Friday, August 17, 2012

Some uncommon Sheaffers

From top to bottom: a gold filled "Pigmy" (lengthy discussion of the model here; often misspelled "Pygmy", rare in any form, but especially so with overlay); Canadian "reverse trim" Lifetime Balance (silver striated with gold filled rather than the usual chrome trim); Canadian Lifetime Balance with Clipper-style clip; oversize Univer flat-top (sub-brand models are usually small economy pens); large WASP Clipper plunger-filler (not rare, but uncommon and attractive). All picked up at the Washington, DC pen show last week.

The Univer is also interesting in that it illustrates how Sheaffer created more color variety in its Univer line, taking a standard Dupont black and pearl and giving it a coat of tinted nitrocellulose lacquer. This was most commonly done with green or red lacquer. In this case, decades of wear and polishing have left some areas only thinly covered, revealing the original black and pearl color underneath.

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