Sheaffer 1004

Sheaffer’s Targa series of fountain pens was introduced in 1976 and was named after the Targa Florio motor car race in Sicily. (There’s an interesting story on Richard Binder’s page describing how the original name for the series was the Genesis, however Sheaffer decided not to go with this due to the possible link to Judaism, and possible lost sales amongst Muslim customers.) The shape of the inlaid nib made an obvious link to the Triumph nib, in a modernised and elegant design.

This pen is a 1004, which means that the body and cap are made of stirling silver, and the nib is 14k gold. The body and cap have a straight-line cut pattern and the clip is chrome-plated steel with the Sheaffer White Dot. It has a medium nib that needed a little straightening. In fact, it still has a very small curve to the right that I will probably come back to some day in the future when I am more experienced working with nibs.

When I purchased it, it was obviously used (with plenty of ink to clean out of the section, and the typical marks in the plastic and silver of a well-loved pen…) however, the previous owner decided to leave the sales sticker on the cap, which had a barely visible “1004: Medium” left on the plastic. Due to the fact that this is not a NOS pen, I decided to remove the sticker and polish the silver.

This pen was made in the USA between 1976 and 1980, probably for the American market. The pens destined for the U.K. and French markets were hallmarked (find the 1004 on see this site for an example of this), but this pen is not.

Total weight (without cartridge): 24.4 g
Body weight: 15.9 g
Total length (not posted): 120.0 mm
Total length (with cap): 135.3 mm
Barrel max diameter: 11.1 mm
Cap max diameter: 11.1 mm

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