Unusual vacumatic jewel?

[Jacurutu]

I recently acquired an emerald pearl streamlined standard second generation vacumatic. At first I thought the blindcap jewel was black, but on a closer look it’s machined from the emerald pearl celluloid, but not in the usual orientation. Is this a common thing?

I'll attach some photos, but it’s difficult to capture and it’s visible only from a shallow angle.

[Ron Z]

Common.  It's often referred to as a bullseye jewel.  Instead of a separate jewel that screws into the blind cap and holds the tassie on, the jewel is part of the blind cap and the tassie is permanently fixed in place. 

[Jacurutu]

Ahh so that's why I couldn't disassemble that jewel. The more you know... Thanks for the reply

[VacNut]

13 hours ago, Ron Z said:

Common.  It's often referred to as a bullseye jewel.  Instead of a separate jewel that screws into the blind cap and holds the tassie on, the jewel is part of the blind cap and the tassie is permanently fixed in place. 

“Permanently fixed in place” that was Parker’s intent but the celluloid shrinks over time and the tassies spin in place. It is almost impossible to reattach the tassie without swaging it in place (let’s not talk about adhesives). Just curious, why did you try to remove the jewel?

[Jacurutu]

2 minutes ago, VacNut said:

“Permanently fixed in place” that was Parker’s intent but the celluloid shrinks over time and the tassies spin in place. It is almost impossible to reattach the tassie without swaging it in place (let’s not talk about adhesives). Just curious, why did you try to remove the jewel?

I wanted to polish it. Now the pen is fully restored and a joy to write with (if only the nib was more flexible! But nothing is perfect I guess)

[es9]

On 12/27/2023 at 9:50 AM, VacNut said:

“Permanently fixed in place” that was Parker’s intent but the celluloid shrinks over time and the tassies spin in place. It is almost impossible to reattach the tassie without swaging it in place (let’s not talk about adhesives). Just curious, why did you try to remove the jewel?

I’m sure others will tell me why I’m wrong, but this is a place where I’ve used epoxy. 

[Ron Z]

13 hours ago, es9 said:

I’m sure others will tell me why I’m wrong, but this is a place where I’ve used epoxy. 

 

That or Hypo-cement.  Hypo-cement released more easily with heat if it needs to be removed in the future.   But Parker never intended them to come off, so why not?  The only other option is cut the jewel off on a lathe,  and drill and tap to take a standard jewel.