1936-42 Lady Sheaffer Balance Vac-Fil Set *SOLD* ($175 US)
THIS PEN HAS BEEN SOLD!
Hello there, and welcome to Inkquiring Minds. My name is Doug, and I'm back with another Pen Resurrection Sunday video.
Today on the slab, ready for resurrection to the land of the living and writing, is a Sheaffer Balance 875 from roughly 1936 to 1942 (these weren't dated precisely). It comes in a gorgeous golden brown striped celluloid and features a two-toned 14-karat gold Lifetime nib.
This fountain pen is part of a matching pen and pencil set, both deeply engraved with the name "Elenor"—so we’ll be calling this pen Eleanor from here on out.
THOUGHTS
So, what are my thoughts on this pen resurrection? After tuning the nib, it writes beautifully—smooth, wet, and extra fine at a precise 0.25 mm.
This turned out to be the longest pen resurrection out of the 179 episodes I’ve produced, both in video length and total turnaround time since starting on September 14th. About 10 days of that was simply waiting for parts to arrive from Pen Tooling—a great shipping time, actually. Special thanks to Dale Beebe at Pen Tooling for the excellent service!
This was my third time using the Nathan Tardiff and Ron Zorn method for Sheaffer Vac seal repair. (For those unfamiliar, Nathan Tardiff is the founder of Noodler's Inks, and Ron Zorn operates Main Street Pens out of Western Pennsylvania as one of the world's preeminent vintage pen restorers.) The second time I tried this method, I struggled to control the amount of acetone on the plastic disc. This time, while I had a much better application technique, I had a bit of a brain fart and accidentally used methyl hydrate instead of acetone!
After a few hours of nothing happening, I realized my mistake: I removed the O-ring and plastic disc, then started over with the correct solvent. This time, it worked like a charm. Using the right ingredients from the start really is half the battle!
I've also done some research on this pen and pencil set. A page from the 1941 Sheaffer catalogue shows this exact set (catalogue code KALUD). It's a Lady Sheaffer short slender Balance vacuum-fill in golden brown, originally priced at $12.25 USD (roughly $280 today). The pen itself is marked 875 ($8.75) and the pencil 350 ($3.50).
Speaking of the pencil, it polished up beautifully and works like a dream with 0.9 mm lead. The original pink pearl eraser was completely gone and petrified, so after reaming it out, I fitted a modern white vinyl eraser cut to size (the 5 mm refills used in electric erasers). I’ll be including five of these refills with the set!
So, there is Eleanor—the third Sheaffer vac-filler I’ve restored using the Tardiff-Zorn technique. While the specialized tools and parts cost far more than this set is worth, like my Parker Vacumatic extractor tool, it's an investment in future restorations.
To help offset that investment, this fully restored 1936–1942 Lady Sheaffer Short Slender Balance Vac-Fil Set is available for $175 USD plus shipping (well below its equivalent modern value). If you'd like to purchase it, please email me with your name and address for a shipping quote and PayPal instructions!
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Thank you so much for watching!
And that's all she wrote.
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