11 replies to this topic

[Jos]

Some time ago I acquired a Parker VP pen with steel cap and steel barrel. This appears to be an anomalous configuration as I read elsewhere that a Parker VP "all-steel" pen, aka Flighter, is not likely to exist. So when the pen reached me I was curious to see what the thing actually was but I immediately noticed that the pen looked like a real VP.

 

I wanted to show the pen before but did not find the time to do a detailed comparison, including pictures, of the VP Flighter to a regular Parker VP, a Parker 61 Flighter and a Parker 21 Flighter. So here it is:

 

- the barrel of the VP Flighter is completely identical in shape and dimensions to a regular (eg plastic) VP barrel (picture 1 and 2)

 

- the VP Flighter barrel is slightly fatter and less tapered than the 61 barrel and a tad shorter than a Parker 21 Flighter barrel (picture 2, 3 and 5).

 

- the barrels of the Parker 61 Flighter and Parker 21 Flighter do not fit on a VP section. Also the VP Flighter barrel does not fit onto a P61 or P21 section. This excludes that the VP Flighter barrel is a home-made adaptation of a 61 or 21 Flighter barrel. The 21 Flighter barrel also does not have a jewel.

 

- the regular VP pens that I own have a breather hole in the barrel: such a hole is not present in the VP Flighter barrel. There is a breather hole in the Parker 61 Flighter barrel but not in that of the Parker 21 Flighter.

 

- the cap and barrel of the VP Flighter have a black jewel in contrast to the pearl jewels of the regular Parker VP (picture 4). The black jewels fit perfectly on the VP Flighter cap and barrel.

 

The pictures below show the VP Flighter against a regular VP, a 61 Flighter and a Parker Super 21 Flighter.

 

Any comments on this pen are welcome.

 

 

PICTURE 1

 

 

 

PICTURE 2

PICTURE 3

 

 

 

PICTURE 4

 

 

 

PICTURE 5

 

Edited by Jos, 21 September 2014 - 06:09 PM.

[Procyon]

These pens are a little newer than I collect, so I am surely no expert.  However, your pictures sure make a compelling argument.  Looks like a VP Flighter to me!  Nice presentation, BTW.  Great pen.

[David Nishimura]

Very nice! Is the VP Flighter USA-made?

[Rick Krantz]

I see it here, I think you documented it well enough to say in fact it exists. David N asks a good question as to where it was made. I would even venture on that question to guess not in the US... please do share your findings.

[Jos]

Very nice! Is the VP Flighter USA-made?

 

I see it here, I think you documented it well enough to say in fact it exists. David N asks a good question as to where it was made. I would even venture on that question to guess not in the US... please do share your findings.

 

Thank you for your comments:

 

As to the place of manufacture: only the cap bears an imprint and that reads "Parker  VP  PARKER  Made in U.S.A." (plus the Parker halo logo), which is the common imprint on lustraloy VP caps.

 

The VP barrels have no imprint so if the pen is a forgery, which I do not exclude, the cap could be from a genuine VP pen & section and fitted onto a home-made steel VP barrel.

 

That said, I should mention that I bought the pen from a Thai seller. I am not sure whether that means anything but we all know the well made copies of Parker 51 Vacumatics and Duofolds that originate from Asia. On the other hand, I have bought various other vintage pens (either whole or in parts) from this seller particularly, and I never noticed anything unusual about these.

 

I guess that it is not that easy to produce a steel barrel in your kitchen and that one likely needs the original mould. I know that Ariel Kullock produced copies of lustraloy Parker 51 barrels but I never saw VP barrels from him.

The material of the VP Flighter barrel looks identical to that of the cap (lustraloy / steel). The plastic threaded bush at the open end of the barrel fits perfectly into the barrel and the barrel itself also threads perfectly onto other VP sections. I find the black jewel a bit weird, one expects a pearl jewel here, but the black jewel fits perfectly into the top end of the barrel. The pen also came with the original VP Clean Filler. 

 

One should be cautious with a vintage pen that has not been described before. So I presented the pen here and compared it with other Parker Flighters in the hope that there is someone out there who knows more about this pen or has seen this model before.

Edited by Jos, 22 September 2014 - 08:17 AM.

