Well, it's September, and that usually means "back to school" in this part of the world, so today I thought we'd feature a British-made school pen (the Parker '25') designed by renowned UK industrial designer Kenneth Grange. The '25' has a love-it-or-hate-it design, but it has many fans, among them new VPC member Kevin W....
Kevin: "(Here are) two of my three Parker 25s (the third being ill and in need of a new feed and nib). Stamped with “MADE IN ENGLAND” before “UK” became more mainstream.
They’re the rather pedestrian standard Flighter version with blue section. Other models included a rather fetching all matte black (25B) or other Flighters with green or black sections.
These were the standard school pen in the UK in the late 70s and early 80s."
(photo courtesy of Kevin ~ please click on image to enlarge)
"These particular pens are marked QI (Q4, 1980) and TE (Q1, 1985). The third has no stamp and is likely pre-1980 when stamping began in UK and France.
I was handed down these robust and very capable pens from people who graduated (regressed?) to rollerball or gel pens “for the convenience”.
They’re now in regular rotation, and have quite differently behaving steel M nibs. My favourite of the two (QI) writes with a lovely silky line, and is currently inked with a sample of J. Herbin’s scented Lavender Blue which I confess I enjoy a lot more than I expected to!
My own school pen was a Parker 45. But that’s another story."
Many thanks to Kevin for all of his contributions to our online "show & tell".
Best wishes to students, educators and support staff everywhere for a safe school year!
~Maja
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