Just a guess. Another one is someone was simply fooling around. A long time ago I enjoyed a shop class working in laminated plastics, and it was just fun to see what one can make. Perhaps this was the same kind of thing. Maybe all was not quite as happy in the plant as it seems to be portrayed, and putting together a pen which in a way makes light of the Vaulted "White Dot" and "Lifetime Nib" through the creation of a pen with a "Black Dot" and "Non- Lifetime Nib" could be construed as fun, funny, and giving management "the bird". I have worked with people who I can easily imagine doing this, the kind with skills and little patience for "the emperor's new clothes" so to speak.

Could the use of a Black Dot on an Oversize Pen been an Export Model made in an attempt to adress the problem of White not being a valued color in some cultures and thus its presence possibly depressing the perceived value of what otherwise would have been the top of the line product. The design matches production during the Depression, and any edge or idea of an edge which wouldn't cost any money to try might well have been tried. Just a guess, but one based upon having Chinese Friends and having learned which colored flowers to give them based upon their traditions.

I have done some more research, and it appears that the Communists did not end the private ownership of smaller domestic manufacturers until the Great Leap Forward, or latter and actually after an important treaty with the UK in 54 actually tried to improve its exports, but not to the U.S. due to an embargo the U.S. in place, and so it is quite likely that the pen in question is a Snorkel Clone exported in 54, 55, or 56 from the PRC to Commonwealth nations.

My research suggests a rather surprising situation. This pen was made by a Shanghei based Company. It's assetts after the Chinese Revolution may have become part of Hero, at least the Lucky Brand. The pen appears to have been made in 1950, the last year before the Communists took over. The Snorkel didn't come out until 1952. Some later production Hero and sub brands of Hero Pens have many but not all of the features of this pen, including conical nib and simialer cap. However, just because one reference indicates a production date of 1950, and just because the only Company with a name simialer to this one was from pre-revolutionary Shanghei China does not necessarily mean anything. Perhaps Hero decided to produce a Snorkel Clone in the 1980s for export with a guarantee, and Gold nibs. I do recall those years and China putting out a lot of consumer products that looked like the came from the 1950s, and maybe they brought back a pre-revolution Companies name, or maybe it's actually a place name and just a coincidence. So, if anyone has the pen with paperwork that's listed on Worthpoint, please share. The date of manufacture is important.

My suggestion is that any organization, including the PCA use the principles of Experimental Economics to determine rationally the most effective way to further its purpose. Preconceived ideas regarding how to best further the purpose of the organization are common, and many fine organizations have failed because they are locked into methods which are inneffective. This is normal. What is unusual is for a tax-exempt organization to use scientific methodologies to explore their current practices, and experiment with alternatives in an effort to become more effective.
In regard to the PCA specifically, at this time, it would help to get beyond personalities, and emotions. Yes, people have them, but they can get in the way of getting done what needs done, especially if a person, any person, strongly identifies with a specific method.
By analogy, success in sport is not just a matter of hard work and practice, it is today the careful analysis of all aspects of said sport, and experiments in strategies, training, etc.
No amount of past hard work by those involved with the PCA, or future work those currently involved with the PCA can guarantee success based solely on tradition.

Your statements touch on two issues which have long faced a variety of organizations; how to support them and who do they serve. Some organizations operate on purely voluntary contribution basis, some have membership fees, some serve only their members and some the larger society. Many combinations have been tried by many groups, with success or failure usually being a matter of chance, but this does not have to be the future. Research based decision making is possible to be applied to organizational finance. This is a branch of Economics not many are familiar with, but those of us who are could provide the framework to run the needed experiments. So, is there anyone else familiar with this branch of Economics?

Interesting argument. It actually touches on a few fundamental issues which were not discussed, but which may be important.
First, we all need to acknowledge that Copyrights are a legal fiction. They were created for a sociatel purpose quite deliberately by a variety of governments throughout the world. The purpose was not to protect Intelectual property on the basis of an expansion of the rights of the individual to control their work, a noble idea, but rather the creation of the idea of Intelectual property was to foster innovation.
So, did the provision of a digital library by the PCA and it's restrictive access as a private library meet the spirit of Copyright?
If so, then perhaps it would be appropriate to lobby ones government to expand Copyright protection to this type of circumstance.
If however it does not foster innovation then perhaps Copyright protection is inappropriate and an alternative would be to look to European nations who have a different kind of protection for Intellectual goods which restricts the use of said goods which are culturally important.
This type of protection does not foster innovation, but it does make certain that important cultural works are not used for commercial purposes.
But maybe, someone needs to come up with a new type of protection for a situation like this.

Likely an employee gift. Now the interesting part, any manufacturer marks? Also, didn't Parker have a news letter? I ask because it would be interesting to identify who made it, when it as made, and if it predated Parker's Pewter pen production, and was related to relationships which developed around that.

Global warming, maybe yes, maybe no, in regard to human made, but likely occurring, which it does periodically, and so, let's ignore the possible causes at this point and focus instead on the effects of Global warming. The people who got the idea that building on sand dunes next to the seashore was a good idea are learning the futility of doing so, and we are all being asked to help them. I for one can not afford to build a Summer home, and it annoys me to no end that I am being asked to help care about Luxury recreational structures falling into the ocean. I also remember that it used to be a bad joke about buying swamp land in Florida, and now we are supposed to be surprised and concerned that land which really was not land is disappearing and turning back into the wetlands it formerly was. And please do not get me started about people building in the flood plains of rivers, and their deltas. It never was permanent land. I was taught that the ancient Egyptians knew this about the Nile, and created a branch of Mathematics to enable them to delineate and reassign ownership rights to land which regularly flooded along the Nile and which thus conventional markings would not work as they washed away. The problem is the rich people who want pretty views and like living close to water, who will not take responsibility for spending large sums on buildings on "private land" which isn't permanent land and want everyone else to drop what they are doing and reorganize the planet to enable them to keep their vacation homes by stopping and reversing global warming irrespective of its cause.

Well, some people like high opening bids. Given it is a Lady Sheaffer Skripset, and in general only worth if mint, and in a retail setting about what they are asking, I doubt it will sell.