Parker UK vs US

[Parataxis]

Hello All:

 

I'm a reasonably new pen collector. At this point, I'm trying to get a variety of different brands before I start filling out my collection depth wise.

 

Currently I have a Parker (UK) Inflection - it was actually my first fountain pen that I bought. Is there much of a difference between the UK and US manufactured Parkers? A big enough difference to consider them different brands; similar enough to make no odds beyond one letter, or somewhere in between? Does one have a general quality advantage?

 

Anyhow, thanks all,

 

Thane.

[richardandtracy]

Hello All:

 

I'm a reasonably new pen collector. At this point, I'm trying to get a variety of different brands before I start filling out my collection depth wise.

 

Currently I have a Parker (UK) Inflection - it was actually my first fountain pen that I bought. Is there much of a difference between the UK and US manufactured Parkers? A big enough difference to consider them different brands; similar enough to make no odds beyond one letter, or somewhere in between? Does one have a general quality advantage?

 

Anyhow, thanks all,

 

Thane.

This is my take on it, but others may disagree.

 

There is no functional or quality difference between Parkers made anywhere.

So far as I can see the Parker UK nibs were broader for a given size than the Parker US nibs, and due to the UK market preference medium/broad nibs are more common in the UK than in the US, and consequently fine nibs are less easy to find in the UK market. The US market has more fine nibs, and medium/broad seem to be harder to come by.

 

There were some colours of pens [like the P51] only produced in a particular region, and outside that region they are less common and can command a premium (I'm thinking of the colour DavidI calls 'Bloody British Burgundy', which was only made in the UK and is almost as rare as 'Plum' in the US).

 

Parker Argentina seems to have gone its own way on many things, and I don't know a great deal about their pens, but they to seem to have had some unusual model variations. In particular P61's with two dots in the hood rather than an arrow, P51's with c/c for a good few years, while it was a short lived model in the rest of the world.

 

Beyond that.. no real differences.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[Hugh200au]

My two bobs worth....obviously all Parkers prior to their arrangement and purchase of Valentine pens where American made and some of their best, being the '20s Duofolds and Vacs. Early American "51"s are rightly sought after. The English Duofolds from the 50's are high quality pens well worth collecting in their own right . Some models where produced in both countries, the 45, 51 and 61 being the best known and are all similiar quality. Then of course Parker stopped US production....and the comparison ends. What you wish to collect is really a personal (and economic) choice so I wouldn't be "country of origin" specific and , in reality, not a lot of models cross over. Personally I like the early US Junior Duofolds, the English Senior Duofolds and the 65 (most underated Parker).

Regards Hugh

[twdpens]

As Richard wrote, no functional or quality differences but there were quite different product portfolios until the 1970's. Parker UK took over the Valentine Pen Company and early UK-produced models were based on Valentine designs. More significantly, the UK operation produced a series of pens under the "Duofold" name up until the late 60s/early 70s whereas Parker US stopped using the name in around 1948. The Duofold name was re-introduced in 1987 by Parker UK.

 

Nowadays Parker is part of a US-owned multinational conglomerate known as Newell-Rubbermaid in the division Newell-Rubbermaid Office Products. This company also owns Waterman, Sanford, Papermate, Sharpie, Berol, Reynolds and rOtring (and probably some others I have forgotten). Once Parker was a mighty company and probably the "Montblanc" of its day. Even when I was a child a Parker pen was something to aspire to owning. Nowadays, sadly, Parker is a shadow of its former self.

 

There are some excellent books available that chronicle the history of Parker, for example "Fountain Pens USA and UK" by Andreas Lambrou and those co-authored by David Shepherd.

 

Martin

[Parataxis]

Thanks all! Much obliged!

[musorah]

On E-bay I purchased a book by Malcolm Troak, "Pen to Paper: The Story of Newhaven's Pen factory".

 

It begins witht he establishment of the Felix Works in the 1920s through Valentine and Parker from the 40s.

 

New Anzac Publications

30 Csentral Avenue

Telscombe Cliffs

East Sussex BN10 7LY

 

No connection...just enjoyed the book.

 

Rick

[Gran]

As Richard wrote, no functional or quality differences but there were quite different product portfolios until the 1970's. Parker UK took over the Valentine Pen Company and early UK-produced models were based on Valentine designs. More significantly, the UK operation produced a series of pens under the "Duofold" name up until the late 60s/early 70s whereas Parker US stopped using the name in around 1948. The Duofold name was re-introduced in 1987 by Parker UK.

 

Nowadays Parker is part of a US-owned multinational conglomerate known as Newell-Rubbermaid in the division Newell-Rubbermaid Office Products. This company also owns Waterman, Sanford, Papermate, Sharpie, Berol, Reynolds and rOtring (and probably some others I have forgotten). Once Parker was a mighty company and probably the "Montblanc" of its day. Even when I was a child a Parker pen was something to aspire to owning. Nowadays, sadly, Parker is a shadow of its former self.

 

There are some excellent books available that chronicle the history of Parker, for example "Fountain Pens USA and UK" by Andreas Lambrou and those co-authored by David Shepherd.

 

Martin

 

 

Thanks for posting this. Nice to know who has been "swallowed up" by whom. That is quite a list of companies owned by the same firm.

 

Adding a link here: http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/newellco/a...ds.jhtml?id=id2

 

List of "key brands".

Edited February 14, 2009 by Gran