Cap Banditry. Hunting Off-Catalogue  Sheaffer Balance Cap-Bands  COVER SHOT


Sheaffer’s 1929-1941 Balance is a classic collectable pen.  Company documentation for this series is amongst the best available for any period pen,  and we are blessed today with at least  nine  catalogues,  with  key company brochures,  and with innumerable advertisements.  Collectors  thus have a legitimately strong sense of  Balance’s  catalogued (and more broadly, documented) range.  Off-catalogue variants are known, pens in particular with special cap-bands;  this perhaps should not surprise us, given that the  series  was successful, long running and of high quality, with a large model range, manufactured by a major player  involved in many markets.   Such pens spice the collecting cholent  no doubt.  Balances with special cap-band styles  offer challenges  to collectors which  include: identifying available variants, understanding  their purpose(s)  in the Sheaffer continuum,  assessing rarity and cachet, and- no doubt- acquiring pens for personal collections.  Here, we will address the first three challenges, within the context of catalogued typical variants.  Regarding the fourth challenge, I fear you will have to hunt on your own for the actual pens; some secrets stay with me.


Period Sheaffer catalogues show each  Balance  variant with  a single smooth cap-band, done either chrome plated, gold-filled, or solid-gold,  the band’s   size  and composition  dependent on each  pen’s tier-- its position  in the Balance  hierarchy.  Known off-catalogue cap-band findings include: a)  patterned non-single (double or triple) cap-bands,  b) patterned single extra-wide (lined and fish-scale)  cap-bands, c) smooth but unusually wide (or narrow)  single cap-bands,   and  d) solid gold cap-bands of typical size found on pen colors (and even other series)  not catalogued with solid gold  trim, essentially “special-color”  Autograph pens.   I suspect pens from  first two categories  (patterned cap-bands)  served a different purpose than did the  special color Autograph pens and pens with  cap-bands simply extra wide or narrow. 

IMAGE 1. TYPICAL CAP-BANDS with CAPTION

Special clips are found on  special cap-band pens,  at least  on those from the  era of the flat-ball clip, supporting the notion that affected pens  were dedicated products and not just  simple  cap-band upgrades.  For catalogued pens the  full-ball  clip of 1929-1934 then the flat-ball clip from 1934-1935 (used through 1941 on lower tier pens) were imprinted “Sheaffer’s”, unlike the smooth radius clip used on higher tier pens from 1935 onward.  The catalogued exception was the solid-gold-trim Autograph line, which had smooth (no “Sheaffer’s” imprint)  full-ball and then flat-ball clips during the appropriate eras.  While the earliest special cap-band pens--  those with full-ball clip-- had typical clips, by mid-late 1934 with the start of the flat-ball clip era,  pens with off-catalogue cap-bands  gained  smooth clips, done thus  in the style (but not the solid gold metal) of Autograph.  Even late (1937-1941)  striated color  pens of the lower lines (still with flat-ball not radius clip) when found with off-catalogue cap-bands have smooth unimprinted clips.

When confronted by uncatalogued and/or otherwise anomalous  pens,  collectors variably invoke-- or perhaps retreat to-- a series of words that taken in their entirety can account for nearly any strange finding.  A rapid fire sequence passes through the gray matter:  “Prototype”, “Experiment”, “Frankenpen/Mixture”, “Transitional”, “Lunchtime Special”,  “Niche Market” (eg. specific promotion, store, region or season), and “Special Order”.  Some terms inherently are ambiguous.   Some lend themselves to grandiose  use, allowing the owner of said pen to embrace undue puffery.  Some are well overused today.   Most-- even if  ultimately accurate  for specific pens-- do not lend themselves to easy proof.    Fortunately, we  readily can dismiss several from subsequent consideration.

That  the double band, the  triple band,  and the wide non-smooth bands were used for years argues overwhelmingly against prototype or experimental goals and argues against the infamous lunchtime special notion,  the idea that factory line workers with too much time on their hands created anomalies just… because.  While caps, barrels and nibs  often can be mixed inappropriately by collectors, mixes  cannot  explain  the very existence of pens with these  cap-bands, as no potential donor pens exist; too there is huge  physical  challenge to swapping  cap-bands .  We are left it seems with the concepts of  niche market and of special order.  Niche markets might have included the annual  holiday season,  a particular geographic region,  a category of store or even a particular store chain, thus explaining  the  very low prevalence double, triple, and fish scale cap-bands  and the merely  relatively uncommon  lined “jewelers” cap-bands.

