NOS 1952 Sheaffer 'Snorkel' Fountain Pen & Pencel Set

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You are viewing or potentially bidding on... (1) Vintage 'New Old Stock' 1952 Sheaffer 'Snorkel' Fountain Pen & Pencil set This particular Sheaffer Set is extremely unique and very collectible! Background In 1952 Sheaffer introduced the Snorkel pen line, which is recognized today as one of the most complex filling mechanisms ever made. The pen was supported with a heavy advertising campaign, proclaiming its clean "dunk free" filling and ease of use. Sheaffer's early advertisements focus on the filling system, often showing the Snorkel extended and comparing it with hummingbirds or straws to get the point across. Later in the 1950s Sheaffer enlisted celebrities to sell the pen: famous actors such as Jackie Gleason, sports figures such as Jack Dempsey, and cartoonists such as Al Capp.The Snorkel is essentially a redesigned and more advanced Touchdown system that uses a thin filling tube that extends and retracts from underneath the nib in the front of the feed, allowing the pen to be filled without getting the nib wet, and tfore avoiding wiping and contact with ink. In the early 1950s, with ballpoint pens rapidly eating away at fountain pen sales, this was an attempt to make the pen competitive with ballpoints in the ease of refilling department.Sheaffer made a big point of this in early advertising, explaining, "Since fountain pens were first invented, the mess and bother of filling has been a prime objection. Sheaffer's new Snorkel pen is the first real answer to the problem. Instead of "dunking" the point and barrel, only the filling tube touches the ink. It extends to draw in the fluid and withdraws when the pen is filled, leaving the point and barrel clean and free of ink."Other manufacturers, such as Parker and Waterman, tried capillary systems to simplify filling for the dawn of the ballpoint age. The Snorkel pens were the most successful and are very commonly found today, often in working condition. Sheaffer adapted the existing Thin Model or TM line, introduced in 1950, to the Snorkel by lengthening the pen to accommodate the longer filling mechanism, and continued the use of the TM model names in advertising, tying the new pen to the existing and established Touchdown line, which further derived many of its model names from the lever and Vacuum-Fill pens of the 1940s. Sheaffer dropped the "TM" from advertising about two years after introduction of the Snorkel, calling the line simply "Sheaffer's Snorkel Pen" thenceforth. Collectors refer to them both ways.An interesting side item, pointed out by Sam Marshall, who has done very extensive research on the Snorkel line, is that the advertising materials don't consistently match the service manuals on these pens. For example, color names aren't always the same nor are all model names. The Crest and Sentinel are so named in advertisements and catalogs, but are called Crest Deluxe and Sentinel Deluxe in service manuals.Sheaffer also continued the use of injection molded solid color plastics, and continued the use of polished stainless and gold plated metal caps on many models. The plastic colors are commonly in black and 1950s pastel ranges, including burgundy, pastel green, aqua (blue) and gray. During the life of Snorkel production additional colors in more limited numbers were made, including buckskin tan (often confused with pink), fiesta red (a bright red), and mandarin orange. Reports of yellow or white are rumored, but not corroborated. Details on the colors offered by pen model follow below. This color detail information was greatly completed in "Snorkels and PFMs" by Sam Marshall, The PENnant, Summer 2002. Some later models appear with sections in the same color as the barrel. A clear demonstrator was also made for salespeople to show how the pen worked.Sheaffer was very clever in creating and marketing the new pen. All Snorkels are essentially the same on the inside, but by adopting different nibs, caps and barrels, Sheaffer was able to create a host of models and color combinations. All models have the spi... read more

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