Parker Vacumatics Photo Thread

[Buzz J]

Nah. Threads chipped on second pen.

Don't rain on my parade!

[Buzz J]

Some "Ripley" pencils. Both are scarce, but the silver one is very rare. The name "Ripley" comes from the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" advertisements that show this style with the thicker dark bands between the pearl bands. The darker bands are actually a dark translucent blue.

 

 

 

 

I held a silver pearl Ripley pen in my hand once. Not for sale. What a pity.

[JonSzanto]

Don't rain on my parade!

 

In some circles, the dude is known as "Rain Man".

Edited December 6, 2019 by JonSzanto

[RalphP]

Curious to know if Parker ever sold a vacumatic without a clip? (other than a desk pen) - can't locate anything about one in the generally available reference material.

 

This pen is rather small - about 4.6 inches long - 1935 date code - lockdown filler - and has no clip - looks like it never did...

 

Not a very good photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FarmBoy]

Yes. Ring top Vacs exist.

[RalphP]

Yes. Ring top Vacs exist.

Thanks - appreciate that information - don't think I've ever come across any - probably rather scarce...(?)

 

The burgundy vac above has the expected red jewel and no indication it was ever a ring top... a bit of a mystery.

[FarmBoy]

Ralph-

 

They look like this:

 

[RalphP]

Ralph-

 

They look like this:

 

 

 

Thanks for that photo - now I see how the ring works and how it does not get in the way of the jewel - no holes in the in the top of the little red cap for a ring - so that sort of eliminates ring top missing the ring as a possibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much for little vacs - a couple of larger ones:

 

 

 

 

Nothing like a clear photo to show how badly these pens are in need of a good cleaning, polishing and restoration...

[Brian-McQueen]

Here's a hodgepodge photo I took back in 2012 for some reason I'm not quite sure. Maybe these were all pens I had picked up within a couple of months of each other or some such. Anyway, there's some interesting stuff in the shot.

 

1. 1937 Vac Pencil. These are pretty dang tough to find.

2. Emerald pearl Maxima pencil.

3. Black Debutante with a medium-width smooth band. These are uncatalogued. I still need the black pencil to match. I have all the pens and pencils in the other colors. Help me complete my mini collection?

4. Burgundy Pearl Non-Stop Repeater Debutante pencil. Pretty uncommon

5. Mint Stickered Single Jewel Major in Silver Pearl

6. Late Canadian Major in Silver Pearl with "Reverse Trim" (gold trim on a silver pen). Also, a "punched diamond" clip.

 

IMG_7835_3

[FarmBoy]

Some time we can talk about the punched diamond clip. Likely not what was once thought.

[Estragon]

Great thread! My Silver Pearls:

 

[Brian-McQueen]

Those are nice silver pearls! Good collection.

[mitto]

Lovely silver pearls.

[CS388]

Beautiful. Like a New York skyline at night.

[ThomasB]

Took this group shot for my Facebook backdrop and just really liked it. Nothing earth shattering here, just some OS and Maximas with a few Standards at the end of the rows

 

[senzen]

Great thread! My Silver Pearls:

 

 

Stunning. So that's all the silver vacs went!

[Runnin_Ute]

Just bought a 1944 Emerald Pearl Major this evening. Will post photos once it arrives.

 

Here are a couple from the eBay posting.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Runnin_Ute

[RalphP]

Interesting Burgundy Pearl Set - c. 1938/9 - Probably a Maxima of some sort. The barrel imprint date is 18 - 1st quarter of 1938 - but a few elements might point to a bit later - or maybe just when it got finally assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't realize GUARANTEED FOR LIFE existed prior to 1939.

 

 

 

 

ralph prather

[crescentfiller]

Here are two Vacumatic sets that I found in the wild just recently. They are both in very nice, clean condition. The pencil for Debutante set was missing the clip and the jewel, so I popped a clip and (black) jewel on as a temporary fix.

 

The Debutante set has a date code of third quarter 1938. The pen has quite a nice clip.

 

The Golden Pearl set is, I believe, a Long Major. It has a striped cap jewel, bullseye barrel jewel, black section, two-tone nib, and measures 5 5/16". The pen has a fourth quarter 1940 date and the pencil a third quarter 1941 date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by crescentfiller

[Brian-McQueen]

Crescentfiller, the Brown Major is the longer version of the double-jewel Major. Typically, though, the term "Long Major" is used to mean the early 1942 Single Jewel Major which is longer than the Majors from 1943 and later.