QUOTE (penmanila @ Oct 5 2008, 08:43 PM)
folks, i'm extremely happy with
my latest ebay find (yet to be paid for and delivered; just nailed it five minutes ago, for $173.57, so it's neither too cheap nor too pricey, as far as i can tell). but something tells me that--as experienced as the seller seems to be with pens--david isaacson, david nishimura, and the other parker mavens here might have a thing or two to say to qualify its description, which goes: "1937 PARKER "MAXIMA" in good condition. An oversize Vacumatic "MAXIMA" model PARKER with no dents, dings, scratches, chips or cracks. There is a name lightly engraved in tiny letters on the barrel, so light and small you have to hunt for it. A spot of brassing on the cap band. The filling mechanism needs a new bladder, a repair I can no longer do because of the arthritis in my hands. I will send along a new diaphragm if you want to try it yourself. 5 and 1/8 inches when closed."
it has a speedline filler, and does seem to be in fairly good condition, with some brassing on the cap ring. (is that ring replaceable, by any chance?)
is it really a maxima and really 1937? or, as david i often points out, is it one of those frankenswaps that took a clip from here and a cap from there, etc.? speaking of the clip, when you look more closely, you'll see why i just had to go for this particular vac. the bonus is that it's got a star clip, but reading david i's previous posts here on star clips, he dates them to 1939 at the earliest, so something seems off here by a couple of years.
i wouldn't mind it that much if this vac turned out to be not entirely as described; the star clip alone for me is worth the extra few pennies
(i have about a dozen vacs, none of them with this clip). but i would appreciate our experts weighing in on this one. 5 1/8 inch doesn't sound to me like an oversize (i do have a canadian oversize, and it's appreciably longer). please chime in, folks!
Many questions, implicit and explicit.
Will toss out just a few thoughts...
1) The pen is a Senior Maxima
2) 5 1/8" is a tad short for Sr. Max, but some caps do close down a bit further than others (either in good health or with less-than-good health), resulting in a pen a bit shorter than average. Too, Ebay measurements sometimes are lacking in precision.
3) Strong observation suggests Star Clip was released on high-line Vacs during first quarter 1939 (three dots around the "9" on barrel). Caps can swap. Clips can swap. And... late product did leak out from Parker, though I would disfavor late release, per se, of a 1937-stamped barrel with a Star Clip. A factory repair or later swap would come to mind. However, did your ad cite "1937 date code", or was this, say, a guesstimate of date by seller, based on a profile he found somewhere or other which perhaps cites 1937 as start of the model (which is so)?
4) The striped section for Vacs in general was replaced by black section seemingly around very start of 1939. Most Star Clip pens thus have black section. Still, i do see late appearance of striped section on occasion, and I certainly never object when that happens.
5) The plastic looks decent. The trim has taken some wear. Still, a sound value for the money, even in parts. More so, as an intact functioning pen.
Enjoy!
-david
