Oxford Endurable

Hi,
I've just received a pen from Holland with the inscription Oxford Endurable on it. There is no other information. The nib is marked 'Oxford 14ct' and the ball clip is also marked 'Oxford'.

To my eyes it is clearly a Parker product, more specifically a 1930's streamline two ring Duofold Junior, right down to the Christmas tree feed. Apart from the lack of marks the nib and clip looks Parker too.

Does anyone have any information on this brand?

It may be a copycat brand. In the 1930s, Parkers in Denmark were rep'ed by Christian Olsen and marked with a circle containing an anchor flanked by a "c" and "o". Then there was the Penol brand, which was manufactured in Copenhagen in conjunction with Parker as a lower-priced pen. One of the Penol models was a streamlined Duofold look-alike.

This sounds an interesting piece, and the Xmas tree feed almost certainly makes it a Parker product. The name "Oxford" sounds ( surprisingly!!) British and Oxford Endurable a name possibly aimed at students at Oxford Uni. You find a number of pens ( mainly Swans) fitted with Phillips "Oxford" nibs ( Phillips was an Oxford based firm and had connections with MT and De La Rue that manufactured their own nibs ) that had replaced the originals due to the hard life given them by the students. So a pen called an "Oxford Endurable" probably had a target market in mind. Next we know that the majority of '30's Parker for the UK market came from their Canadian factory and assembled in England (?? I think anyway).

Now we can speculate !! If the pen originated or sold in the UK Phillips would have the right to the "Oxford" name on a nib at least. So are we looking at a collaboration between Phillips and Parker where Phillips provided the nib and the market and Parker the pen appropriately marked?

Regards
Hugh

I don't have any expertise regarding your pen or it's origins, but I 'am' intrigued.
A couple of nice photo's of the pen would be great, and may give the pieces of evidence the 'brains trust' may notice in the determination of the pen origins.

I like Hugh's thoughts...

Here is one from my collection ~



and a photo next to a Duofold / Junior Streamlined.



I once researched its origins and there was much speculation of where in Europe it was produced, though no firm answers. I would tend to think that it was not a Parker product, but a
nice copy.

Phil

Edited by philm, 10 October 2013 - 04:53 PM.

That is the pen Phil, and better photos than I could get.

At 115mm it the same size as a Junior while the clip is the same as on the Lady. Apart from the markings there is nothing on the pen that wasn't produced by Parker and we know that they produced pens for others. The lack of a country of manufacture is intriguing but did anyone else produce the Christmas tree feed?.

Having looked around my conclusion is that it is probably a sub brand of the Danish Penol company. British pens obviously represented quality in Denmark with Big Ben using British patents and other pens such as the 'Sheffield' and I feel it is more than a nice copy. But that is just my opinion!

Edited by Peterg, 15 October 2013 - 01:29 PM.

That is the pen Phil, and better photos than I could get.

At 115mm it the same size as a Junior while the clip is the same as on the Lady. Apart from the markings there is nothing on the pen that wasn't produced by Parker and we know that they produced pens for others. The lack of a country of manufacture is intriguing but did anyone else produce the Christmas tree feed?.

Having looked around my conclusion is that it is probably a sub brand of the Danish Penol company. British pens obviously represented quality in Denmark with Big Ben using British patents and other pens such as the 'Sheffield' and I feel it is more than a nice copy. But that is just my opinion!

 Oxford Everdurable was made by the German company Siebert & Löwen (Matador) for a danish trading company - it is not connected to Christian Olsen and Penol

Edited by Simplo, 16 February 2014 - 09:22 PM.