Parker 25 Variations

[wonderwoman]

What an interesting thread! I'm new here too and really glad there are plenty of people around here with a worse addiction than me

 

I still have my Parker 25 in Matt Black that I bought when I went to university in October 1979. Mine has the dimple in the end, Made in England engraved on the cap but no date markings, and no marking on the nib to show the size or vent hole. I'd guess it is a medium.

 

I remember it was a little more expensive than than the stainless steel version, but I loved it's looks, so it was worth it!

 

I made a leather pouch for my pen as I loved it dearly and it is therefore in great condition. I haven't used it in many years though. It is now in a pencil case, so maybe I'd better start looking after it again!!

I think I've had my money's worth out of it though

[jays25s]

Hi, it is my first time here. I just got a triple set of Parker 25s. Fountain pen, Ballpoint and Pencil. They are stainless steel with black trim marked with Made in England.

 

I have looked through and can't find a date for them. Is there any one out there who could help me out?

 

I had my first Parker 25 with breather hole when I was a kid, so it was great to be able to get this set and feel their wonderful form in my hand after 30 something years.

 

Many thanks

 

Jay

[jays25s]

Hi, it is my first time here. I just got a triple set of Parker 25s. Fountain pen, Ballpoint and Pencil. They are stainless steel with black trim marked with Made in England. They have dimpled tops.

 

All three have PARKER written on them under the clip which is larger text than my IIEs (88?)

 

I had my first Parker 25 with breather hole when I was a kid, so it was great to be able to get this set and feel their wonderful form in my hand after 30 something years.

 

I'm pretty sure that my original P25 pencil had a replaceable eraser when the top was pulled off, but the latest one I bought has a cartridge pencil refill.

 

I have looked through and can't find a date for them. Is there any one out there who could help me out?

 

Many thanks

 

Jay

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, Paul

 

The green pens are in some ways the most interesting. I always thought that these were prototypes but based on the date codes they seemed to have been produced over a number of years and well into the 1980s. The green ballpoint with the flat top + the LI date code seems to be bit of an oddity - perhaps the people at Parker found some of the older style plastic tops which they added to a few later pens.

 

Otherwise my suggested timeline looks a possibility..? This would be based on the view that early Parker 25s didn't have datecodes and had flat tops. Production of dimple topped models commenced in the late 1970s and date codes were introduced in 1980.

 

Just an idea really.

 

 

Hi gvl,

 

Very interesting observation on the Parker 25. We can put a time line on these differences by What Parker printed in ther catalog. The Febuary 1978 Show the Nib with the weep hole and by Febuary 1979 Catalog it is already gone. Looks like this was a product of only the 1st year. This should help with the time line. All later catalogs show the same Parker 25 as shown in the 1979 Catalog.

 

Take Care, Francis

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/scan0011-4.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/scan0012-3.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/scan0013-4.jpg

[Shaughn]

Hi Jay,

 

I'd pin the date down to roughly 1978. The reasoning is as follows.

 

1976-77 had the earliest production with flat tassies, and the lettering was rather rough and big.

About 1978 the dimpled tassies appear, and the engraving gets finer and finer as the years pass.

In 1980 the date codes appear.

 

So, if you have a dimpled tassie and no date code, its 1978-1979. The lettering points to early parker engraving, and that makes it 1978.

 

Maybe last quarter 1977 or first 1979 - impossible to say.

 

Regards,

Shaughn

Edited March 7, 2012 by Shaughn

[jra81]

This is a very useful thread. I just found a green Parker 25 and it appears to have a fine nib. I find no markings on the nib, but it looks F.

 

I´ve heard one can detach the feed... I tried but it seems to be quite stiff, so I let it be... Just soaking it in the water.

 

I also got 3 old blue Parker Quink refills

[Shaughn]

Nib and feed are friction fit. After a good soak it should be possible to pull it straight out of the shell.

 

See also

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/232842-parker-flighter-25/

[kevanf1]

Just bumping this one as I have just spotted something very interesting on eBay.

 

Prototype Parker 25 in matt maroon.

 

This person is offering what he claims to be a prototype Parker 25 in matt maroon lacquer or possibly resin (my own thoughts). He also has a matching ball point for sale on eBay. I have never heard of this before. I've seen the other variations such as matt black and white and the brushed stainless with blue, black, green and orange top sections.

 

They do look to be very nice pens and at a current price of approximately £30UK not bad considering their presumed rarity. The look to be honest.

 

Any ideas? Thoughts?

[kevanf1]

Wow! With 7 hours to go this pen is now at the amazing price of £180 UK pounds.

[Shaughn]

Stunning prices indeed!

 

The FP went for £242.44 (€280,27) and the biro for £171.44 (€198,19)in the last seconds (previous bid £102).

