Big red & others

Sheaffer mother of pearl fountain pens & others

Sheaffer fountain pens

Waterman safety fountain pemns and filigree

These are my favourite. Many of the filigree pens are in black. I am lucky to be able to find one in red!

Parker duofolds

Parker Duofold

In 1921, the Parker Pen Company took a risk by introducing a new pen based on the design of the company’s successful Jack-Knife Safety pen. The new model, proposed by a Parker branch manager named Lewis M. Tebbel, was the Parker Duofold. It was identical to the oversize Jack-Knife Safety Nº 26, and instead of the usual black, It was red. It was known as the Big Red. It was priced at $7.00, a dollar more than the Jack-Knife Safety Nº 26. Tebbel insisted that the Duofold would sell, but very few in Janesville were optimistic — until sales took off with great success. 

There are various sizes and colours for the Duofold collection. The maxi size is considered to be the most desirable and the  mandarin yellow the most desirable for the Duofold collectors. The Mandarin yellow color appeared in Parker’s catalog after a visit George Parker made to China, where he discovered this particularly bright yellow and observed how popular it was there. 

But it wasn’t as popular in the West and as a result, not that many yellow Duofolds were made. To make things worse, the yellow celluloid turns out to be much more fragile than the material used for any of the other Duofold color as these pens, when they turn up, frequently have cracks at the cap lip.

Even during the early 1920s, Parker has already started to target female consumers with the below advertisements:

Vintage filigree eyedropper pen & Montblanc snake

My Collection of vintage fountain pens: Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, Montblanc, Peliken,

Dunhill Namiki from the 1930s

Dunhill Namiki from the 1930s

In England during the 1920s, the Alfred Dunhill firm had gained international renown as purveyors of tobacco pipes, smoker’s supplies, pens, and the finest luxury goods. With stores in prominent locations in London and Paris, the name of Dunhill was synonymous with quality.

Clement Court, the Managing Director of the Paris operation, had a long-standing love for Asian art, especially the art of Japan. In 1927, Setsuji Wada, Namiki’s representative abroad, convinced Dunhill to sell makie pens on a trial basis. Wada and Court were introduced that year, and Court was so taken with the Namiki line that he immediately began importing not only pens but other lacquered objects into his Paris branch. 

They were sold under the new brand-name of “Dunhill-Namiki”. A strong bond had been forged, and Court’s excellent business relationship with Namiki led to an exclusive 1929 contract giving Dunhill major distribution rights for Namiki pens and pencils outside of Japan. By this time, Dunhill had a retail network in all the best locations in over thirty countries  

Parker Giant Eyedropper Fountain pen

Parker Giant Eyedropper fountain pens

The Parker Giant was one of the pen that my Sifu, Mr Lee has advised me to hunt (owing to its size and its reality). When holding in your hand, it feels like the fattest cigar one can find. No one knows why it was build that way. Some says its for salesman demonstration. My question is if its for salesman demonstration use, wouldn't it better to use a transparent demonstrator pen? Perhaps transparent pen were not invented and ready then. Maybe it was build so huge that it can contain more ink and eliminate the need to refill the pen?

Look at the size of the vintage Parker Giant fountain pen vs. the modern day Parker above!

Brand new old stocks vintage Parker Pens

NOS Vintage Parker fountain pens

 have managed to find brand new old stocks vintage Parker fountain pens during the 1980s.

It was a fun period as I was able to buy good deal from those old stationary shops, pawn shops and people are thanking me to help them clear away these rubbish".

With the internet and ebay, everything has become expensive...