I found this pen at a local antique mall. It appears to be a 1st generation vacumatic standard with longitudinal transparency and a date code of 1936. It is in mint conditioning and still has the original price tag attached. I have a couple of questions which I hope someone can answer. 1) How common are the longitudinal transparency? Did all vacumatic standards have this configuration? 2) Since this is the most expensive pen I have bought, I am curious about its value. 3) The seller attached the price tag with tape which left behind a sticky residue. What is the best way to remove the tape residue? Cheers Billy
Hi Billy,
A great find. The pen is a Vacumatic Junior or more likely Juniorette (Slender Junior) though we can clarify that based on measurements.
The long-windows barrel transparency (a butcher-blocked plastic, as the clarity is seen only in two of the 90 degree portions of the 360 degree circumference of the pen) was catalogued by Parker for economy line Vacs just in 1935 (earlier for high line Vacs).. Your pen is something of a late production piece. Finding it with sticker and with that degree of clarity is a major score.
Pens with this clarity are not rare, though they are relatively uncommon vs the typical banded pens as they were made in limited lines for limited years. Often they are so ambered that they appear just to be opaque black. For pens such as this, the degree of clarity contributes to cachet and to value.
I'll turf to our restorers how tor remove tape residue best. You don't want to hurt the pen or sticker.
I'd be interested to buy if you wanted to sell. That's saying something, given the extent of my Vac collection already
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Value as always can be tricky. Venue matters a great deal. Retail price restored with warranty on website content to let the pen wait a couple years to find the right buyer of course is different from "I really need to sell it this week on the pen boards"
regards
David