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Hi all, I (currently) have precisely one Sheaffer - a 'Triumph 444' from the 1980s. My pen was sold to me as having a 'Fine' nib on it, although of course no nib grade is indicated anywhere on the pen, or the box/paperwork that I received with it. Now, my experience of writing with my pen is that I find its nib to be wider than I would have expected from a pen sold as having an 'F' nib; that its nib is more like the width of a modern (post-1980) Parker 'M'. I decided to look for information about nib-widths/grading on here, and I found the very useful thread about the range of widths within which each Sheaffer nib grade could fall in the 1970s that RonZ pinned at the top of the 'Repair Q&A' board, here ↓ ... ...and, from reading that, I found that my experience would indeed be in-line with a nib that falls within the range that Sheaffer was defining as an 'F' nib in the 1970s. But, in another thread recently, I learned from LizEF that her Sheaffer 'Icon' writes with a line that she perceives to be narrower than the usual one for pens/nibs marked with that grade. I know (from personal experience with pens that were made by Parker and by Pelikan across the late-Twentieth and early Twenty-first centuries) that manufacturers can 'move the goalposts' over the decades; that what is marked 'F' in one era might be more like the next era's 'EF', or a width that what was once marketed as a 'B' may in future be marketed as an 'M'. So, I would now like to ask whether anyone who is reading this has any lists that show the ranges within which Sheaffer's different nib grades have been defined in other decades, e.g.s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - ✓ - see the thread I linked-to above. 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s. If anyone does have access to legitimate sources of this information, I would be very grateful if they would please add it/them to this thread, in order to facilitate easy future reference. Slàinte, M.

I just posted a video talking about the first fountain pen I ever own, Sheaffer's so-called "Student" Cartridge Pen. I go over the original version and how it changed into the 1980s. I have quite a collection, and I really love these pens. Over the years I have had them they all write very reliably and fairly smoothly, particularly the medium versions. I really like the 1970s green demonstrator version of the pen. I used to have the Peacock blue color in it, but they don't make that cartridge anymore. The only negative about the pen is that it won't fit a converter. The chamber is too narrow. It is really designed just for cartridges, but it is quite easy to empty a cartridge and use a needle to squirt your own ink into it. My guess is that soon Sheaffer will stop making cartridges for these pens which they discontinued sometime in the 1990s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Uki25b0oc

So I was given this pen to put a new sac and pressure bar in. Just trying to figure out a bit of info to pass to the owner. Anyone have any idea which model this is? Sheaffer white dot, lever, well the pictures will give you more info.. It's, so far a nice looking desk pen and will look good on her desk. Thanks in advance

