I have had this big, ol', orange pen for years and years. I can't remember where I got it, but from a smokey section of my mind, I think I can recall buying it because I saw one like it in a book and thought I was buying some piece of history. I've never liked the orange color, and it was never in writing condition, so it just sort of languished in a baggie on a shelf. Then I rediscovered it after I had met Fred at The Fountain Pen Shop in Monrovia, California. He has several (many) Parker Duofolds, kind of a museum of them actually, so I knew he was the right man to overhaul mine. He did, and now I've written with it and it's future is uncertain, but let me try to find something out about it.

It is a Parker Duofold Pen, made in USA. It says so, right on the nib.
On the clip it says (from top to bottom): PAT. SF(O), 5-16, PARKER. I'm not certain what that letter is that I've written in parenthesis.

With the cap on, the overall length of this pen is 5.48 inches, with the ends being black caps. One of the caps covers the push button filler. For such a short stroke of the button, this thing sucks up a lot of ink. The body is .53 inch in diameter, the cap is .60 inch in diameter. Just the nib alone is .95 inch, and the section, where you hold this monster is 1.150 inches from the tip! The nib is gold, by the way.

The odd part is that there are two gold bands on the cap. None of the other pens in the display case of The Fountain Pen Shop has two gold bands, and I have not been able to find a picture of another one on the internet.

I'm guessing that the pen was patented in the San Francisco (Office) in May, 1916. Do any of you know about this? Can you fill me in?

Now, maybe you'd like to know how it writes.

It is not a heavy pen despite its size, the nib is a little flexible, broad and dumps ink like a firehose. The balance is nice, but it seems a long way from my fingers to the paper. I can't help wondering if this was designed for a time when people wrote from their shouders as opposed to their fingers. I have it filled with Noodler's, Concord Bream and the notebook I've tried it in just isn't going to work. Too much ink and it feathers like a peocock's tail.

I'm going to spend some time to figure out how to post pictures, while I figure out why I'm going to post pictures of this pen. Maybe to answer a question, maybe to put it up for sale.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Right after I wrote that, I found a picture of the pen.

First vertical pen on the left

The nib on my pen is not the same nib in the photograph, my nib has a little more writing on it.

So, 1928, with a newer nib?

Firstly, can't see a pic of the pen in your link.
Secondly the double ring is very common indeed and you will find more for sale with doubles than without.
Probably a 1928 version. The nib is correct, but the feed might not be. I have one with the comb feed rather than the christmastree. safer for everyday use (as this one is).
What does your imprint on the barrel say? - the way it is written could determine if its a bit older.
Oh the patent on the clip is SEP for September not SFO.

Okay, I'm back at work with the Duofold here in front of me.

On the barrel, imprinted very lightly and small as to make it difficult for my eyes to read it says:

Geo. S. Parker DUOFOLD Made In U.S.A.
Patented

All the characters are upper case, but "Duofold" is printed larger than anything else.

I see what you mean by "Christmas Tree" with regards to the feed. This one is the Christmas tree. Smooth on the bottom with the vents under the nib and looking like a Christmas tree.

Only one last bit of information needed to determine your pen's age. Is it streamlined?

Is the blind cap and cap something like the eighth pen or like the sixth pen?



The imprint on your pen indicates that it is from at least 1929. In 1929 Parker abandoned the Lucky Curve and removed the banner from their imprint. Just a bit later they began "streamlining" the Duofolds to give them the style that most people appreciated at the time.

*EDIT*

Just re-read your post. If your measurements are correct, you should have a non-streamlined model. If that's correct, your pen was probably one of the few non-streamlined pens made in 1929.

Okay, the blind cap (the one that covers the fill button right?) is streamlined, like the eighth pen. The black part of the cap is not tapered like the fifth and sixth pens in the picture, it is squared off and knurled like the eleventh pen. It looks mostly like the seventh pen in the picture.

My measurements are correct, I'm a machinist. I dropped the last two decimals in my measurements, so you wouldn't think me too crazy.

Thanks for all your help on this.

Sorry for the mix up, the fifth and sixth pens are actually streamlined, whereas all the other pens after it are, well, unstreamlined.

I was just surprised with how accurate your measurements were, as most people just say five and a half inches. The streamlined version was actually shortened by 8mm or so, so the length gave it away.

With my limited education in Duofolds (only been crazy about them for a month or so now), I would wager that because of the lack of a "Lucky Curve" banner on the imprint and the layout of it, your pen was produced in early-ish 1929. The nib you have (if it is original) is quite interesting, as most of them were made with very firm nibs, so that they could be used to make carbon copies.

The Duofold is really quite an iconic pen. I believe it was one of three pens used to sign the Japanese surrender in WWII, the Parker "51" and another unknown pen were also used.