Parker
Pens and Ephemera

To us, these look like sterling silver hand grenades...something a Hollywood super spy might use for more than just writing. They are a stylishly masculine cross between 1960s men's fashion and extremely functional writing equipment. Its "cisele" design is so popular that it is still being used in Parker pens nearly 60 years later. Our Parker 75 fountain pen and pencil set remains in excellent working order and is dent free. The vintage pen has the marked collar for helping to set the nib just right to your section grip. Its end caps are flat...no plate design. Also, the threads to the section are plastic. You get its original squeeze bar converter that still works, but you also can use modern Parker converters and cartridges. Its 14k gold nib straddles the line between medium and broad with a little feedback. The pencil writes with .9mm lead and comes with a working, fresh eraser.

We think you are going to love this Parker Vacumatic desk set. Why hide the best bit? It comes with a stub nib! We restored the pen with a new diaphragm several years ago for our own personal use. It still works great. No cracks, minimal wear. There is no date code on the imprint. However, the nickel-plated cap band has a star! Its 14k gold stub nib is about 1mm wide, and it writes with some feedback. We love it. The section of the pen is the grey pearl design like the rest of the pen. The light green base has a beautiful brown vein. The base has seen wear, with chips in its edges and scratches on its surfaces.All of the felt is missing. The pen is a shade loose in the trumpet and doesn't thread in. Not sure if it is the original base. The pen doesn't leak when it writes, but it does leak a little when sitting in the trumpet. Vintage pen measures 17.2cm. Overseas shipping might be more costly.

Founder of Parker Pens, George Parker, made a trip to China and loved a yellow vase that he bought. As such, he was inspired to make a "Mandarin yellow" Duofold. As the pens began to age, the yellow material got fragile. Many of the mandarin pens broke over the next 90 years. As such, these vintage pens are hard to find. We restored this desk pen with a new ink sac. We don't have the original desk base, but perhaps you do. Its 14k gold nib writes a dry, fine line with a touch of feedback. Not much wear, no cracks, there is a little brassing around the taper. 18.5cm.

Parker Vacumatic fountain pens came in 3 main sizes: Maxima, Major and Debutante. This pen is the Debutante. It is slender and sleek for people who prefer less gaudy and smaller pens. Dazzling with the golden pearl design and gold-plated trim, this pen has been fully restored with a new diaphragm. Barrel clarity is down, as the pen has ambered a bit, but you can still see through it. No cracks or significant blemishes. The cap band has a little brassing. You will write a fine line with a little feedback with its 14k gold nib. 11.9cm capped.

If something looks a little off about this Parker 51, that is because we restored it with a custom machined brass vacuum filling unit. It is made by Chicago's amazing Jack Lynch to exact specifications of the original filling unit. We also installed a new diaphragm, and the entire barrel acts as a reservoir. The pen has a little wear in places and a few specks of corrosion on the "lustraloy" cap. Its pocket clip is just a shade loose. We like the golden arrow clip contrasting with the steel cap. You will write a smooth fine line that also has a little feedback with the pen's 14k gold nib. A great daily driver. 13.4cm capped.

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.

In our humble opinion, the most revolutionary innovation in pencil technology in the past 3,000 years was the Parker Liquid Lead Pencil. Turning the pencil world upside down, it moved us past a lead or graphite "Lead" stick incased in wood or a refillable pencil. Parker took the ballpoint pen design a step further and made a liquid-based pencil "lead" refill that wrote just as smoothly and efficiently as a ballpoint pen! Sadly, the idea never quite caught on with the public, and they remained a novelty writing instrument of the 1950s. This is one such pencil with the remains of a still working refill. We doubt there is much left in it to write with, but it is a great artifact of a brilliant invention. Some light wear from use. Includes a hardened eraser under the tail cap. 13.1cm.

Nobody's perfect. Sometimes we just can't get the blind cap on a Parker 51 to line-up perfectly with the barrel after we replace the diaphragm. This is one such vintage pen. It works well, it is just a little off from what it should be. Plus, you can see dents in the gold-filled cap. Nevertheless, the pen still works well. You will write a medium line with a little feedback. Enjoy a bargain on a classic pen. 13.9cm capped.