Is this an oversize? I can't tell, it looks to have a same colored section? Can anyone provide some info?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320263404135

It appears to be a First Generation Vacumatic in brown.... finding a correct jewel for the blind cap could be a bit of a problem...
It is worth a fair amount more than the price it is now at... I would expect it to go for at least $125 w/o the blind cap jewel

A bit tricky. Burgundy first gen.

First shot in that ebay ad distorts perspective and plumps the cap. 5 1/8 seems bit short for OS, but sans jewel to add extra 1/8" it is in gray zone. Cannot see nib well. Probably a Standard. Cannot r/o Oversize with info shown. Perhaps someone got a bargain.

For kicks, here be the four sizes of high line first generation pens, to scale of course.

SLENDER:



STANDARD



SENIOR (scarce "1 year" model)



Oversize




Oh yeah... the off-catalogue "Stubby" (granted it is not a 3-bander, but it is something of an understood exception)



cheers,

David

the stubby looks like a homemade hack job

Perhaps. But ain't dat.

-d

I know, I know, not saying your picture or your pen is that. I'm referring to that particular model, out of the box, to my eyes look like those "hack job" pens that sometimes the big makers release just for stepping over their competition toes without putting much thinking or egineering in creating an actual contender for the "market slot" they're trying to fill. (or try to block their competition from filling, shall I say)

I quite like the stubby.

Yep.

Strangely enough. This shape (if not with this imprint), contour, size, etc... probably is the first Vac parker ever made for release to dealers.

-d

is the smaller-than-barrel-blind-cap a feature? I only have seen one and had this "flaw", always thought it was either a close but still not good enough replacement or a bad previous repair... but I see that in your picture

Subtle in this case. I'd expect perfect match. It is suspected final polish done after fitting unit, giving good line-up. A misalignment after resac can generate size shift in 2-D pic. Too, folks who hadn't yet learned about heat have habit to polish parts of pens with toothmarks, and toothmarks seem to happen on blind caps.

-d

perhaps I'm being a pain in the ... (neck)

but, I'm fooled by the picture or the pattern on that particular blindcap is a little different than the one from the barrel? I see the lighter stripes like a hair thicker on the blindcap wich would explain the difference in shape (that is if those lines are indeed thicker wich can lead us to think about a close match but still not 100% perfect) The pen I saw was green and the blindcap looked like a green hued silver, so I thought "mismatch".

I would be willing to bet my (neck) on the final shaping AFTER the filler unit install, because even on unpolished pens (those scarce finds upon you're almost certain there's been no buff other than factory's) the thickness of the blindcap and barrel ends is not even, wich in my POV calls for cut of the largest OD, then install filler and diaphragm and blank blindcap, then do the final streamline cut.

Sorry I'm kind of hijacking this, but I'm highly interested on an expert opinion on these matters (pattern match, size, wild guessing about factory production ways and such)

No pain. Simply imperfect answers, especially without pen avaialable for inspection.

For most Vacs, the blindcap indeed is hewn from a totally different piece of plastic than the barrel, as barrel has color/clear stripes. Blindcap has color/black stripes. Thus, close inspection often will show differences in the plastic "grain", though it seems that later in the run the stripe contour is better approximated between the two pieces. Early pens have skew stripes and often show abrupt shifts between barrel and blind cap. One would still expect a good fit as it is believed Parker did final smoothening of the transition after fitting the filler unitl.

Early pens had opaque barrel plastic, so plastic was similar at least to blind cap plastic though hard to say exact piece of stock cut into both pieces. But, barrel held ink. Cap and blind-cap didn't. Barrel often ambers to some degree, yielding differnce between barrel and cap/blindcap. Silver pearl shows this this most.

And... sometimes Blind caps are replaced.

-d

Yeah, those non catalogued Stubby's are pretty cool, other manufacturers done that too...

Here's a lil picture, not Parker, but probably as cool...



ever see an OS stubby?

only one I ever seen...

all the sizes of this color for comparison...

top down...

OS deco band
OS stubby deco band
Senior
standard

The stubby looks cute!

Hey David, I often wondered, could a Parker Vacumatic be transformed into a button-filling pen? I like the design of the pen but the vacumatic filling-system gives me the willies and I much prefer the older button-filling system...

They have been.

regards

david