[John Danza]

This appears to be an anomalous configuration as I read elsewhere that a Parker VP "all-steel" pen, aka Flighter, is not likely to exist.

 

I'm curious why the "prevailing wisdom" would be that a Flighter version of the VP wouldn't exist. Flighter versions were part of the pen models that came before the VP and came after the VP. Why would there be a thought that Parker decided to skip a Flighter for the VP? Just curious.

[Jos]

 

This appears to be an anomalous configuration as I read elsewhere that a Parker VP "all-steel" pen, aka Flighter, is not likely to exist.

 

I'm curious why the "prevailing wisdom" would be that a Flighter version of the VP wouldn't exist. Flighter versions were part of the pen models that came before the VP and came after the VP. Why would there be a thought that Parker decided to skip a Flighter for the VP? Just curious.

 

Hi, thank you for your comment.

 

I am not an expert on these pens and I am not sure whether there is a prevailing wisdom in this case.

 

My question on whether a VP Flighter exists comes from a thread on FPN, discussing two different ebay auctions, where the prevailing opinion was that such a pen is not likely to exist:

http://www.fountainp...ighter-on-ebay/

 

I was the winning bidder of the auction that is mentioned in this FPN thread.

 

Also in that thread it was noted that a VP Flighter would logically match the 51 and 61 Flighter. But then it remains remarkable that few people seem to have seen such a pen.

[Readymade]

Fascinating stuff. The photos are very compelling. Even if it turns out to not have come from Parker, it's a very cool barrel and looks decently made. (But I've a soft spot for VPs). Very nice find!

Edited by Readymade, 23 September 2014 - 12:32 AM.

[John Danza]

 

 

This appears to be an anomalous configuration as I read elsewhere that a Parker VP "all-steel" pen, aka Flighter, is not likely to exist.

 

I'm curious why the "prevailing wisdom" would be that a Flighter version of the VP wouldn't exist. Flighter versions were part of the pen models that came before the VP and came after the VP. Why would there be a thought that Parker decided to skip a Flighter for the VP? Just curious.

 

Hi, thank you for your comment.

 

I am not an expert on these pens and I am not sure whether there is a prevailing wisdom in this case.

 

My question on whether a VP Flighter exists comes from a thread on FPN, discussing two different ebay auctions, where the prevailing opinion was that such a pen is not likely to exist:

http://www.fountainp...ighter-on-ebay/

 

I was the winning bidder of the auction that is mentioned in this FPN thread.

 

Also in that thread it was noted that a VP Flighter would logically match the 51 and 61 Flighter. But then it remains remarkable that few people seem to have seen such a pen.

 

 

I'm not an expert either on these. These were made about 40 years after the Parkers I collect. I'm just asking to find out more about it.

 

The FPN thread seems to contain a whole lot of speculation without much proof. As you can tell from a lot of threads on this board, speculation without proof doesn't go very far. I guess it's hard to prove the negative (lack of existence), but all those guys on the FPN thread seemed pretty convinced in the lack of existence without explaining why. Like I said, I'm just curious.

[david i]

If I recall, a certain Mr. Fultz opined some years back that there wasn't a Parker 21 Flighter. He was a fellow with a fair bit of Parker knowledge. But, I offered then an image of a Parker 21 Flighter.  It is hard to know it all... 

 

-d

[Jos]

The FPN thread seems to contain a whole lot of speculation without much proof. As you can tell from a lot of threads on this board, speculation without proof doesn't go very far. I guess it's hard to prove the negative (lack of existence), but all those guys on the FPN thread seemed pretty convinced in the lack of existence without explaining why. Like I said, I'm just curious.

 

I fully agree and it was not my intention to feed speculation further, hence the question mark in this current thread's title. It is also not coincidence that I asked this question here on FPB and not somewhere else.

 

If I recall, a certain Mr. Fultz opined some years back that there wasn't a Parker 21 Flighter. He was a fellow with a fair bit of Parker knowledge. But, I offered then an image of a Parker 21 Flighter.  It is hard to know it all... 

 

-d

 

Absolutely, so I still hope that someone turns up confirming that there was a VP Flighter indeed.

Edited by Jos, 23 September 2014 - 08:12 AM.

[Wardok]

ParkerCollector.com doesn't have a flighter  http://parkerpens.net/parkervp.html