Vintage Sheaffer Targa Fountain Pen Review and Restoration
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- This might be a vintage Sheaffer Targa. The only thing I can tell for sure is that it was made between 1978 and 1994. Whether vintage or just old, this is a gorgeous 14k gold nib slim fountain pen. The model is a Targa Brown Thuya Ronce Laque Classic. That's quite a mouthful! I cleaned up and did a minor restoration on this pen after it has sat with old ink in it for many years. I take a look at the parts and features of the pen, give dimensions and measurements and do a writing sample. I also do a short history of the Sheaffer Targa Fountain Pen. You may skip to the various sections by using the time stamps below.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Sheaffer Targa and other Sheaffer pens can be found at this marvelous site: www.sheaffertar...
Parts and Features 0:34
Measurements and Dimensions 8:52
History of the Targa 9:15
Writing Sample 10:40
Music: Vivaldi Four Seasons "Spring"
The original video can be found at johnharrison.cc....
It is being released by its owner (John Harrison) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license
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a very pretty pen the nib is very classy , any chance you could do a shot of the pens condition before you work on it ?
I did a couple of shots of the Targa before I cleaned and polished it. You can see the scratches on the nib and the grimy barrel. I spoke to the owner yesterday and he said it had been in a Zip-lock bag for 20 years.
imgur.com/kAew8HU
imgur.com/CKG7KuM
I dont know how to add photos here I took quite s few.
@@InkquiringMinds It looks great to me!! My poor nib is crying for repair. You are a fellow Canadian! I'm living near Niagara falls, 10 minutes from there, in Fort Erie, Ontario.
Can you recommend someone trusteorthy who can repair my bent nib on my Targa??
@@InkquiringMinds Yes I zoomed in and your barrel is grimy and you had lots of scratches! You must have spent hours detailing that pen!
@@mariatriesart8389 Hi, fellow Canadian here. Try the Toronto Pen Company.
I just purchased the targa slim 1030s laque thuya ronce set (FP and ballpoint), which is new old stock in box. I also bought two slim converters because I know they are impossible to find. This makes me really happy. Paid a high amount for shipping but worth every penny!
Awesome!
I just bought a Targa slimline, a stainless nib version. I got it with a couple ball points and a pencil from a gentleman who is downsizing some of his collection. But I think even better than the pens was the conversation we had. He told me that he used to work at a retail store in England in the 60s where he sold Parker and Sheaffer pens. When someone would buy a pen he would have them hold it and note angle from the vertical and the horizontal they held it and mark that done on a sheet. He would then send the sheet and the pen off to parker and they would grind the nib to suit the person buying it, now that is some service!
Now I just have to find a cartridge or a converter to fit the slimline pen, I've heard waterman mini cartridges work, so wish me luck!
Congratulations! What a terrific story! If you can find some old Parker slimline cartridges, just re-use them by filling them with a syringe. Finding a slimline converter would be very difficult I expect.
@@InkquiringMinds I just got the pen home to clean it out, and i believe the last ink used in it was the Skrip Peacock Blue you talked about in the Sheaffer student pen video. I had flushed out a bit before I realized what it was, but I managed to get a small writing sample from what was left. I can see why you liked it so much! I have a couple of turquoise inks, Pelikan turquoise and Waterman inspired blue, but the are very different. I wish I had a bottle of it. Honestly, I don't know if I want to finish cleaning the pen, I may just write with it until it runs out.
I enjoyed your gentle manner on your excellent video. I recently got the urge to buy a fountain pen (My very first). Having been in the antique furniture trade for over 50 years I was more keen on finding an old pen rather than a brand new one. A couple of days ago I popped into my local second-hand shop here in Eastbourne UK to see if they had any fountain pens. Amongst about 20 pens there was this attractive Shaeffer in excellent condition. It was also the most expensive at £75. Without me asking, the gentleman said that I could have it for £60. After humming and harring whether I wanted to spend so much on a pen I decided to purchase it. When I got home I went on line to ordered a bottle of ink. After about an hour looking at various brands and deciding on the colour ink, I chose Sargasso Sea Diamine ink. The ink arrived this morning. Filled the pen by squeezing converter and to my delight the pen is working perfect. Having done some research since my purchase and watching your video It turns out that I have the identical model and barrel finish to the one in your video.
I feel that I have done quite well for myself!! Thank you.
That's awesome! Not only this the gold nib smooth as butter, it is one of the most beautiful nibs ever on a fountain pen.
I was watching some more videos that passed me by and I reached your top 3 where you said that Ron gave you this beautiful pen and you can feel your emotion in your voice when you tell this story.
