Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 152

Today's show & tell item is a handsome Sheaffer vintage desk set that Stuart acquired last summer...

 (all photos courtesy of Stuart ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Stuart: "The brass desk-set is here, and it’s quite something!  You can see the finish is oxidized and spotted, but even so this is an impressive piece.  It’s made by a famous firm called Smith Metal Arts - Silver Crest, of Buffalo, NY.  The company still exists as part of McDonald Products, who make desk-pads and such.  Silver Crest things are collected, and they made other desk-set bases for Sheaffer.  This one is bronze with the brass finish over the base metal - Silver Crest Decorated Bronze was the trade name the firm used."


"The restored vac-fill Triumph Lifetime pen writes a nice smooth Fine line, as you can see.  Very typical of those nibs, stiff as a nail but nice-writing."

 

Stuart: "The set took 13 days to get here from Connecticut - there was delay due to the seller being called away from home by an emergency.  So once the parcel got going, it made good time. I used some Brasso on the base, but we didn’t have much left.  It looks brighter than it did, but I think the oxidation combined with wearing-away of the clear lacquer coat can only be polished up - full re-plating would probably be necessary to restore the original look.  I like the patina, it gives it almost an industrial-aged look.  I think the rectangular opening in front was meant for a page-a-month calendar. I’ll try hunting around and see if I can find something that will fit in the opening."

I asked Stuart if the desk base's opening might have had a desk clock or perhaps a barometer in it. He replied: "It isn’t clear in the photos of the brass base, but the open space is a window with a narrow metal pocket or sleeve behind it, so it wouldn’t hold something as deep as a clock.  It would have looked fabulous with a clock or barometer fitted in it!"

Many thanks to Stuart for sharing another nice piece from his vintage desk set collection with us.
VPC members---please keep those photos of your new acquisitions coming!
Thanks in advance,
~Maja

2 comments:

QE said...

I wonder if the window originally had a series of cards as a perpetual desk calendar...

Vancouver Pen Club said...

@QE--That makes a lot of sense :)