PICS o' th' GOLD BRICK. Funky "Parkers" from th' thoities.

[Buzz J]

They really are pretty pens.

 

I wonder why Parker didn't do the silver and green, and let Sears have the colors and the big pen to themselves.

[david i]

They really are pretty pens.

 

I wonder why Parker didn't do the silver and green, and let Sears have the colors and the big pen to themselves.

 

Oh????

 

ReeeeeEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLllllly??????

 

Or...

 

Hehehehehe.... snicker, snort, gasp (fill in yer own teasing and annoying noise)...

 

I mean... you think this thread... it should be done already?

 

-d

Edited April 3, 2009 by david i

[david i]

So, while I've handled a few Green Web, Parker-made, Diamond Medal Vac-Fill pens, I don't own one at the moment. Here is one shot in my usual catalogue style, the pen probably from Harry's collection iirc, shot at the Washington show a few years back. This is the smaller of the two sizes...

 

regards

 

David

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1j850.jpg

[david i]

They really are pretty pens.

 

I wonder why Parker didn't do the silver and green, and let Sears have the colors and the big pen to themselves.

 

Oh????

 

ReeeeeEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLllllly??????

 

Or...

 

Hehehehehe.... snicker, snort, gasp (fill in yer own teasing and annoying noise)...

 

I mean... you think this thread... it should be done already?

 

-d

Here be the killer shot...

 

Look closely for clues to something... perhaps surprising.

 

-david

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1k850.jpg

Edited April 3, 2009 by david i

[John Danza]

A spade clip? Is this a Challenger?

[david i]

A spade clip? Is this a Challenger?

 

Filling mechanism is pure lockdown Vac. Nicely transparent barrel (the mortar).

 

regards

 

David

[oracle202]

Very beautiful pens that I haven't seen until now...

[david i]

And here is the food-fer-thought pen.

regards

 

-d

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1l850.jpg

[John Danza]

Is it actually market "Parker" on the barrel?

[david i]

Is it actually market "Parker" on the barrel?

 

They never are. That would be too... easy.

 

-d

[SMG]

Very interesting indeed, this green Parker shows a couple of differences to the Diamond Medals previously shown in this thread. One is the obvious clip with "Parker" very prominently displayed.

 

The others are more significant, but maybe a little less obvious. The twin capbands, none of the Diamond Medals had less than three bands whereas the Parker Golden Web Vacumatics had two. Not knowing Challengers as well as I should I do think that those are also two band caps.

 

The last difference is the captop which secures the clip onto the cap, it is stepped. Again not knowing Challengers as well as Vacs, I don't think that this was a standard captop for those pens either. That said it does look like the one on the pen which I imaged and started this whole thing off with.

 

Awesome thread David, thanks.

Sean

Edited April 3, 2009 by SMG

[Johnny Appleseed]

And here is the food-fer-thought pen.

regards

 

-d

 

Been here before - there is a thread on this DM-like Parker from a couple of years back (or is that a thing on your site?)

 

I keep forgetting to check my files for the Webs when I get home. I am trying to remember if they had an official DM name for the colors. The similar "4-Star Jubilee" Good Service pens, with the coiled "web" pattern, used the names "Golden Brown", "Silver Grey", and "Serpent Green".

 

Still trying to figure out the source for these.

 

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/laridae/Sears-Seattle-fall-winter1936-1937.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/laridae/GS-bulb.jpg

 

 

The only ads I've ever seen for the Diamond Medal Vac-Fill are from Sears, for whom DM was a house-brand. However, not all DM's were made by Parker. Different years and different styles seem to have seen the contracts sent to different manufacturers. The DM Vac-Fill was Parker's Vacumatic produced specifically for Sears. One readily can imagine that even for lofty Parker the chance to make pens for one of the country's largest retailers in the heart of the Great Depression might have had some appeal, even if the trim, imprint, contour and plastics used (in some cases) had to be tweaked a bit.

[Emphasis added]

 

If Parker could make the truly lowly "Fifth Avenue" pens for Woolworths, I am sure they would happily jump at the chance to sell higher-end pens through Sears.