Wonderful pen. Wonderful story.
Cool, thanks
I have been slowly collecting Sheaffer pens, and the Targa is a particular focus. There are such interesting varieties but there are many out there to consider. Thanks for highlighting this.
It certainly does lend itself to collectors. Have you seen Grandmia's Pens video on his interview with a collector friend? The guy literally fills his living room with his collection of 1000's of them!
Lovely pen. I usually prefer pens with more girth but because of that nib a gorgeous brown colour…
Same here!
Great video and beautiful pen. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much! I'm thrilled the way it came out! :)
Thanks for the help in finding a converter for my Classic Targa. My pen is a brushed stainless with chrome trim and what I guess is a steel medium nib. A little broad for me, I should have picked up the fine, but I didn’t know any better at that time. Still a reasonably smooth writer. Yours is a beautiful pen.
You are most welcome Richard. I'm glad you found a piston converter. I'm thinking of getting one now too even though my squeeze type doesn't leak. It is just easier to prime the feed with the piston. My Targa belonged to my friend's late Father, whom I adored, and was a gift from my friend after I restored a number of his Dad's pens. So, it is very special.
Love inlay nibs! ❤😊
The best!
Subscribed, too. Your voice is calming. 😌
Thank you so much!😊
Excellent pen. I own two Targas, a 1001 and 1003, which are my two favorite styles (I'm a bit of a minimalist). They both write beautifully, and the weight gives my penmanship a real boost.
The nib is no only gorgeous it is silky smooth.
Thank you so much for your description and for your video. My father, of precious memory, bought me a Laque green ronce (1038) Targa (confirmed by the website you listed above) in the early 1980s and I still keep it on my desk and use it. Lately the ink has stopped flowing and I've tried running water through the nib to clean it. I suppose I need to soak it for some days - but if the nib could be dismantled it would make cleaning easier. However I'm not sure that is possible. The website you point to says "The depth and quality of this finish is a result of being individually hand lacquered 14 times and polished, also by hand, to deep, luminous glow." That is truly amazing. Thank you again for your video.
Thanks Johnston. Yes. Soak that Targa for a few days. It helps if you have an ultrasonic cleaner like a jewelry cleaner. I got one for between $10 and $20 on Amazon. It is battery operated (AAA batteries) and very cheap but it did the job on a Pelikan 200 that had dried out for 30 years with ink in it.
@@InkquiringMinds Thank you Doug. I will try soaking first and thanks for the recommendation on the ultrasonic cleaner. I shall also buy some fresh ink! :-)
great video! thank you
Thanks, Deniz!
I purchased my Targa in 1977 and I’ve used it over the years but I couldn’t remember the name. Thanks for this video.
Thanks! My friend Ron gifted this pen to me!
I have quite a collection of Sheaffer Targa fountain pens, ranging from Red Ronce to a gold plated filigree. Most of the points are broad.
For me, this was a typical 70's pen. Thuya lacquer was also used by Parker. Note, Gold plate, electroplate, are the same, thickness 0.5-1 microns. Gold wash or flash is very thin & wears off easily. Gold-filled (rolled gold) is much thicker (> 50 microns) & applied mechanically. Usually has a hallmark like 1/20, 5% of the weight is gold usually 14k.
I was so thrilled when the owner gifted me this pen! Thanks for the info about gold finishes.
I love its looks !
Trying to find one here in India, not lucky so far
- A seller has promised me to get one !
There are literally thousands of Targas out there. Sheaffer made so many in so many finishes for years and year.
@@InkquiringMinds I’m not so lucky if I have to buy it locally from India since there’s none available at the moment ( I can probably buy from another country, but exorbitant Customs duty and Shipping charges exceed the price of the pen ! )
The nib is a Targa style nib, not an imperial style nib. They look similar but are very different. The Imperial nib was shorter and the fall off of width was much greater, giving it a stubbier look.
The Targa came in many finishes, but most were only available for a short time. The majority of Targas sold were either a silver finish with a steel nib or a matte black pen with a gold finish. The black pen was lacquered, but it was really closer to paint then lacquer. The silver sold for about the same as a parker Jotter fountain pen ( steel nib ) at the same time. The bnlack sold for twice as much.
The slim was really slim, slimmer then a wood pencil and used a different cartridge/converter. A slim version.
It was an excellent pen, that sadly Shaeffer decided to discontinue while it was still going strong.
Thanks for this terrific information thad! My friend actually gifted this pen back to me the other day and I'm so thrilled! One day I'm hoping to get a Sheaffer PFM snorkel as that is such a cool nib and cool filling system.
