Information on the Parker ceramic animal pen holders?

[Kimo]

Can anyone tell me about the ceramic Parker pen holders/stands that were sent to Parker dealers back in the 1990s (I think it was about then but it might have been before or after)?  I do not think they were actually sold to the public but rather were advertising items dealers could use to display their Parker pens  There was a cat, an owl, and I think a few more and each would hold one pen.   Here is a photo of the owl pen display.  Does anyone know how many were made and what they sell for these days?  Many thanks!

[RalphP]

 

 

 

Don't know the answer to your question about price - there are so few offered for sale there are very limited comparables...  There was a Black Cat Listed somewhere recently with a price of $500 - don't know if it ever sold or not (and at what price).

The price seemed a bit high but what do I know...

 

There was also an "Orange Tangiers" linked to the Big Red Duofold reintroduction (?).  Others?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Wow. Those are really cool!  

[DaveQuail]

Beautiful! I need to keep an eye out. Just don't know if they come up on auction. Are they circa 1990's?

Would really go well with my Duofolds.

Interesting thread! Will follow this one closely.

[Kimo]

I don't know when Parker made these but my very dim recollection is possibly in the 1990s but I could be way off.  I think there were something like 5 different animals with the cat and owl being two of them.  Parker had them made in Japan and they have a kind of matte finish rather than glossy finish.  I do not know which factory in Japan made them as the only hallmark on the bottom is "PARKER".  I am not sure of the material they are made from but I am fairly sure they are porcelain.  All are very nicely crafted and are hand painted which is fired on.  I dimly recall that Parker made something like 100 of each and that they were not made for sale but rather as display/advertising items for Parker's larger dealers.  Some dealers eventually sold their off when they freshened their store displays which is how a few got into private hands.  I almost never see them being offered anywhere including the big online auction site and the couple of times I have seen one over the many years I have been looking they always go for hundreds of dollars.  I also have a dim recollection that a dealer I was talking to a number of years ago at the Washington Pen Show said something to the effect that Parker made these as a throwback to one of their advertising campaigns back in the 1930s?? which featured the black cat.

[baz666]

I have the owl in the original box. unfortunately, neither are dated but I believe these were released about 1990.

These figures were all based on animals that appeared in early Parker advertisements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are four figures in the series, Scarlet Tanager, Cat, Owl, and a pair of Ducks (not my picture).

 

 

Hope this helps.

[TheRedBeard]

Very interesting and useful information... The figurines are so nice...

I have never come across them before.

And I would certainly love to have The Cat and The Cwl  

[Kimo]

I have the cat which I like the best.   I like the owl also and maybe one day I will find one of those.  Thanks for posting the photo that shows two others.  Perhaps there were only these four?

 

[Kimo]

Here is a Parker Pen advertisement from a 1924 magazine that features the Scarlet Tanager on which the Tanager pen stand is based.

 

[Kimo]

And I think the owl might have been based on this Parker advertising campaign . . .

 

[Kimo]

So far I have not come across the corresponding cat or geese Parker advertising campaigns.

[baz666]

On 11/7/2022 at 6:42 AM, Kimo said:

So far I have not come across the corresponding cat or geese Parker advertising campaigns.

 

Here you go.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Duofold Ad which shows the Scarlet Tanager figure.

 

 

[Kimo]

Thanks, Baz, for posting the historic photos of the black cat and geese ads on which Parker based these ceramic pen stands.  And thanks for the contemporary ad showing back when these were made showing the scarlet tanager ceramic pen holder.  I notice in that ad that they are selling only the fountain pen and ball pen and do not say that the pen holder is included or for sale.  I think the seller was a Parker distributor who were blessed with receiving the one tanager pen holder from Parker for their display/advertising needs. 

[VersoFolio]

I know very little about mine @Kimo

Obviously not from the 'animal' range but looks wonderful on my desk.

"The Silver Crane Company" made these Duofolds ? (holder/desk tidy) under license to The Parker Pen Co. circa. 1984.

Others, under the Hobbs, Welsh Design brand from 1982 featured 'Quink' bottles etc.

 

Thanks for your post. I have enjoyed seeing these holders.

 

Cheers, Pale.Ink.Tom

 

 

 

 

[Kimo]

Thanks for sharing, Tom  I think yours was made in the UK while mine and the other animal series were made in Japan.  Do you know whether your pen design was limited to distribution to a handful of favored dealers like the animals as well, or was it sold more broadly to the public?

[baz666]

On 12/18/2022 at 6:15 PM, Kimo said:

"snip"  I notice in that ad that they are selling only the fountain pen and ball pen and do not say that the pen holder is included or for sale.  I think the seller was a Parker distributor who were blessed with receiving the one tanager pen holder from Parker for their display/advertising needs. 

 

Kimo, have a close look at the ad.

By my reckoning there were (potentially) 700 tanager figurines distributed in Asia alone (500 if the Hong Kong allocation was included).

They appear to have been given away with the purchase of a fountain and ball pen set.

However, I don't know what number were actually distributed this way.

 

 

 

[Kimo]

Thanks, Baz.  Have you seen similary ads offering the other animals?  Perhaps they made a larger number of the Tanager birds for this particular ad campaign?