Pens on this page are part of my personal collection and are not for sale. If there is a magnifying-glass symbol () next to a pen, click the magnifying glass to view a zoomed version for more detail.

Conical Nibs and Broad Bands

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Sheaffer’s Triumph Nib, introduced in 1942 but designed and perfected before the U.S.A. went to war in December 1941, was then and remains today one of the most felicitous nib designs ever produced. It is attractive and remarkably sturdy, can be made in many sizes, and cannot easily be dislodged from its usual perfect alignment with the feed. Also, because the nib completely girdles the feed, it is more than usually difficult to break the feed. With its new nib, Sheaffer introduced a new style for its pens, a style that replaced the Balance except for a few hangers-on that lasted until the end of the war. These new wartime pens, produced in a severely curtailed range of models and called simply “TRIUMPH,” featured metal threads in the cap and, to mate with them, a metal thread ring between the section and the barrel. For visual flair, Sheaffer applied a hugely extended broad cap band that allowed for a smooth, unbroken line from stem to stern.

My oldest “TRIUMPH” Lifetime pen, a Carmine striated example made in 1942, uses the Vacuum-Fil system and is 5¹/4" capped and 5³¹/32" posted. Its firm medium nib writes very smoothly.

My next “TRIUMPH” pen is a lever filler. Where a Vacuum-Fil pen has a partially transparent barrel, the lever-filling version continues to display a Visulated section. This pen is 5⁷/32" capped and 5³¹/32" posted. Its slightly soft medium nib is adjusted to write smoothly and very wet.

One of the less common “TRIUMPH” models is the Autograph, and I’m quite pleased to have this Vacuum-Fil Autograph with a band that hasn’t been personalized. At 5⁷/32" capped and 5⁷/8" posted, this baby is a tad shorter in use than its brethren above. It has a smooth and very wet nib that I’ve also restored to its original duo-point configuration.

Sheaffer also made a “TRIUMPH” Crest, and my Crest is a pretty nice pen as well as being very dignified in black with very good barrel transparency. At 5¹³/32" capped and 6¹/32" posted, it’s just a trifle longer than the “ordinary” Triumph models. it has a rigid broad nib that is quite nice as nails go. Sheaffer made the Crest only in the Jet Black and Golden Brown Striated colors.

Draw, Pardner!

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In 1960, Parker introduced its first cartridge pen, the superb 45. A mainstay of Parker’s line from its début and continuing into the 21st century, the 45 appeared first, with a gold nib, as a $5.00 pen — but since that time it has worn more colors and trim variations than any other Parker pen. Based on a design that Eversharp was working on when bought out by Parker in 1957, the 45 received its numerical designation at a time when the American public was fascinated with TV Westerns. As easy to load as a Colt .45, according to Parker, the pen was christened the 45 to emphasize that feature. The 45 also features a user-interchangeable nib unit that simply screws into the nose of the gripping section.

My first 45, in Vermilion, has a brushed stainless steel cap, gold-plated furniture, and a medium 14K gold nib, and it is 5³/8" capped and 5⁹/16" posted. It writes very smoothly.

Next, also 5³/8" capped and 5²³/32" posted, is a 45 Insigia, with gold-filled cap and barrel. Its medium 14K nib is wet, smooth, and entirely delightful.

At 5³/8" capped and 5³¹/32" posted, my third 45 is a Brocade in what looks like rhodium-plated sterling but may be chrome-plated steel. With a fine 14K nib, it's very formal. As a lady’s pen, however, it might not be something a manly man would want to carry.

In 1964 Parker figured out how to make plastic caps very economically, and the result was the Arrow, a 45-based pen with its name imprinted on it. The imprint didn't survive long, and the Arrow quickly became a 45 CT. My pen is 5³/8" capped and 5¹¹/16" posted, and it came to me with a nice 14K fine nib. I don’t know whether it left Janesville with this nib, but who am I to complain?

Neve a company to miss a bet, Parker continued to capitalize on its Flighter trim by decking out the 45 with a stainless steel barrel. The 45 Flighter appeared with chrome furniture or, as on my Deluxe Flighter, gold-plated furniture. Like pretty much every 45 made, this pen is 5³/8" capped, but the metal barrel lengthens its posted size to 5²⁷/32". It has a fine 14K nib.

