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Pen 3357 R: Parker so-called "Thrift Time" Pen. 1936 $140
NOT a Challenger. Uncatalogued Model. |
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| Overall Grade:
ExtraFine |
Metal: Fine | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: Perfect | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine | Imprint: Exc | Size: 4 9/16" 12.2cm |
PRICE: $140 |
| COMMENTS: A most uncommon model, one often misidentified as a Challenger, this off-catalogue pen is well known to those who know. The plastic is Challenger-like as is the thin-washer clip. But the triple cap-band is from Deluxe Challenger. The matching end-pieces are found on no Challenger. The imprint is generic, "Parker". Found in silver pearl, burgundy pearl, and emerald pearl, the overwhelming majority are slender size, as is this one. Very clean plastic and clip, there is some wear and brassing to the cap-bands. Still, it is well cleaner than the majority of these I've handled. | |||
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Pen 3311 NB: Parker Jade Celluloid PRE-Duofold Pencil $50
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| Overall Grade:
ExtraFine |
Metal: Exc | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: | clarity: | |
| Point: | Imprint: Exc | Size: |
PRICE: $50 |
| COMMENTS: Parker's vaunted Duofold line originally was offered only in black and in red hard rubber. Parker hesitated to released the new Jade celulloid pens (and matching pencils) with the Duofold label, fearful- it is speculated- about market reaction. The market reacted well, and soon the pens took on the Duofold stamp. Very early pens thus look like Duofolds but lack that imprint. These early items are relatively scarce. This pencil is a ringtop Juniorette "non"-Duofold pencil Decent color with typical translucency found on early Jades. The crown at top tends to pop out a couple millimeters, not affecting function. | |||
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Pen 3332: Parker "Thrift Time" Moderne 1933-ish $195
Copper/Blue/White celluloid (see recent Visconti for similar plastic) Semi-Flex Medium to Medium-Broad point. |
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| Overall Grade: Fine |
Metal: Fine | Color: Excellent | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition: Exc |
Threads: Exc | clarity: None left | |
| Point: Fine-Med | Imprint: VG | Size: 4 1/2" 11.5cm |
PRICE: $195 |
| COMMENTS: While not the most rare color amongst the huge palette found for the so-called "Thrift" modesl Moderne and Premier, this copper/white/blue is generally recognized as amongst the beautiful. The plastic is the strong suit on this one, with rich color and no fading to the metallic/pearlescent copper (often a problem). Imprint a bit light. Mild brassng to capband. Clip generally ok with brassing just to clip ball. The top metal flat piece is wholly brassed. Very nice nib that has long snout and looks as if should be high flex but in fact is only semi-flex, but adjusting from medium to nearly broad with pressure. | |||
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Pen 3218 JB: Parker Royal Challenger $350
Silver Pearl Celluloid. Larger Size (Standard) 1939 |
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| Overall Grade:
ExtraFine |
Metal: Extra Fine | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: Perfect | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine-Med+ | Imprint: Exc | Size: 5 1/4" 13.2cm |
PRICE: $350 |
| COMMENTS: Royal Challenger was the fanciest and most expensive member of the Challenger, breaking the price barrel between Vacumatics and non-Vacs that'd existed prior to 1937, by matching the price point of Vacumatic Junior. Silver Pearl pens are notoriously hard to find clean, as the pale plastic shows ambering easily and because the chrome trim cannot take polish as would gold-filled trim, once a bit worn. This one is a quite nice example, with excellent color and imprint, with clean clip, hint of wear on band (still with good lustre) and with bit more wear to blind cap ring (tassie). Not near mint, but top 10% easily. Smooth responsive F-M nib that goes Medium with bit of pressure. Nice writer. | |||
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Pen 2598 Parker Challenger Slender $125
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| Overall Grade:
Extra Fine |
Metal: Extrafine | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: perfect | clarity: N/A | |
| Point: F-M Semiflex | Imprint: None | Size: 4 3/4" 12cm |
PRICE: $125 |
| COMMENTS: The regular Challenger series, which ran 1934-1940. With a couple key generations, all 7 years saw production of Black, Green, Red, and Grey. However, Blue was intro'd at very end of 1939, making it a one year color. Far less common than the others. As with all Challengers, tough to find clean. This one is decent. Light speckling of brass to the clip. Cap-band is free of brassing but some of the clear laquer found on 1940's pens is gone. Nice imprint and color. | |||
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Pen 2548R Parker Royal Challenger Slender $225
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| Overall Grade:
ExtraFine |
Metal: Exc | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: Exc | clarity: N/A | |
| Point: Fine | Imprint: Exc | Size: 4 3/4" 12.1cm |
PRICE: $225 |
| COMMENTS: Superb Royal. The first -Vacumatic to hit $5 price point after the discontinuation of the original Duofold. Royal Challengers are by the top tier of the Challenger Family. You probably know my "silver pearl" screed by now. That color tends to underprice other colors in the Parker/Sheaffer 1930's pens, often because the chrome trim is trashed and the pale celluloid shows ambering more easily than other colors. But, clean Silver Pearl pens carry extra cachet. This one is clean with essentially perfect trim and plastic color. Nice clarity to the visometer gripping section. Only imperfection is a couple-mm nick just below the cap-band. Very pretty pen. Very tough to find this clean. | |||
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Pen 2502 Parker True Blue $150
Long Streamlined Model ~ 1929 |
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| Overall Grade: VG |
Metal: VG | Color: Fine | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition: Exc |
Threads: Exc | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine | Imprint: Fine | Size: 4 7/8" 12.4 cm |
PRICE: $150 |
| COMMENTS: A classic sub-Duofold-line pen by Parker, recently given tribute via the modern True Blue Duofold. Plastic is clean. Clip-ball shows brassing as does about 2/3 of the cap-band. Barrel has moderate ambering. Gripping section is a smidge short. | |||
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Aggghhhh. I cannot do it. Withdrawn from sale. Staying with me a bit longer |
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| Overall Grade: Extra Fine |
Metal: Extra Fine | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: perfect | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine | Imprint: Exc | Size: 5 1/4" |
PRICE: $ |
| COMMENTS:
Just another sub-Duofold Parker Lucky Curve... were it not for that
color.
