What Parkers Have Joined Your Collection Lately?

[John T]

Parker Duofold Jr's, new sacs, new pressure bars. 

[singlechange]

I am a relative newbie to vintage Parker pens.  This is what I received in the mail yesterday.  This set of vintage Parker pen and mechanical pencil was found at an estate auction. It came with a documentation/receipt with dates 1936 and 1940 written on it.  The plunger is plastic and the pen  (measures capped at just shy of 5.3 inches/ 135mm;  the pen posted is 6.1 inches/155mm)   might possibly be the Major Standard version circa 1940-42.  My original intention was to get this pen that would serve as my E.D.C.  This morning I cleaned it a bit and dipped the nib in Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Ink.  I was very surprised.  If this Parker was the Maxima version I would not let this Standard Size looking version out of my possession.  Are nibs that writes like this from this Parker era easly found? This small nib is really astonishing writer. Smooth, sounds very pleasant when it moves on the paper, surprisinlgy good feedback and a touch of flex to get line variations.  I tested the nib after a quick clean and dipping in the Pelikan Ink and the nib lays down a good line variation.  I do not know what nib size exactly.  Maybe some forum members can say here.  I just may think about bringing the pen to one of two Washington, D.C. metro area fountain pen shops for new diaphragm.   Very impressed by this  particular vintage Parker Vacumatic

 

 

[mitto]

That is a third generation Major. The two tone nib a tad higher end. Generally these Majors come with a mono tone nib. Spare nibs are available. 

[Beechwood]

On 10/23/2024 at 7:13 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I don't understand the people who get the heebie-jeebies about engravings on pens.  I think they're interesting, and always want to try to find out (if I can) anything about the previous owner. And if the C-worders turn up their noses?  It often means that I can get a nice vintage pen at a better price.  Sorry now I didn't get back to an antiques mall in the next county south before they went to online only -- I was able to track down the name engraved on a Wearever pen a guy at a flea market GAVE me (he claimed he couldn't sell it!) and found the name was that of a jewelry store in the same building back in the late 1940s or early 1950s.  I thought the people in the antiques mall would be amused but didn't get back down to the place in a timely fashion.
The only pen with engraving that I'm NOT happy about is a little ringtop I picked up a number of years ago for cheap at an antiques mall northeast of me, which has the initials "MN" (IIRC) in big black letters on the barrel (and the pen & cap are an off-white material, so the lettering is VERY "in your face").

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

 

Pens with engravings

 

 

There used to be an English film star called Gracie Fields, an actress, comedian and singer during the 1930s and early post WW2. She routinely gave pens for Christmas, typically and really wide banded Vac with Happy Christmas from Gracie Fields.  I bid on one of these 15 years ago and it soared past the £1000 limit I had set and yet a 149, plain but unused pen but the box had a plate engraved Happy Christmas to George Michael from Sony Records. My final winning bid was £350, a little less that the market price for a 149. Perhaps it would have earned a higher price if it had been used.

 

King George V used to give Wyvern pen sets to all employees as Christmas Gifts, the box was unique to the King from Wyvern. I found one of these sets and passed it to sumagaikid  in Florida as a thank you for a a kind favour.

 

I found the pen that had belonged to an artist who painted the Indian Railway posters of the 1930s and then worked as a portrait painter and set designer in Santa Barbara,, his name was engraved on the cap, a very distinctive Greek name. His Greek family was still alive and well, I offered to send the pen but as he had had more girlfriends than hot dinners they were not interested, their precise words were 'you must be ... joking'. The verb in front of joking has been deleted in accordance with FPN rules.

 

 

 

Provenance can be useful

 

 

[mitto]

I like buying pens with interesting engravings. And I have two dozen or even more such pens. Here is one.

 

 

[singlechange]

3 hours ago, mitto said:

That is a third generation Major. The two tone nib a tad higher end. Generally these Majors come with a mono tone nib. Spare nibs are available. 

khan, appreciated your input providing bit more information about my vintage Parker Vacumatic I did not have.

[donnweinberg]

Just a thought experiment:  What if a devious person who has a desirable  vintage pen from the 1940’s - 1950's gets that pen engraved in the appropriate font style/size with the name of a famous person (say, Burt Lancaster) and then tries to sell it as the “Burt Lancaster pen."  How would a potential buyer or other expert know that the engraving was recent and not “true?"

[Beechwood]

29 minutes ago, donnweinberg said:

Just a thought experiment:  What if a devious person who has a desirable  vintage pen from the 1940’s - 1950's gets that pen engraved in the appropriate font style/size with the name of a famous person (say, Burt Lancaster) and then tries to sell it as the “Burt Lancaster pen."  How would a potential buyer or other expert know that the engraving was recent and not “true?"

 

 

I would expect that it happens from time to time. I think there was a Babe Ruth signed FP some years ago, whether that was genuine or not is speculation.

