ARCAMAX Sheaffer Triumph Imperial arrived today

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen. Nice colour. Quite
good writer so far.

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To me, a Triumph
means a nib that is, well, bent backwards at the tip. If so, this
isn't a triumph.

Nonetheless, this is a nice Sheaffer. And a heck of deal for $10.

Am I wrong about the Triumph nib?

http://arcamax.com/cgi-bin/shop?cat=...&offer=cs11418

From: (morten)

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To me, a Triumph
means a nib that is, well, bent backwards at the tip. If so, this
isn't a triumph.

The triumph nib used to mean the nib that encircled the feed. This pen has an
inlaid nib. Perhaps Sheaffer changed the meaning of the name Triumph?

(morten) wrote:

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen. Nice colour.
Quite good writer so far.

Did it come with a medium nib?

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To me, a
Triumph means a nib that is, well, bent backwards at the tip.
If so, this isn't a triumph.
[...]
Am I wrong about the Triumph nib?

| The Triumph Imperial was introduced in 1995 as a more premium
| line to the all plastic cartridge Imperials being made into the
| 1990s. These pens featured the larger inlaid nib, similar to the
| Lifetime, with a long straight tab. Nibs were stainless steel,
| and depending on the model, either plain or gold electroplated.

http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/SheafferInlaidNibs.htm

--
Steve

My e-mail address works as is.

(morten) writes:

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen. Nice colour.
Quite good writer so far.

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To me, a Triumph
means a nib that is, well, bent backwards at the tip. If so, this
isn't a triumph.

Nonetheless, this is a nice Sheaffer. And a heck of deal for $10.

Am I wrong about the Triumph nib?

The so-called Triumph nib was a conical-shaped nib. Some of them had
a recurve and some did not- I have examples of both in several
different models (plunger fillers, fat Touchdowns, TM Touchdowns and
Snorkels).

The nib used on your pen is reminiscent of the inlaid nib introduced
in the PFM (Pen For Men) in the early 60's; I presume Sheaffer just
resurrected the Triumph name as a "model name" and used it with the
inlaid nib, rather than reintroducing the conical Triumph nib. Didn't
Sheaffer use the conical nib in the 80's with the Crest pens?

There is so much confusion and misuse of "Triumph" that I prefer not to
use it at all to describe a nib. Per TM's lead, I use the terms
"conical" and "inlaid." I am not sure if these terms are correct, but I
have never run into anyone who didn't know exactly what I meant when I
used them. BTW, yes, Sheaffer's Crest had a conical nib -- I have one
in that brown swirly plastic and it has a B nib and it's a sweetheart of
a pen, a real paint brush. And I also have a blue-swirl one with an EF
nib that's just as high quality. Man, Sheaffer really still knew how to
make fountain pens back then, even at that relatively-late date.

Stephen Hust wrote in message ...
(morten) wrote:

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen. Nice colour.
Quite good writer so far.

Did it come with a medium nib?

Yes, a medium.

Indeed, Tim;

Sheaffer reintroduced the Triumph nib in the late eighties with the
contemporary Crest, and there was the homage from Classic Pens to early
Crests with the CP2 Sheaffer'S Crest Pushkin Pen in the nineties.

But they hadn't the primorous manufacture of the Crests from the 40s.

Is said (and I believe in these "legends") that Sheaffer in the 80s had
lost the skill to manufacture the Triumph nib (more than possible) and
that the nib units were NOS newly imprinted, with the nib assembly was
not-so-tight fitted as was desirable. Just take a vintage and a
contemporary Crest and compare them.

BTW, the CP2 nib assembly (Nib, feed, section) has as better fit, and is
the real heir of the 40's Crest.

Nicholas


"Tim McNamara" escribió en el mensaje
...
(morten) writes:

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen. Nice colour.
Quite good writer so far.

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To me, a Triumph
means a nib that is, well, bent backwards at the tip. If so, this
isn't a triumph.

Nonetheless, this is a nice Sheaffer. And a heck of deal for $10.

Am I wrong about the Triumph nib?

The so-called Triumph nib was a conical-shaped nib. Some of them had
a recurve and some did not- I have examples of both in several
different models (plunger fillers, fat Touchdowns, TM Touchdowns and
Snorkels).

The nib used on your pen is reminiscent of the inlaid nib introduced
in the PFM (Pen For Men) in the early 60's; I presume Sheaffer just
resurrected the Triumph name as a "model name" and used it with the
inlaid nib, rather than reintroducing the conical Triumph nib. Didn't
Sheaffer use the conical nib in the 80's with the Crest pens?

Q.H. writes

There is so much confusion and misuse of "Triumph" that I prefer not
to use it at all to describe a nib. Per TM's lead, I use the terms
"conical" and "inlaid."

Bad done, that nib is worldwide known as the Triumph, so why changing
it's name ?

