OK.

Not Teasing.

A remarkably rare Vacumatic (yeep! the "r" word).

How rare? I've seen one... in all my hunting of Vacs. Happily, i own it.

That said, i have no doubt more are out there.

Pen is about 4 5/8" long. Typical contour for its model.

It is an... interesting... Vac, especially for those who like to look at the vacsoteric stuff.

Now ya just gotta figure what's nifty about it.

regards

-d

I'm thinking late production (post 1945) burgundy pearl made in USA and NOT Canada where I would expect it to be made ?

Am I even close?

You are somewhat close, though perhaps have slightly overthought it.

The pen is Canadian as suggested by the "14k" on the nib.

OK, so you are thinking (though some other folks out there might not know), "Made in USA, because he said rare and unusual and because gee I KNOW Canada started up with Burgundy Pearl late in the game, nearly 8 years after USA and Canada first discontinued that color and indeed more than a year after the USA stopped making Vacs altogether, so a red pen from Canada late in the game, per se, would not be rare or unusual".

True, seeing red from Canada in 1950-53 is somewhat... expected... to those who know.

So, is there anything then about this late-red-Canadian Vac (findings which by themselves are well known to those who hunt vacs assiduously), that might make it rare and unusual, even in the context of a not-extremely-unusual red late Canadian Vac?

Of course, if whoever reads this has seen 100 of 'em, then I guess we just assess our different experiences

-d

Not sure if I qualify as an assiduous Vac hunter but as you know, I am very fond of the model. Given the aforementioned clues, I would have to take a stab at the fact that this "sub deb" model was never produced anywhere but Canada.

Thinking about it, I own a couple of red debutantes but I don't think I've ever seen a burgundy pearl sub-deb before.

That's pretty well it, with the caveat that I think you typo'd saying "this 'subdeb' model was never produced anywhere but Canada", meaning "this RED subdeb was never produced anywhere but Canada".

However, to add bit of punch, let's go beyond "this red subdeb was never produced anywhere but Canada" to note that EVEN IN CANADA it was not produced during the original run of red (1933-1941 for red, 1939-1941 for Sub=Deb model). One will not find Double Jewel Red's in Sub Deb or striped Junior. Never catalogued.

That Canada saw re-introduction of Burgundy in 1950, means that Single Jewel reds (Major, Deb- as Maxima wuz long gone) are found in Canadian form (slightly different plastic to my eye vs pre-43 reds).

What is surprising though- with the caveat that our apparent lack of 1950's Canadian Vac catalogue limits our view of company intent- is that RED (Burgundy) appears to have been used on 1950s Vac models which NEVER appeared in Red during the 1933-1941 (perhaps first couple hours of 1942 too, but that's another tale) run in USA or in Canada.

If one reviews the 1937-41 Parker Catalogues he will find NO red Sub-Deb or red standard-size Junior (double band) pen in typical stripes. Indeed, i've never seen a 1937-1941 pen from either model in Red.

So, what is just charming about this pen beyond that it is relatively uncommon just being a red single jewel late Canadian pen (I have seen a couple - also exquisitely rare- pens early 1942 single jewel in red, the very last of the original red run), is that it also is a model that wasn't produced in red even when red was being routinely used in its original color run from 1933-1941.

Red Major and Debutante from Canada 1950-1953 are interesting and are less common than other colors (made SJ 1942-1953 counting USA and Canada). Red Sub-Deb and Red Junior?? I've seen one sub-deb though more Juniors, probably 10 all told. Have a couple Junior pencils in red too (those are tough). Have never seen the red SubDeb pencil. One day...

regards
david

Fascinating stuff.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. It is always good to learn from advanced collectors.
As someone who prefers and actively seeks 1st and 2nd generation models only, you have given me something else to keep my eye open for,

Must dig out that little red pencil that I have stashed away somewhere .....

Thanks for sharing. Your excellent posts always render novices like me a bit more knowledgeable, if not wise.

Need I say more?