What Does Engraved Number On Snorkel Mean?

[gmark_wa]

3 hours ago, Roger W. said:

It also suggest that the placement of the digits may be meaningful.

 

Roger W.

By placement, do you mean the position of the 4-number imprint relative to the W.A.Sheaffer Pen Co. barrel imprint, or that each individual digit may have some particular meaning?

 

G. Mark W.

[inkstainedruth]

@I-am-not-really-hereInteresting thought -- but when did Social Security as an entity start?  And would people have that as a engraving rather than their name or initials?

I'm now wondering if anyone has contacted the Sheaffer Museum to see if they have any sort of records.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[I-am-not-really-here]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@I-am-not-really-hereInteresting thought -- but when did Social Security as an entity start?  And would people have that as a engraving rather than their name or initials?

I'm now wondering if anyone has contacted the Sheaffer Museum to see if they have any sort of records.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Social Security has been around the mid-30's.  
 

Perhaps employees of the Social Security Administration? Something novel to the ubiquitous name/initials convention.

[Roger W.]

On 11/11/2022 at 3:59 PM, inkstainedruth said:

@I-am-not-really-hereInteresting thought -- but when did Social Security as an entity start?  And would people have that as a engraving rather than their name or initials?

I'm now wondering if anyone has contacted the Sheaffer Museum to see if they have any sort of records.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Writing the museum won't get you very far.  The archives are not organized.  If you read the Pennant I've been doing articles from the archives for quite a few issues.  I've happened upon a lot of interesting information that has generated the articles but, I couldn't find the code on Sheaffer snorkels on purpose!  I keep an eye out as I'm going through the drawers but, it hasn't come up yet.  Is it maybe in a note book in one of the drawers, back page of a binder or even in the design drawing drawers?  I don't know.  The museum does not have resources to do research for inquiries but, I keep an eye out.  These four digit codes are unique to any other type of identification that we currently are aware of.

 

Roger W.

[NickJC]

Burgundy Statesmen M4 0312 marked

[gmark_wa]

On 11/24/2022 at 2:06 AM, NickJC said:

Burgundy Statesmen M4 0312 marked

Thanks for posting the information.  Do you have a photo of the imprint?

[gmark_wa]

Numbered Snorkel Admiral

There are two numbered Snorkels being sold on eBay by the same seller at the moment.  The first is a Burgundy Snorkel Admiral with barrel number 0714

The sales post is at:  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/175500736181

[gmark_wa]

Numbered Snorkel Valiant?

The second numbered Snorkel has a burgundy barrel, Triumph nib, but no cap.  It has barrel number 1846.  The sales post is at: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/175500447957.

I am recording this as a Valiant in the database.

[NickJC]

On 11/26/2022 at 12:56 AM, gmark_wa said:

Thanks for posting the information.  Do you have a photo of the imprint?

[gmark_wa]

13 hours ago, NickJC said:

 

Thanks for the photos.  

[NickJC]

2 hours ago, gmark_wa said:

Thanks for the photos.  

Most welcome !

[gmark_wa]

Lowest number yet!

 

There is a Black Snorkel Valiant on eBay with barrel number 0004 - the lowest number we have seen so far.

The sales post is at: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/295372178042

[gmark_wa]

Grey Snorkel Admiral #0720

There is a grey Snorkel Admiral with barrel number 0720 on eBay.  The post is at https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304721858471

 

[gmark_wa]

Numbered Snorkels - the position of the numbers

So far, I have photos of 33 numbered Snorkel barrel imprints ranging from 0004 to 2259. 
I have mapped the position of the numbers relative to the barrel imprint.  This diagram shows the location of all 33 numbers. 

No two numbers are in exact the same location. 
11 numbers are in a central cluster.  They are in a position vertically above the ‘AFFER’ of the W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO imprint.  The numbers are positioned above the top line at a similar distance to the space between the other lines in the barrel imprint.  These numbers range from 0004 to 1055. This diagram shows this cluster of numbers.

Another 14 numbers are positioned just outside the central cluster. These numbers range from 0032 to 1846. This diagram shows these numbers. 

The remaining 8 numbers are well outside the central cluster.  They range from 0454 to 2259.  This diagram shows their positions.

[FarmBoy]

So the location encodes a second set of data?

[gmark_wa]

19 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

So the location encodes a second set of data?

I don’t think the position of a number has special meaning. To me, the spread of numbers probably indicates they were added separately to the barrel imprint. It looks like they tried to position the number in the central cluster but the process they used wasn’t very accurate. 

[NickJC]

On 12/3/2022 at 6:12 PM, gmark_wa said:

I don’t think the position of a number has special meaning. To me, the spread of numbers probably indicates they were added separately to the barrel imprint. It looks like they tried to position the number in the central cluster but the process they used wasn’t very accurate. 

 

Concerning the locations - Do the font size of the numbers and the depth of the impression match that of the normal barrel imprint on those that are centrally located? 

 

Are those that are outside of the central cluster look to be the same font size/depth etc.?

[gmark_wa]

11 hours ago, NickJC said:

 

Concerning the locations - Do the font size of the numbers and the depth of the impression match that of the normal barrel imprint on those that are centrally located? 

 

Are those that are outside of the central cluster look to be the same font size/depth etc.?

 

From the photos I have, it looks like the same font was used on all the numbers (see photo). 

The depth of the barrel imprints and number imprints look fairly consistent, so it is difficult to judge about any difference in depth.

 

[gmark_wa]

13 hours ago, NickJC said:

 

Concerning the locations - Do the font size of the numbers and the depth of the impression match that of the normal barrel imprint on those that are centrally located? 

 

Are those that are outside of the central cluster look to be the same font size/depth etc.?

 

It looks like this number imprint is slightly deeper than the barrel imprint (?).  This number is just outside of the central cluster.

 

[NickJC]

11 hours ago, gmark_wa said:

 

From the photos I have, it looks like the same font was used on all the numbers (see photo). 

The depth of the barrel imprints and number imprints look fairly consistent, so it is difficult to judge about any difference in depth.

 

 

 

 

Does the number font compare equally to any number in the standard barrel imprint?

 

Just wondering if different it could mean a later stamp, as opposed to being pressed when the barrels were done.