I came across this 1932 Parco and expected that with all its cap rings and do apparent damage that it would join the small herd (not so small but not as larger as David Isaacson's) of Parker sub-brands. SNIP
So what we have is a clip with the flat plate and two stepped chevrons marking a first year Parco and the two rings each at cap top and lip. Tapered cap top end. Rounded bottom end of a later Writefine but with the bottom blindcap like the 1934 Challenger. And the stub for the blind cap not perforated. All this suggests to me an end of the year parts round-up. Anybody else seen one like this or have any other explanations? Thanks, Jack
Hi Jack (don't say that on an airplane),
Thanks for posting a very interesting Parker pen. I've written heftily on Parker's third tier pen family of the 1930's, still largely unpublished in print ( will be likely a 30-40 page section of the Book), though some images and discussion do appear right now in the latest STYLUS Magazine Annual on sale now in an article I cobbled together surveying 1930's Parkers.
I will toss out some views of the series and of your pen, getting to what I find anomalous and to my explanation for it.
First, I don't consider the Parker Parco and the subsequent Parkette and related pens to be sub-brands, per se,. Recognizing there are not universally accepted definitions for some of this, I note that Parco/Parkette
were imprinted as Parker items and thus are models/series by that maker, unlike-- say-- the Sheaffer made
Vacuum,
Vacuum-
Fil,
WASP,
Univer, etc. Then of course there are the rebadged pens made by companies for chain stores that wished to sell under house label. So many nuances...
Second, for those new to this subject, the Parkette family was Parker's third tier line during the 1930's, our focus in this thread. Parco was the earliest model, which gave way in short order to the first Parkette, which looked essentially the same. This is analogous to the Parker Vacuum-Filler becoming the Vacumatic, proper at about the same time.
Third, your pen above the bottom 1/2" or so looks like typical and correct Parco. The four capbands, the lever filler, the rounded bottom all were typical to the pen, but the documented first Parkettes, including the possibly-illustrated (iirc) Parco in an advert template in one of my 1932 Parkergrams, had matching and unremovable plastic all the way down to the butt.
Your pen though has removable black end. You did catch that as being an unexpected finding. Good. But, I would not yet invoke (and, yes, I am wont to do that with the re-badged Parker Diamond Medal pens) "parts like Challenger on Parkette" if only because in the somewhat limited photo the blind cap to my eye looks smooth and round at bottom, not stepped or beveled like various Challenger-family pens. If I am correct the blind cap is rounded, this makes sense for something on an early Parco/Parkette as those models have somewhat rounded butts. The blind cap looks like the shape of a Parco back end.
Fourth, the presence of threads for the blind cap which lack opening for Vac-plunger or button, make sense to me. We'll get to that.
Fifth, ads and catalogue for early Parkette do offer desk sets. However, all shown demonstrate pretty low-end approach to the concept. One simply puts cap on back of pen and inserts the pen point first into the trumpet. Unlike Challenger and Vacumatic, which could...
convert... to desk pens via addition of a black taper which threaded onto back of pen by replacing the native blind cap, Parco/Parkette of course lacked a blind cap. As Parco is a lever filler, this makes some sense; there is no filler to access in back so no need for removable blind cap, thus no ability to...
convert... to desk pen in typical Parker approach).
Sixth, I have seen occasional Parkette family desk pens that have long black taper. These of course are uncatalogued (at least before 1938 or so) As with other Parker desk pens with long black taper, the taper is not fused to the pen and can be unscrewed and removed. What is left on the lever filler Parkettes when this is done is a solid threaded piece that looks like a dummy bushing or fake surround for button filler. This make sense, again, as the lever filling Parkette needs no opening at the back. This might be starting to sound familiar.
Seventh, I have handled now a few Parkettes and Deluxe Parkette with black removable blind caps, which when removed show exactly the solid threaded piece shown on your pen. These of course accept black tapers and thus appear to be convertable pens. I had not yet seen that in a Type 1 Parkette or the "Type 0" pre-Parkette known as... Parco
Here is my shot of a Type 2 "stepped" parkette both as uncatalogued "convertible" and typical fixed end version
Your pen appears to be a convertible Parco meant to allow attachment of a taper to make a desk pen. I have seen Type 2 Parkettes of this sort (the stepped ends evoking Monroe), Type 3 Parkettes like this (which might be catalogued by 1938) and possibly a Deluxe Parkette with fluted contour. Yours would be 1932 showing production of this sort from 1932-1938, flying in the face of ads which show even desk pens lacking a taper. No one has coughed up any info as to why Parker catalogued no Parco desk pen proper (again, desk sets where shown with typical pen simply back capped and place din trumpet), yet apparently made throughout the run pens that could convert to proper desk pens . I am open to other explanations.
Your pen adds to the observational data on this subject.
Nice!
regards
david
