Snorkel Admiral? 1960?

[bobs51]

I have just rediscovered a pen in my rather meager collection that has raised some questions of identity.

 

It appears to be a Snorkel Admiral in Jet Black cap and body with a 14k X2 nib and the paper band just above the nib identifying it as an extra fine. It has a stainless, not gold, snorkel tube, and the 1/4" gold filled band on the cap typical of this model.

 

My confusion is because Binder and others date the Snorkel line to 1959, and say the pens were not dated, yet my pen carries a clear date code of 0960 on the barrel just above the Sheaffer imprint.

 

Late production... ok. Non-dated pen series with a date code????

 

Anybody??

 

Thanks!

[Tweel]

When you say "dated to" 1959, you mean the last year TM Snorkels were made? Sheaffer didn't date-code their pens. I think 0960 would be an MSRP of $9.60.

[ThomasB]

The model is a "Special"...and the nib is Palladium Silver, and like the triumph nibs, some are marked Palladium Silver and some are not (probably what you have)

[bobs51]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Tweel.. yes, I meant last year of production. But I find it odd that a price code would be engraved into the body of the pen above the Sheaffer imprint.

 

Thomas... the nib is clearly marked as a 14k X2, appropriate for the Admiral model.

 

Still wondering.

Bob

[Tweel]

...I find it odd that a price code would be engraved into the body of the pen above the Sheaffer imprint.

 

I find it a little odd, too, not least because I don't remember Sheaffer doing that with Snorkels (so maybe I'm wrong, and it's some sort of serial number -?) . But it is a longtime practice of theirs, in general. A problem that crops up is that people often use it as a model number ("I just bought a Sheaffer 750 on EBay..."), whereas Sheaffer produced various pens that sold for $7.50, leading to confusion.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Tweel

[gmark_wa]

Perhaps the numbers are a serial number and not a date. There is a post on another forum that reports having a Black Snorkel Sentinel with the following inscription:

 

0424

W.A Sheaffer Pen Co.

Fort Madison Iowa, USA

Made in USA

 

This is clearly not a date stamp. I also have an Australian Snorkel with a 6-digit serial number imprinted below the barrel Inscription and have seen an occasional Snorkel on eBay with numbers on the barrel.

[bobs51]

Thanks for the additional information. A serial number seems to be the most likely answer, then. Kinda odd, since 960 is a rather small number of pens, although the 0960 format does allow for 9,999 units.

 

Bob

[gmark_wa]

Thanks for the additional information. A serial number seems to be the most likely answer, then. Kinda odd, since 960 is a rather small number of pens, although the 0960 format does allow for 9,999 units.

 

Bob

Hi Bob.

 

It's still a mystery as to why only a small quantity of Snorkels have these numbers. In the case of my serial-numbered (6 numbers) Snorkel Valiant, it was produced in Australia for export to Italy and was sold with instructions in Italian and a certificate of authenticity with matching serial number.

 

You are right that 4-digits means a relatively small quantity of pens when compared to overall production numbers, so these USA-made Snorkels must have been number stamped for a particular purpose.

[3rdlakerobert]

In the month or so since this thread began I've come across a couple Snorkels with these numbers:

 

1. black Valiant that I would say was a rather early production pen because it has one wide lug on the sac protector --has 0404 above the imprint in a font the same size and style as the company name.

 

2. black Statesman with script style PdAg nib in XF size -- has 0534 in same location and size/style as #1 above. I think the PdAg script nibs appeared in the latter half of Snorkel production.

 

Is it the case that all these numbers begin with zero? I can't even guess why they're there, but I'd love to know.

[gmark_wa]

In the month or so since this thread began I've come across a couple Snorkels with these numbers:

 

1. black Valiant that I would say was a rather early production pen because it has one wide lug on the sac protector --has 0404 above the imprint in a font the same size and style as the company name.

 

2. black Statesman with script style PdAg nib in XF size -- has 0534 in same location and size/style as #1 above. I think the PdAg script nibs appeared in the latter half of Snorkel production.

 

Is it the case that all these numbers begin with zero? I can't even guess why they're there, but I'd love to know.

 

G'day Robert.

 

There is a US-made black Snorkel Valiant with the number 0612 (also above the standard 3-line imprint) up for online auction at the moment. If, as you suspect, all the numbers start with 0, then this means there were less than 1000 pens numbered like this; which is a small run. I too am curious to know why.

[PenHero]

Could be as simple as a market test. Without documentation from Sheaffer it's all guessing.

[3rdlakerobert]

Could they have been loaners?

[gmark_wa]

This question has been around for a while ... I have found similar posts going back to 2006.

 

So far I have collected the following list of barrel numbers:

0167 – Snorkel Saratoga (colour not stated)

0404 – Black Snorkel Valiant

0424 – Black Snorkel Sentinel

0453 – Pastel Blue Snorkel (model not stated)

0517 – Black Snorkel Autograph

0534 – Black Snorkel Statesman

0612 – Black Snorkel Valiant

0731 – Grey Snorkel Admiral

0960 – Black Snorkel Admiral

1153 – 'Cherry' Snorkel Admiral

Edited May 18, 2018 by gmark_wa

[3rdlakerobert]

Well, 0517 sort of eliminates my loaner guess.