Hi all, I am starting this thread because my first ever Sheaffer pen is currently on its way to me, and I would like to ‘pick the brains’ of the FPN ‘Hive Mind’ for some information about it. Although the pen that I have bought (from an auction site) was listed as being an ‘Imperial’, I believe that the correct name for it should be ‘Triumph’ (despite it having an inlaid nib, rather than one of the conical ‘Triumph’ nibs). My pen has the ‘brushed chrome’ finish, chrome trim, chrome clip, and a stainless steel nib. I believe therefore that it is a ‘Triumph 444’ (not a ‘444X’, or a ‘444XG’). It is the same model that is shown on… https://www.sheaffertarga.com/Imperial and Triumph/444 Chrome C.T.html …although mine has a ‘short diamond’ inlaid nib, rather than the ‘rounded V’ inlaid nib shown on that page. Which detail makes me think that it is a 1980s example of the pen, as shown on this webpage (it is directly underneath the picture of an Imperial Triumph 797 gold-plated ballpoint pen, in the small picture on the right). So, on to my questions: 1- the Name of the Pen? do you agree that I should refer to this pen as a ‘Triumph Brushed Chrome CT’, or should I call it a ‘Triumph 444’, or something else (apart, obviously, from naming my individual pen ‘Lucille’ 😉)? 2- Converter compatibility? the pen is coming to me with one of the squeeze-converters that has a sac enclosed within a metal shroud, and a bar to compress the sac. I would prefer to use one of the Sheaffer twist-action piston converters in the pen (so that I can see how much ink I have left in the pen), but will one of those fit into this pen? I have looked for lists of models that are compatible with those piston converters, but I have not yet found one that says that they will fit into the ‘Triumph’ model (or into the ‘Imperial’ for that matter). I have also looked for lists of models that are known to be incompatible with the piston converter, but those lists also seem to not be exhaustive and, from what I can tell, the pens listed on them seem to mostly be the slender/slimline Sheaffer models. My hope is that any pen that can take the squeeze converter is also going to be wide/long enough to take a twist/piston converter - but I am also aware that Sheaffer changed the shape of its cartridges at some point, so I fear that the twist converter might only be compatible with pens that were made to take the later cartridges. I am wary about that because my pen is coming to me with two of the older type, flat-at-both-ends-cylinder, ‘Skrip’ cartridges, so is presumably built to accept those. So, can any of you offer me any clarity about the compatibility (or not) of the twist/piston converter? Will it fit inside my pen? Will its open end be compatible with the feed spike/grip-section of my pen? Or did Sheaffer change the geometry of the feed spike/cartridge mouth interface when they changed the shape of their cartridges, and is the twist converter made to those specifications? 3- Cleaning? As this pen has an inlaid nib, I suspect that the task of dismantling it to remove the feed for ‘deep-cleaning’ would be very much a ‘non-trivial’ task. Certainly not one that is as easy as unscrewing the nib/feed unit of e.g. a Parker 45, Parker Sonnet, or a Pelikan M205. I don’t intend to attempt it, unless my pen is severely clogged with old ink, or something else. I am hoping to only need to run water through the grip-section, flush the pen using the squeeze converter, and maybe soak the grip-section in plain water for a few days. If those actions don’t work, I may move on to flushing/soaking with a solution of ammonia, but: should I avoid using the converter in conjunction with ammonia solution? Should I avoid soaking the whole grip-section in ammonia, and only flush that stuff through the inside of the grip-section? If the worst comes to pass, and I find that I need to try to dismantle the grip-section to get at the feed for a deep-clean, how do I go about attempting that process? Would the disassembly of this pen’s grip-section e.g. require the same procedure as for dismantling the grip-section of an ‘Imperial’? Or a different procedure? My apologies for the length of this essay, and my thanks to you in advance for any clarification that you can offer me. Oh, I would also welcome your ink recommendations - given the inlaid nib/difficulty of deep-cleaning the feed, I don’t intend to use my i-g inks or pigmented inks in this pen, but are there are any inks (apart from vintage Skrip) that you think that it will particularly like, or particularly dislike? I have inks made by Waterman, Parker Quink, Pelikan (4001 & Edelstein), Diamine, Pure Pens, and also some ‘ancient & venerable’ Noodler’s Black, which may have ‘gorn orff’ by now. Again, my thanks to you all in advance Slàinte, M.

So I was given a Sheaffer small slender Balance 857 in Golden Brown, white dot with a lifetime nib, lever filler, that had been found in an antique shop. The pen was given to me with the section slightly pulled out of the barrel and the cap was sitting loose over nib. It is a very good looking pen. I disassembled the rest of the way, cleaned it up. Replaced the sac and reassembeled it... To my total dismay when I put the cap back on it just spins with a occasional tug as it catches a bit of thread. The threads on the barrel are still in excellent condition. The threads inside the cap appear to be stripped... Is there any way to repair the damage or do I need to go in search of a donor pen?

I haven't seen a full-fledged photo gallery here of the modern Sheaffer Balance 2 (or Balance II), so I thought I'd provide one now. If I'm wrong, I apologize in advance, but no harm done. I'll provide photos in a few separate posts here. Let's start with the Balance 2 "Classic Colors," which were made from an injection-molded solid-color resin. They came in three colors -- Hunter Green, Navy Blue, and Black -- and were available in FP, RB, and BP. The FP came with a 14K solid gold nib, available in a few widths, including a stub. The nib was quite firm. Here are my photos. You'll notice that the Hunter Green FP shown here has a stub nib. Many years ago, I sold my Navy Blue and Black Balance II FPs, so I only have a BP in each of those colors in my collection.

So I got this tiny Sheaffer at an antique mall this morning. Can't pull the piston out more then maybe 5mm. White Dot, Lifetime, Triumph Nib, Vac Filler, Striated Barrel. No idea of what to label it as. But it looks cute and while I might gently try to take it apart it will probably be shipped off to RonZ to be restored

Recently visited Pens Point, a pen store in New Delhi, India, more known perhaps for the handmade fountain pens it markets under the brand Delmoon. Got a Sheaffer Fashion II, as in the 2nd edition of the Fashion line offered by Sheaffer, manufactured in the United States of America through the 1990s. In fact, this is the first and only Sheaffer pen that I have from that period till now. This probably also ranks among the last Sheaffer pens to be manufactured in the US before the production units in Hong Kong took over. It’s splitting hairs but it might be the smoothest medium steel nib Sheaffer I have come to own till date. This one probably takes the cake not only because of the sweet spot but more because of the lack of almost any feedback whatsoever. Performance wise, there are absolutely no issues so far, save for it being too smooth a medium nib for the writing to be controlled sometimes! This unit has a slightly loose clip on the cap, but these issues can be expected from used pens. So, I am definitely not looking forward to wearing it clipped to my shirt. It’s a 1990s production as I stated earlier, so probably attracts the debate as to whether it would qualify as a true vintage – I mean, I have lived longer than this pen has been in existence. Playing around with it for a visual review here.

