Vintage Pens

Almost perfect but not quite. Check out the beautiful pearl-and-black celluloid on this Canadian Parker Duofold Jr. set. You can see some traces of the brown discoloration that got started in this vintage pen, but it isn't nearly as bad as most of these pens that I've seen. The inside of this cap is so clean, we're not sure the pen was ever used. It has been restored with a new ink sac. No cracks, major blemishes or brassing. Light wear if any. Click the headline to see a close-up of the original 14k gold nib. You can barely see it in the photo but there is a hairline crack just to the right or top of the "B" in the photo and it works its way up to the top bar of the "E" in "Pen." You will write a smooth medium line. Its matching pencil has perfect color but much more wear, and it doesn't work.

Do you wish your vintage grail pen came with a Japanese extra-fine nib? This 1939 Parker Vacumatic Maxima gets pretty close to Japanese extra-fine with the right paper. It is a beautiful silver pearl design with tolerable barrel clarity with ambering. No cracks, no scratches, no significant wear. It comes with a fresh diaphragm and a clean imprint and top and bottom silver pearl design jewels. There's monotone 14k gold nib. Click the headline for close-ups. Great aluminum speedline filler. Its only flaw seems to be the darkened metal trim around the blind-cap jewel. 13.6cm capped.

Senior-sized Parker Duofolds with a wide cap band, such as this one, don't come along every day. In fact, they might only come along once or twice a lifetime, if you're lucky. We have one such beauty right here, and it has no cracks under the cap band. It is gorgeous with a deep Lucky Curve imprint, too! Fully restored with a new ink sac, its only flaw appears to be a thin sliver of brassing on the cap band. Click the headline for a close-up. This is a permanite model not the red hard rubber. Still, it is a great treat. There's a "Christmas tree" inkfeed and a 14k gold nib. You'll write a very nice medium line. Fairly crisp milling on the end caps, too! 13.9cm capped.

Parker VP meant Very Personal. The revolutionary developments for this pen included an ergonomic grip for the fountain pen and a nib and feed that could be rotated to better accommodate for the grip and getting the nib to write from any angle. These are rarer pens, as they only made VPs for a couple years. It led to the monumental success of the Parker 75. This teal colored vintage pen has a major problem in its barrel. Click the headline for a close-up to see the 1.5cm crack in the barrel where it threads into the section. Basically, the crack is bad and makes the pen unstable to write with...without making the crack worse. This is a shame, as the aerometric filler unit is in great condition. In most VPs, this is the rare part that is whole. Its 14k gold nib writes a very smooth broad line. 13.8cm capped.

Perfection is difficult to achieve in vintage pens, but this 1940 Oversize Parker Vacumatic gets close. No cracks, only light wear and incredible barrel clarity with celluloid that is on the light orange-dark yellow spectrum. No brassing. A feint barrel imprint. Close to perfect two-tone plating for the 14k gold nib. (Click the headline for a close-up.) YET, as you can see on the main photo, the name "James A. Kunkel" is engraved on the barrel. We looked up the name, and there are too many James Kunkels to know who owned this specific pen. You'll write an extra-fine line that is a bit dry but can sometimes look fine. Restored and in great working order. Museum worthy rare burgundy...yet, still a good writer. 13.5cm capped.

In 1936, Fred & Ginger lit up the silver screen in the classic "Swingtime," King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry an American divorcé, television broadcasts first began, Jesse Owens showed up the Nazis in Berlin, Joe DiMaggio was a rookie, FDR won a second term and this Parker Vacumatic standard set in burgundy was made. It was an elegant era, and this pen in many respects marks the pinnacle of art deco design. This particular set is in excellent condition. No cracks, maybe 1% brassing, no scratches, restored and working. Its two-tone 14k has some cosmetic issues. Click the headline to see close-ups. It writes an extra-fine line with a little flex but not much. The matching pencil works great in excellent condition and comes with spare 1.1mm leads. Pen measures 12.8cm capped.