Special order/special purpose notions  go a long way to explain  smooth but  extra wide or unexpectedly narrow cap-bands as well as the findings of solid-gold (Autograph) trim on special color pens and even on Sheaffer pen-pencil Combos. Customers (end users) could have requested special variants, perhaps from special order lists lost to history.  Pens meant for awards or for advertising might have had special features.  Most of this of course is speculative, but it is a start, and it provides context for further discussion.



The collector-named  Jeweler’s cap-band-- single,  extra wide, with  milled (lined) pattern-- overwhelmingly is the most commonly found off-catalogue cap-band; it is the one for which the most available (though still quite sparse) Sheaffer documentation exists.  Whilst a   detailed treatment of the Jeweler’s cap-band would warrant a dedicated article, we can cover the basics and explore a couple quirks. Along with several other patterns, it makes its first appearance perhaps as early as  mid-late 1934,  as it is found on Gray Pearl #1 (gray-red) and Ebonized Pearl pens with flat-ball clip, the flat-ball clip first mentioned by Sheaffer in August 1934. It is found on all subsequent colors and even appears on the 1941 military-clip Balance, giving a 1934-1941 run.

It is found in two sizes, the narrower (which lacks cartouche for personalization)  generally associated with the  lower couple Balance tiers particularly with pens of slender size. The wider variant (with cartouche) is far more prevalent today, and is found on pens of all three diameters, generally of the top two tiers, sometimes with features that blur the lines that separate Balance’s typical catalogued models/tiers.

Consider the Sheaffer Balance Mercury,  a Jeweler’s cap-band pen,  one  of very few for which we have an actual model name.  Mercury is not merely the result of  a cap-band upgrade to a typical model.  This late-era Balance is  full length and  slender, lacks  the top-tier White Dot and  features  the  late era Radius clip common to the top  two Balance tiers  ( those with Lifetime or Feathertouch nibs).   Mercury-- save for the fancy cap-band-- would seem  then to have a classic/typical 2nd tier cap (Radius Clip, non White Dot)  save that no 2nd tier pen with regular cap-band in fact  ever was catalogued in this particular size.   Long Slender pens were  catalogued with radius clip but only then with  the White Dot, as the  first tier Balance Sovereign. The other catalogued long slender pens from this era are the non-radius clip  third tier Craftsman (non White Dot, flat-ball clip) and the low-line Junior.   That Balance Mercury, even ignoring the special cap-band,  has special  and off catalogue cap features demonstrates Sheaffer’s special intent for this pen. .  Special model name. Special cap-band. Special additional cap features.



Too, during  this era all catalogued radius-clip pens  without White Dot had the Feathertouch #5 two-tone nib, yet the long/slender  Mercury along with  its short/slender sister, Diana, have lower tier  #3 nibs.  With respect specifically  to clip vs nib,  these two pens thus blend typical features from both second and third tier Balances. Far too many are found with this feature mix to explain away the nib as aftermarket collector swaps.


The very scarce  double decorative (double deco) cap-band appears on pens from ~1931 through at least 1938, possibly through the end of Balance’s run in 1941.   Pocket pens so far are wholly undocumented, but a single bit of Sheaffer literature does show this band pattern on the barrel of  a desk pen , appearing in Sheaffer’s  October 1931  Retailer's Review, in a section targeting sales by… jewelry shops.  Pens are found starting with  early colors  including Black-and-Pearl  and the first Marine Green  (mottled). All the  Black-and-Pearl full length pens I’ve seen  so far  have normal length barrels, not the extra-long barrels found with very first  of the early-era Balances from 1929-30.  The full-ball clips, matched as expected to pens with  early-era colors, are  of the typical catalogued “Sheaffer’s”-imprinted  sort.  Special smooth (no “Sheaffer’s” imprint)  flat-ball clips are found in  the 1934-1935 flat-ball clip era.  Once the radius clip took over in 1935 for the upper two tiers, if any of these were released in lower-tier trim (which still would have flat-ball clip), I’d expect to find smooth flat-ball clips for them.

