24 replies to this topic

[david i]

Last month I bought my first big Parker hoard found in Janesville, where I have been spending half each month due to bizarre coincidence. I didn't go there because I am a Parker collector per se.

Shown below are four monsters, or so I believe

I tend to favor "off catalogue" rather than "prototype", a term bandied about too casually. I don't ascribe intent, but note that all of these are the first of their sort I've seen and that some might be only one known to hobby, though contrary views are invited. All share features with other known (if not necessarily catalogued) Parkers.

Four items Left to Right

• Green Stripe Parker Vacumatic, mid 1930's
• Red Stripe Parker Vacumatic, mid 1930's
• Gray/Lustraloy Parker 51, 1940's, cap-band resembles the lined "jeweler's cap-band" found on Parker's Vacumatic
• Parker Lady Duofold flat-top, orange celluloid, 1920's (noting one cap-band slipped from pen, soon though to be swaged by Ron)

Comments are invited. Can you identify what is interesting? Do you agree with my assessment? Doubts? Challenges?


I consider this a very special find. After all, as my profile in PENnant Magazine states, more or less, "Always it is nice to find a big or glitzy pen, but for me the key hobby charm rests in the obscure, the anomalous, the off-catalogue"

Do have it. There truly is a fair bit to consider with this lot. You might never see this stuff again.



regards

david

[matt]

No. 2 appears to be a thermometer case.

[parkercollector.com]

Four items Left to Right

• Green Stripe Parker Vacumatic, mid 1930's
• Red Stripe Parker Vacumatic, mid 1930's
• Gray/Lustraloy Parker 51, 1940's, cap-band resembles the lined "jeweler's cap-band" found on Parker's Vacumatic
• Parker Lady Duofold flat-top, orange celluloid, 1920's (noting one cap-band slipped from pen, soon though to be swaged by Ron)

Wow, the green one is to die for!
Actually looks Canadian.

/T

Edited by parkercollector.com, 04 November 2013 - 11:18 AM.

[Alex]

The Green one I have seen before and in Brown (I think). Can I assume it is imprinted with some sort of parker imprint? Did they make a challenger like that? If the Red is a Thermometer case I have a Silver/Grey one to match. I cant tell what the 51 cap is clearly. Is it a "coin stack" jewelers band? Are the unusual? As to the duofold I have nothing to say.

Thanks
Alex

[david i]

The Green one I have seen before and in Brown (I think). Can I assume it is imprinted with some sort of parker imprint? Did they make a challenger like that? If the Red is a Thermometer case I have a Silver/Grey one to match. I cant tell what the 51 cap is clearly. Is it a "coin stack" jewelers band? Are the unusual? As to the duofold I have nothing to say.

Thanks
Alex

Hi Alex,

While I know I don't know every pen that everyone else has seen, I suspect you've seen a green (or brown or silver) stripe pen similar but not same as the green one above. Parker used this type of plastic for pens it rebadged as Diamond Medal for sale by Sears (they carry Diamond Medal markings, special structure/trim different from Vacumatic). And, yes, some of those seemingly leaked out with Parker nibs and clips, generally with no barrel markings and still with shape/trim of Diamond Medal (thin washer clip like on plain Challenger, not the fat top holding a smaller jewel, and with shaped black blind cap without tassie).

But this is first I've seen utterly with shape/trim of Vacumatic Standard, fully imprinted on barrel as Parker Vacumatic

Here is green pen released with Parker trim, but essentially a Diamond Medal, note the different shape to clip ring (never mind that it has a blade clip never used on Vacumatic), it looks rather like a Parker Challenger, but with Vacumatic filling system. Quite different from the pen above.

That said, if you have seen before a proper Vacumatic in this plastic... well, excellent

The red stripe pen indeed is a Parker made (and imprinted) thermometer case. TBOMK Parker documented these just in Silver Pearl ~ 1934. This has later code and of course is red, the only one like it I've seen.


regards

david

[John Danza]

The Lady Duofold has a couple of interesting things going on.

First and most obvious is the cap rings. The three rings on a flat top is unusual, but the most unusual is the rings themselves. They're wider that usually seen on three ring pens, with the very wide middle ring being the most unusual. They all appear to be flattened as well, which is usually more indicative of earlier pens, although this one is plastic as David noted. Very cool configuration.

The second thing that I see, which could be a trick of the photo, is the configuration of the blind cap. The knurled portion appears to be raised, which is not how the normal blind caps were made. It's a minor nuance, but interesting.

