Pen Model: Sheaffer PFM

In 1959, when the Snorkel was discontinued, Sheaffer released a new pen called the PFM, the Pen For Men, based on the Snorkel and with its filling mechanism, but shorter (5.4″ long), and thicker (just under .5″ below the cap lip and the cap is broader), and with Sheaffer’s elegant inlaid diamond-shaled nib. PFMs were designed to be a bit exclusive, were expensive and never available in quantity, so are not often seen now. Sheaffer was always good at transitions, and the PFM was a brilliant example: using a very successful filling mechanism to bridge to the next appearance, that of the 1960s Imperials. The Imperials were Touchdown fillers, so without the Snorkel mechanism, but the PFM was the forerunner. Sheaffer was in active transition during the PFM’s run, and its models, of which there were 8, had shrunk to 2 by 1963. It was withdrawn by 1968, having been superceded by the Imperials.