My Parker Vacumatic Junior

April 24, 2015

Hello FPN!

Today I had a feeling that my pen finally would arrive. So I stood outside and waited for the postman to arrive. Then I walked out to the street, and as soon as I saw him I waved at him and asked him if he had anything for me. Fortunately he had, and I had a hard time concealing my excitement. I have been waiting for this pen for very long (or so it feels)!

I received the Parker Vacumatic Junior today and I LOVE that pen. I have never used a pen that is so smooth and writes so well.

It's a pretty small pen - but despite my hands being 'medium' in size, I can use the pen unposted without problems. However, I do prefer to use it posted.

The pen, as you can see in the pictures, comes in a very lovely green color. From what I have been able to identify, it's Marbled Emerald Pearl. It's translucent (yes, even after all these years) and I assume it's from 1934-1935. It has two jewels, one in the top and one in the bottom and is in pretty good condition. The brassing has started to peel off (it's 81 years old, afterall) and the imprints are barely visible. I have been able to read 'Parker Vacumatic' and 'Made in Canada'. The one-tone Arrow nib also confirms that this is a Canadian-made pen.

http://oi60.tinypic.com/205ehhj.jpg

What impressed me most about this pen, is how it worked right when I got it. I shook it a bit to hear if it rattles (I was told by a member on here that it would rattle if the diaphragm had disintegrated and I was very please to hear that it didn't. I then took the chance and inked it up - and to my big surprise, it worked flawlessly. The filling mechanism is smooth and the pen filled up nicely. I'm impressed. To me, it seems that the pen has been restored recently. The nib is quite clean for a 80-81 years old pen.

http://oi60.tinypic.com/2ebrgug.jpg

The nib tines need to be aligned a bit (I already did that to some extent), but even with a bit misaligned tines, it writes like a dream. I have absolutely no pen in my small collection that writes as well as this does. So how does it write?

See for yourself!

http://oi61.tinypic.com/ip5di0.jpg

(I have no idea why the picture is rotated, click the link for a picture that isn't rotated: http://oi61.tinypic.com/ip5di0.jpg)

What surprised me most, was that the pen even has some line variation. It requires some pressure to get that type of line variation and I don't want to push it too hard, but it's nice to see that the pen is capable of it. With my limited knowledge I would claim this is a semi-flex nib.

Considering I paid just over $50 for this pen, I consider this a great deal. This is not a pen that I would bring with me to college, but I will definitely be using it at home when writing and taking notes while reading. I have rarely been this happy about a pen purchase.

This pen is my dream pen.

BONUS:

Flex writing sample:

http://oi62.tinypic.com/6ih060.jpg

Edited April 24, 2015 by vPro

April 24, 2015

Well after all that hooha about a repair person.....

I am very happy for you that you got a working pen in the end (and at a good price too).

Enjoy the pen (as if that needed saying)!

April 24, 2015

Beautiful pen, and you picked the perfect ink!

April 24, 2015

Beautiful pen, and you picked the perfect ink!

Thank you very much. Like I said, I love this pen so much. The only other pen that fascinated me this much was the Desiderata Flex Pen.

About the ink choice - I really only have two inks - Diamines Autumn Oak and Diamines Sherwood Green But I thought that the Sherwood Green would go nicely with this pen!

Well after all that hooha about a repair person.....

I am very happy for you that you got a working pen in the end (and at a good price too).

Enjoy the pen (as if that needed saying)!

You're right!

I'm very happy too! It's really much more than what I had hoped for! Thank you for assisting me

I definitely will. Thank you!