[matt]

Are the 3 cap bands on the green striper equidistant? The middle one looks closer to the top one, but it could just be the photo angle.

Edited by matt, 04 November 2013 - 06:56 PM.

[AeRoberto]

I think that apart from the 51 everything has already been pointed out. But I know very little about 51s to say something.
This photo is great, thank you for sharing, very wonderful pens.

P.S. I think that in this case the right word is prototype, I would use off-catalogue for pens that have been widely produced and sold (even if not with the same numbers of the catalogued pens), but in this case I doubt that these pens were sold.

[penmanila]

i don't expect a precise answer to this question (great finds, by the way!), but where in janesville do these oddities still turn up? you would've thought that--despite all the ex-parker people and their families in town--all such hoards of prototypes and off-catalogue pens would've come out of the woodwork these past many decades, but obviously (and happily) not. in any case, congrats!

(... to think that, as a rookie collector, i actually visited and roamed janesville thirty years ago, thinking i'd find a parker beneath every porch or rotting log. and of course i came away with nada.)

Edited by penmanila, 04 November 2013 - 10:20 PM.

[david i]

i don't expect a precise answer to this question (great finds, by the way!), but where in janesville do these oddities still turn up? you would've thought that--despite all the ex-parker people and their families in town--all such hoards of prototypes and off-catalogue pens would've come out of the woodwork these past many decades, but obviously (and happily) not. in any case, congrats!

(... to think that, as a rookie collector, i actually visited and roamed janesville thirty years ago, thinking i'd find a parker beneath every porch or rotting log. and of course i came away with nada.)

Arch Street, west side of town

regards

-david

[Hugh]

Very nice David, interesting that even you can find unknown vac variants . Conklin used very similar plastic , maybe the same supplier ?.

Regards
Hugh

[George]

David,

Could you take a closeup of the 51 cap band?

Regards,
George

[BrianMcQueen]

Interesting that the thermometer case has the Major-style cap band. Are there silver ones known like this? Obviously, the production was later than the advertised 1934 thermometer cases.

[david i]

David,

Could you take a closeup of the 51 cap band?

Regards,
George

Hi George,

Regards

David

[John Jenkins]

Interesting that the thermometer case has the Major-style cap band. Are there silver ones known like this? Obviously, the production was later than the advertised 1934 thermometer cases.

Until this one, the only thermometer cases I've seen are silver pearl with two cap bands.

David,
Really cool finds. The green Vac is stunning. I certainly hope to have a chance to see these later this week in Ohio. While I can't match these, I may have a little something for show & tell.
John

[david i]

Interesting that the thermometer case has the Major-style cap band. Are there silver ones known like this? Obviously, the production was later than the advertised 1934 thermometer cases.

Until this one, the only thermometer cases I've seen are silver pearl with two cap bands.

David,
Really cool finds. The green Vac is stunning. I certainly hope to have a chance to see these later this week in Ohio. While I can't match these, I may have a little something for show & tell.
John

Hi Brian and John,

The thermometer cases were catalogued ~1934, only in SIlver Pearl, with three cap-bands all told. I have a green with "Major" cap-band dated 1938, with a history to match (the doctor, whose name is on pen, did medical research in 1938 in Argentina). Has the Major cap-band

This is the first red I've seen. Having bit of trouble with the date code, which I think is 1936, which indeed would be a smidge early for that cap-band. Color match is fine. Pen was found in the wild. Charm is that the caps to these all are 1933-1939 (1.1mm lead, pre injector pencil) pencils tops. An early Major pencil is same as Standard (triple band) pencil, save for the cap-band. I can swap it if i want. I still do not rule out original cap, for a variety of reasons.

regards

d

[david i]

Another look at the "51", next to a typical "Jeweler's Cap-band" pen. The lines are higher relief on the gray pen's cap. The flanking smooth bands might be bit narrower. But, there is much much more...

regards

david

[Greg Minuskin]

I really wish I was as knowledgable as you guys are, that is why I look at this site, and "learn" from the experts! I have a long, long way to go before I can even achieve this level of sophistication!

Greg Minuskin
www.gregminuskin.com
greg@gregminuskin.com

[FarmBoy]

Any imprint on the barrel?

[david i]

Any imprint on the barrel?

Don't think so.

Anything suggestive in the images regarding size of pen?

regards

David