Sheaffer Gregg
1930s
About This Model
Since the beginning, the biggest fountain pen manufacturers all operated sub-brands, most likely to maintain a market presence at all levels without harming the main product line. During the Depression years, having sub-brands to promote was critically important to support cash flow without cutting the top lines’ prices. Sheaffer had numerous sub-brands over the years, including WASP, Vacuum, Vacfill, Univer, Craig, and Fineline, and their pens covered a wide range from lower quality, to school pens, to Balance quality parts.
About This Pen
The 1930s were the height of the Gregg shorthand method’s growth, and Waterman, Wahl-Eversharp, Sheaffer, and Esterbrook all joined the chase with branded items. For Esterbrook, it was their 1555 nib; for the others, pens branded with the Gregg name and a Gregg licensed cap crown. This pen is Sheaffer’s entry from the late 1930s. It is 5” long and slim for the presumably female hand, with Sheaffer’s flattened humped clip and Balance lever. Like the others, it is in black celluloid, largely unadorned except for the crown. The pen is very clean, unmarked by significant scratch or blemish; the Gregg crown is complete and brightly colored. Its nib is the correct Sheaffer 3, and, as one would expect in a Gregg pen, it writes a wet extra fine, and it’s a fast writer!
This pen is not for sale.