11 replies to this topic

[Stuart07]

I have just received a Parker Jr Duofold Lucky Curve f/pen. This is a BCHR flat top pen with chatelaine ring on top and very wide goldfilled band at bottom of cap. The nib states PARKER Duofold Pen P. The barrel states USA (Janesville, Wis.) & patent date of 4/25/11. Do any of you good folks happen to know what the P stands for???

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

Stuart07

[Procyon]

The P means that the nib was made by Parker USA. Some of their nibs were purchased from other companies on occasion, and some were made by Parker plants in other countries. The ones I remember are

P = stands for Parker-made nibs
C = the Canadian factory in Toronto
N = Newhaven, England
D = Denmark
B = a nibmaker such as Barrett, or Beyer & Hayes

[david i]

The P means that the nib was made by Parker USA. Some of their nibs were purchased from other companies on occasion, and some were made by Parker plants in other countries. The ones I remember are

P = stands for Parker-made nibs
C = the Canadian factory in Toronto
N = Newhaven, England
D = Denmark
B = a nibmaker such as Barrett, or Beyer & Hayes

Hi,

Do you have some paper to support this? The "N" for Newhaven is a familiar thing, but I would expect, for example, Canadian nibs to be marked as "made in Canada", not just coded. I could be wrong...

regards

david

[Procyon]

The P means that the nib was made by Parker USA. Some of their nibs were purchased from other companies on occasion, and some were made by Parker plants in other countries. The ones I remember are

P = stands for Parker-made nibs
C = the Canadian factory in Toronto
N = Newhaven, England
D = Denmark
B = a nibmaker such as Barrett, or Beyer & Hayes

Hi,

Do you have some paper to support this? The "N" for Newhaven is a familiar thing, but I would expect, for example, Canadian nibs to be marked as "made in Canada", not just coded. I could be wrong...

regards

david

I must admit that I have no proof of this. This came from a discussion (probably on FPN) a good while back, and I copied it and saved it with some of my other pen info. I am pretty sure the P and N are correct, but I probably should have added a caveat of some kind on the whole statement.

By the way, I am only talking about Duofolds in the pre-Vac era. If any of the later arrow nibs were marked with these letters, I don't remember seeing them. The nibs I have seen them on are ones for Duofolds. In any case, I just looked through my Parker Senior Duofolds and here is what I found. These are both flat tops and streamlines.

Out of 45 pens, 36 nibs were not marked with a letter (some have numbers).
5 nibs had a P.
2 nibs had a B.
1 nib had a C (barrel said made in USA)
1 nib had "Canada" (barrel said made in Canada)

[david i]

The P means that the nib was made by Parker USA. Some of their nibs were purchased from other companies on occasion, and some were made by Parker plants in other countries. The ones I remember are

P = stands for Parker-made nibs
C = the Canadian factory in Toronto
N = Newhaven, England
D = Denmark
B = a nibmaker such as Barrett, or Beyer & Hayes

Hi,

Do you have some paper to support this? The "N" for Newhaven is a familiar thing, but I would expect, for example, Canadian nibs to be marked as "made in Canada", not just coded. I could be wrong...

regards

david

I must admit that I have no proof of this. This came from a discussion (probably on FPN) a good while back, and I copied it and saved it with some of my other pen info. I am pretty sure the P and N are correct, but I probably should have added a caveat of some kind on the whole statement.

By the way, I am only talking about Duofolds in the pre-Vac era. If any of the later arrow nibs were marked with these letters, I don't remember seeing them. The nibs I have seen them on are ones for Duofolds. In any case, I just looked through my Parker Senior Duofolds and here is what I found. These are both flat tops and streamlines.

