3 replies to this topic

[welch]

I just received a Parker Insignia FP ("custom"?). 

 

Can someone tell me more than:

 

- about the same size as a Sonnet

- section is interchangeable with a Sonnet section (I just swapped)

- Flat "blind cap" and solid gold colored top of cap, rather than the Sonnet's rounded blind cap and centered-jewel cap

 

When were they designed and made?

How were they priced?

Where did they fit in the Parker line? 

Did they replace the P75, or P75 Premier, as a pen just below the modern Duofold, but a "gift pen" above the Frontier or the last P45?

They look as if the Sonnet eveolved form the Insignia. Right?

 

Incidentally, mine has a  modern version of marbeling, something like a restrained "screaming sould of purgatory". Maybe a "whimpering souls of purgatory". It was this one, although the pictures don't show tghe ends, and don't show how it shines.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...cvip=true&rt=nc

 

EBay ID 261367946920

[parkercollector.com]

Read more here: http://parkercollect...m/insignia.html

 

and about the designer here: http://parkercollect..._interview.html

Edited by parkercollector.com, 17 January 2014 - 08:16 AM.

[pajaro]

The Insignia works better for me than Sonnet.  It doesn't dry out as fast, even with a Sonnet nib.

[welch]

The Insignia works better for me than Sonnet.  It doesn't dry out as fast, even with a Sonnet nib.

 

I have found the same. I put a Sonnet section and nib on an Insignia FP and got a better pen.

 

- The Sonnet nib seems better than the Insignia nib, which seems permanently attached to the section. 

- The pen does not dry out. 

 

I am still curious about Parker's design and marketing. According to Tony's site and the Hollington interview, the Sonnet FP and BP were introduced after the Insignia BP and before the Insignia FP. That seems strange.