The Sheaffer Triumph--The Most Underrated Vintage Pen?

[Garageboy]

Vac fills are indeed undervalued - sad when esterbrook sell for more

 

Love the war time pen design - the cap band is gorgeous and I love the red and the grey celluloids

 

Quite Hardy once restored

 

The post war fat pens are also amazing - my only regret was watching a mis listed 5000 gold cap pen sell on eBay for $120 because I didn't have the $ at the time

Edited December 16, 2019 by Garageboy

[tonybelding]

I adore the vac-fill Triumphs. I love the design and the style, the way they fill, the way they write. I would love to have a nice one on hand for regular use. However… I haven't had the best luck getting them restored and keeping them running. I was under the impression that restoring these is some kind of magic that only a handful of wizards have mastered. I've also heard the conventional wisdom that once you get them fixed with the newer parts/materials they'll be good for ages to come. But let me just review all the Triumphs that I currently own:

 

1. green, oversize: Very nice example, IMHO. Fills well, but withdrawing the plunger dribbles ink out of the rear. It doesn't leak around the rod, but rather around the outside of the packing unit.

 

2. green, standard size: Bubbles when operated, but draws in little-to-no ink. Also, pocket clip spring failed.

 

3. gray, standard size: Plunger seized up.

 

4. brown, standard size: Spontaneous disassembly. Entire filling mechanism popped out in my hand, with a literal, audible "pop!"

 

5. brown, oversized: Filler dead. Plunger moves with no resistance, no result.

 

6. red, oversized: Filler dead. Plunger moves with no resistance, no result.

 

7. red, oversized: Slightly banana-shaped, brassed, fleabites on cap band, section looks "scorched" (probably by some past restorer/repairer), fills great, writes great.

 

8. brown desk pen: NOS, serviced, beautiful, fills and writes wonderfully.

 

9. brown desk pen: NOS, serviced, beautiful, fills and writes wonderfully.

 

Now, I've had these pens for a few years and have forgotten some of the details of their individual histories. I'm quite sure I did send some of them in for restoration, but I'm also not sure about some of them. I could have sworn I had more than three good ones.

 

I'd love to bring at least some of these back to life, but I'm also a little wary of what I'd be getting into.

[Ron Z]

<shrug> I've done close to a thousand of the pens. I've had them handed to me to be checked out, and I fount that they were still working as well as they did the day I restored them 6 years later.

 

The packing units coming out of the back end can happen if the restorer doesn't check the pen well enough - or pulled the back end to restore it. Some of them do come loose on their own - the early ones in particular. The "pull it to restore and shellac back in" method is unreliable. I epoxy them back in place.

 

I always cycle the plunger rod vigorously after restoring to make sure that nothing gets around the packing unit. The rubber to use needs to be the right thickness and right durometer. I've made a lot of it available to other restorers so its out there. Too thick, and it sticks, too soft, and it pulls off of the head gasket nut. ...and you do need to lubricate the plunger rod from time to time. Sheaffer relied on the grease in the felt, and the graphite in the rubber to keep things moving smoothly.

[AL01]

THEY ARE TERRIBLE PENS.

 

Come 'on...

 

Your just hiking the prices up!

[Ron Z]

THEY ARE TERRIBLE PENS.

 

Come 'on...

 

Your just hiking the prices up!

 

Hey, I buy them for myself too! Not just to sell.... I really like the plunger fill OS Balances and Valiants. I think that the mid to late 40s Triumph nibs are some of the best ones ever made. Many of them are excellent writers, which makes them difficult for me to sell instead of just hoarding them.