1936 Sheaffer Balance 500 Lever-filler *SOLD* ($100 US)

THIS PEN HAS SOLD!

Today’s dead fountain pen on the slab is ready for resurrection. It’s a mid-1930s to late 1930s Sheaffer Balance Lever Filler.

It's in this beautiful striated amber color, and it has a lot of wear and age to it. And before I look at what this pen needs to be resurrected, I'll briefly talk about the history of the Sheaffer Balance. This is a revolutionary pen design. I know many of you will say, "Well, all pens look like this." Well, they didn't always look like this. Pens before 1929 were mostly cylindrical flat top and flat-bottomed fountain pens. But then in 1929, Sheaffer introduced this streamlined balance fountain pen, which was revolutionary for its shape, lightness, and balance in the hand. Suffice it to say that this pen shape has lasted ever since. All you have to do is look at a modern Waterman Carene next to the Sheaffer balance, and you'll see what I mean. It was also one of the first pen companies to use celluloid and stacked celluloid on its fountain pens. Of course, Parker and other companies were doing the same around the same time, but the Balance is renowned as the first streamlined pen back when streamlining was quite a thing. The Sheaffer Balance was made between 1929 and 1942, when the model was phased out in favor of the Sheaer Triumph with that famous conical nib.

THOUGHTS

They sneak up on you, these old pens! I thought this one would be simple, so I picked it out because I had limited time this week. I figured I could just replace the sack, polish it up, and we’d be good to go. However, this one presented a few challenges. The nib turned out to be beautiful, though. If that nib had given me trouble, this would have been a lengthy resurrection. This particular pen is 90 years old, and the sections on Sheaffer balances were made of celluloid, not ebonite like many other lever fillers and Parkers. Ebonite sections tend to be a bit more robust.

Sheaffer used celluloid here because it’s translucent, so you can see your ink levels when they’re low. You can see through the amberish celluloid, and now you can see that it’s full of ink. However, after years of having dead ink in there, the celluloid has darkened significantly, and I couldn’t remove all the ink stains. I’m not sure how well the ink view window will work in the future.

The nipple at the end of the section was causing the issues, so I built it up slowly and let it cure for quite a while. I must warn you not to use CA glue or crazy glue on celluloid, as it eats it. I was aware that CA glue would eat into the celluloid, but I applied it layer by layer, hoping to build it up to strengthen the entire piece. If I had used CA glue here, it would have eaten away at the finish, leaving only bare celluloid. So, be very careful. CA glue or crazy glue and celluloid don’t mix. However, it actually helped me restore this pen from being dead.

I put a slightly oversized sack on that section so that it would not pose any more stress on that fragile nipple that was in there. And if that sack needs replacing in the future, it should be salvageable heating that section off because that's just shellac and replacing the sack on top of the restored nipple. I never thought I'd do a YouTube video where I was restoring nipples, and it was G-rated. But that's the case here.

The rest of the pen is a joy to behold. It’s simply beautiful. That golden brown, striped celluloid polishes up to a stunning chatoyant lustre. The big surprise here is this clip. It looked incredibly awful and corroded. In fact, I just received another Sheaffer balance moments ago, and it has even worse corrosion on that clip. However, I’m hopeful this one will end up looking like the one I have. This one is the 875, which isn’t a model number, but rather a price tag of $8.75, from the mid-1930s. It features the Schaefer White Dot, which was the lifetime warranty. I doubt Sheaffer will honour that warranty today, but I’ll see if I can remove the corrosion and make the clip look just like the one I have. It was very satisfying to restore it to its original, beautiful lustre.

Since this is a fragile fountain pen, I want to make sure anyone purchasing it understands it’s a feather touch—an extra fine nib. I’m using no weight on this pen at all. You can push it a bit if you want, but I wouldn’t put it in your purse or briefcase and jostle it around town. It’s 90 years old and delicate.

So, I’m pricing it accordingly. If you’re interested in buying this fountain pen, I’m selling it for $100 US plus shipping. To purchase, contact me via email at inkquiringminds@gmail.com with your name and address. I’ll provide you with a shipping quote and instructions on how to pay via PayPal. Of course, patron members receive a 20% discount, while regular members get a 10% discount.

That’s it! If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. Don’t forget to ring the bell for instant notifications whenever I post a new video. You can join my channel as a member for just 99 cents a month. Patron-level members pay $5 a month. As a patron, you’ll get cool emojis, badges, sneak peek unboxing videos, and early access to my videos the moment I post them. This way, you’ll be the first to know about these restorations before everyone else.

And that just leaves it for me to say thank you for watching.

And that's all she wrote.

I made this