French 18K Duofold Maxima

[surprise123]

So I am sure everyone that is somewhat accustomed to vintage Parker knows of their Maxima Duofold. The one with the giant 14k arrow nib made in the UK, measures a little longer than 5 1/2 inches, a very girthy pen. Guess what? They apparently also made them in France, in an 18k version. Just snagged this beauty for $90 on Ebay. Will get pictures soon.

 

Edit:

 

Parker https://imgur.com/fpngallery/3VIkSuc

 

I believe that one of the pictures show what seems like an engraving cartouche. Could be wrong.

Edited July 13, 2019 by surprise123

[hood]

The French ones are just as nice in use as the English ones in my experience. The ones I've got don't have particularly soft nibs but I'm not sure if that's generally the case with them. Here's a Senior shown next to a standard sized Duofold.

 

 

Interestingly the barrels are stamped the same and so say Made In England, though the nibs are 18 carat and are stamped with the French eagle head.

 

 

[PaulS]

very nice pen - at the time these things were being made, the French gold standard for such things as pen nibs was still 18 ct. - believe the fineness was dropped to 14 ct. in 1994.

When hunting for Maxima's, it helps to speed up the search by remembering that it was only the Duofolds, Demis and Maxima that had the wide cap band - it's not always easy to assess scale in sellers pix, but remembering this can help.

I suppose we should say that the arrow imprint on these 50 size Newhaven 14 ct. nibs is more attractive than the plain French nibs, but I suspect that your 18 ct. French job is quite scarce. Will swap my marble collection and cigarette cards if you're interested

 

I've a 'Junior' size aero, which is without any barrel imprint - worn away possibly - and the nib shows PARKER - 18 K - FRANCE. Generally, these French pens are less than common, but a very good find when you do get one.

Congratulations.

 

edited to add...… just found one of the French open nibbed Lady models - nib shows simply PARKER 18 K.

I think all the Newhaven Lady's had hooded nibs.

Edited July 13, 2019 by PaulS

[surprise123]

very nice pen - at the time these things were being made, the French gold standard for such things as pen nibs was still 18 ct. - believe the fineness was dropped to 14 ct. in 1994.

When hunting for Maxima's, it helps to speed up the search by remembering that it was only the Duofolds, Demis and Maxima that had the wide cap band - it's not always easy to assess scale in sellers pix, but remembering this can help.

I suppose we should say that the arrow imprint on these 50 size Newhaven 14 ct. nibs is more attractive than the plain French nibs, but I suspect that your 18 ct. French job is quite scarce. Will swap my marble collection and cigarette cards if you're interested

 

I've a 'Junior' size aero, which is without any barrel imprint - worn away possibly - and the nib shows PARKER - 18 K - FRANCE. Generally, these French pens are less than common, but a very good find when you do get one.

Congratulations.

 

edited to add... just found one of the French open nibbed Lady models - nib shows simply PARKER 18 K.

I think all the Newhaven Lady's had hooded nibs.

I was able to find this Maxima (and ID it) because of the honest seller. He was well-informed about his pens, and posted that extra picture with the ruler and the Demi for scale. He told me about the imprint, where it was worn, and how the blemishes in the trim were of the reflection from his camera, not brassing.

 

Although I would, for a small price, definitely swap for a Newhaven Maxima. The ornate arrow nib is much better.

[PaulS]

"an honest seller" - you must cultivate that relationship - there aren't too many of those around .

 

When you speak of a cartouche - showing in the pix - assume you're speaking of the plain area on the cap band. Parker's chevron cap band which was used on the majority of their older Newhaven aero pens had this appearance as a standard feature. This cartouche, on those pens with the wider cap band, was just large enough into which initials or such like might just about have been engraved, but for those pens with narrow bands then engraving looks less than feasible. I don't recall ever seeing one of these bands showing a personalization.

 

My 18 ct. nibs seem to lack the eagle fineness mark mentioned by Hood, perhaps it's further down the nib and hidden by the section. It's worth mentioning that French regulations in the period we're discussing, used the eagle's head for both 22 ct. and 18 ct., though obviously if you're looking at digits of 18 or 22 then you will know which you have. Should that not be the case the deciding factor is that the head inside a six sided cartouche indicates 18 ct. and with 22 ct. the head resides inside a rectangle.

[surprise123]

It is just clearly marked "Parker 18 Karat" with the K slightly deformed. It's a smooth, untouched nib, other than that.

[hood]

The pen in the pictures you linked on imgur looks like it has "18 CARATS" on the nib, and then the eagle head just below the C and A (beak pointing down towards the barrel), which is similar to the ones I have.

[surprise123]

The pen in the pictures you linked on imgur looks like it has "18 CARATS" on the nib, and then the eagle head just below the C and A (beak pointing down towards the barrel), which is similar to the ones I have.

Well there you have it.

[hood]

Did I misunderstand, are you talking about a different pen at this point?

[surprise123]

Did I misunderstand, are you talking about a different pen at this point?

Nah, I was just clarifying for myself. My computer isn't exactly up to date in terms of picture quality.