 

John

 

[david i]

In the pic below, we see- again- what appears to be one of the Emerald/Green (perhaps now, "Serpent", after Johnny's post) Diamond Medal Vac-Fil pens-- a rebadged/tweaked Parker-made Vacumatic-- but now apparently back in Parker trim. Keep in mind it does NOT have the normal contour, clip, endpieces as regular production Vacumatic. And of course the green was never catalogued for Vacumatic, proper.

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1l850.jpg

 

Another John asked about barrel imprint presence, as both Parker Vacumatic and Diamond Medal Vac-Fil pens typically have barrel imprints. I infer from his question a fair and correct concern, that this pen is simply a DM that had Parker parts switched (nibs and clips are an easy swap) for the DM stock.

 

The clip is a thin-washer blade clip such as is found on a Parker Challenger, post mid-1937. To answer Sean's question, Parker Challenger is a single-band pen. Parker Deluxe Challenger is triple cap-band. There are no double band Challenger family pens (though painfully, one catalogue, probably with erroneous illustration, does show double bands)

 

Yet, to address John's question, these "Parker-trimmed, DiamondMedal -style, Parker-made" pens are found always without Diamond Medal barrel imprint, yet also free of any Parker imprint. No imprint at all in fact. Most collectors who play with these deem these Parker-trimmed pens to be correct and original, though. Reasons (besides simple existence) cited below.

 

However, what is not readily potentially after-market (such as clip and nib swap would be) is the cap-band pattern as was noted above, by Sean. The DM's all appear with triple cap-band. The Parker-trimmed pens have double-cap band, which I find interesting as double cap-band is what one typically sees on Parker Golden Web pens, as they are part of Junior line.

 

As noted way back when, the Diamond Medal pens have Challenger-family contour, even though having Vacumatic filling system. The big black end pieces and clip are Challenger style. The triple cap-band is high line Vacumatic and Deluxe Challenger style. The web plastic (catalogued in "golden" only) is of course from Vacumatic.

 

So, this last pen appears to be a re-rebadged Parker, perhaps meant for Diamond Medal label, but not imprinted and then fitted with Parker-style metal. Re-Rebadged Parker? De-rebadged Parker? Or, perhaps more simply, just a Parker done with mixed Challenger-Vacumatic style, released as a Parker Vacumatic instead of DM. Some intent (as opposed to simple left over parts from a DM run) is suggested by the cap-band pattern that did not appear on pens badged for DM.

 

It is the final subtlety, i suppose, to the Parker-made Diamond Medal web-plastic Vac-Fil pens.

 

This would be the final post (or final theme at least) in this thread, had Johnny not opened up the Webster/Good-Service issue

 

regards

 

David

Edited April 4, 2009 by david i

[david i]

Dare we pursue the next stage???

 

Maybe just a bit. I'm getting thread fatigue...

 

Johnny posted this nifty Sears catalogue page showing Good Service and Webster pens. It has been suggested that- as with Diamond Medal- at least some of these pens were manufactured by Parker.

 

The Good Service Sacless Vacuum Filler (gee, familiar verbiage), is quite a strong push to a cheap claim to "sacless" as it is a simple bulb-filler. One unscrews the blind cap revealing what is in fact a sac (bulb) that one squeezes to fill the pen. The presence of "web" plastic (which appears NOT to have been exclusive to Parker, though Parker is best known for it) and presence in Sears catalogue I s'pose argues for Parker production, though this pen, unlike some Diamond Medal, other Good Service (Parkette Deluxe styling) and some Webster, really does not look like Parker structure. The clip contour does not reflect other Parkers; indeed to me it resembles Eisenstadt pens, not that I follow those so closely. So... I keep an open mind.

 

Here is the ad under discussion...

 

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/laridae/Sears-Seattle-fall-winter1936-1937.jpg

 

 

Johnny showed his Good Service Vacuum Filler. Here is mine, in Serpent Green (web). I've seen one in Golden (web) as well.

 

http://removed.xyz/penteech/goodservicegreenweb.jpg

 

If Parker could make the truly lowly "Fifth Avenue" pens for Woolworths, I am sure they would happily jump at the chance to sell higher-end pens through Sears.

