I've been accumulating some Vacumatic pencils lately, separately from their pen counterparts, and I'm beginning to wonder how to ID them. I know there are many different variations of Vacumatic pens, and while I'm sure there aren't quite as many variations of pencils, there still are quite a few. It's quite easy to get them confused with each other, but certain clues such as trim and date codes can help. So I present to you below the Vacumatic pencils I have in my collection. Some I know the model (maybe not the generation) and others I am utterly confused. I put a list below the picture. The ones in bold are the ones that I need help with.
From top to bottom (pencils are arranged from shortest to longest)
1. Silver Pearl Debutante Second Generation 4-5/8" Date Code .0.
2. Silver Shadow Wave Vac Junior Second Generation 4-5/8" Date Code 1
3. Golden Pearl, striped end jewel Second Generation? 5" Date Code 37
This pencil came with a 2nd Gen Senior Maxima pen, they both have the same personalization, but the cap band is not wide like I would expect it to be. The pencil itself is a bit bigger in diameter, though, than the other pencils, just as I'd expect. Notice how it has a short nose cone, similar to the Junior presented above it.
4. Silver Pearl, Jeweler's cap band ?Gen? 5" Date Code 0
The same length as the previous pencil which has me confused, but a smaller diameter, this one has a jeweler's cap band and the Parker imprint on the clip. I am at a total loss on this one.
5. Emerald Pearl Major Third Generation 5.1" Date Code .6.
6. Azure Pearl Major Third Generation 5.1" Date Code .5.
7. Golden Pearl, striped end jewel ?Gen? 5-1/4" Date Code .0.
Is this a second generation major? Do we expect striped end jewels on 1940 pens/pencils?
Hopefully this post can serve as the start of a general ID guide, and others can build on it.
Hi B-
First to address your questions and to make couple observations.
Pen 3 (brown) is an early Major pencil. As has been noted, in 1939 Parker went through a couple phases of pencil evolution for Vac, moving to the narrower Writefine 0.9mm lead. I won't for now do a full breakdown of the pencils, as even the early pencils went through some key style evolution, but basically, Vac pencils prior to the briefly made injector pencils (which I've considered brief early 1939 product only, though I might modify that stance a bit) tend to be chunkier on the whole than later pens. Think of your Major pencil as an earlier three-band Standard pencil, but with the Major cap-band. I have seen occasional seemingly matched pairs (personalizations) in which a Max pencil and Major pencil are pairs. Who knows? Maybe the store had no Max pencils in stock that day. Maybe in the Great Depression, buyer was willing to save a buck by buying the cheaper pencil, if his main concern was to have a pen, not a set. Here is a Max-pen, Major-pencil "set" on my website, with matching engravings. Superb shape btw
Pen 4 Jeweler's Band Silver has the narrower of the two Jeweler's Bands, that seen on "Super-Junior" (more later), Debutante, and both size Shadow-Wave. The pen is thinner because it is post early-1939 Writefine, part of the narrower pencil spread such as your later Major pencils. Jeweler's Band collecting offers its own challenges, but upshot is that your pencil likely derives from a Junior rather than Major pencil (and the matching pen too, even though in Jeweler-band form it does carry a blue diamond, unlike the two-band Junior from which it derives). Also, I've seen some quirks on the lengths of Jeweler's Band pens. It is not impossible that in 1939-41 the Junior pencils were smudge shorter than Major pencils. I would have to pull a few to double check.
Pen 7. Yes, we do expect striped jewels on 1940 high-line Vac pencils (Major, Maxima, Debutante)
regards
david