Their absolute rarity  limits discussion of relative rarity among different colors,  given that  fewer than ten of these  are widely known in most colors, counting all the known great collections, save-- perhaps-- for the mottled Marine Green,  which in my experience  is the most prevalent color with this cap-band.  Though tending to be an early to middle era finding, in fact the double cap-band survives into the late Balance era and has turned up on radius clip pens done in striated colors.  I know of a grand total of two late color  pens amongst numerous possible  sizes, colors and trim tiers.  I own a standard size striated Marine Green pen and have seen image of a slender striated Gray Pearl pen. Rare, baby.

Triple decorative (triple deco) cap-band pens (thin-fat-thin) seem to be-- all told-- more scarce than the double cap-band pens, though limited sample again  muddies that assessment. I’ve seen none on Marine Green, Black/Pearl, and Blue pens, and the  earliest pens date to mid-late 1934, found with flat-ball clip on  the first Gray Pearl (gray with red veins) and on Ebonized Pearl.  All flat-ball clip pens have the special smooth clip.  This pattern did make it to the late (striated plastic) era, appearing on at least one brown oversized pen, a color which in general ran 1937-1941, yielding a production run  for this style cap-band  of 1934 to 1937+. I’ve seen just one pen in striated plastic.
















Perhaps more scarce than the double cap-band though seemingly a bit  less rare than the patterned  triple cap-band is the extra wide patterned  single band called fish-scale by collectors. This appears on White Dot and non White Dot models, ranging from slender to oversized.  As with the jeweler’s cap-band and the triple cap-band t he earliest colors I’ve seen-- again-- are  the red-veined gray and Ebonized Pearl, accompanied by the  flat-ball clip, the clip  itself special in lacking the “Sheaffer’s” imprint.   The subsequent mottled gray/black (Sheaffer’s Gray Pearl #2) is found as are  late  era (striated) colors so far including Carmine, Marine Green and Brown.   The cap-band thus was used at least 1934-1939 or so, possibly later. This cap-band was the last of the off-catalogue USA-sourced styles I discovered,  my first encounter being  an oversized Ebonized Pearl set I unfortunately did not purchase at the time due to price . I do harbor some regrets,  as I’ve never seen another in this size/color.










Sheaffer  in Canada does appear  to have had a minority  Balance cap-band uniquely its own,  wide and smooth save for a few circumferential lines at top and bottom.   I’ve  also  seen the double deco band on Canadian pens, and have seen a questionably Canadian wide-milled “Jeweler’s” cap-band pen, noting that a long time Sheaffer collector has claimed to have seen other milled-band Canadian Balances.  I’ve yet to see triple band or fish-scale cap-band Canadian pens, though that does not not preclude  their existence. 





Catalogued pens  from Balance’s Autograph line each have  a single, wide,  solid 14 karat  gold cap-band, usually with a solid gold clip as well. The first known Balance  catalogue from 1930 shows such pens in black, Marine Green (mottled) and Black/Pearl. Later catalogues show black alone.  Cap-bands all are the same  width, independent of pen size.   However,  Autograph Balance pens occasionally  are found in off-catalogue colors, or with cap-band wider than the catalogued size. I’ve seen off-catalogue Autograph pens in  red veined gray (Sheaffer’s 1st Gray Pearl),  in Ebonized Pearl, as well as just one  oversized example in striated Brown Pearl  and   just one 1941 military-clip pen in  Carmine.  Perhaps other colors will emerge.  These certainly could  have been easy special order items back in the day.  Perhaps one day we will find a Sheaffer pamphlet declaring, “Autograph style pens in other colors available at customer’s request”.  Certainly the “Rudee Vallee” Autograph Sheaffer Combos support the notion of special order special color Autographs.   Too, we see   frankly rare Autograph pens with extra-wide cap-band.  All  I’ve seen have been  oversized pens done in black celluloid.







All catalogued Autograph type (solid gold trim) Balances have 14 karat trim.  Rare pieces exist with gold trim that is not 14k, though (so far) still of typical width; I own one and have heard of maybe a couple others done in 18k trim.  While the pens carry no other special markings, collectors have hypothesized these were meant for the French market, where items reportedly could  not be offered as solid gold if < 18k. Still, while my for-France Parker Vacumatics have 18k-marked nibs, the only 18k-trim Balance I own has no visible special markings on what might be a typical 14k nib.  Recently I stumbled onto my first 10-k Autograph, this one having a gold-filled clip. 






The "Rudy" Sheaffer Combo Autograph Pens.

