Which is the more famous pen brand, Parker or Sheaffer?

[Anonymous0332]

Hello. I was wondering if anyone could tell me which one of these two pen brands is more famous, better known worldwide and has a larger market share in the pen industry.

[PAKMAN]

Some one here may have that info, but too much research for me. So I looked over my own collection and found that Parker holds a much higher market share and popularity. Your results may vary! 

[welch]

My hunch: Parker. Major factory and design in Wisconsin and "England", other factories in Canada. Sales presence all over the world. Close competitors in the US, though.

[Olya]

Parker.

In the US Parker was on equal footing with Sheaffer, but globally Parker had a greater presence and was better known, partly even in some remote villages.

 

The secret here is that Parker had globally many manufacturing plants across several continents and that helped with name recognition and a sense of quality.

 

Nowadays they offer still the same quality (technically, though Parker's pens have become known for their dry out issues whereas I don't know of a particular problem going in Sheaffer pens), they are the same style (heavy metal pens first and foremost), but Parker remains better known and has a far bigger/more diverse line of pens going than Sheaffer.

 

Just as simple example, the Parker Jotter is ubiquitous pretty much everywhere and their ballpoint refill is the "standard" amongst many pen makers.

[Roger W.]

Being that I am a Sheaffer collector I can clearly say that Parker is the king of the collector pens.  Sheaffer in many ways is a better built pen but, Parker is still a tier 1 maker so the difference here is slight.  Like Farmall is a better build tractor in the 1940's than a John Deere but, people want John Deere (both are fine tractors).  Sheaffer was also produced world-wide so that is not much of an argument.  Overall there is just things about Parker that make it more appealing than Sheaffer.  Could be their choice of designs or date codes that make it clear when things were made but, some set of factors has made Parker the more collectable of the two.  If the question is which is more famous today it would also be Parker as Sheaffer has been pretty aimless for a long time.  Sheaffer has some good pens but their last great pens were the Targas which ended 20 years ago.

 

Roger W. 

[Olya]

Sheaffer is/was also produced all over the world, but to this day famous are the Parker plants in the UK, France and India, they also had plants in North and South America and elsewhere.

 

This quite big presence in Europe helped the brand find their footing on the European continent and their plant in India is imo also a reason why it's so famous there.

 

For Sheaffer I know they produced pens in Australia, Canada and ink in Slovenia and that's it. There might be more plants all over the world, but how famous are they compared to Parker?

 

Even though the ink was produced in Slovenia, no one in Europe really bothered with the ink unless really into pens (eg Pelikan, Lamy, Waterman and Parker are ubiquitous inks found in any shop, Sheaffer requires the extra step of deliberately searching it out and then it seems not as many people know of the brand whereas Parker seems to be known by everyone).

 

I also remember reading stories of people in India and North Africa where both Sheaffer and Parker were sold, but Parker was hands down better known and sought after, even by poorer people.

 

Sheaffer imo made the prettier nibs (conical and inlaid) and are nicely smooth (waverly upturn), I also know that some vintage Parkers are a bit fragile, I don't know of fragility amongst vintage Sheaffer and the aforementioned dry out issues in modern pens. Parker was/is better known, but Sheaffer seems to have (had) fewer quality issues.

[Dimy]

Here in India parker clearly has better reach and brand recognition over Sheaffer anyday. More people are aware of it (one of reasons, from talks with my parents generation, its like they first came in India and made their pens as statement of luxury, one of reasons I think but not complete picture obviously, advertisement takes big roles too) and is widely available at various price brackets and is considered an entry in "expensive pens" by many (not that its very true considering Indian parkers are more famous for issues in QC and general poor quality among those who know pens).

 

Still in terms of awareness and reach (and most likely market share) parker has better grasp over Sheaffer here at least.

 

Parker being sold is not entirely wrong here either for India at least. From what I am aware the rights for branding are owned by luxor and so does manufacturing of the products (thus the QC issues). Not sure of Sheaffer personally in this regard so no comments.

[jchch1950]

George Parker has a special interest in promoting his brand world wide. A result was that the name recognition was wider for many years and maybe still now. Recognition of the brand has little to do with the administrative  and design side of the business . Also the pictures of the second war victory involved Parker pens and I think many wanted to share the same brand.

[Anonymous0332]

Thank you all for answering. One more question, is Parker more famous than Cross pens too?

[carola]

To me, Parker is a brand name I have known since I was a small kid. Maybe more for ballpoints than for fountain pens (Austria is very much Pelikan country, when it comes to fountain pens, plus some Lamys), but the iconic arrow clip and the typical sleek full metal or plastic body and metal cap look you get in both, pens and ballpoints, is something that simply is everywhere.

