Parker Patrician

Dear fellow pen collectors. I would like to bring to your attention the magnificent parker patrician pen that my friend Tsachi has posted on the other (pentrace) board.
He has shown the pics from the duofold book and also his actual pen. This is the first time I have seen the pen and it is lovely. It has a green cap jewel and tassie.

Worth a look!

Sincerely
Akiva, The Burnham man.

Dear fellow pen collectors. I would like to bring to your attention the magnificent parker patrician pen that my friend Tsachi has posted on the other (pentrace) board.
He has shown the pics from the duofold book and also his actual pen. This is the first time I have seen the pen and it is lovely. It has a green cap jewel and tassie.

Worth a look!

Sincerely
Akiva, The Burnham man.

Hi Akiva.

Saw the pen on facebook. Very sweet. Ask Tsachi to pop over here and show it. Or... I'll do FB later and see if he minds if I post it.

regards

d

Hi again,

Tsachi ok'd my posting the image, pulled from FB (sorry for the JPG artifact). An amazing pen and great rarity.

regards

david

Amazing pen. This one looks great.

I've certainly never seen one of those before. Cool!

Tim

Is this a known variation, or is this the only one known?

Is this a known variation, or is this the only one known?

Pictures from the Parker Archives suggest that Parker put effort in creating many versions of the Parker Patrician. I wonder why so few have been found in the wild given the depth of the range of the series in the Archives.

From Tony Fischier's website:


http://parkerpens.net/patrician.html

George

Pictures from the Parker Archives suggest that Parker put effort in creating many versions of the Parker Patrician. I wonder why so few have been found in the wild given the depth of the range of the series in the Archives.

My understanding from years ago (can't recall where I read this) was that Parker ultimately didn't want to end up in a corporate or legal sparring match with Waterman because of the Patrician name. Waterman would have surely gone after Parker, if Parker used the name of Waterman's top-of-the-line pen to name a company for dumping known inferior products.

Beyond that, it would be a dumb marketing idea for Parker to create a second, known inferior brand that sells pens that look exactly like Parker's products (based on what we see in the archives). As a Parker salesman, I would bitch a blue streak with the company for putting out crappy pens that look just like the pens I'm trying to sell to retailers.


Bottom line, the Patrician Pen Company was just a bone-headed idea that never took off, so I'm not surprised that there are so few of them.

Pictures from the Parker Archives suggest that Parker put effort in creating many versions of the Parker Patrician. I wonder why so few have been found in the wild given the depth of the range of the series in the Archives.

My understanding from years ago (can't recall where I read this) was that Parker ultimately didn't want to end up in a corporate or legal sparring match with Waterman because of the Patrician name. Waterman would have surely gone after Parker, if Parker used the name of Waterman's top-of-the-line pen to name a company for dumping known inferior products.

Beyond that, it would be a dumb marketing idea for Parker to create a second, known inferior brand that sells pens that look exactly like Parker's products (based on what we see in the archives). As a Parker salesman, I would bitch a blue streak with the company for putting out crappy pens that look just like the pens I'm trying to sell to retailers.


Bottom line, the Patrician Pen Company was just a bone-headed idea that never took off, so I'm not surprised that there are so few of them.

When Parker sent out the memo in 1927 (according to Zazove) about the Parker Patrician, I doubt that Parker knew Waterman was going to make the Waterman Patrician in 1929. It doesn't seem likely that a legal battle was the reason for the Parker Patrician program's demise.

George

EDIT: I meant to say: It doesn't seem likely that a legal battle regarding the Patrician name was the reason for the Parker Patrician program's demise.

Edited by George, 14 June 2012 - 08:45 PM.

When Parker sent out the memo in 1927 (according to Zazove) about the Parker Patrician, I doubt that Parker knew Waterman was going to make the Waterman Patrician in 1929. It doesn't seem likely that a legal battle was the reason for the Parker Patrician program's demise.

George

EDIT: I meant to say: It doesn't seem likely that a legal battle regarding the Patrician name was the reason for the Parker Patrician program's demise.

Could be, but the quote on Tony's site says that the BOD had decided to go forward with the Patrician company, not that this is when the Patrician company started. Even if it ended up having nothing to do with the Waterman pen, the pens are identical in apperance to the Parker flat-tops so it would be a bad idea to make your own cheap knock-offs of your own premier product.

Incredible color and so wonderful to behold! Thank you!

Greg Minuskin
greg@gregminuskin.com
www.gregminuskin.com

John, Parker had priority in using the Patrician name on fountain pens -- way before the cheapified Duofolds, in fact. In all likelihood, Parker got wind of Waterman's intention to make use of the Patrician name and made an effort -- which turned out to be half-hearted, for whatever reason -- to reassert their ownership of that name.

The rarity of surviving Parker Patricians suggests that they were never made in large enough numbers to pose any threat whatsoever to the Parker name. If their purpose was to assert ownership of the Patrician name, all Parker had to do was go through the minimal motions of producing them -- which perhaps, in the end, were too minimal to hold up against Waterman. Or maybe some agreement was struck, but I don't think anyone has uncovered that story as yet.

John, Parker had priority in using the Patrician name on fountain pens -- way before the cheapified Duofolds, in fact. In all likelihood, Parker got wind of Waterman's intention to make use of the Patrician name and made an effort -- which turned out to be half-hearted, for whatever reason -- to reassert their ownership of that name.

The rarity of surviving Parker Patricians suggests that they were never made in large enough numbers to pose any threat whatsoever to the Parker name. If their purpose was to assert ownership of the Patrician name, all Parker had to do was go through the minimal motions of producing them -- which perhaps, in the end, were too minimal to hold up against Waterman. Or maybe some agreement was struck, but I don't think anyone has uncovered that story as yet.

I didn't realize that the name Patrician was copyrighted, which is the only way Parker would have had a priority on the name. I would have expected them to come out with a model named Patrician instead of creating a second company as a way to assert their copyright. In any event, there's definitely a story to be uncovered here at some point.

Beautiful pen! Yet another to add to my collection.

Beautiful pen! Yet another to add to my collection.

Yeah... sure... good luck with that

-d

Hahaha,

David.... all i have to do is walk into an antique show, and one will be waiting (Check email...)