Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 563

Today's pen review is courtesy of Christopher, whose write ups about his vintage finds have been a staple since we started doing these type of blog posts at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope you are enjoying these write ups, and if you are a member of our pen club, please feel free to submit them for posting. Without further ado, here is Christopher's latest vintage treasure!

He writes:  

"The Parker 'Striped' Duofold has always been a favourite in its Vacumatic form. It was my dear old mother's pen of choice and one that I kept ship shape for her for a good many years. Unlike the regular Parker Vacumatic line with the horizontal striped finish, what the Parker company called, 'Laidtone' had the stripes running vertically. Couple this with vibrant exterior colours and pearl and, my goodness, you have a spectacular finish. The striped Duofold did come with a button filler, but with the Vacumatic filler it gave the user the option as with the regular Vacumatic of viewing just how much ink was in the barrel at any given time. Strangely enough, the blind cap cover was the same long length for both the button and Vacumatic fillers on the striped Duofold. Plus, the striped Duofold came with more or less the same sized range of models as the regular Parker Vacumatic. There was even the option of a double jewel with some of the sizes at one point in time.

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

But let us take a look at a striped Duofold which most recently came my way. The finish on my newly acquired pen is an exquisite 'Dusty Red' and Pearl. This is smartly offset with 14K Gold filled fittings. Being a Junior model, the cap is appointed with an attractive double thin banding, while the conically shaped jet-black clip screw-in jewel secures a Parker split feather arrow clip. This is a Canadian pen well marked with Parker date coding on both the 14K Gold nib and barrel. The former is held in place by a short but adequate grip section, while the jet-black feed is marked 'W' for a wide ink channel, which allows a goodly measure of ink to get to the paper. The matching blind cap at the end of the barrel is both lengthy and conical ended, much like the cap jewel. This blind cap covers a Vacumatic plastic amber button filler with a black button end. The pen itself is in remarkable condition with a crystal-clear barrel transparency. It, in turn, posts at just under 6 full inches, but caps back to a pocketable 5 inches to stow. I simply love this pen and it will not only be in my suitcase for our annual holiday in Hawaii, but end up in my vintage pen collection as a proud trooper."

Our thanks to Christopher for another nice write up! (and bon voyage, too! 🌞🌴)