Sheaffer Snorkel
1952-58
About This Model
Introduced in 1952 as a successor to the Touchdown Thin Model and using the Touchdown pneumatic filling mechanism, the Snorkel was Sheaffer’s dominant model during the 1950’s. Because it was the ‘50’s, when no amount of American engineering was enough American engineering, the Snorkel added a mechanism to the Touchdown filler that extends a very narrow filling tube (“Snorkel”) into the ink bottle, with the intention of keeping the nib and feed clean during filling. Although I’ve never succeeded in filling one without actually immersing the nib, it’s a little exciting to see the snorkel appear from behind the nib. Snorkels either come with an open palladium nib or Sheaffer’s Triumph conical nib, and they're usually wonderful writers. Like most Sheaffer models, Snorkels came in a wide variety of colors and models, but they were all the same size, 5 1/2” long and just under 7/16” thick.
About This Pen
This Sheaffer Snorkel is in very nice condition, have apparently received relatively light use. Its burgundy plastic body and cap are almost unmarked, excepting a few smallish scratches from posting just below the blind cap. Happily, there are no toothmarks on this Snorkel; for some reason one sees them more frequently on Snorkels. The Snorkel/Touchdown filler is quite strong. Note that this is the Snorkel Saratoga (Sheaffer arcana warning!!), the third of thirteen model levels, and is recognized for its all-plastic body, gold-filled clip and 1/4″ cap ring, and the absence of the white dot. Its nib is probably its original nib, since its F3 label matches the Saratoga’s description of the nib it came with (another arcana warning!), the 3 denoting a 14K two-toned palladium masked open nib, and it’s a fine. It does indeed write a Snorkel-typical fine, firm, fast line. Really nice pen, be sure to fill it in front of people who don’t know what it does!
Price: $80 Sold