1967 saw the advent of the Parker 45 Coronet, which was finished in matte metallic colors. My Lime Green U.S.-made Coronet came back to these shores from Europe via the kindness of a generous friend. It’s a very sweet example of the 45, and it’s about the usual size at 5¹¹/32" capped and 5¹³/16" posted. Its fine steel nib is quite nice.

Some of the coolest 45s weren’t made in the U.S.A — or even sold here. One of these was the “Harlequin” version, made in England and offered in two colors and two patterns for a total of four variants. My “Harlequin” is in the Gray Shield pattern. It’s 5³/8" capped and 5¹³/16" posted, and it’s fitted with a smooth English extra-broad nib.

The last gasp of the venerable 45 came with the introduction, in the late 1990s, of the 45 Special GT. This version featured a newly designed streamlined clip and a black cabochon to finish off the profile of the cap; otherwise, the pen remained unchanged. My red pen, purchased from Europe, is 5⁷/16" capped and 5²⁵/32" posted, and it’s fitted with a gold plated medium steel nib.

While selling the 45 under its own marque, Parker also kept the Eversharp name going with a less costly version of the pen that it dubbed the Challenger. This bargain instrument had the same “guts” as a 45, but its externals were trimmed down a little; the barrel/section joint ring is gone, and the cap is bright chrome with a simple tab-attached clip, of the type Eversharp was using at its demise, instead of the famous Parker washer clip. Mine has a fine steel nib, and despite its being a “cheapie,” I like it. At 5¹¹/32" capped and 5⁹/16" posted, it is a tiny bit shorter than the 45 itself.

Dip, Write… Dip, Write…

Before there were fountain pens, the primary writing instrument was the dip pen. Even after the invention of fountain pens that were more or less (mostly less) reliable, the dip pen held sway for many years. Today, dip pens find their greatest utility in the hands of people who have espoused the elegant round handwriting styles of the 18th and 19th centuries. My interest in dip pens was piqued as a result of several requests to straighten sprung or creased dip nibs. It turns out that these pens are quite wonderful.

My first dip pen is an E. S. Johnson Nº 2 retractable lady’s pen, 4²¹/32" retracted and 5⁷/8" extended. The barrel’s small indicia bears an imprinted 2, possibly to ensure that a low-paid factory worker would install the correct Nº 2 nib. (Mine is gently flexible.) The taper appears to be abalone shell.

Next is an Aikin Lambert Nº 7, 6⁷/8" long, with a nib so incredibly delicate that it responds to a feather touch — this is a thoroughly lovely pen!

At 8" in length including the steel pen, this Victorian wood-and-brass pen holder is typical of the pens that average clerks would have used back in the day. (Not everyone could afford the more elegant pens shown above.) The steel pen in this holder is a Sherwood Falcon.

“Gender Specific” Wasn’t a Dirty Word in the 1950s

Nib Info

As might be expected, when you have a good thing you try to use it to its fullest advantage. The Triumph nib was one such good thing for Sheaffer, and the company extended its use into the 1970s (and revived it in the 1990s). In the late 1950s, Sheaffer launched a series of cartridge-only pens called “Skripsert”; the line included several clipless pens, the Lady Skripsert models, that were unapologetically intended for women only. The Skripsert pens are almost identical in size to the “TRIUMPH” models that started the whole Triumph nib thing a decade and a half earlier.

The men’s Skripsert featured a chrome-plated cap and came in two trim versions, one with a chrome-plated clip and a PdAg nib, the other with a gold-plated clip and a 14K nib. My Fern Green Skripsert pen is the latter version, a Skripsert Deluxe. This pen is 5³/8" capped and 5²⁷/32" posted, and its 14K nib is a smooth Fine.

The Lady Sheaffer Skripsert pens feature “feminine” engraved decoration such as enamels with engraved gold-tone lines or the brushed gold-tone “crushed chicken wire” pattern on my Lady Sheaffer XII. (Sheaffer referred to this pattern as Tulle.) This was before “Women’s Lib,” and nobody thought twice about it. Although they do not bear the White Dot, some of the Lady Sheaffer pens were priced higher than many White Dot models. At 5¹³/32" capped and 5²⁷/32" posted, my Lady Sheaffer is a delight to write with; it has a really sweet rigid medium 14K nib.

© 2008 Richard F. Binder

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