Recently visited Pens Point, a pen store in New Delhi, India, more known perhaps for the handmade fountain pens it markets under the brand Delmoon. Got a Sheaffer Fashion II, as in the 2nd edition of the Fashion line offered by Sheaffer, manufactured in the United States of America through the 1990s. In fact, this is the first and only Sheaffer pen that I have from that period till now. This probably also ranks among the last Sheaffer pens to be manufactured in the US before the production units in Hong Kong took over. It’s splitting hairs but it might be the smoothest medium steel nib Sheaffer I have come to own till date. This one probably takes the cake not only because of the sweet spot but more because of the lack of almost any feedback whatsoever. Performance wise, there are absolutely no issues so far, save for it being too smooth a medium nib for the writing to be controlled sometimes! This unit has a slightly loose clip on the cap, but these issues can be expected from used pens. So, I am definitely not looking forward to wearing it clipped to my shirt. It’s a 1990s production as I stated earlier, so probably attracts the debate as to whether it would qualify as a true vintage – I mean, I have lived longer than this pen has been in existence. Playing around with it for a visual review here.

Result first: the nibs of Imperial II Deluxe are probably not PdAg nibs, at least some of them are confirmed to be stainless steel nibs. The components of Sheaffer Snorkel PdAg nibs are about 50% silver, 30% palladium, 10% gold and 10% copper, in mass (maybe?), analyzed by a handheld alloy analyzer by a predecessor in a Chinese forum 10 years ago. However, the components of the nib of Imperial II Deluxe are still not clear and debatable. Authoritative Sheaffertarga declares it to be a PdAg nib, not only Imperial II Deluxe, but also normal Imperial II, while some others claim it to be a stainless steel nib. I bought three Imperial II Deluxes last year, so let me make an end of the argument. Not touchdown Imperial II Deluxe, but cartridge edition, defined by the chalk mark "C" on the barrels and boxes. Deluxe is not marked, maybe the caps are not original, but three NOS-level pens are the same, so no "Deluxe" mark might be a common phenomenon. Anyway, no matter what my pens are, the result of stainless steel nib is contrary to the statement of Sheaffertarga, the provided information on PdAg nib could be wrong. Screwed off the nibs and pasted them onto sample stage, and used an energy disperse spectroscopy installed Tescan Vega 3 scanning microscope to analyze the components. It is worth noting that EDS is qualitative and semi-quantitive, the content of elements is not very accurate. Three areas on each nib were detected, and the results are similar, typical one is presented above without any processing. The Chinese in the table are elements, atomicity, line, value, mass, normalized mass and atom, from left to right. The nibs are mainly made of iron, chromium and nickel, typically elements of stainless steel, no palladium, no silver at all, so definitely not PdAg nibs. Maybe part of Imperial II Deluxes installed with PdAg nibs, but at least not all of them are PdAg nibs, and probably all of them are stainless steel nibs, in my opinion. Certainly, the sample size is rather limited, more samples are welcomed. However, I am in China, so just saying. I will examine some other nibs in the future, tell me if you are interested in any nib (Sheaffer only), maybe I have one. BTW, the tips of nibs are made of ruthenium, tungsten and cobalt.

I am looking at this pen for purchase. In general, it looks darker than photos I've seen of red-veined grey pearl pens and the top of the cap seems lighter. Does it look discolored to you? Is it not the red-veined grey pearl color? [Click on photos for larger images.]

I just got one of these on a whim for just a little bit over $25, without knowing what it really is. In my experience, anything from before the 60's (and also any lever filler) is very few and far between in my country. So I tend to get anything that's not too pricey. After some reading, it turned out to be a Sheaffer Vigilant with a military clip (I really like the look of this clip, btw!). But all the examples I've seen online has the Lifetime 2-tone nibs. I initially thought this was the Commandant, but this has the white dot below the clip and the imprint on the body does say 875 instead of 400. So was the #33 nib an option for the Vigilant or was this the result of some modification to the pen? If it's the latter, am I right in thinking that it's a downgrade? The pen does have signs of repairs. It may even be a case of failed repair. There was no trace of shellac between the section and body (I can easily pull the apart, though it's still snug enough), and the feed is halfway out as you can see on the picture above. It also has a major crack from the tip down to just before the bushing, which has lots of chipping itself. Maybe this was the reason for the repair being abandoned halfway. In any case, it seems to have happened a time ago, since the sac has turned to dust and is still in the pen. (Yes, that's the remnants of some creepy crawlies inside the feed) I'm planning to try to repair this myself. Just some simple repairs to make it usable, not a complete & proper restoration. With the feed in such a condition, I don't think some experimenting would hurt. The feed itself also seems to have a longer tail than what I see in pics online. Is that normal? I think it may be long enough to get pressed by the pressure bar when filling.