If ever there were a Balance that argues for "special order" vs simply for niche/limited market it is the "Rudy" Sheaffer Combos.  Combos were catalogued in 1930 in three colors and in 1935 in black alone.  All were shown as non-lifetime (non-White dot) pens.  Off-catalogue White Dot pens are known, and they are relatively uncommon. Where things get a bit crazy is with the Autograph (solid gold cap-band and clip) Combos.  A mere handful are known to the hobby, and nearly all (perhaps truly all) are marked "From Rudy".  Hobby mythos is that the Rudy is crooner Rudy Vallee, who was in his thirties during the 1930's, that these were special order by him as gifts to friends and associates.  Whether or not Mr. Vallee was the Rudy in play, that these are overwhelmingly rare and that essentially all are marked from a specific gift giver provides overwhelming support for "special-order" status, and lends support to the other special-color Balance Autographs being special order as well.  The "Rudy" Autograph combos are known in both Marine Greens, the mottled dating to earliest mid-late 1934 in view of the flat-ball clip (smooth, as the pen is an Autograph), to at least 1937, as that is when the striated version first appeared, that color running through 1941 for Balance.





A couple final Autograph pens that scream "special order."    The Autograph pen at left (given as an award)  has an extra-wide cap-band similar to pens seen in an earlier photo. One might imagine the gold star replacing the usual white dot could be after-market. But no. The reverse side of the same cap is shown next to it (in montage), with the typical white dot located on opposite side of cap, clearly placed there at time of manufacture to allow preservation of white-dot status, while leaving room for the special gold star.  The pen at right  also is an Autograph. The cap-band is typical girth but has raised rims thus with an overt indentation centrally.  I have not handled this pen, but assuming original product, it is so far one of a kind and again screams, "special order"
















Black Balances with gold-filled trim with extra-wide single cap-bands have been found, with more than one off-catalogue width known.  I’ve seen just one with a moderately wide cap-band, found in fact while I was writing this article; it is of same size as a known extra-wide but also undocumented cap-band found on a much earlier flat-top Sheaffer.  An ultra-wide band has been  found  on an award pen of sorts-- something that screams “special order”--  given by an insurance company to a successful salesman. In addition to the band inscribed with the award, the clip features a crimped company logo.







Also noted are some slender pens with white dot but with extra-thin cap-band  usually found on low-tier pens.  They seem to blend the 1st-tier Sovereign (White Dot and Lifetime nib) with the 3rd-tier Craftsman (thin cap-band, flat-ball clip), with the added tell that the flat-ball clips are smooth lacking the expected “Sheaffer’s” imprint, indicated a "special-purpose" flavor. The brown pen at middle of image is such a pen.  Period Sheaffer pens made for advertisement or for company logos have been found with the smooth flat-ball clip (making a close match to the "blend" pen) but all found so far are non-White Dot.  Purpose for these is unknown and accident is not excluded, though enough turn up to disfavor accident. Could White-Dot pens meant for the company logos have been produced?  Could the blend pen be such a pen, one that failed to receive the necessary advertising/company imprint and/or badge?  Could leftover pre-advertising pens have been fitted with white dot to get rid of them?  Seems like too much hassle. Or could they have served another imagined purpose, say serving as pens for internal consumption, given  or sold to Sheaffer employees only, allowing easy tracking of pens, as they differed then from any sold to the public?   I... don't... know.

What Sheaffer information do we have for these off-catalogue pens? Well.. remarkably little. By definition, no  pen  appears in  any known catalogue.   I know of one illustrated reference to the double band pattern-- though only as barrel bands for a desk pen, not cap-band for pocket pen-- in Sheaffer’s October 1931 Retailer’s Review; beyond that, I know of tiny snippets of company material just  for the lined Jeweler’s cap band--only for the wider of the two  styles.  (mention that  in 1931 sheet, the double band is mentioned in the Jeweler’s section but only mention it in the image caption)

For the Jeweler’s cap-band, information both precious and scarce  is  found in a couple adverts, in price codes on pen barrels,  in model codes and prices on clip tags, and in model names on foil labels in boxed sets and on barrel stickers. My admittedly vague  recollection is that the adverts that show the Jeweler’s band do not reference it by special description or by special price; the  illustration is… incidental.

