Hello, everyone. Welcome to my channel. My name is Doug, and I’m back with another pen restoration video. Last Sunday, I resurrected a 1950s Esterbrook J fountain pen. It’s gorgeous in its root beer caramel reddish brown copper-coloured Celluloid.
By the way, I found another identical fountain pen in my vintage fountain pen storage container. The only difference is that this one lacks a clip because it’s broken off, and the nib is in poor condition. It’s not even an EAS Brook; it’s a Venus. So, I’ll restore this one too, but today’s video focuses on this Parker Vacumatic Debutante from 1943.
Here we are, with the Parker Vacumatic. It’s the Debutante size, a short clip, and a latex diaphragm inside. We’ll find out how good it is. The nib is almost black, but it’s a two-tone gold and silver nib. The barrel is very transparent. When I shine a light from behind it, I can see the split Arrow Blue Diamond Parker clip, the wide Chevron cap band, and what appears to be a well-preserved nib.
I enjoy restoring these Parker vacuum attic pens because when you buy them on eBay, people don’t like them because they’re old, dingy, and scratched up. This one doesn’t have many scratches, just some cap wear along the way. There are no severe bite wounds, and the blind cap has a nice imprint right there. The three dots on the blind cap indicate that it’s the third quarter of 1943. The blind cap comes off, and we see the Celluloid pump rod, which feels like a diaphragm inside.
I’ll want to remove this section and use my inspection camera to check if there’s a diaphragm inside. Now, let’s head to the workbench to see if we can bring this fountain pen from 1943 back to life again.
THOUGHTS
So, what are my thoughts on this Resurrection pen? I thought it would be easier to restore than it turned out to be, which is pretty typical for any pen I’ve restored. If it looks like it’s going to be a breeze, it usually ends up throwing you a curve. This pen turned out to be beautiful, with a lovely nib that writes juicy and smooth. It’s also an interesting size. Let’s put some measurements on it. This pen is 118.19 mm long when capped and 137.5 mm long when posted.
I want to compare this pen to a standard-size Parker Vacumatic and post it. This is a non-restored standard-size Parker Vacumatic from the 1940s. You can see the difference between the Debutante and the standard size. It’s not only more slender, but it’s much shorter and the nib is smaller as well. When you look at them unposted, you can see the significant size difference between the standard and the Debutante.
The biggest issue this pen presented me with was that the Vacumatic pump wouldn’t come out. It was glued in there solid. I don’t see any way to get it out without drilling it out and putting a new one in. Fortunately, there’s a new diaphragm in this pen that works perfectly. That’s going to allow this pen to work for many years.
I caution that if you use this pen for any length of time, you need to keep it inked and don’t let it dry out. If you’re not going to use it for any length of time, take that section off, syringe out all the old ink, dry it up, and then store it. That latex diaphragm will last for many years if you let the ink dry in this pen. However, if you let the ink dry in the pen, that diaphragm will disintegrate.
So, this pen will last for a long time, but it will require some maintenance from whoever owns it. Of course, that means I’m going to sell it. If I had been able to replace the diaphragm and get that pump out, I would have sold this pen for $200 US. But since that pump can’t be removed, I’m going to discount it by $25 and so I’m going to sell it for $175 US. US shipping and shipping to contiguous North America are currently running at roughly $10.
If you’re interested in purchasing this beautiful little pen, please drop me an email at inquiringminds@gmail.com with your name and address. I’ll send you a shipping quote and instructions on how to pay via PayPal.
That’s all for now. Thank you for watching!
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