I have the blue lacque model in F. Was a 21 birthday present in 1979.
Beautiful Elisabeth! Is it still inked?
This Targa🖋️looks like a medium-fine Japanese
Bende 10:06 da görünen yeşil kalemin aynısı var. Çok güzel bir kalem. Türkiye'de bu kalemi bulmak zor. Elimde gören herkes nereden aldığımı soruyor. 😅 Deneyimlerime göre ıslak mürekkeplerle iyi yazmıyor.
Those inlaid nibs were wonderful writers for me. Occasionally, I would get a fine line of ink, but normally it would be medium. I think Meguiar's could repackage some of their formulae in small tubes for sale strictly to the pen community.
You think the pen community (those that polish) are that big a market share? ;) This 16oz bottle cost $17 Cdn ($13US) and will last the rest of my life (if I don't use it on my car that is).
i love my slim model but fair warning -- it's very slim by modern standards . In terms of
production modern pens, it's thinner than the Lamy CP1/Logo/Pur/St
Slim pens were all the rage in the late '70s and early '80s.
I just purchased a Sheaffer imperial 827 and it's gold electroplated , but on the down side it has quite some wear and tear all over it's body, the nib writes smooth and fine with a little bit of feedback. Well I want to ask you that can re-gold plate the pen's body or should I leave it as it is .🤷. Thankyou
It depends on whether the "wear" on the pen has a sentimental value to it. Is it the use marks of the previous owner? A vintage pen with "patina" from wear is always worth more than one that has been made to "look new" again.
@@InkquiringMinds yes it's a vintage pen ... An used one.. and i want it to look as new as possible. I purchased a used pen only because the new old stock that was available was sold out and I had to have that pen for it's lovely gold nib .
So my first targa turned out to be the lady slim version. It does fit my hands nicely but I still wish I bought the "classic" size. Knowledge is truly power. I do wonder whether the slim version was ever marketed directly to women or whether the slim version was "unisex". Does anyone know?
Thanks for sharing! I don't know the answer, but if anyone has the answer, this website will have it! www.sheaffertarga.com/sheaffer%20targa%20homepage.htm
I have the same pen but with a different finish. It is brown like a tortoiseshell, but I have had it for over 36 years...and it still writes like a charm although the nib somehow got bent, yet still writes, it is exactly like yours, all but the finish is different. What mesh exactly did you use??? It has never been polished. I would like to do that and see what shines through.
I am of limited financial means. Id love to get the 14kt gold nib fixed but have no idea how much it would cost, and am afraid for it to leave my hands. It writes sooooo smoothly. I use it as a daily, using a syringe to fill the cartridge. It runs out quickly using the cartidges though. Is there a larger cartidge that can be used???
You can get a cartridge converter from Sheaffer that fits the Targa. You have to determine if you have the slim model Targa or the regular size. The micromesh I used (very lightly) was 12000 grit. I also used a jeweler's polishing cloth.
@@InkquiringMinds I see there are a tiny few spots where yhe lacquer chipped off. This is not from misuse but from age, and truthfully, lack of knowledge as to what to do to maintain such a tool. I am disabled by spinal disease and reclining all day, and didn't have the funds to restore it. I would have loved to have left it to my granddaughter some day. It was the only nice thing I ever had. For me. I loved it and used it and do but not every day. I just bought the Pilot Elite 95S. It is similar to my Targa and dark red is my favourite colour. Although I am eyeing the Waterman Carene Amber to give my poor Shaeffer Targa a long deserved rest.
@@InkquiringMinds May I email you the pics of my classic Targa?
It is definitely not a slim. And what is micromesh? Where can I purchase it?
This poor pen hasn't been polished in over 36 years. It was found at the bottom of a junk dresser drawer covered over with everything you could imagine, and it was a dirty bottom drawer to boot. I took it home being a teen at the time, and felt the owner did not deserve such a luxurious item only to treat it like it was worthless. I regret it now, as an adult, for sure, but that's wisfom th has come with years.
I took it home and used some soap and water to carefully clean the outside only. Aside from that, I don't think it has ever been polished.
@@mariatriesart8389 Yes, Maria! Email me at djrathbun@gmail.com. I'm originally from St. Catharines so I know the area well. There is a nibsmith in Toronto I'll tell you about.
@@InkquiringMinds I lived in St. Catharines over 25 years! Its a small world! I was born and raised in Toronto moved to Niagara at 27. I'd love to know the name of the place in Toronto that restores pens, thank you!!! Very much!