[kevanf1]

Yes, I am absolutely astounded. Ok, they are no doubt rare but that is amazing money to pay when the FP at least is not in mint condition. I wonder if it will push up the price of the bog standard brushed stainless steel models I somehow doubt it, especially because I have a load of them including FP's, biro's, a pencil and felt tip (with working refill).

[Shaughn]

These are prototypes that never came into production. They have been mentioned (and shown) earlier in one of the FPN topics and I got some background information on them. If the seller and that particular FPN'er are the same, there is just one set of these, if not then there are two existing sets known.

 

So, I expect no effects on the 'common' P25 prices which already have been rocketing.

[kevanf1]

 

 

So, I expect no effects on the 'common' P25 prices which already have been rocketing.

 

I had noticed this rise in price... I love the Parker 25 FP as I find it suits my hand perfectly. I am not the neatest of writers but my script is noticeably better when I use a 25. It's for this reason that I bought up as many as I could a couple of years ago when the price was still normally low. I got quite a few for around £3 UK pounds per FP. Now I am finding that the average 25 FP sells at around £20 to £30 UK pounds.

 

I am not really sure if I am happy that I have an appreciating asset or sad that they are starting to get way out of my price range now :/

 

Take care.

 

Kevan

[ray501]

With regards to the increasing prices, it's a shame for the collector but I think it's a growing sense that the P25 is a solid, reliable and predictable second-hand buy. Unless the nib has been bent they are pretty robust even if a bit scratched body wise.

 

A p25 was my first modern parker, new in the 1980's and has been a solid writer since then. I started collecting parkers a couple of years back but my P25 is still my first choice when letter writing.

 

BTW, Shaughn, I mentioned that early P25s have a stainless steel thread but had you noticed that the nib holders are numbered? The nib sizing M, F were only stamped on the nibs for a few (later years)so I examined my P25s very closely to see if I could detect another method for identifying them. If you look through the vent hole (try a torch) there appears to be a number visible inside the nib. I haven't as yet gone through all my pens to see if there is a consistent pattern to see if its meaningful.

 

Ray

Edited March 5, 2013 by ray501

[Shaughn]

I hadn't seen that, Ray, thanks for sharing!

 

I'll go through the pile one of these days; for now I can see a random pattern regarding nib size and number, but I haven't checked for dat/number. I have at least one 1976 first model (flat tassie, vent hole in the nib) without number in the feed. Further I've found the numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6.

[ray501]

I hadn't seen that, Ray, thanks for sharing!

 

I'll go through the pile one of these days; for now I can see a random pattern regarding nib size and number, but I haven't checked for dat/number. I have at least one 1976 first model (flat tassie, vent hole in the nib) without number in the feed. Further I've found the numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6.

 

I think at one point in time Nib numbering was used on the vector calligraphy nibs/set, so I wondered if something similar was used elsewhere - the P25 numbers are not obvious and may be nothing more than batch numbers - but they have at least put them where they can be seen, so they might be important.

 

How many P25 nib types are there?

 

F, M and B are well known but I am lucky enough to have TWO pens with italic nibs. That would indicate a total of four. However, whilst the italic nibs are not common the two that I have seem to be different in width - one seems to be much broader than the other (italic Medium AND Broad?). Another reason might simply be that Parker varied the italic nib width at different points in manufacture.

 

Ray

Edited March 6, 2013 by ray501

[Shaughn]

These are the nib widths I know about XF, F, M, B and italic. I have a faint recollection of two italic nib widths, but only these I've found documented in a Parker manual/catalogue.

 

 

[ray501]

I haven't seen this picture before, so thanks for that - I did not realise that XF was available. I had always assumed that XF seemed to be an american preference and was not available on this UK made pen - so it's always nice to learn!

 

I will have to get out my two P25 italics and have a look at the date marks...........

 

 

Ray

[Durham K]

WOW Ray, now that is a sharp observation! :clap1:

 

You made me run through my stock and yes indeed, I can confirm your observation. My red trim FP has a SS thread and so do my red trim fibre tips. I think we can safely add this piece of information to the P25 body of knowledge. Thanks for sharing that info!

 

 

On the matte white version, a few posts hereabove you'll find a list of production years confirming white came after black, and the green trimmed are unknown. It is possible they came to replace the orange trim, but that is just my guess. They begin to appear in the leaflets quite early, so that could match.

 

I'm not aware of any sponsorship re the white P25 line, so any info on that matter is very welcome too!

 

Regards,

Shaughn

 

I have a sad looking (chipped) Audi promotional white P25 BP date code II 1994? The clip is loose and ink has stained the white coating in places.

[Shaughn]

Thanks for sharing, Durham K !

 

So, there is a matte black with silver for Nikon, there is an all-white version with a green logo (Fortress, the dutch import firm) and now this all white with red logo for Audi.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Shaughn

[sirmartin]

Interesting I also thought there was only one model. The Parker 25 was my first real fountain pen. I lost it and recently bought one again on Ebay.

Will check it out to see what year it might be.

 

Martin