Parker
Pens and Ephemera

You might think this Parker 51 Demi pencil looks black in the photo, but it is really a deep burgundy. It is difficult to see the difference until you set it next to a black pen or pencil. It has an early click-cap lead advance and comes loaded with a .9mm lead. The barrel is nice and clean, but the gold-filled cap has little specks in it that we couldn't quite polish out. An original, mostly hardened, eraser is under the tail cap. 12cm.

The greener side of teal looks fantastic on this Parker 21 pencil. It is New Old Stock with its original price sticker. Unfortunately, NOS doesn't mean it is flawless. There is a visible scratch on the steel cap in the photo. The base model for the Parker 21, this vintage pencil is in great working order. Its .9mm lead advances and retracts with a smooth twist of the tail cap. Under the tail cap is a perfect, hardened eraser and under it are spare leads. 12.6cm.

Parker first released its super famous Sonnet line in 1994. Among the first colors were two beautiful Chinese lacquers. This is one such first-run Parker Sonnet in the design pattern of "Chinese Laque Vision Foncé." It is an exquisite pen, much like a Japanese urushi design in black with amber-sparkle highlights. You can see a spot of wear on the wide, gold-plated cap band and lighter wear elsewhere on the pencil. Twist the tail cap to advance and retract .5mm leads. Under the cap, you will find a working but mostly worn down eraser and spare leads. 13.4cm

Parker Liquid Lead Pencils continue to fascinate us. Here is a slender model with an almost Parker 21 like pocket clip from the 1950s. Sadly, the idea of a liquid lead pencil never really took off, but we still have some handsome examples of them around. This model shows more moderate to heavy wear from use but a rarer imprint than many of these pencils we've seen. You can also see a little rust no the tail cap. Unfortunately, this pencil's refill has run dry, and they don't make these refills any longer. 13.1cm.

Perfection is difficult to achieve in vintage pens, but this 1940 Oversize Parker Vacumatic gets close. No cracks, only light wear and incredible barrel clarity with celluloid that is on the light orange-dark yellow spectrum. No brassing. A feint barrel imprint. Close to perfect two-tone plating for the 14k gold nib. (Click the headline for a close-up.) YET, as you can see on the main photo, the name "James A. Kunkel" is engraved on the barrel. We looked up the name, and there are too many James Kunkels to know who owned this specific pen. You'll write an extra-fine line that is a bit dry but can sometimes look fine. Restored and in great working order. Museum worthy rare burgundy...yet, still a good writer. 13.5cm capped.

In 1936, Fred & Ginger lit up the silver screen in the classic "Swingtime," King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry an American divorcé, television broadcasts first began, Jesse Owens showed up the Nazis in Berlin, Joe DiMaggio was a rookie, FDR won a second term and this Parker Vacumatic standard set in burgundy was made. It was an elegant era, and this pen in many respects marks the pinnacle of art deco design. This particular set is in excellent condition. No cracks, maybe 1% brassing, no scratches, restored and working. Its two-tone 14k has some cosmetic issues. Click the headline to see close-ups. It writes an extra-fine line with a little flex but not much. The matching pencil works great in excellent condition and comes with spare 1.1mm leads. Pen measures 12.8cm capped.

Vintage ink collectors will love this complete Parker Superchrome ink bottle set. Included is a 4-oz. bottle of blue ink (dried out) and the special tin that it rested in. Superchrome was a brilliant and beautiful ink that was far more vibrant than standard inks of the era. However, it was only intended for the Parker 51 with the "pli-glass" ink sacs. That which made it so vibrant was highly acidic and tore through normal ink sacs very quickly, ruining many old pens in the 1940s and '50s. It was discontinued due to its corrosive nature. We've seen a lot of Superchrome bottles over the year but this is one of the first we've seen to come complete with its tin. The tin shows a little rust and wear in places, but it isn't all that bad. EXTRA SHIPPING CHARGES MIGHT APPLY DUE TO THE SIZE AND WEIGHT.