 

Shaeffer or Cross? Had never heard of them before I really got into collecting fountain pens and visited FPN on a regular basis.

[hari317]

Today, In India Parker is better known. In the mid-late 1990s, Luxor started representing Parker officially In India and later started manufactring some lines under license.

 

Prior to this both Sheaffer and Parker were available in specialist shops and both equally well known. But being relatively expensive the pens were not very well known to the average Joe.

 

I was given a sheaffer 444 before I got my Parker 45. 

 

Nibs replacements were a big problem with the 444, you did not get spare nibs as easily as that for a 45. 

 

Sheaffer and Parker both were similarly copied by Indian brands, Wilson went to the extent of making a true inlaid nib.

 

 

[como]

For me, Parker and Montblanc are the two most well known pen brands among people outside the pen world. Inside the pen world, still this answer will not be too wrong.

[Olya]

Cross is less well known than Sheafffer.

 

The ranking is Parker, Sheaffer, Cross.

 

In terms of fame.

Quality is another matter, as previously discussed.

That said, I can't comment on Cross quality, as I don't have any of their pens or much interest in the brand.

[shamwari]

In my view, Parker without a doubt.  

 

As Olya has indicated, the presence of the Jotter, which is ubiquitous, has brought recognition of Parker to those who have no interest in fountain pens.  Neither Sheaffer nor Cross have the same reach.

 

Growing up in Africa in the 60s/70s, Parker was a name I always knew, Cross and Sheaffer were rare but almost everyone at school (once we graduated from pencils) had the ubiquitous Parker 45/Arrow.  A close friend at school had a Cross BP but that was the only Cross I ever saw as a kid.

 

Nowadays I guess no one uses a fountain pen at school but I'm sure most will have come across the Jotter BP.

[welch]

I knew Cross as a high-end ballpoint, usually as a high school graduation present. When I worked at GE in the 1980s and '90s, Cross pen-and-pencil sets were customer gifts and employee-awards. I still have one from 1987, which I used when I went on customer calls. They were the GE show-off pens until our sales people and high ranking customers began using Montblanc ballpoints -- a change-over after about 1995.

 

I gave my wife a Cross fountain pen  back about 1990, mainly because Cross had a reputation of always fixing their products...I could get a Cross mailing envelope at Art Brown's Penshop, put the pen and mailer into a mailbox, and it was done.

 

However, Parker and Sheaffer were the big names, the biggest of the Big Four American pen-makers. Parker still exits, but Sheaffer is not much more than an name acquired by Cross after BiC bought and let Sheaffer disintegrate. Twenty years ago, Sheaffer's Prelude mated and exceeded Parker's Sonnet. Sheaffer offered a full line of pens. Now it is a steel nib Prelude, a carry-over Legacy / Heritage, and a corner inside the Cross HQ. 

[Mr.Rene]

 

 

Fame is something really changing...from time to time...Marketing is an important factor...

1920´s was famous Conklin´s and Whal´s

1930´s Waterman´s

1950´Parker´s and Sheaffer´s

2010-20' Montblanc..

In terms of fame...and Occidental World...USA and Europe is a piece of planet,keep in mind.

I agree...Quality is another matter...

Regards all.

[TgeekB]

While I have both and they both made great and iconic pens, Parker is my favorite and probably most well known. My 1934 Parker Vacumatic is a thing of beauty. 

[bunnspecial]

Here in the US, I find that a lot of folks my parents' age will know Sheaffer from school pens like the No-Nonsense and some of the other models, plus the calligraphy pen sets based on the No-Nonsense.

 

Parker is definitely there as a high end brand, but so is Montblanc. I find that a lot of the other high end brands like Pelikan are not really known to non pen people, but those two are there.

 

Since Cross was mentioned, all add that at least in my mind, Cross is a ballpoint brand. I know they make FPs-I have a couple and the ones I have are nice writing and looking pens. Still, though, when I think of Cross I think of the skinny little BPs my dad got as 10 and 20 year gifts at work, or the desk set skinny ballpoint my mom had as a similar work gift. Basically in my mind, Cross=heavy, tiny, painful ballpoints that do fortunately at least have good refills backing them. I'd say they're known as a high end pen brand at least in the US, but no necessarily a fountain pen brand.

[Mech-for-i]

It just boils down to locale , and todays ; marketing . Do know if you really are asking for reach if a pen brand as in worldwide pen industry , I say other than Pilot, pretty much none of the typical fountain pen brand qualify. And you just need to goto any stationary supply to check out the shelf to know why.

[cardiorrhage]