So there is an antique shop nearby that is looking out for my money collecting interests, and I got a lovely brown Sheaffer Snorkel desk set with a yellow-green base over this past weekend (and a bunch of other non-pen-related things, but that's another story and involves radioactivity and a UV light source). The mechanism appears to be good -- the snorkel extends and retracts correctly. But this is my first Snorkel, so I have not even run a water flush through it, because I want the advice of the FPN hive mind first as to the proper care and feeding of this lovely little beast. Pictures when I get home.