Cryptic markings on Parker caps

[Rique]

Hi! I´m new here, this is my first post, not counting the introduction.

 

I´ve been examining my pens these days, and I´ve found the Parker flighters all have some cryptic letters printed on the cap, such as:

“Parker Sonnet France Q.I”

“Parker Frontier Made in U.K. Q.II”

“Parker 45 Made in U.K. U.”

“Parker U.III Made in U.K.” (Vector)

Even my humble Jotter BP has an imprint:

“Parker IQ Made in U.S.A.”

Does anyone know what these letters mean? I suppose they might be codes for the production batch, or something similar; if so, they are of no interest to the user / buyer, and I don´t see the point of printing them alongside the model name.

 

And a somewhat simple question: my Parker 51s have this on the cap:

“1/10 16k Gold filled” or “1/10 12k Gold filled”

I´ve also got a Parker 61 cap that has the same words inside a scutcheon.

What is the meaning of this “1/10” (or is it I/I0)? Any guesses?

[antoniosz]

These marks are dating references (quarter and year), they started on Parker 75 and they are now on Sonnet, possibly other parker pens.

Quarter is as of 1987 is III, II, I or nothing (Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4) and the letter is from QUALITY PEN according to year, see below.

 

Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

 

1980 - Q QE QC QL QI

1981 - U UE UC UL UI

1982 - A AE AC AL AI

1983 - L LE LC LL LI

1984 - I IE IC IL II

1985 - T TE TC TL TI

1986 - Y YE YC YL YI

1987 - P IIIP IIP IP P <-------- change

1988 - E IIIE IIE IE E

1989 - N IIIN IIN IN N

 

1990 - Q IIIQ IIQ IQ Q

1991 - U IIIU IIU IU U

1992 - A IIIA IIA IA A

1993 - L IIIL IIL IL L

1994 - I IIII III II I

1995 - T IIIT IIT IT T

1996 - Y IIIY IIY IY Y

1997 - P IIIP IIP IP P

1998 - E IIIE IIE IE E

1999 - N IIIN IIN IN N

 

2000 - Q IIIQ IIQ IQ Q

2001 - U IIIU IIU IU U

2002 - A IIIA IIA IA A

2003 - L IIIL IIL IL L

2004 - I IIII III II I

2005 - T IIIT IIT IT T

Edited July 23, 2005 by antoniosz

[wimg]

Thanks for that informative post, Antonios!

 

Great stuff. I knew those markings were date codes, but hadn't bothered to figure out yet what and how. Very timely indeed. Thanks again!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[Rique]

Thanks, Antonio, for taking the trouble to post all this information!

I still can´t understand why pen companies go to such lengths to invent complicated ways to mark their pens (I´ve read the other day about the Parker 51, which also had a rather strange coding system). Why don´t they simply write the date? Anyway, they must know their business.

I´m still unsure, however, about my pens. The Jotter has an "IQ", which probably means 1990. However, the other have the letters in an inverted order; they´re marked Q.I, Q.II, U.III, and there is a dot between the letters. Do they mean the same as IQ, IIQ and IIIU ?

[antoniosz]

I am a Sonnet fanatic - so I had to know.

Now the reason for some things is practical for other is marketing.

The III II I sequence (or earlier 3 dots, 2 dots, 1 dot, no dots) is that the die that creates the mark had 3 "bumps" and the technician simply files away one every 3 months

Quality contol requires some identification of the time in the production line so this is how they do it.

 

Now why Q.II or IIQ, that could be different in different company factories but I am not sure.

 

AZ

Edited May 22, 2005 by antoniosz

[Rique]

Thanks again, Antonio! This is very useful information for collectors, and your post is great contribution to the FPN´s store of knowledge . Interesting explanation about the dots or bumps that are filed away. We are nowadays so involved with virtual reality that we forget that things can still be done by hand, with a file...

[rahulg]

Thank you so much for the detailed information about the dating system. I have now figured out that my "45" is a 1982 model.

 

Regards,

 

Rahul

[richardandtracy]

With regard to the P51/61 lettering on the cap

 

1/10 = one tenth of cap shell (by weight)

12ct = 12 Carat

GF = Gold Filled

 

So, 10% of the weight of the cap shell (not including jewel, clip, inner cap etc) is 12 carat gold.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[chomann]

so my Parker Jotter has a IIIA France stamped on it. Is the 1992 or 2002? How could I tell? When did they move the line to France?

[richardandtracy]

http://www.parkercollector.com/codekey.html

This actually shows there is a slight error in antoniosz info above. The 1990-1999 codes had the letter after the quarter. The 2000-2009 had the letter before the quarter symbol.

So IIIA is 1992.

Had it been 2002, it would have been A.III

Helpfully, had it been 2012, it may have been A.III too

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Kenlowe]

Is this the oldest thread that has been given fresh breath?

[mitto]

It is as Richard said.

 

Secondly, the date codes began in third quarter, 1979 in the USA. And these were :

 

.. .. NL NI

Thirdly, the first change was brought in in 1988 and not in 1987. The date codes for 1987 were:

 

PE PC PL PI

 

Regards

Edited June 23, 2016 by mitto

[mitto]

http://www.parkercollector.com/codekey.html

This actually shows there is a slight error in antoniosz info above. The 1990-1999 codes had the letter after the quarter. The 2000-2009 had the letter before the quarter symbol.

So IIIA is 1992.

Had it been 2002, it would have been A.III

Helpfully, had it been 2012, it may have been A.III too

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

The date codes for 2010 onward, as given on parkerpens.net, are wrong. The pattern changed once again (into numbers first letter second pattern as in the 90s) in 2010. So the date codes for 2012 are:

 

IIIA IIA IA A

 

and not:

 

A.III A.II A.I A

 

Regards.

Edited June 23, 2016 by mitto

[kapanak]

The date codes for 2010 onward, as given on parkerpens.net, are wrong. The pattern changed once again (into numbers first letter second pattern as in the 90s) in 2010. So the date codes for 2012 are:

 

IIIA IIA IA A

 

and not:

 

A.III A.II A.I A

 

Regards.

Thank you!! I had been wondering about that for a long time with regards to my post 2010 Parker pens.

[mitto]

I am a Sonnet fanatic - so I had to know.

Now the reason for some things is practical for other is marketing.

The III II I sequence (or earlier 3 dots, 2 dots, 1 dot, no dots) is that the die that creates the mark had 3 "bumps" and the technician simply files away one every 3 months

Quality contol requires some identification of the time in the production line so this is how they do it.

 

Now why Q.II or IIQ, that could be different in different company factories but I am not sure.

 

AZ

Not so. The pattern/style of date coding changes every ten years. So if the pattern for a given decade is, for example, numbers first letters last, it would be changed into letters first numbers last for the next decade. It is to be noted, however, that the pattern of date coding for 1988 to 1999 remained the same not for ten years but for 12 years for the obious reasons of not changing the pattern only after two years of its introduction in 1988 (that is bringing in the change in 1990).

 

The correct date codes for 1987 upto 2020 may be seen here:

 

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/284105-parker-sonnet-finishes-and-datecodes/page-2

 

 

Regards.

[chomann]

So between 1992 and 2012, is there a country of origin change? as in USA vs France?

 

Since the Date code of IIIA applies to both.

[mitto]

Yes, there would be change in country of origin accordingly.