What Parkers Have Joined Your Collection Lately?

[Penguincollector]

1 minute ago, Targa said:

There have been some very pretty pens over time, but I agree the Centennial Duofolds (Mk 1 - 1987 - early 90s) were among the best of the best.  The sophisticated feed/collector within the section was genius and avant-garde.  The Mk II ("streamline") ones had nice colours, but I still like the plain arrow nib just like the Vacumatics.  I grew up with real pens (I still maintain that BOs are a passing fad and will never catch on), and the 1987/ 1988 Centennial was to me a "renaissance".  

  I wholeheartedly agree. While I didn’t catch the earliest version, I asked for the blue Duofold the minute I saw it in Architectural Digest magazine in ‘91. The blue marbling drew me in, but the nib is what pierced my heart. I later found out about the Vacumatic, and I love them, and the original Duofold, but the Centennial was my first real grown up pen. 

[Targa]

11 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  I wholeheartedly agree. While I didn’t catch the earliest version, I asked for the blue Duofold the minute I saw it in Architectural Digest magazine in ‘91. The blue marbling drew me in, but the nib is what pierced my heart. I later found out about the Vacumatic, and I love them, and the original Duofold, but the Centennial was my first real grown up pen. 

The Vacumatics were also a heartthrob of mine.  The nibs were less technologically advanced, but so gorgeous.

[Penguincollector]

3 hours ago, Targa said:

The Vacumatics were also a heartthrob of mine.  The nibs were less technologically advanced, but so gorgeous.

  I love that the nibs have the metal colors reversed. Everything  about the Vacumatics is beautiful. Look at that celluloid! So far I’ve only an emerald, but I would love a blue.

[Targa]

Here is a fuller pic of that pen.

[Penguincollector]

  Oh, it’s so lovely, @Targa! That’s the next color Vacumatic that I want, but I don’t know enough about the different celluloid patterns and pen sizes to know which ones exactly.  Could you tell me more about this model? 

[InkyProf]

I agree, that's a really gorgeous example of the blue stacked celluloid!

[inkstainedruth]

Up until recently, Azure Blue Pearl is the only color of Vacs that I have more than one color of (I recently picked up another Emerald Pearl at an estate sale).  I'm a little sad that they don't seem to have ever made the Shadow Wave ones in blue.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[InkyProf]

I'm still waiting for the right emerald to come along; green is my desert island pen color...

[donnweinberg]

I have all the “stacked” colors, and they’re all beautiful, but I’m most partial to the red version.

[Targa]

3 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  Oh, it’s so lovely, @Targa! That’s the next color Vacumatic that I want, but I don’t know enough about the different celluloid patterns and pen sizes to know which ones exactly.  Could you tell me more about this model? 

It's "Azure Blue" Senior Maxima.  To get one with that degree of clarity and lack of wear will be a challenge worthy of Sir Gawain.

[Targa]

2 hours ago, donnweinberg said:

I have all the “stacked” colors, and they’re all beautiful, but I’m most partial to the red version.

I feel like an oddball here.  I don't have brazillions of pens, but the ones I have are PDN

[Penguincollector]

3 hours ago, Targa said:

It's "Azure Blue" Senior Maxima.  To get one with that degree of clarity and lack of wear will be a challenge worthy of Sir Gawain.

      I tend to be less particular than most about wear, which should make the quest a bit easier. 

[VacNut]

I could make a strong case that Italian “stacked” celluloid is just as vibrant if not more. They tend to be more vibrant that the Parker celluloid, albeit not as stable…😢😢😢

[jchch1950]

The Vacumatic Stacked colours are nice. Maybe someone can promote a poll to know if there is a preferred colour among them. I will vote for the blue and in second place the red.

[InkyProf]

As it happens, I've just today finished working on a Silver Pearl Major from 1945, which now joins a Canadian Golden Pearl double-jewel Standard from 1939 in my collection. This was a cheap eBay beater with a broken-off feed, and whose nib was in bad shape. I got the nib working, treating it as a learning experience, but it wasn't pretty, and really only barely functional, and since the rest of the pen had cleaned up nicely, I tracked down a replacement nib, too, and finally, with a fair bit of heat, got it and the new feed properly seated and tried it out. Fills well, and after a tiny bit of realignment, writes smoothly with a fine-to-medium line! Doesn't hold a candle to @Targa's gem, but for a practice pen, I'm happy with it. 

 

But my first-place vote is still for emerald, then azure... 🙂

 

 

[Targa]

7 hours ago, InkyProf said:

As it happens, I've just today finished working on a Silver Pearl Major from 1945, which now joins a Canadian Golden Pearl double-jewel Standard from 1939 in my collection. This was a cheap eBay beater with a broken-off feed, and whose nib was in bad shape. I got the nib working, treating it as a learning experience, but it wasn't pretty, and really only barely functional, and since the rest of the pen had cleaned up nicely, I tracked down a replacement nib, too, and finally, with a fair bit of heat, got it and the new feed properly seated and tried it out. Fills well, and after a tiny bit of realignment, writes smoothly with a fine-to-medium line! Doesn't hold a candle to @Targa's gem, but for a practice pen, I'm happy with it. 

 

But my first-place vote is still for emerald, then azure... 🙂

 

 

Quidivis recte factum, praeclarum.

Restoration of that extent is a noble venture.

[Targa]

Just now, Targa said:

Quidivis recte factum, praeclarum.

Restoration of that extent is a noble venture.

Oops I di a short cut

Quidivis recte factum quamvis humile praeclarum

[InkyProf]

10 minutes ago, Targa said:

Quidivis recte factum quamvis humile praeclarum

 

Thanks for that, I hadn't known the line, but I like the ethos behind it. 🙂 Maybe, in honor of Mr. Royce, I'll nickname this pen the "Silver Ghost...."

[Targa]

Nomen bonus

[christof]

On 8/23/2025 at 9:55 PM, Targa said:

I did a separate post about Kullock "magnum" oversize 51s a short while ago, so there are some pics there.  Of course some folks don't accept these hybrids as "true" Parkers, but, dang they are nice pens.  

That said, I have seen a small rush of 1980s-90s Duofolds appearing.  I am ancient and should be unloading pens , not getting more that none of my offspring will want, but I coild not resist at least a couple of them.  If I were a decade or 2 younger, I'd have bought a dozen.  The "Collector's Edition" Centennial, date stamped 1987, was too special to turn down.  Note that the "18K" and "750" are on the sides of the nib, not at the base, on this version. BTW, I have the click-cap, short flat clip ballpoint that goes with the Centennial 1987 - made pen too.  But I am a barbarian when it comes to ball points, and almost only ever use Retro 51s.

My wife bought me a 1987-dated blue marbled Duofold for Christmas 1987, with the short-lived 14K nib.  Still have it of course.  I opted to buy (as was easily done in those days) an additional italic nib, so I substitute the italic nib at Christmas to write cards in Diamine "Magic Forest" green shimmer ink.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Duofolds. I also have a weak spot for these!

 

New to my collection is this beautiful Parker Duofold Centennial from 1987. What makes me particularly happy is that it comes with its complete packaging and this beautiful instruction manual (which I have been searching for for a long time).

 

The manual contains sectional drawings that show how elaborately the Duofold was manufactured.