25 replies to this topic

[david i]

A couple cased sets remain buried from the move, but still...

Could be worse, even for a hack-amateur-newbie

I concede, some in the bottom row are questionable.

regards

-d

[David Nishimura]

Luckily, we do happen to have a lot of documentation for these pens, at least for the ones retailed by Sears. I think we've been concentrating to date more on the rebadged Vacumatics, without really paying close attention to the button-fillers -- we just need to review the ads and catalogs with a different focus.

The Gold Medals are a bit of a puzzle at the moment. I'm not bothered by Parker making a syringe- or bulb-filler econo-pen, so I don't have any problem accepting those Gold Medals with "un-Parker" filling systems but with very Duofold-like caps and clips as Parker products. I am not completely at ease, however, with those Gold Medals that have the Duofold-like caps but are lever-fillers, and levers not like any Parker lever, but distinctively like the Chicago second-tier makers' levers. Yet all in all, I think it significantly more likely that Parker bought lever and pressure bar components from outside, than that National Pen or one of its peers made a Parkette-style fluted barrel of a type otherwise unseen in any of their products -- let alone a Duofold-style cap and clip, equally at odds with all other production. Indeed, for a time I hung on to the notion that these pens might be shared production, with Parker making the caps and National Pen or the like making the barrels, but at this point I would lean to the conclusion that Parker put these together using mostly Parker-made components, buying from outside the lever mechanisms and nib assemblies.

I have some other examples that I haven't photographed yet, too -- again, mostly boxed stuff squirreled away who knows where.

[John Jenkins]

While I applaud your perspicacity in seeking out these interesting pens, David, I can't but tweak you for being a bit late to the party:















I don't think all of these are all that late, despite the conservative design of the rebadged Duofolds. One bit of evidence is the pressure bars, which are almost always the later three-part version. And though I have to look more closely, most of the original instruction sheets I have for button-filling Diamond Medal Parkers are dated to 1937 and thereabouts.

In the words of the late great Jackie Gleason, "Homina, homina, homina!"
JJ

[david i]

When I shot the several trays, I could not find at least one boxed set. Just found it.

The is the Moderne Black and Pearl fluted Slender pen. The fluted models are documented, and I showed all four colors in my group shot, but the Moderne B/P there was the larger model. Note a feature that I asserted in prior thread marked earlier pens from the Parker-DM era, the clip that lacks diamond outline of entire imprint. This sac pen (button filler) shows mixed features from Parker's "$3.75" 1933 "thrift" pen and from Parkette Deluxe (flutes). It is a good thing that the core structure is from the better quality 1933 thrift-type pen.

regards

david

[david i]

I will briefly offer a bit of a tangent, one I alluded to in one of the first posts in this thread.

We've had couple threads about Parker's so-called "Thrift Pens", which of course were never called that by Parker. Some pens from 1929-1938 are so labelled by collectors, and involve a number of models, most unrelated to each other.

A key thread recently addressed the mid 1930's "Challenger-like Thrift Pens", standard size 1934-ish and slender 1936-1938'ish pens that at first, casual peek look rather like Parker's well known Challenger. But, the Challenger-like Thrift Pens have a feature set that does not match any Challenger. The clip has thin-washer like regular challenger. The top thus has an end-piece rather than an end-jewel like Deluxe Challenger. But, the pen has triple cap-bands like Deluxe Challenger not Challenger (though also like some Vacumatic models). The end-pieces top and bottom often are matching the barrel color, unlike any Challenger pen, and they seem to be shaped slightly different from any Challenger, proper. Plastic often challenger-like. They have bland non-model-name Parker imprints.

Hmmmm... Let's review some of those features and see if they sound like anything in this Diamond Medal thread.

• Unique end piece shape
• Thin-washer clip like Challenger/Duofold
• Thin triple cap-band like Deluxe Challenger or Vacumatic

Sounds rather like the feature set on Diamond Medal Vac-Fil and button pens.

I've wondered if some these Challenger-like Parker Thrift pens-- for which we still lack Parker documentation-- might have been either meant for rebadging (as Parker pens became Diamond Medal to be sold by Sears) for sale by a specific store or chain, or due to such chain not needing a formal rebadge, simply were Parkers offered in Parker form (but without stamped or documented model name), for/by that chain.

Here is the Diamond Medal (Parker) that started this thread, next to a Parker "Thrift Pen" of the Challenger-like sort. Review the bullet-list of features, above. It is interesting.

Of course, the counter point can be made that Parker mixed features for some second tier pens, so it is no surprise that two pens of 2nd tier status might resemble each other.

Still...

regards

David

[david i]

Since this thread addressed Parkers rebadged for Sears (etc) with names including Diamond Medal, Webster and Good Service, I'm happy to add this latest find, courtesy of the Chicago Pen Show, May 2012. A Webster with Parker-type nib date code, with Parker Plastic, with end pieces the match, evoking the "Challenger-like Thrift Pens" save for having lacking the washer clip, with side clip more reminiscent of Parker Parkette, or... some for-Woolworth Safford Fifth Ave.

regards

David