After the War

The years immediately after WW II were an interesting time.  Materials for manufacturing became available again; plastics, for example, took a big upturn.  Fashion became possible, and art became modern.  Veterans could attend college via the GI Bill, and Europe was re-building thanks to the Marshall Plan.

Instant Tea--possibly a result of wartime troop rations technology.

Drive-ins and burger stands were springing up, here's one photographed in about 1948--McDonald's! 

TV was available in its infant form, a 7 inch screen in a big wood cabinet that looked like a radio.

Radio was still the most popular medium for entertainment.  NBC's "The Sheaffer Parade," featuring California bandleader and vocalist, Eddy Howard, was on Sundays at 2 PM, sponsored by the Sheaffer Pen Company.  They also sponsored a Saturday morning show on CBS radio, "The Adventurer's Club."

Eddy Howard

Sheaffer pens, both fountain and ball point, with accompanying pencils were heavily advertised on radio and in print, with an emphasis on dependability.  Pens were offered with a lifetime warranty, and were marked to indicate this with a white dot.  Their matching pencils carried a white dot, too.

Here are two of the top Sheaffer pencil models of 1948, the Sentinel, with a gold and silver cap and plastic barrel (and a white dot), and the Crest, with an all-gold cap, either 1/10 14 k gold-filled or all 14 k gold, and plastic barrel.  Gold and plastic together--that seems to sum up the post-war era nicely.

This Crest is gold-filled, both have the Sheaffer imprint on the cap and the barrel.  They use the thin lead of the time, 0.9 mm, and have erasers under the cap.  The Crest model is also marked FA 500.

F for filled? A --no clue, and 500 would be the price of $5.00, presumably.

The Crest model has a double-layer point, to prevent lead breakage, according to ads of the time.

They are sleek and modern, not unlike this 1948 Jackson Pollock, "Number 14."

Reminds me why I don't collect pens.