I got this beauty through the post yesterday, paid just over £20 for it and it looks like it was barely used, a real beauty I want to take the section off to replace sac, is it friction or screw fit?? By the way barrel has date code .2. is that 1942? nib has a date code on also .6.

IIRC it is a friction fit, but I usually end up turning sections (as if they were threaded) as I take them out, just in case.

Nice looking pen, they are nice when restored if there is any visibility left between the red panels.

Date code wise, that would be 1942, but the nib looks like a replacement to me, especially if it is a 1946 date code.

Cheers,
Sean

Button fillers just have the visulated section. Vac fillers have the barrel transparency sections.
JJ

duh that would make sense now wouldn't it. Why would you want to look at a sac through your pretty barrel.

Thanks for pointing that out. I have been doing way too many vacs lately.

Cheers,
Sean

Wow, deja vu of some sort. I was going to post the same sort of question about my newest pen and here is the answer for me. My photography is not nearly as nice but here is my blue striped Parker Duofold with a button filler.

Rick.

Nice pens, my answer to OP has already been said, regarding button and vac fillers of these pens, vacs translucent barrel etc...

The button fillers also appear to have the plain black blind cap and vacs the striped blind cap. From the ones I have seen, which isn't too many, and all of the smaller variety than the predominant pen of that era the vacumatic.

et

Stripers can be found in three "overall" sizes. However, each style/price-point exists in two sizes only.

Stripers were manufactured with two filling systems.

Vac-fill with tranparency of barrel
Botton fill with transparency of section

ALL trim styles exist in model-pairs, a larger and smaller with same trim and same original price.

Blue Diamond pens were produced only as Vac Fillers, but not all Vac Fillers are Blue Diamond.

If one were to label the pens amongst the three "overall" sizes as small, medium and large- and recognizing that each style/price-point model pair was produced in two sizes- it then needs be recognized that the Blue Diamond Vac Fill model Pair (Larger Senior, smaller Ingenue) is found in the LARGE and SMALL sizes, but that all other model pairs including non-blue diamond vac fillers and all button fillers (obviously non blue diamond) are found in MEDIUM and SMALL Sizes.

Beyond the three general sizes, it is worth noting that button fill pens (black small bllind cap) and vac fill pens of similar size have different size barrels. As the button fillers have small black blind cap, but vac fillers have long striped blind cap, and given that the overall length of entire barrel-section-blind cap assembly is about same size for a vac fill and button fill pen of same size category, the barrel of the button filler thus is necessarily longer than the barrel of the vac-filler. This is simlar to Parker Vacumatic pens from the early Lockdown filler era with small blind cap having Longer barrel than similarly sized pen with non-locking filler and long blind cap.

Here are some striped Duofolds

regards

david

Looks like a nice pen. I like these but always seem to get outbid (maybe I shouldn't be so mean)

BTW david thanks for more photos to drool over.

Andy

Thanks very much again everybody. David, i think you must own every conceivable variation Parker ever produced Always a treat to see the pics.

While the prices seem to be going up - the striped duofold still seems to fly under the radar a bit and is, at least to a certain degree, an underrated pen.

Shhh, don't tell 'em til I get a couple more.
Very good point!

I just put a new diaphram in a blue striped major. Writes smooth as silk. It has a letter "A" under the nib. What does that mean?

About removing the section. If if won't budge it may be that someone shelaced it which is easy to take care as shelac melts at a low temp (hair dryer).

I was told that the "A" on these nibs stood for Accountant Fine. Usually a stiff fine point.