I have recently come across my Fathers old 45, since he is a farmer he never had much use for it, it must be about 30 years old and I suspect never used. It is just a plastic dark dred pen, with a silver band and Parker arrowhead on the cap. What struck me as different which made me wonder if it is indeed rare or a collectable to some one was the fact that it still has "45 Convertible M" in white on the barrel. I beleive they were put on some models but were supposed to rub off after a few uses?

What can anyone tell me about this?

Thanks

Hi,

Unusual rather than rare to still have the 'chalk marks' as they are supposed to rub off with use, but they do crop up from time to time. I have a couple of Parkers with the remains of chalk marks, but not a complete mark like yours. They will probably add small amount to the value, but not sure if the pen is particularly rare in itself.

Possibly one of our more expert Parker members will be able to give a more definitive answer.

Andy

Hi,

The markings in white on the barrel are what are called 'chalk marks',these were put on in the factory to identify the model/sub type, nib spec and in many cases the price.

The marks were cometimes removed in the pen shop if the pen had any work done on it before delivery, in other cases where the pen was sold in a sealed case or bubble pack as the of the pen 45 was sometimes sold the marks would stay on the pen until the new owner decided to polish them off or they wore off in the course of use.

It is quite unusual to find older pens with chalk marks but from time to time pens from the 1940s or earlier show up.

The Convertible in this case implied that it was sold with a converter already fitted rather than just with a couple of cartridges.

Cheers, John

I found no converter with it, which I did expect. It can as part of a set of a fountain pen, and a ball point, there appeared to be no room in the box for a converter, and given that the pen was probably never out the box I would be surprised if it had been lost, but stranger things have happened.