Starting perhaps in 1937, Sheaffer marked pen prices (in cents) on pen barrels (e.g.. “1000” is found heat stamped  on $10 Premier and Statesman models),  and  it  introduced model names for Balance pens also quite late, in 1938.  Thus for pens starting  1937-1938 there is potential now  to find novel barrel price imprints  and  novel model names for special cap-band pens.  While nearly all  Jeweler’s cap-band pens-- even with  late era colors -- lack barrel price codes,   rare price-coded  examples  have appeared; the prices found are greater than for related typical catalogued pens.   A couple price-tagged pens  have turned up, confirming model codes unique to this special cap-band and reflecting/confirming the higher price point for at least some of the  special cap-band pens.  I know of  four late-era special  model names based on foil tags in boxed sets and on barrel stickers,  names never used for catalogued siblings. This information is golden. (See Image X)   The existence of formal model codes and model names argue again that the special cap-band pens were not just special order items, but were dedicated products, intended  for at least limited retail sale.





What to call this extensive cluster of off-catalogue Balances, besides… well.. uncatalogued or off-catalogue ?  Currently, nothing more is necessary.   Some object, however,  noting  that discovery of even a single pertinent catalogue would invalidate these descriptors.  True enough, though  with  35 years of hobby research having  failed to procure such paper, the risk is modest, and too there are worse things than having to change a descriptor in the face of new information once per generation. Indeed, I’d be quite content terminating these pens’  off-catalogue status  to celebrate  the discovery of a  targeted catalogue.  For those who favor more generalized terminology or have overriding issues  about “catalogued” status, one instead can label all these as  special  cap-band  pens,  subject to debate of the  import of “special”. One fellow likes fancy  cap-bands to describe the patterned bands.  If we wish overwhelming generality, I suppose we could call all these minority  cap-bands. There have been rumblings to broaden the “Jeweler’s Band” label from specific use for the  vertically lined wide  bands to include instead  all the special-pattern (double, triple, fish-scale, maybe Canadian lined-edge) cap-bands , based on suspicion such pens were offered specifically to a segment of the retail jewelry market, though  this is not yet proven and though there would be significant collector convention to overcome in using that label for anything beyond the milled-band pens.  I do consider the pens we’ve examined to fall  into two broad groups, the first composed of  the non-smooth patterns: double, triple, fish-scale,  and lined, pens that likely were niche market, the second group comprising  cap-bands still smooth just extra-wide or narrow or found on off-catalogue colors, pens that might have been special order or special purpose.

Image X (star award pen courtesy of Pat Mohan)


The off-catalogue pens  range from relatively uncommon to overwhelmingly rare, noting that  the  following personal observations  carry  the caveat  that of course I do not know  all pens in all private collections.   Save for the vastly more prevalent  Jeweler’s cap-band,  many patterned (double, triple, fish-scale, edge-lined Canadian) cap-band size/color variants are frankly rare,  currently with just one or a few  known  or so far unknown altogether.  Amongst thousands of Balances seen or handled, I doubt I’ve encountered  even thirty  pens total  with the triple band or with the fish-scale band, counting all  pen sizes and colors.    I have personally seen just three of the edge-lined Canadian cap-band pens. Smooth extra-wide single  cap-bands are just a few total known to the hobby  and appear so far only on black pens.  Even the jeweler’s cap-band sees some quite scarce variants.     Special color Autograph (solid gold trim) pens no doubt gain in value and cachet; they are quite scarce,  with few known  in each of just  a few size/color combinations.  

 As with most esoteric findings for old pens, the added economic value from  the  funky cap-bands   is disproportionately small  compared  to their  relative or absolute scarcity.    I  consider  the special cap-band Balances to be under appreciated…  exotic sleepers in the Sheafferverse.  The Jeweler’s cap-band, as with a similarly named lined off-catalogue cap-band found with competitor Parker’s Vacumatic series,  in general  adds  at least a modest  value bump. Other cap-band findings should add more value…  but sometimes don’t.  The  collector currently willing to pay 125% to, oh, 250% the price of  otherwise typical pens  can buy pens seen just one per hundred or one per thousand typical siblings… or even “none previously  identified”. 

That this is the first formal survey of this Sheaffer exotica demonstrates that our 35 year old hobby still offers space for fresh research.  I invite future commentary from  readers of this article, as I’m now a bit burned out on this subject.  It is my hope that  this text will be the springboard for future research by others and will prod collectors to examine their holdings and to come forth with new information. Oh… and yeah…  if you happen to have spare special cap-band pens  my collection  needs, do drop me a note.