Pens are wonderful. They are both utilitarian and beautiful. This pen I remember from my childhood, or one like it, rolling around the drawers in a huge secretary desk at my Grandma's house. That desk, which is gorgeous dark mahogany, sat in the corner behind the sofa and contained TREASURE. Photos of people I didn't know, papers, little bits of things having to do with writing, etc. Well, you'll be pleased to know that desk lives at my house now, where it will be hopefully loved for further generations. (I believe it belonged to Henry Attwell Post and Edith Mabel Workman Post, possibly part of the set they purchased in Cuba on their honeymoon, but I am not sure).
This pen looks a bit goofy now. I believe the cap was lost for a time, stored separately, or actually belonged to a different pen. Otherwise they should have faded similarly. This is a Sheaffer Lifetime pen in Jade, which was a pretty big deal in the US when first invented. It has a14k gold nib and a lever on the side to refill the sac. This one was made between 1923 and 1927. I dated it using this handy article that described how the pens changed over time. The barrel is celluloid, and apparently quite easy to catch on fire if overheated. This one does not write, the sac inside was brittle and shattered when I tried to operate the lever. I am planning on sending it out to hopefully be repaired.
The 1920 census has him living at home with his parents in a very large household with extended members in the South Seattle area (Dunlap, or various parts of what we would today call Columbia City). At this time his work is listed as accounting, for a manufacturing company. On November 14, 1923 he married Olive Rose Danner in Wenatchee. The marriage documentation lists him as being a bookkeeper. (Previous documentation, in this case the WWI draft registration, lists him as a bookkeeper for Smith Cannery in Seattle). My grandmother Barbara was born in 1929, and the 1930 census has them living at 640 75th st in Seattle, the house I grew up going to to visit my great grandma. His occupation was still listed as a bookkeeper, this time for a steel company.
Given the high cost of this item at the time and the fact that it is inscribed, I am guessing he was given it for his work at one of his jobs, possibly as a parting gift. Maybe leaving Smith for another company caused him to be given this gift of note.
