All Pens and Ephemera

Parker VP meant Very Personal. The revolutionary developments for this pen included an ergonomic grip for the fountain pen and a nib and feed that could be rotated to better accommodate for the grip and getting the nib to write from any angle. These are rarer pens, as they only made VPs for a couple years. It led to the monumental success of the Parker 75. This teal colored vintage pen has a major problem in its barrel. Click the headline for a close-up to see the 1.5cm crack in the barrel where it threads into the section. Basically, the crack is bad and makes the pen unstable to write with...without making the crack worse. This is a shame, as the aerometric filler unit is in great condition. In most VPs, this is the rare part that is whole. Its 14k gold nib writes a very smooth broad line. 13.8cm capped.

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.

In the strata of Sheaffer PFM pens and pencils, the Sheaffer PFM-IV was just one grade below the very top of the line. We love the polished chrome cap with gold-plated accents better than the entirely gold-plated caps of the Sheaffer PFM-Vs. This vintage pencil is in great working order. However, it has some light wear from use. No dents or deep scratches but lots of light, shallow scratches. You might also notice a slight gap between the gold cap band and cap. We tried to move it back into position, but it wouldn't budge. You advance and retract the .9mm lead with a twist of the tail cap. Spare leads and an unused but hardened blue eraser can be found under the blind cap. 12.9cm.

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

Swiss penmaker Caran d'Ache put some artistry into this classic ballpoint pen. Made from gold-plate and Chinese Lacquer, this is a rare and luxurious pen. What first drew us to Caran d'Ache was the company's impeccable engineering. The click action on these pens is unlike any other...so smooth. Our pen comes with a working black Caran d'Ache refill. The pen looks gorgeous with minimal, if any, wear. 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.

Vintage pencils make math and crossword puzzles way more fun. Take this Sheaffer 400 pencil for example. It is an early devotee of the .9mm lead. You advance and retract it with a simple twist of the tail cap. It has some wear from use, but most of us do after 80 years. The worst of it is a few little scratches in the nose cone, which you can see in the photo. The carmine red pattern is one of the rarer color schemes from this era. The clip is on tightly. It no longer has its eraser, but it comes with a spare lead. 13.3cm.