Hello to all Looking for some kind assistance in identifying the model of a Sheaffer Sailor pen I just picked up on eBay. Seller reckons it's 1980's vintage, but wasn't completely sure. Can anyone help me please, from the pics included with this post? If I can provide any further info/pics, happy to do so. I'd also be grateful if anyone could let me have the details of the ink supply options, as far as cartridge/converters go. I have an '80's Sentinel and trying to get cartridges/converter to fit has been, to say the least, frustratingly unsuccessful. Many thanks Tony

My sincerest apologies if somebody has done this already, but I would like to inquire about the definitions of the commonly used terms Vintage and Modern. 1: Is there a certain commonly-accepted year of delineation, like 2000? Or is there a more general and broad period of time, such as Sheaffer´s abandonment of their traditional US manufacturing sites in the early 2000s? 2: does it vary per the type of pen in question? For example, an original mid-century Parker 51 VS the modern attempt at a remake? 3: does it vary per whether the pen is discontinued or still in production? For example, the now-discontinued TWSBI 530, VS the modern replacement, the 580? Does this make my particular variant of the Platinum Preppy WA from the 2021 release a “vintage” pen? Obviously, there is probably no real universal answer to this question. I am simply looking to collect some opinions, pointers, and useful information as I start gearing up to enter the vintage fountain pen world. If you know of any particularly interesting “vintage VS modern” case studies, I would be delighted to read about them. Moderators, if you know about an older thread that this would merge well into, *please* do it. In a bygone era, I was once a forums moderator, and I know how ridiculous redundant threads can get. I am simply at present not able to find a thread that explicitly discusses this topic. (I could also just be blind)

Hello everyone! This is my first post on FPN, and I'd like to seek some information regarding Sheaffer. As many of you know, Sheaffer's Australian factory produced a significant number of products. I've searched through related posts and learned that the Australian factory began production in 1951, producing pens like the Snorkel, PFM, Imperial, Targa, and more. I have three questions I'd like to ask: 1. Did the Australian factory have nib manufacturing equipment, especially for inlaid nibs? I understand that the production of inlaid nibs is quite complex. For pens like the AUST-marked Imperial and Targa, were their nibs entirely produced in Australia, or were they manufactured in the USA and then assembled in Australia? 2. Around when did Sheaffer's Australian factory cease production? I'm curious because I've noticed that later models of Targa (in the '90s) seem to lack the AUST marking on the nib. 3. I'd also like to inquire about how to determine the production year of a Targa. I usually consider Targas with Sheaffer USA engraved on the ornament and the USA marking on the nib's upper left corner as relatively later models. I'd appreciate hearing your perspectives on this matter. English is not my strong suit, and I've used ChatGPT to assist in translation. I hope the expression is clear. Thank you all for your responses and assistance!

Hello! I received 2 of these as a gift, one has a squeeze converter and the other does not The pens are lovely and a pleasure to write / draw with, however I don’t particularly like the squeeze converter. I would love to have a cartridge converter for each pen but I’m having trouble finding ones that are compatible. I’m hoping someone might have advice, from the little research I’ve done it seems modern sheaffer cartridge converters click in but are too long to fit inside the pen body I would love to find a non-squeeze cartridge converter that’s compatible if anyone knows of one! (sorry the pictures aren’t very good and my handwriting is horrible)

Is there a piston converter than can be used with this type of Sheaffer nib? It is the kind that would pierce the old cylindrical cartridges on the School Pens. Or do I need one of the squeeze converters? Thanks, Russ

Hi all, I am finishing my repair of a Balance Vac, and I am trying to set the nib and feed, and they will not seat in the section far enough in! I have never had this problem before. I have attempted to reseat it about 5 times. Every time I find myself exerting more force than I believe is a proper amount and so I back off, say a few chosen words, scratch my head, knock it back out, and figure out what the hell is wrong. I have looked inside the section, I do not see any old nib edge marks to see where it was seated before (this is my fault for not doing this when I took it apart). I have rotated where I attempt to place the nib and feed when inserting it...the only other thing I can THINK of is to set the section in the freezer or fridge (for a brief few minutes) to get it to shrink and therefore expand the size of the section hole, but that is just pure speculation as I try to figure out how to get this darn thing back in. It is the nib and feed that came/original with the pen, so it's not that I am trying to replace these parts. I am out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Hello all, Just registered. Love Sheaffer's, and found the pen on the left in an auction. Tried to identify it in Sheaffer Targa, and RichardPens.com. It looks like it is a Stylist II, but I can't find anywhere this type of finish referenced. It looks like dented chrome, but even in the Sheaffer targa website there is no such finish. Can anyone help me identify it by the finish? Thank you in advance.