Parker Challenger,this is a very interesting vintage pen that not many people consider when they think of a writer and they make a BIG mistake.
This Challenger is the big size,its slightly over 5" and after I got the sacreplaced,the nib tweaked and the body polished I saw how good this pen is.

I got this pen as an only bidder from eBay and the whole deal after shipping and getting it fixed was around 50$.

The first thing that struck me was that this pen is very comfortable in the hand,its wider then I expected it to be and very light.
The green body/cap looks as if it just came out of the factory,its shiny and looks like you can look deep into the barrel.

The filling mechanism is Parker simple but yet very reliable button filler.
this filling system is one of my favorite (more then a lever filler).The button is sitting under the blind cap and so the whole pen looks smooth and homogenic.

The gold fine nib is very simple and you are not sure what to expect until it touches the paper.
I was very happy to see how good this nib is,first it is wet and smooth but more then that there is a ton of feedback coming from the paper but again not at the expense of smoothness,it is surprisingly flexy and with a bit of pressure you can get some line variation even though this nib is not a real Flexible nib,I would say its a semi flex nib.No doubt this is one of my best nibs.

The balance of this pen is like all light weight pen perfect and due to the nice size and wideness of the body this pen makes a wonderful everyday user.
Its not a rare pen but for its price you just cant beat this pen.

Very nice find there. I've always liked the look of Challengers, especially the ones with the ball clip and I need one to fill in a space of my collection of Parkers. Every Parker I have has a great nib and nice looks, that's why I have a collection of them going. But I've had no luck of finding any decent Challengers that I can afford. The prices they've been going to on ebay is frightening considering I got my Duofold there for only $45.00 USD.

Hi,

A nice review of a pretty pen. As I've had chance to own and handle more than a few of these and have a rather long chapter/section in process about the Challenger Family, I thought i'd add a bit of background here

Parker's Challenger Family appeared in 1934 and ran through 1940.

Three core series within the family include :



Regular



Deluxe



Royal



Each of these series featured two models:



The Challenger appeared in five "mottled" colors:


Deluxe Challenger had four "plaque" colors


Royal Challenger had three Chevron colors




Regular Challenger (your pen) saw two core types/generations, marked mainly by the switch from Ball Clip to Blade Clip. Deluxe Challenger saw similar evolution.

First Generation Deluxe pen with ball-clip. Note the plaque-on-black color



Second Gen regular Challenger with blade clip in fairly uncommon Blue. Note the mottled pattern




Royal Challenger had three types squeezed into a three-four year period.
-------

Condition is important for value, as is preservation of color.

Often these make nice quite writers.

regards
David

Just wondering- but did Parker manufacture pens for the Waltham company? I have a pencil that has the same kind of cone- shaped black end as the regular model Challenger and the clip is really close in shape, as well as the steel end of the pencil- looks a lot like the one on the Challenger pencil

Wow thank you David for the interesting information.
I have leanred yet another piece of Parker History.
Thanks