One from Christopher's early days of pen collecting....

Many thanks to all who attended our February meeting last Thursday. I'll be posting some photos I took during the meeting sometime this week. In the meantime, here's Christopher's write-up about a pen from his early days of pen collecting....

He writes:

"Because the Parker Jack Knife, as it ran its course, strongly resembled the Parker Duofold, it is not too hard for at least some vintage pen collectors to just assume that the Jack Knife must be a Parker Duofold and be done with it. And, admittedly, in my early days of vintage pen collecting, I was no different. It is further confusing with the so-called Parker 'Lucky Curve' feed which, at least for a while, went on from use in the Parker Jack Knife to the Parker Duofold as well. In fact, even the Parker Lucky Curve marked nibs were no stranger to the early Duofolds. But there were marked differences between the two different models. For one, the Parker Jack Knife was never made in plastic. It also never sported cap banding, which was a feature Parker didn't apply to their pens until 1922. And considering their Jack Knife line of pens was history in 1921, with the intro of the Duofold, it was an option that just was not available prior to. Still, the pen I would like to feature in this particular dialogue is an early black vulcanized rubber Duofold Junior.

 (photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

The barrel has the larger text branding, and this pen has an uncut and complete Parker Lucky Curve Christmas tree design feed. This is a button filler, which has worked extremely well throughout the time I have had this pen. The jet-black section, secured at the top of the barrel, is rather short but as a grip (at least for my finger) is adequate. In turn, this section sports a lovely medium flex general writing 14K gold Parker marked nib. But the real surprise to yours truly was the cap banding. An early retro-fitted band, but finished in sold 14K Gold. A lovely touch, that just makes this writing instrument all that more attractive. Back in the day, this was an option which was not applied to all the Parker Duofolds, just a select few on special order. Although the pen is a bit on the short side, capping at 4 ½ inches, posted it makes all the difference at 5 ¾ inches. Regardless, it sits well balanced in the hand, with a consistent ink flow when applied to paper. I have had this pen now for quite a few years but still enjoy writing with it enough to consider it a permanent fixture in my vintage pen collection."

For more information on the vintage Parker models mentioned in Christopher's review, check out Richard Binder's article: http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/duofold.htm

Our thanks to Christopher for sharing pieces from his vintage pen collection with us over the years!