Vintage Pens: Parker Duofold Sr. Streamlined

Description

Sheaffer Balance pens revolutionized the writing instrument world nearly overnight when these streamlined beauties were released in early 1929. They accounted for the overwhelming majority of fountain pen sales for the entire year. Parker had to update its look in a hurry to not be forgotten forever. As such, the Parker Duofold Sr. Streamlined pen was released at the end of 1929. Due to patent restrictions, it couldn’t make a torpedo shaped pen, so the company tapered the ends of the pen with a much smaller flat top and bottom. Parker updated the imprints, clip and other details, too. While restoring this Parker Duofold Sr. Streamlined we noticed it had several older features that weren’t quite right for the “new” streamlined pen. So, we turned to our handy dandy authoritative book “Duofold” by David Shepherd and Dan Zazove. On page 85, it states that to help dealers not lose their shirts on their old, unsold Duofolds, Parker would take them in and reshape them while giving them new streamlined end caps…thus making them look like the brand new streamlined models! An elegant solution for everyone at the start of the Great Depression. This pen matches all of the characteristics of what Shepherd and Zazove call the “rogue” Streamlined Duofolds. We think that makes this pen a great little piece of vintage pen history. We restored this pen with a new ink sac and pressure bar. You can see it is missing a tooth from its inkfeed, and it also has some worn, old plier marks on the section. The rest of the pen shows a little standard wear from use. You will write an extra, extra-fine line with its 14k gold “accountant” nib. 13.8cm capped.