Out of 45 pens, 36 nibs were not marked with a letter (some have numbers).
5 nibs had a P.
2 nibs had a B.
1 nib had a C (barrel said made in USA)
1 nib had "Canada" (barrel said made in Canada)

I fear I have doubts that a fully geared up late 1920's-early 1930's Parker was outsourcing its nibs to Barrett. Too, I have admittedly vague recollection (i can pull some pens but not now) of "made in USA" on pre-Vac Duofold nibs marked with "C" or "D". If I'm wrong on that point, well never mind on that aspect, but I again have trouble picturing "made in USA" nibs having been brought in from other countries. I'll keep open mind, but any info would be appreciated.

regards

david

[Procyon]

I fear I have doubts that a fully geared up late 1920's-early 1930's Parker was outsourcing its nibs to Barrett. Too, I have admittedly vague recollection (i can pull some pens but not now) of "made in USA" on pre-Vac Duofold nibs marked with "C" or "D". If I'm wrong on that point, well never mind on that aspect, but I again have trouble picturing "made in USA" nibs having been brought in from other countries. I'll keep open mind, but any info would be appreciated.

regards

david

I am not quite sure I know what you are saying. None of the nibs I have with a letter designation have "Made in the USA" on them. Quite a few of the nibs that had no letter did have "Made in the USA" on them, but many did not. If you have some nibs with a C or D that do have this phrase, that would certainly disprove my original statement. Your last statement puzzles me though, who said "made in the USA" nibs were brought in from other countries?

[david i]

I fear I have doubts that a fully geared up late 1920's-early 1930's Parker was outsourcing its nibs to Barrett. Too, I have admittedly vague recollection (i can pull some pens but not now) of "made in USA" on pre-Vac Duofold nibs marked with "C" or "D". If I'm wrong on that point, well never mind on that aspect, but I again have trouble picturing "made in USA" nibs having been brought in from other countries. I'll keep open mind, but any info would be appreciated.

regards

david

I am not quite sure I know what you are saying. None of the nibs I have with a letter designation have "Made in the USA" on them. Quite a few of the nibs that had no letter did have "Made in the USA" on them, but many did not. If you have some nibs with a C or D that do have this phrase, that would certainly disprove my original statement. Your last statement puzzles me though, who said "made in the USA" nibs were brought in from other countries?

I'll have to look at pens before commenting further. If I am recalling in error that USA-made Parker Duofold nibs were marked "Made in USA" than one core element of my objection really does not exist.

regards

david

[David Nishimura]

Given the generally high tariff barriers of the time, I think it most unlikely that Parker would have been importing nibs made in its Canadian factory and installing them in pens made in Janesville. That is not to say that nibs couldn't have been replaced in pens that ended up crossing the border into Canada.

What does the Shepherd and Zazove book have to say about this? My copy is at the shop.

[Stuart07]

Good Grief, Charlie Brown - now THAT'S what I call a SPIRITED response!!
Thank you all for your speedy answer. Suddenly, it all seems so very logical, doesn't it? After all,
what else could the "P" possibly stand for??

I really do appreciate how quickly y'all responded...


Stuart07

[david i]

Good Grief, Charlie Brown - now THAT'S what I call a SPIRITED response!!
Thank you all for your speedy answer. Suddenly, it all seems so very logical, doesn't it? After all,
what else could the "P" possibly stand for??

I really do appreciate how quickly y'all responded...


Stuart07

Hi Stuart,

I could imagine other answers. Too, most nibs have no code, which would not leave me (assuming "P" meant "by Parker"): believing all those nibs were not made by Parker. I'm not trying to give undue grief to Procyon. Observations and Hypotheses are the basis of knowledge growth, but I'm not yet convinced on this one...

regards

david

[entertainment]

Page 163 of the Shepherd book says this:

"A mystery remains as to the meaning of the letters imprinted below the name Duofold. The letters N, P, Y and Z were stamped there for some reason, possibly to identify the group or company that made the nib and in order to maintain quality control. Unsatisfactory nibs might be returned to an outside manufacturer as rejects."

[Teej47]

Page 163 of the Shepherd book says this:

"A mystery remains as to the meaning of the letters imprinted below the name Duofold. The letters N, P, Y and Z were stamped there for some reason, possibly to identify the group or company that made the nib and in order to maintain quality control. Unsatisfactory nibs might be returned to an outside manufacturer as rejects."

See, I think Paul was a clever guy who figured nobody would ever figure out he was adding his initial to nib imprints. Everyone would just assume it meant "Parker". Norman spotted what Paul was doing and for awhile the two enjoyed their little inside joke. Yancey and Zachary ruined the whole thing by getting caught right off the bat. The shop foreman, fearing repercussions, kept the whole thing quiet.

Tim