1940s Sheaffer Lady Balance Skyboy Fountain Pen and Mechanical Pencil Set in Box

Vintage: 1940s

Make: Sheaffer

Model:  Lady Balance

Color: Grey Pearl (striated)

Materials: celluloid with rhodium-plated trim

Filling System: lever-filler (resacced and ready to write)

Length: fountain pen measures 4 3/4” capped and 5 3/4” posted

Nib: 14k two-tone Lifetime nib lays down a firm yet smooth and consistent XF line

Condition: FP is excellent [B]; MP is near mint [B+]. As is typical, the FP saw more use than the MP. The MP’s trim is pristine while the FP’s trim has short scratches here and there, the most wear being to the center of the lever and sides of the clip. Celluloid surface of both is smooth and lustrous with no deep scratches or other noteworthy flaws – scarcely even any micro-scratches. MP is fully functional, expelling, retracting, and gripping lead as designed. Manufacturer imprints are factory deep and fully legible.

Details: For a brief period in the early 1940s, Sheaffer introduced this elusive variant, which they dubbed the Skyboy. In period adverts it was touted to have been designed specially for the purpose of air travel, having greater tolerance to changes in atmospheric pressure that continue to make most FPs dribble and weep midflight. To this day, however, no one has been able to substantiate these claims. What's more, there doesn't seem to be anything that distinguishes the Skyboy from a regular Balance apart from the imprint on the clip. In spite of this (or perhaps because of it), these pens are very tough to find today and have garnered quite a following among Sheaffer collectors. Most Skyboys found today are Military Balances but this is one of the scarcer Lady-Skyboy variants in its original factory box. Streamlined radius clip, white dot signifying Sheaffer's lifetime guarantee, and transparent ink-view section window for checking ink level.