 

John

 

Interesting. I have not seen any info suggesting the SAFFORD (as in George S. Parker) FIFTH AVE, a pen of perhaps Parker Parkette quality, was intended for Woolworth. Neat. You have some paper for this?

 

Oh yeah, here is a Safford. This one was ignored over at Ron Zorn's mainstreetpens.com website. I picked it up from his sales pile after a nice dinner with his family, and had to grab it.

 

http://removed.xyz/penteech/saffordfifthavenuegreenend850.jpg

 

 

However, let us return to Parker and to Webster, that latter name sold (only??) by Sears with some of pens apparently Parker derived.

 

I offer, first for your consideration, the well known Parker Televisor, manufactured (at least) in Canada for (at least) the U.K. market, a pen for similar market to Challenger/Deluxe Challenger in the USA, positioned below the Vacumatic. The series is widely appreciated for the reticulated colors and not uncommonly found exotic nib grades.

 

Here is my Parker Televisor in silver pearl celluloid. Clean pen.

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1m850.jpg

 

So, a few years ago, in the face of an even greater dearth of documentation for such pens than we have today, I stumbled across a Webster fountain pen. It had full barrel imprint and a nib that features a date code similar to that found on certain other pens we know and love. Of course I bought it.

 

So, now, just for kicks, I offer this (so-far) uncatalogued small-brand pen, at least some of which are sold by Sears, a Webster next to... that Parker Televisor.

 

Chewy, no?

 

And one wonders why those of us who like finding the obscure so enjoy playing with Parker from the 1930's.

 

http://removed.xyz/websitelectures/diamondmedalessay1n850.jpg

 

 

regards

 

David

Edited April 4, 2009 by david i

[Nabster]

I just have this vision in my head of Friday evening at the Parker assembly factory, the last man there giggling to himself as he picks up all the parts he's swept together from the floor of the entire factory and just starts to build these pens with whatever fits together. Perhaps he was thinking 70 years into the future what people would be thinking about these anomalies, or perhaps he was just throwing together what he could to refill the pen cup at the reception desk for the next week.

 

Either way... the ridiculous number of variances to be found, and the fact David can sit here and amuse himself by teasing all of us with these fantastic pens amazes me.

[Okami]

Awesome thread, David! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge about these wonderful pens.

[david i]

I just have this vision in my head of Friday evening at the Parker assembly factory, the last man there giggling to himself as he picks up all the parts he's swept together from the floor of the entire factory and just starts to build these pens with whatever fits together. Perhaps he was thinking 70 years into the future what people would be thinking about these anomalies, or perhaps he was just throwing together what he could to refill the pen cup at the reception desk for the next week.

 

Either way... the ridiculous number of variances to be found, and the fact David can sit here and amuse himself by teasing all of us with these fantastic pens amazes me.

 

Thanks

 

Only caveat I wanna point out though is that amongst all these pens just shown, my guess would be that the only one that seemingly falls into category of pure anomaly would be the green (let's say Serpent Green) PARKER that looks like the DIAMOND MEDAL which itself is re-badged PARKER. Yes, headache inducing

 

The DM's, the Webster, the Good Service (assuming for moment that one is Parker, too)... those pens are, more or less catalogued rebadged pens, not just what we sometimes call "lunchtime specials". The Green Parker though, that one is odd. Too, that it has a different band count does show some purpose behind the pen. Had it just been a case of a worker having in hand what was meant to be a Diamond Medal, but opting for kicks to put a Parker nib and clip on it, I'd have expected the triple, not double, cap-band. Though, come to think of it, i might have seen a couple floating about with triple bands too. Ahhh well, the outliers on the curve tend to leave us guessing.

 

Fun stuff.

 

Regards

 

David

Edited April 4, 2009 by david i

[algabatz]

I actually have the same model in silver web, and as a pen/pencil set, 2 bands, Parker clip and all, unfortunately not in this excellent condition.

 

/T

 

 

[algabatz]

Awesome thread, David! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge about these wonderful pens.

 

I'll second that!

 

/T

[david i]

I actually have the same model in silver web, and as a pen/pencil set, 2 bands, Parker clip and all, unfortunately not in this excellent condition.

 

/T

 

I might wanna borrow the pencil. Is it a long drive over to Sweden?

 

-d