In Spanish, Triunfo, that has an entry in our dictionary as "clase de
punto de pluma estilográfica introducida por la compañía estadounidense
Sheaffer en lo años 40", that translates to English as "Fountain Pen
Nib type introduced by the US based Company Sheaffer in the 40s".

How will you rename the "open" and "inlaid" nibs then ?

Perhaps "traditional" and "sheafferian-two" ?
Or better, "pre-triumph" and "contemporary-to and post-triumph" ?

Or just call the Triumph for his nickname, - 1st issued in a 1944 add
and published worldwide - the "Radial Writing Engine" ?

Being a accurate collector means not only to accumulate pens, but to
know from whom, how and when they came. And how they work. I'm talking
about memorabilia, adds, catalogs, manufacturer bulletins, salesmen
stuff and so on, a more interesting source than some "comprehensive
collector books from experts X or Y" that only confuses the medium rated
collectors mind.

For more clarification, you can read the substantially accurate articles
by site owners John Mamoulides at www.penhero.com and Richard Binder at
www.richardspens.com , or in a more sentimental side, my article
published in the 2002 Sheaffer'S devoted PENnant issue available online
at the PCA site www.pencollectors.com

(An enthusiastic institutional call he "Join PCA, the International
club for pen collectors !")

Tell that you have a Sheaffer pen with a conical nib to a Sheaffer
collector and you'll get a Nuts ! or What the hell ! in answer.

The only confusion exists with the contemporary Sheaffer Imperials
renamed Triumph Imperials in the worst decission of Sheaffer'S
marketeers.

Obviously, there is no confussion for people who collects vintage pens,
IMHO the real collectors, as contemporary pens are 1) Not reliable cheap
designs or 2) "Artistic objects" with no capability for writing, and 3)
Investor Jewels that lost their value when touched, and more, of course,
when inked
;-D

With two or three honourable exceptions.

In fact, I vote for conitinuing with the "Triumph" name for the 1942
"new" Sheaffer nib, that has been so called for more than 60 years.

Nicholas

Madrid, Spain

Well, that $10 bargain arrived today. Nice pen.
Nice colour. Quite good writer so far.

Nice yes, they are NOS from the late nineties. The inlaid nib is
essentially a good writer, steel or gold, reliable and with some flex.

But... it was advertised as a Triumph Imperial. To
me, a Triumph means a nib that is, well, bent
backwards at the tip. If so, this isn't a triumph.

This pen nomenclature is a lack of the newbie (in the late nineties,
they had time to ammend this error but they didn't) PR and S Sheaffer'S
Depts.
Mixed the legendary Triumph name that only belongs to the nib introduced
by Sheaffer in 1942 with the then bad selling late Imperials, as to
produce an impression of best quality. But what they had was confused
consumers and the new Imperial Triumphs hadn't the expected sales
success.


Am I wrong about the Triumph nib?


http://arcamax.com/cgi-bin/shop?cat=...013210&cpg=1&o
ffer=cs11418

No, you're right, these pens had the inlaid nib, also introduced by
Sheaffer with the Pen For Men in 1959.

Note that Sheaffer's introduced the two most innovative nibs ever
produced; before 1942 there only were "traditional" "open" nibs (the 51
nib although covered with the shell is open); after 1942, there were
Open and Triumph nibs, after 1959, Open, Triumph and Inlaid nibs.

And thanks for spelling Sheaffer in the right way.

Nicholas

I do not dispute any of your facts, and BTW I have a well-worn copy of
Lambrou's "Fountain Pens Vintage and Modern" as well as several other
vintage-pen books and am no stranger to The Pennant. Yes, the serious
collectors will know what a Triumph nib is. But *many* people I come in
contact with don't; however, say "conical nib, not regular nib" to them
and they instantly know what I'm talking about. These people do not
have the depth of knowledge that you have, and just "want to get on with
it" so to speak. You would laugh out loud if I were to repeat some of
the conversations I've had with casual pen owners WRT Sheaffer pen
models and nib types, conversations that would put Marx Brothers
dialogue to shame.

It is not my intent to force the use of "conical nib" on anyone
especially having admitted in my last post as to my uncertainty of its
correctness other than in description of a particular Sheaffer nib's
general type/profile, just telling you all what has worked well for me
as an alias for a pen part.

BTW, we fight the same "that's not what it's called" battles frequently
in the equine and firearms worlds, and there too I generally use terms
that'll get my meaning across quick to the people I'm dealing with,
sometimes to the chagrin of the purists. For example, get some serious
horse haulers together and there'll be blood in the street soon after
the debate starts about "hitch" versus "receiver." But not mine -- I'll
already have picked a term and accomplished my communication with
whoever I'm advising on a horse trailer by the time the ambulances have
shown up for the other guys.