True Blue survived the switch to streamlined form, but this is the
earlier, longer, greater cachet Flat Top variety. Color is superb with
just a hint of yellow to the white backdrop. Also, note the unusual
pattern to the color swirls on the barrel. Gorgeous pen. |
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| Overall Grade: extra fine |
Metal: ExtraFine | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: perfect | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine-med Semi Flex | Imprint: perfect | Size: 4 1/2" |
PRICE: $175 |
| COMMENTS: Parker's
pastel pens from the late 1920's can be found in a variety of
evolutionary styles in both pure and moire pattenrs. This one is a
ratherrrr nice example. Very even color. Razor imprint. No grave
defects. One pin ding can be seen on the cap-band. |
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Gray Pearl Celluloid with goldtone trim. $275 |
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| Overall Grade:
Exc |
Metal: Exc | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc 2-tone |
Threads: perfect | clarity: NA | |
| Point: Fine-Med SEmi Flex | Imprint: Exc | Size: 5 1/8" |
PRICE: $275 |
| COMMENTS: Lumped
into the garbage-can term
"Thrift Time Pen", the revelation of a Dec 1933 Parkergram allowed
specific description of this model for the first time. Available
in
four colors and two sizes with the smaller size found with clip or
ring, one can collect 12 catalogue described variants. Hefty pens, the
stepped clip ties to the 1934 Type II Parker Parkette and evokes pens
by Eclipse and Monroe, amongst others. The matching end-pieces add
charm. Note that unlike most gray-pearl Parkers from the 1930's, this
model uses gold (filled? plated?) trim instead of white trim. I
like the yellow-on-gray look. Often found discolored, crazed or quite worn, this set is better than most. One possible incorrect element is present, however. You will note that the pen has a different clip from the pencil. The smooth ball clip (duofold-like) on the pencil is what is seen in the 1933 catalog. The raised-"parker" clip seen on this pen is a 1934 style clip (as seen on Challenger). However (you knew there would be a however), whilst i could have swapped on a clip, i noted the pen has a barrel date code for third quarter 1934 (indeed this is the first quarter from which we see date codes on any Parker pens). Thus, this pen was produced a year or so after the first catalog appearance. Given Parker's tendency to mutate features over time, this clip... could be... original, but barring appearance of a later catalog that again shows this already uncommon pen, i cannot prove this assertion. In any case, this set is as i found it and i suspect it is correct as found. I have knocked a few bucks from the price just in case. |
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Golden Pearl Celluloid $495 |
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| Overall Grade: Exc |
Metal: exc | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: perfect | clarity: NA | Plastic: some barrel ambering |
| Point: Fine | Imprint: Fine | Size: 5 1/8" |
PRICE: $495 |
| COMMENTS:
The Sword Clip is the most sought Royal Challenger. This one is
the larger size in golden pearl celluloid. Very clean trim. Sound
(though not near mint) imprint. Barrel has some ambering in bottom
half- as per the picture- not a biggy as the pen has a natural amber
color anyway. |
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Golden Pearl Celluloid |
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| Overall Grade: Nearmint |
Metal: Nearmint | Color: Exc | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition:
Exc |
Threads: perfect | clarity: NA | Plastic: |
| Point: Medium | Imprint: Perfect | Size: 5 1/8" |
PRICE: $425 |
| COMMENTS:
Superb Royal. The first -Vacumatic to hit $5 price point after the
discontinuation of the original Duofold. Royal Challengers are by far
the most interesting and beautiful of the Challenger family. |
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| Overall Grade: VG | Trim: capbands brassed. | Color: Excellent | CLICK FOR LARGER PIC |
| Nib condition: Excellent | Threads: Perfect cap threads. | Transparency: superb | Click if link is hot, for more info |
| Point: Fine-medium Firm. | Imprint: exc | Size: 5 1/8" by 1/2" | PRICE: $235 |
| COMMENTS: Another Royal Challenger, clean save mostly for heavy capband brassing. I shot pen without buffing bands so you can see it. Bit of brass to bottom tassie. A great candidate for custom plating (give Kirchheimer a yell) if you go for that sort of thing. The plastic is quite sound and very nice in all respects. $200 discount for wear to those bands. Being restored by el Zorno of www.mainstreetpens.com this week. | |||
