1937 Vacumatic With Plastic Filler-

[BOOGIT]

Vak pens is selling a 1937 NOS VACUMATIC that has a long blind cap with no jewel and a plastic filler

He confirmed to me that the barrel is clearly date coded 1st quarter 37

Ever heard of this happening?Could it be a 47 that has been wrongly numbered ?

Item closes in 9 hours and I may buy it just to see for myself

All comments appreciated

Keith

[perth]

Is this on eBay? Could you provide a link?

[penmanila]

If it's really 1937 then it should be double-jeweled.

[ANM]

Speedline fillers were used on Vacumatics from 1937 to 1940. If this one has a plastic filler and no jewel it is either a 47 or the plastic filler and blind cap are replacements, therefore could not be NOS

[ANM]

ok1958 is selling a pen on ebay that is claimed to be a 37 vac but the picture of the date code shows 1947

[BOOGIT]

The seller is Vakpen which should enable you to find the item

He sells lots of pens many of decent quality so he I knows about pens

[ParkersAndPaper]

I just looked up the pen at the seller's ebay store. The pen isn't double jeweled, and it has a plastic filler.

 

The plastic filler came out in 1942, and end jewel jewel on the barrel were eliminated during the war. Evidence points to this being a pen that was made in at least 1942.

 

The old date code system was confusing. A barrel saying "37" might not have been made in 1937. Only the last digit indicated the year. The first digit indicated the quarter. The later date code system of the 1950's changed the quarter indicator to dots. Codes for either 1937 or 1947 would have been "17", "27", "37", and "47". The way to tell the difference between the two decades would be looking at the filler and jewels.

 

Assuming that the seller is looking at a "37" date code, and looking at the pen itself; it's more than likely that the pen is a 3rd Quarter 1947 model.

[Brian-McQueen]

Vak pens is selling a 1937 NOS VACUMATIC that has a long blind cap with no jewel and a plastic filler

He confirmed to me that the barrel is clearly date coded 1st quarter 37

Ever heard of this happening?Could it be a 47 that has been wrongly numbered ?

Item closes in 9 hours and I may buy it just to see for myself

All comments appreciated

Keith

 

The pen is very clearly a 3rd generation pen. A pen from 1937 would have two jewels. Single jewel pens didn't come out until 1942. My guess is that he doesn't know how to read the date code properly. I imagine the date code on this pen is a 7 surrounded by some number of dots (probably 3). Three dots would make it 1st quarter 1947, two dots would make it 2nd quarter 1947, one dot for 3rd quarter 1947, and no dots for 4th quarter 1947. There is no way this pen could have been manufactured in 1937.

 

 

The old date code system was confusing. A barrel saying "37" might not have been made in 1937. Only the last digit indicated the year. The first digit indicated the quarter. The later date code system of the 1950's changed the quarter indicator to dots. Codes for either 1937 or 1947 would have been "17", "27", "37", and "47". The way to tell the difference between the two decades would be looking at the filler and jewels.

 

Assuming that the seller is looking at a "37" date code, and looking at the pen itself; it's more than likely that the pen is a 3rd Quarter 1947 model.

 

The date code system actually started using single digit numbers surrounded by dots in 1938. A second quarter 1937 would have a date code "27" and a first quarter 1947 would have a date code ".7." There would be no way to confuse the date codes.

[Florida Blue]

That Vac is not from 1937.

 

I have two theories:

1. The barrel was replaced with a 37 barrel or

2. As ANM pointed out, the cap and blind cap are replacements.

 

If the pen has a replacement barrel, cap or blind cap then it is not new old stock.

 

A 1937 Vac would be double jeweled, with a speed line filler and the feathered arrow clip, not a later split arrow clip.

[ANM]

While anything is possible, I think it's more likely that an old pen would be repaired with newer parts than a newer pen would be repaired with an older part.

According to

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/profiles/vac.htm,

 

1937 was about the time they introduced the split arrow clip. A '47 would have the blue diamond clip.

Edited August 22, 2014 by ANM

[Florida Blue]

While anything is possible, I think it's more likely that an old pen would be repaired with newer parts than a newer pen would be repaired with an older part.

 

Yes, Parker wouldn't do something like that, but I was thinking from my own experiences of getting some pens back in working condition. I have a 1947 51 Vac that I bought with a cracked barrel and replaced it with a 1945 barrel that worked out pretty well. My thought was that the seller may have bought it from another collector or restorer that had a clean barrel laying around and used it for a pen with a cracked or de-laminated barrel. I try to keep records of my pens that have replacement parts for full disclosure in case I ever need or want to sell them, but sometimes pens get sold without proper provenance.

 

Although Brian's theory that the seller simply doesn't know how to read the date code seems like a very plausible one as well.

[ANM]

I agree. Indications point to a mistake in dating the pen.

[FarmBoy]

I wonder if anyone here knows the seller.

Contrary to the sentiment expressed here, I think the seller has a passable knowledge of pens.

[BOOGIT]

I did note that fact in one of my posts. I think this pen was imprinted with the wrong date code and perhaps that's why it it NOS .

It was not offered for sale because of the defective date code

Keith

[penmanila]

in any event, the pen sold for $115--a very fair price, i think, for a mint vac junior.

[Florida Blue]

 

1937 was about the time they introduced the split arrow clip. A '47 would have the blue diamond clip.

 

Yes, but the pen in the auction is supposedly a Junior, so I don't think it would have had Blue Diamond guarantee at $5. Richard could be a little off on his date because the Vacumatic book states the slip arrow clip came out in 1938, but it very well could have been in late 1937 since Parker didn't always do things by hard and fast rules.