their pens. Sheaffer catalogs and ads make it clear that the Tuckaway was designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets (suit jackets have side pockets), and thus were particularly useful during the summer when vests are not worn. The later clipped Tuckaways were primarily marketed as ladies' pens.

 

That information is from Sheaffer, not from me. The fact that you chose to wear a vest in hot weather has no bearing whatoever on for what purpose the Tuckaway was designed, and that's the point being examined.

 

As a side issue, I'd be interested in seeing some of those Sheaffer ads that depict people carrying pens in a way no sane person would attempt.

 

--Daniel

 

Oh get a life Daniel.

 

I am not disputing your claims, just chuckling over pedantry. I made a comment, not a specific claim. Suit jackets (at least every suit I've ever bought) also have a front breast pocket and at least one inner breast pockets. The fact that other places than just a vest pocket were considered does not mean that vest pockets were not considered. Also, read back through anything I have posted and see if I have ever said that purses, handbags, side pocket or behind the ear carry were excluded during the design process or that vest pocket carry was the sole design criteria.

 

And yes, Sheaffer like all companies, advertising is often stupid.

 

http://www.fototime.com/A3822476E16ED79/xlarge.jpg

[kirchh]

You did, of course, make a specific claim. You said the Tuckaway was designed for men's vest pockets. It is becoming clear that you have no evidence for that claim, but rather than simply admit that you made an assumption without support, you attempt to distance yourself from your own words, perhaps hoping no one will notice. That's disapponting.

 

Now, you have changed your position completely, saying "the fact that other places than just a vest pocket were considered doesn't mean that vest pockets were not considered" -- a totally different claim, which is essentially vacuous.

 

As I've explained to you repeatedly, the clipless Tuckaway was designed for ladies' purses and suggested for men to carry in their side pocket, thus being particularly useful in the summer when vests are not worn. The later versions with a small clip were mostly marketed to women. These are facts; no amount of goalpost-shifting will alter them.

 

The ad you show is from thirty years after the period we are discussing and is for the purpose of displaying pens, not showing how to carry them.

 

Sheaffer's advertising of the period under discussion was not often stupid, as even a cursory examination will show. To claim otherwise is simply ignorant of the material.

 

--Daniel

[jar]

Okay Daniel.

 

You feel better now?

[kirchh]

Okay Daniel.

 

You feel better now?

I always feel good about combatting misinformation. There's already far too much of it in our hobby with creating new myths.

 

--Daniel

[abw9259]

 

The fact that you chose to wear a vest in hot weather has no bearing whatoever on for what purpose the Tuckaway was designed, and that's the point being examined.

 

 

 

Kind of a side note here but being from Georgia I can say that jar was not the only one wearing vests in hot weather--three piece suits were common throughout the south until the mid to late eighties within white collar professions. My dad wore one pretty much every day and carried a Sheaffer. I can also say that my dad's sartorial rules included never using suit jacket pockets to hold items including pens other than the interior pocket which could be used for non bulky items such as credit cards or neatly folded cash but even this was frowned upon.

[Lazard 20]

The earlier, clipless versions were designed for ladies' purses and men's side pockets.

 

--Daniel

 

No, at least not exactly. Earlier Tuckaway Clipless, in men´s case, were designed no only for side pockets. Exactly, according Sheaffer´S, for: to slip into their side pockets..., or trousers pockets for summer... or formal wear (*)

 

http://s9.postimg.org/57lki0tov/Tuckaway_clipless_Lazard.jpg

 

(*) Within that pocket in men´s formal wear? If it is in side pocket, why repeat, in side pocket and formal wear? Perhaps because it refers to the vest pocket of formal wear? No doubt the Tuckaway were manufactured to be sold, so one target, inter alia but not less, was many men who wore vest in 1941.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Lazard 20

[kirchh]

Kind of a side note here but being from Georgia I can say that jar was not the only one wearing vests in hot weather--three piece suits were common throughout the south until the mid to late eighties within white collar professions. My dad wore one pretty much every day and carried a Sheaffer. I can also say that my dad's sartorial rules included never using suit jacket pockets to hold items including pens other than the interior pocket which could be used for non bulky items such as credit cards or neatly folded cash but even this was frowned upon.

Interesting, but by 1940, when the Tuckaway was introduced, the vest was in serious decline, fashion-wise, with double-breasted jackets gaining in popularity.

 

--Daniel