11 replies to this topic

[ZGrand]

Hi, all. I recently inherited a small collection of Parker Vacumatics when my mother passed away in January. I found these in various places in her house. I even found one of them in an old dusty box in the basement - I would guess it had been there for over 40 years. Although they took some cleaning, they all appear to be in excellent condition. Here are some pictures. I would like the board's assistance to verify what I think I have, and get an estimate of their approximate value. I have no intention of selling them, I would just like to know if any of them are particularly valuable.

Pen 1 I found is from 1945, and I believe it to be a standard Major in Golden Brown. Very good condition except for the nib which is slightly bent on the end (as if someone was very emphatic with their sentence ending!). The barrel and cap have the "seamed" banding. Is this particularly rare?

 1945 Major.JPG   96.43KB   34 downloads

Edited by ZGrand, 04 March 2012 - 06:30 PM.

[ZGrand]

Pen no. 2 is from 1944, and I believe it to also be a Major in black.

 1944 Black Major.JPG   85.03KB   26 downloads

Edited by ZGrand, 03 March 2012 - 12:42 AM.

[ZGrand]

Pen No. 3 is a pen and pencil set in Azure Blue, with the original box.

Attached Files

•  Parker Pens 9.jpg   76.5KB   30 downloads

Edited by ZGrand, 03 March 2012 - 12:47 AM.

[ZGrand]

The pen and pencil are dated 1940, and I believe the pen to be a Long Major.

Attached Files

•  1940 Long Major.JPG   85.06KB   29 downloads

[ZGrand]

Pen No. 4 is a from 1942, and I believe it to also be a Long Major in Golden Brown.

Attached Files

•  1942 Long Major.JPG   94.6KB   23 downloads

[ZGrand]

The top and jewel on Pen No. 4 is a little different from the others -- the jewel is a little taller.

Attached Files

•  1942 Long Major Jewel.jpg   41.64KB   24 downloads

Edited by ZGrand, 03 March 2012 - 01:01 AM.

[ZGrand]

Any help verifying that my identifications are correct and approximate values would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[BrianMcQueen]

ZGrand,

It looks like you correctly identified all your pens. The one question I have is this: Is pen 4 any different in size than pen 1? You called pen 4 a "long" major, so I wonder if you mean that it's any longer than the first pen. The "long" descriptor doesn't go with single jeweled pens. You would call the azure pen a "long major" however. By the way, the azure pen is very nice. That is the hardest color of double jeweled pens to find, as it had a very short production run in the double jeweled era compared to the other colors. Note that pen #1 has an incorrect nib. The V style nib actually should belong on a striped Duofold. Your pen should have an arrow clip just like the rest of them. In regards to your question about seamed plastic: This is not uncommon for pens found with 1945 or later date codes. None of these pens are of the particularly rare variety (the azure major being the most uncommon among these) but they are a really really great find! I'm not very good at valuing, so I'll leave that up to others to assist you with.

Edited by BrianMcQueen, 03 March 2012 - 01:29 AM.

[ZGrand]

Thanks for the response. Yes, the 1942 model (Pen no. 4) is about 135mm long, whereas Pen no. 1 is about 128mm in length. Pen 4 and Pen 3 (the blue one) are the same length.

Interesting you should mention that Pen 1 has a nib from an older Duofold -- I did find a 1940 burgandy striped Duofold pencil, but no pen to match. (The site won't let me post a picture - I guess I've reached my limit (?)).

Here's an attempt to attach a picture from the Gallery as David suggested below:



It is pretty short -- was there a ladies model?

Edited by ZGrand, 03 March 2012 - 02:27 AM.

[david i]

ZGrand,

It looks like you correctly identified all your pens. The one question I have is this: Is pen 4 any different in size than pen 1? You called pen 4 a "long" major, so I wonder if you mean that it's any longer than the first pen. The "long" descriptor doesn't go with single jeweled pens. You would call the azure pen a "long major" however. By the way, the azure pen is very nice. That is the hardest color of double jeweled pens to find, as it had a very short production run in the double jeweled era compared to the other colors. Note that pen #1 has an incorrect nib. The V style nib actually should belong on a striped Duofold. Your pen should have an arrow clip just like the rest of them. In regards to your question about seamed plastic: This is not uncommon for pens found with 1945 or later date codes. None of these pens are of the particularly rare variety (the azure major being the most uncommon among these) but they are a really really great find! I'm not very good at valuing, so I'll leave that up to others to assist you with.

Hi Guys,

I'm at the Baltimore Pen Show and-- for variety of reasons-- running on fumes. Nice to see the pens inherited by ZGrand

Note for ZGrand--- do check out our GALLERY tab at top of page. Uploads to posts are capped at 500kb, and images need to be removed before more then can be added. But... GALLERY offers 25 MB of storage in a personal Album you can create, and there is storage in pre-made Albums on variety of topics. Then the "Share image" line can be used (the BBC code option) to paste full size images into your posts. If you have chance, do try

A great deal of info has been shared, and I cannot do detailed review until after show, but I'll toss couple notions out, based on how I see Vacs...

The "Long" Major of course references routine (Parker never said, "long") pens from years in which Major was longer than in other years. Most of the single jewel era sees shorter Majors, but the Long variants ran around 1939 to... late 1942. The first year single jewel Majors indeed are "long", so if a pen is SJ but is from 1942 it could well be "long", have two tone nib, and even for proper colors have a striped top jewel.

Seamed plastic saw limited use around late 1945-early 1946, though I always am working on observations to stretch the era. The pens are not rare, but they are well less common than conventional plastic, not that most people care. They make a nice and esoteric/nuanced find.


Regards

David

[david i]

Hi again,

As to values, it always is important to remember that condition and venue have huge impact on prices, particularly on pens of modest value. Restorations tend to run $30-35 per pen. A pen that retails restored at $150 might wholesale in similar final grade but pre restoration as low as $40-50. An excellent pen that retails at $150 in more humble final condition might retail at $100, etc. A trashed pen can have parts value alone, depending on which parts still are salvageable. Collector to collector pricing (eg. sold on web boards or ebay ) will be between those extremes.

Your brown 1945 Major has a nib from a similar era Parker (striped) Duofold Senior. While incorrect, it is not a real value hit, as the "V" nib from the Duofold is harder to find and carries more value. A truly excellent pen of this sort might retail, restored, $140-165. Wholesale probably around $40-50 pre restoration, if the nib just needs bit of straightening that can be done by hand. If needs nib block work many restorers charge extra.

Black pen in ok shape tends to retail around $125 and tend not to be the quickest sales. Often trade hands raw unrestored $30-40 for parts. Collector to collector pricing again between the zones. However, the two tone nib is an upgraded finding in this pen and add bit of value.

Azure Blue double jewel set in box is a somewhat better set. Again, condition is key. Retail "Excellent" on a website for couple years, should top $300 retail, $120-150 wholesale. Names in barrel and condition issues will affect value.

1942 early single jewel pen "long" relative to later pens is a nuanced upgrade for last generation Major. Retail excellent restored around $200. Wholesale unrestored 75-100.

Others are invited to share their ranges.

regards

david

[ZGrand]

Thanks, David - I appreciate your insights. As I surmised, none are particilarly valuable, except of course in sentimental value.