Hi! I am brand new to this network and forum. I have recently become interested in old fountain pens as an outgrowth of my interest in calligraphy. I just obtained at modest cost an old Parker Duofold pen on its last legs, and would like to solicit opinions as to the most cost effective manner in which to return this pen to writing duty without destroying any remaining collector value. The pen barrel is deeply imprinted "PARKER DUOFOLD .1.", and below this, "MADE IN U.S.A.". The cap and barrel are black with longitudinal abalone-type stripes and the plastic of both is in fair to good condition. The filler button end cap is pure black with numerous tooth marks. The nib metal appears to be gold or gold plated with iridium tip in fine point, marked simply "PARKER PEN MADE IN U.S.A. .2.", and appears to be in very good condition, writing well when dipped. On the reverse side the plastic is marked "A" at the base. There is nothing attached to the plastic tube end of the nib. Inside the pen barrel was found a petrified bladder and a broken, narrow plastic siphon. The button filler at the other end moves, but is rough and gritty in action, befitting its corroded appearance. The pen clip and cap band are heavily brassed, though otherwise in good shape. The pen measures 5 3/16" capped, 6 1/8" posted. The single cap band is 1/8" tall. Max. cap width at the band is about 1/2", max. barrel width a bit over 7/16". Both ends are conical in shape, and the cap jewel is plain black.

I am wondering whether the nib is original to the pen, and am also interested in learning the year in which the pen was manufactured. More importantly, I would like to ask informed opinions as to whether the pen should be restored to its original action (guessing this is not worth the cost), or alternatively just be converted to modern cartridge use, and what would be the appropriate route to go for either restoration. I believe I can fairly easily re-silver or re-nickel the clip and barrel band, so am more interested in modifications to the existing nib, barrel and/or filler mechanism. Most helpful would be direction to a description with diagrams of the original pen internals and filling procedure. Thank you in advance, and my apologies up front if I have exceeded bandwidth or missed something I should have seen before asking these questions.

This post has been edited by Nihontochicken: Jul 15 2006, 11:38 PM

I would say send the pen to one of the several respected repairers who frequent this board, after making email contact to determine what would be the best course of action. I suspect that restoring it to original function would be no more expensive than trying to convert it to something else. But talk to somebody who knows. I have had work done by Richard Binder before, and have nothing but praise for his results. He is at www.richardspens.com - you can find his email from there. (Just a satisfied customer, not affiliated with him in any way, there are other good repair people as well.)

From your description, it sounds like you have a 40's Duofold, one that is a vacumatic filler (the breather tube inside is a give away). There is a rubber diaphragm at the back end that draws ink into the pen as the filler is depressed then released. The plastic part of the filler can be anything from clear to brown to all black. It just depends on the plastic that Parker used.

The action of the filler can get to feeling gritty if there is corrosion of the filler, and maybe some rust on the spring. Not a big deal as they often clean well enough that they can be used again, and work quite well. The restorer will advise you if it needs to be replaced, but there are a lot of the fillers out there (I have a supply of 50 or more) so it's not a big deal.

Some of the smaller versions are button fillers, meaning that they have a brass button on the back end which forces a pressure bar against the sac - the same function as a lever, but hidden in the body of the pen.

The nibs on these pens were 14K gold, not gold plated. Some had a "V" on the nib, and some had the "V" and were two tone. If the nib has an arrow on it, then a vacumatic nib has been installed.

These are solid pens, every bit as good as their brothers, the Vacumatic. I have and have had several over the years. Well worth restoring. Even the tooth marks can be removed, or mostly removed if the restorer knows what they're doing.

Thank you for the replies so far. I have edited my original post to include the pen dimensions. Perhaps someone might be able to identify the exact model. From the examples on this site, it seems to resemble most the Lady Duofold, but it appears to be much too large. There are no marks on the nib other than the text imprints already mentioned. I had imagined that Duofolds and Vacumatics had their original nibs so marked, so am confused by this plain one, no model ID, no arrow. Further coments most welcome! Thanks again.

