The pen below is a new-in-the-box Jack Knife Safety model 23-1/2 Short. As you'll see from the photos below, this thing is absolutely without any signs of wear or use, beyond a little ink on the mouth of the section that may have come from being dipped. The price sticker is milky white and there's not a hint of oxydation in the color of the hard rubber. The imprints are completely unworn and still show the tiny edges of displaced material from the stamping of the imprint. There's not a bit of wear in the plating of the clip, although there's a small area at the bend from the clip to the ring where the plating has pealed off. Clearly the pen spent its entire life in the box to prevent any exposure to light.
The box itself is also near perfect, with only minor chipping of the paper cover but no drawer wear. The instruction sheet is still folded up within the box and there's a bit of discoloration in a couple of areas, but generally it's as new. Essentially, this is what you would have saw if you walked into a stationery store in 1920 and wanted to buy this pen.
As odd that it is that it has survived this long in pristine condition, it's odder still that this pen was personalized! There's a letter "H" imprinted in the top of the clip/inner cap screw. The initial is consistent with lettering shown in Parker's 1918 catalog. I'm not sure what would have led someone to have a pen personalized and then never take it out of the box, or for a store to have one personalized like this expecting to be able to sell it to someone. But there it is.
As I said, it's "Happy John".
