what is the difference between the perminate and the special material parker advertises
as far as material ? also seniors are 5 1/2 '' long mine is 5 5/8 ''
closed cap . mstbare019@yahoo.com im not sure how to recieve an answer
but if you could email me that would be great! thanks

Hi,

PERMANITE was Parker's name for celluloid- cellulose nitrate in camphor moiety. Pretty much all plastic pens they manufactured from the mid-1920's introduction of the material for the Duofold were of this material, until the 51 was intro'd in 1941 in the USA.

regards

david

I do believe that the five and one-half inch measurement is a "ballpark" figure. In the older days of pen manufacture not all pens were perfectly the same size, even within the same model range. It won't be unusual to find variations in sizes today due to the imprecise nature of manufacturing 80 years ago, as well as wear and shrinkage of early plastics.

I've seen estimates of around four and one-half for Juniors and around five and one-half for Seniors. But I would not be surprised at all to find some slight size variation, especially in 80 year old celluloid pens.

...not to mention the 'long' and the 'short' juniors.

Chris

Sizes were even more variably as this collection of Newhaven pens shows.