Parker Newhaven Staff Pens

[Writehand]

When the Newhaven Plant was closing in 2010 it was decided that the employees were to be rewarded with a Staff Pen. After the first twenty unnumbered pens were distributed it became immediately apparent that some were being advertised for sale on EBay. As a consequence Parker recalled the pens. Only fourteen were returned, the other six were not and Parker did not pursue the matter. When the staff pens were reissued they were numbered.

 

I am fortunate enough to own one of the unnumbered pens together with Staff Bag, Inner Box and Presentation Box.

 

I am posting this in the hope that there may be other members in possession of the other five and that they make contact with me in order that it can be established where in the world the pens are now located.

 

Thanks.

[Matlock]

When the Newhaven Plant was closing in 2010 it was decided that the employees were to be rewarded with a Staff Pen. After the first twenty unnumbered pens were distributed it became immediately apparent that some were being advertised for sale on EBay. As a consequence Parker recalled the pens. Only fourteen were returned, the other six were not and Parker did not pursue the matter. When the staff pens were reissued they were numbered.

 

I am fortunate enough to own one of the unnumbered pens together with Staff Bag, Inner Box and Presentation Box.

 

I am posting this in the hope that there may be other members in possession of the other five and that they make contact with me in order that it can be established where in the world the pens are now located.

 

Thanks.

 

I have one but without the Staff Bag and Presentation Box.

[joss]

Great thread and I do not own such a pen but I hope that you can locate the 5 other pens!

 

For what it is worth, Tony Fischier mentions on his Parker pen website that unnumbered Staff pen #1 and #2 may have stayed in the factory archives:

https://parkerpens.net/limitededition.html

Edited January 3, 2018 by joss

[Writehand]

Tony and I have been in contact. Tony is also very keen to identify the whereabouts of the pens.

[Matlock]

I see that there is one of the numbered pens for sale, on a certain on line site, for AU$2,590.00.

[Writehand]

I saw that. There is at least one or two a year. The one I have was bought from an ex employee of the Newhaven living in Newhaven.

[Writehand]

Thought I should post photographs of the Newhaven Staff Pen

[joss]

Very nice pictures, thanks.

 

Regarding the numbered versions of this pen: which parts of the pens carried the serial number imprint (cap, barrel, cap top, ...)?

[mitto]

Nice pictures of nice pen and nice bag. Thanks. How many Staff Pens were offered to the enployees?

[zaddick]

Thanks for sharing this info. I find it interesting even though I don't collect Parker.

[Matlock]

Nice pictures of nice pen and nice bag. Thanks. How many Staff Pens were offered to the enployees?

 

According to parkerpens.net. "The Newhaven Staff pens were meant to go out in 175 items, Parker releasing 20 to the first wave of workers leaving Newhaven. This first batch pens were un-numbered. When Parker realised that the farewell gifts ended up on eBay faster than they were distributed, Parker pulled them, asking the employees to return them. 14 of the pens and bags were returned to Parker. 6 workers didn't return their pens, and Parker didn't push the issue. Another 175 were then made in a second batch, without the bag".

[mitto]

Thank you, Peter. A valuable addition to my knowlege of later Parker history. But I should have read the source you quoated. Thank you once again.

[Matlock]

Thank you, Peter. A valuable addition to my knowlege of later Parker history. But I should have read the source you quoated. Thank you once again.

 

Your welcome Khan. I think we are all the same, I know that I often ask a question and then realise that I have access to the information.

[baz666]

Hi,

I used to own one of the unnumbered Newhaven staff Duofolds.

I purchased it in August 2011 and sold it to an ebayer in Taiwan in June 2014.

The person I purchased it from was an ex Parker employee.

When I sold it, I retained the carry bag for my then, newly acquired numbered (95) staff Duofold.

So that will be an anomaly waiting to happen. When I sell my numbered pen (with carry bag).

This is the conversation I had with the seller after I had received the unnumbered pen from him, hope it is helpful.

From: Paul

To: Martin

Subject: Other: Paul sent a message about Duofold Fountain Pen 1941 - 2010 Special Edition #120760307425

Sent Date: 24-Aug-11 00:33:00 BST

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi.

I received this fountain pen on Monday, all in good condition.

I was wondering where you acquired this pen from?

Did you work at the Parker factory in Newhaven?

I have seen another of these pens, the other pen was numbered on the base of the pen and had a numbered certificate included with it.

I assumed all the 1941- 2010 Duofold Special Edition pens were individually numbered?

Do you know why this one is not?

Also do you know how many numbered pens, versus Unnumbered pens were made?

Lots of questions, sorry. Hope you can help.

Regards

Paul.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi,

Now you give ma a very difficult question to answer. Yes i was working for parker for 3 years..

Then we heard about redundancy because the whole company was going to france...

We as a staff we wanted some special pens on leave. I was in the first group of "leavers". There was 20 of us.

Then i recieve this pen in that condition and state as you got it from me. I had never any interest in that pen.

After i left the company i start a new job and i didnt have any contact with other staff of Parkers.

After a few months i heard a story that 17 of those 20 pens which where given to us was returned to Parker. Why i have no idea.

But i didnt give the pen back because simply nobody contact me. Then i also heard that the rest of parker pen staff received a different pens than me.

If you say that this one is not numbered that means there are only 3 pens versus 198 numbered (there was 201 staff in Parker at the time of the redundancy).

But its only something i can assume based on this what you say to me... That why in the auction i didnt put any details cos i didnt and i still dont know about this pen...

I hope i help you somehow

Regards

Martin

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks Martin.

Yes that is very helpful.

I have heard different estimates for how many of these pens were actually made.

The numbered pen I saw (and now own) is number 95 out of 175 as stated on the certificate

and signed by Dave Ruderman.

It appears the first run of these pens were not numbered and the later ones were.

also it seems only some of these pens came with the leather shoulder bag!

as the (ex Parker employee) lady whom I got the numbered pen from, told me hers never came with a bag.

Once again thank you for all your help.

Regards

Paul.

[baz666]

Very nice pictures, thanks.

 

Regarding the numbered versions of this pen: which parts of the pens carried the serial number imprint (cap, barrel, cap top, ...)?

 

Hi joss,

The numbered Newhaven staff Duofolds were engraved on the bottom of the barrel.

 

 

Paul.

[mitto]

Perhaps one day... One day I would own one of these pens.

[baz666]

I see that there is one of the numbered pens for sale, on a certain on line site, for AU$2,590.00.

 

 

Now Sold !!!

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Parker-Newhaven-Staff-Limited-Edition-49-175-/122890122425

[baz666]

Perhaps one day... One day I would own one of these pens.

 

Make me an offer Khan, perhaps one day may be sooner than you think .

[FarmBoy]

Has anyone contacted Dave Ruderman at the Parker Archive Museum or possibly Graham Jasper?

 

Both are potentially good sources of information.

 

I have not owned one of these but have seen at least one.

[MancFrank]

It's been quite a while since my last post here (life etc...), but from tomorrow, I shall be the proud owner of two of these pens, so thought I'd chip in.

 

One has the shoulder bag, the other does not - that's how they came, which may be apropos of nothing, but may indicate that the bag was available to all (both pens from a married couple, both working at Newhaven upon closure).

 

One might get flipped - I'm thinking that'd fund quite a few nice vacs

Edited January 18, 2018 by MancFrank