Life, 1925-11-12 · page 2 of 41
Life — November 12, 1925 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon** but rather a **vintage advertisement** for Sheaffer fountain pens, circa early 20th century. The imagery depicts an allegorical winged figure (representing victory or progress) wielding an oversized fountain pen like a sword or conqueror's weapon. The text claims the "white-dotted green pen has won America," using militaristic language to describe commercial success. The advertisement emphasizes the pen's reliability and quality—its iridium-tipped nib, durable construction, and "lifetime" guarantee. The ornate decorative border frames the ad in the style typical of Life magazine's aesthetic during this period. This reflects early 1900s marketing that used grandiose, nationalistic rhetoric to sell consumer goods, portraying a fountain pen as instrumental to American achievement and progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The swift conqueror—a white-dotted Breen pen has won America Not only did it bring, a new kind of beauty to the hand that writes, but it put therein a better tool for easy and skillful writing. And that is the reason our busy factory can now hardly keep pace with the speedy demand. A light, graceful pen, and an infalli- ble performer, the Radite Lifetime is made of a new and almost indestructible material of jewel-like bril- liance. Its ink supply is both large and positive. Its iridium tipped nib is guaranteed for a lifetime. Its dependability has made thousands of new fountain pen users—and has helped it to conquer America. Lifetime pen, $8.75 Titan pencil to match, $4.25 Others lower At better dealers everywhere SHEAFFER'S PENS*+PENCILS* SKRIP W. A. SHEAFFER PEN COMPANY ’ FORT MADISON, IOWA. comicbooks.com