If the blind cap is black, the pen is a button filler, like this Lady Duofold:



It's the right length to be the model that was called simply the Duofold (not a Lady Duofold). These pens had "dummy" breather tubes; the tubes extended only to the back end of the section but were visible through the visulated portion of the section. The nib on a button filler should properly have a PARKER PEN imprint. There should be no arrow, banner, chevron, or other mark except a date code.

The pen's date code says that the pen was made in the second quarter of 1941, which I find puzzling because at that time button-filling Stripers were being made with either triple bands or -- like the pen shown above -- a jeweler's band (looks like a stack of coins, with a blank area (called an indicia) for a mongram.

Thank you, Richard, for your Model ID. The pen you pictured is in all respects I can discern identical to mine, with one exception. The cap band on my example is a single, unmarked, ungrooved piece, and is narrower than your example. The band on mine is pretty exactly one-eighth inch tall as near as I can measure. What might this imply? TIA!

Yeh, you're right. My brain is fuzzy after spending a good part of the afternoon changing the phone wiring in the basement getting ready for DSL. (I hate suspended ceilings)

I tend to think of the button fillers as "odd ball" Duofolds and forget the details.

That, as I said, is what I find puzzling. The chronology that most Parker collectors accept says that the single band you describe came into production in 1942, yet your pen's date code says the second quarter of 1941. This could happen if the barrel and cap were assembled into a pen and sold in '42, but Parker's general practice was to leave the application of the barrel impriint and date code until final assembly. It's more likely that the cap did not leave the factory attached to the pen of which it's now a part.

Upon review, I see that there is a third period under the small "1" imprinted on the pen barrel following "DUOFOLD" that I neglected to identify in my original post. Does this erase the discrepancy? Sorry for the confusion, I just saw on this site that "every little dot has a meaning all its own."

Quite to the contrary, that third dot intensifies the discrepancy because it dates the pen to the first quarter of 1941.

Richard's pen is a nice example of a striped duofold button filler, though Richard's shows the relatively uncommon so-called "Jeweler's Band" cap-band, which- despite the name given by collectors- is well believed to be factory original.

Indeed, far more of the button fill pens have the single smooth cap-band that you cite.

I would expect your cap-band to be found on a pen with a BLACK little end cap (blind cap) and a button filler, though this issue is touchy as it is possible- though not proven- that this cap can crop up on some later vacumatic filler pens, which have a striped (matching) longer little back-end cap and a longer pump unit under that cap.

I do disagree with Richard (go figger) regarding surprise to find such a cap on a pen dated 1940-41. The Duofold and Lady Duofold were introduced in 1940, and i have seen plenty of smooth band pens from that era. If i get a chance i'll have to dig up some hard data to back my claim. ;-)

Below is a pic of a bunch of striped Duofolds and related pens- no two alike, and hardly a complete aray of variants. Great series to collect

best

david


This post has been edited by david i: Jul 17 2006, 02:42 PM

Thanks, david, for your response and photo. My pen definitely has the conical end, plain black cap as does your pen, the third on the left. However, the cap band is the height of the two on the right (but cap has no arrow shaped clip as do those two). BTW, is your collection as depicted limited to red highlights, and are there other hues? My pen is silver and blue, no red. Thx!

This post has been edited by Nihontochicken: Jul 17 2006, 07:11 PM

Yes, your pen sounds typical for that sort. The smooth thin-medium cap-band. The fancier band pen in my image and in Richard's is less common.

This pen can be found in red/gray, blue/gray and green/brown. Also some of the models (not all) can be found in solid black.

Here is a rather blurry peek at my Striped Duofold drawer.

regards

david

A drawer full of Striped Duofolds ... wow... I've just got socks.

(Are there OTHER drawers?????)

It's always a treat to see David's drawers.

Andy