 

I bought a gold 51 from the Parker archives some years ago, engraved  Martin Fox, the manager of the Tropicana in the early 50s and loaned to Guevara, pics of the pen exist or at least a 51 in his jacket pocket.  It came to Parker through  an auction of the possessions of  Martin Fox in Miami in 1956. Pure speculation of course and I bought it on trust, it could have been faked quite easily even with the auction receipt and a  catalogue description. I gave that pen to parkerduofold and it is said to be buried with him. 

 

I collect books, especially Jane Austen. I haven't seen a signed first edition of Emma,  if one ever came to the market it would be hugely expensive which would need all the provenance in the world to back it up what would be a million dollar price tag.

 

 

[singlechange]

3 hours ago, donnweinberg said:

Just a thought experiment:  What if a devious person who has a desirable  vintage pen from the 1940’s - 1950's gets that pen engraved in the appropriate font style/size with the name of a famous person (say, Burt Lancaster) and then tries to sell it as the “Burt Lancaster pen."  How would a potential buyer or other expert know that the engraving was recent and not “true?"

Just recently I saw for sale a Parker "51" all gold filled with the inscription "Jackie Toaduff," an entertainer/dancer/singer from that era. No provenance whatsoever. Jackie was "famous" because he danced with British royal family member Princess Anne, was a close friend of dancer Ginger Rodgers, hobnobbed with a lot of Hollywood celebraties and, for 20 years, performed on the QE 2 to high society.  Your question's answer is research, research, research.

[Checklist]

My neighbor gave me this 1990 Parker 45 that he found in a construction dumpster.  (Not a surprise if you know this guy.)  It's made in the UK and has a gold-plated medium nib.  It's next up in the rotation now.

[Sheptonian]

Additions to my timeline collection.

 

[FarmBoy]

Few will recognize the bottom pen...

[inkstainedruth]

I certainly don't, but it's interesting looking (and I have a feeling I've seen that style clip someplace -- but don't remember where or when....  

Of course my eye went to the blue one (the second from the top)....

Ruth Morrisson aka 

[Penguincollector]

It’s a Mixy! I love the clip. I have a Mixy flighter. 

[Penguincollector]

7 hours ago, Sheptonian said:

Additions to my timeline collection.

 

 

  Lovely lapis! 🥰 

[Sheptonian]

5 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I certainly don't, but it's interesting looking (and I have a feeling I've seen that style clip someplace -- but don't remember where or when....  

Of course my eye went to the blue one (the second from the top)....

Ruth Morrisson aka 

 

I had been after a Mixy (originated in France c.1979 became the Parker 15, and eventually the Jotter) for years but they are scarce in the wild and I never spotted one at a sensible (pocket money) price before. The flat rectangular clip is reminiscent of the Parker 85 which also came from France at around the same time and was similarly short-lived. Might that be the other pen you were thinking of?

 

 

The lovely little Lapis number came (as did the other two Duofolds) from an excellent dealer over here in the UK from whom I've purchased before and certainly will do again. 
 

[Sheptonian]

5 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

It’s a Mixy! I love the clip. I have a Mixy flighter. 

 

The flighter was the original finish, apparently, too - I bet it's a good looker.

 

[donnweinberg]

In recent months, I have obtained from a few different sources a variety of customized Parker 51s, which I’ll display.  Here are four in which Yellow is the primary color.  In the first photo, the first two are Vacumatics, and the other two are Aerometrics.  The 1st and 4th have wider nibs; the Vacumatic (purchased from Ernesto Soler) has a broad nib, and the Aerometric (purchased from Bexley’s Howard Levy) has a stub nib.  The two middle pens have medium nibs.

 

 

Here’s a photo of the Yellow Vacumatic, which is a double-jewel style (typical grey jewels).  It came with the usual GP P51 cap, but I substituted the hammered “Martel” cap for it:

 

 

Here is a photo of the stub-nibbed “Bexley” Yellow Aerometric, which features a slightly different yellow from the Vacumatic:

 

 

Here is a photo of the other Aerometric, purchased from Argentina:

 

I’ll leave out a separate photo of the Yellow-Black-Green Vacumatic, as the file is too large.  I’ll share photos of other colorful 51s in due course.

 

 

 

[Carguy]

Love the yellows! I have 2 or 3 of those myself that I’ve either bought or put together from parts I bought.

[Penguincollector]

19 hours ago, Sheptonian said:

 

I had been after a Mixy (originated in France c.1979 became the Parker 15, and eventually the Jotter) for years but they are scarce in the wild and I never spotted one at a sensible (pocket money) price before. The flat rectangular clip is reminiscent of the Parker 85 which also came from France at around the same time and was similarly short-lived. Might that be the other pen you were thinking of?

 

 

The lovely little Lapis number came (as did the other two Duofolds) from an excellent dealer over here in the UK from whom I've purchased before and certainly will do again. 
 

 

    I am super impressed by your 85, that’s a nice pen! Feel free to share/DM your pen dealer, I am always looking for well regarded Parker people.