THIS PEN HAS BEEN SOLD!
Hello there, and welcome to Inkquiring Minds. My name is Doug and I'm back with another pen Resurrection Sunday video!
Just before New Year's I found a couple of Parker Vacumatics on the Facebook Marketplace locally and went out in the darkness to pick these two pens up for what I think was a fairly reasonable price. I was standing in the cold with my flashlight, trying my best to examine these pens. I wanted to see whether they were in good shape and whether they were legitimate.
They both seemed legitimate. The green one had an awful bent nib. When I got them home I shot some video to show what they look like. There are some really strange anomalies with both of these pens.
They're a little bit unusual. I'm convinced they're genuine but the dates and some of the features of the clip have me a little bit baffled. Both pens have a 59 code on them. This is very unusual. According to Richard Binder, after 1949, Parker changed the date code to have the first digit five for the decade of the 50s and the second digit for the year.
But they stopped making the Vacumatic in 1948. So here we are 11 years after with a date code on the barrel of 1959. Now you might say well that's a replacement barrel because they did do that. They would replace barrels for people and then it would be stamped 59.
But here's a gold one with the same 59. The other confusing thing is the clip. Here's a 1944 clip blue diamond and you can see the difference. The blue diamond is cast into the clip on the 44. Here on the1959, it looks like it's been stamped and filled with blue enamel paint. They're both stamped into that top as if it's not part of it.
Looking at the nibs, this one is heavily damaged. It just looks bent to me. I think I can fix that but I haven't got it out of the pen yet. There should be a date code on that. The gold one has got a very nice nib. I guess that it's an extra fine. I have to get both of these nibs out of these pens.
That's the other thing that I'm looking at and comparing with this 44, the sections are different shapes. Perhaps they continued making these Parker Vacumatics right through the 50s. You could special order them or something.
Parker in Canada UK and Australia made these pens for almost another decade in their plants but these are made in the US. It might be surplus stock. Both of them say made in the USA so curiouser and curiouser! If anybody has any special information about what Parker did with Vacumatics through the 1950s please let me know.
The Golden Pearl is in excellent shape so we're going to save that restoration for another Sunday.
I'm going to focus on this emerald green.
THOUGHTS
What are my thoughts on this Resurrection?
My thoughts are rather confused on this one mostly because I haven't got any answers as to how this is a 1959 when Parker stopped making these pens in 1948 in the US!
Now if this were a Canadian, UK, or an Australian built pen I'd understand it. We've seen pens with 51, and 52, but I haven't ever seen one with a 59 on it. But through the 50s those other Parker locations around the world continued to make this model pen.
I've never seen one made in the US with a date code past 1950 and there's no date code on that nib either. That section is unusual as well. I haven't seen a tremendous number of Parker Vacumatics in my day but I know that I've never seen one with a 50s date code on it made in the United States.
This is a genuine Parker though. This is a genuine Parker clip that was stamped with a blue diamond. Parker did deliver some of these split Arrow Clips with the blue diamond cast in them but without any paint in them after they were no longer allowed by the Supreme Court in 1948 to claim a lifetime warranty.
Some of you may wonder why the Supreme Court made that decision in 1948. It's because all of these companies were offering lifetime warranties but charging for shipping, handling, materials, and labor. It certainly wasn't a free lifetime warranty if you're charging to repair the pen.
It wasn't just pens. It was other products of manufacturing as well. The Supreme Court said it was okay to offer a lifetime warranty on your product. You just have to indicate that that lifetime warranty is free of any cost to the consumer. That's when all these companies dropped that lifetime warranty insignia. The Blue Diamond went away for Parker. The white dot went away for Sheaffer, at least in terms of claiming a lifetime warranty.
This is a gorgeous gorgeous stacked celluloid in emerald Pearl and I certainly brought this one back from the dead because that nib was broken. It was bent. It was quite a challenge to get that nib writing properly. It was not sitting correctly on that feed. The tines weren't aligned. They were certainly spread out quite a bit. Now it glides very very smoothly with a good deal of feedback. That is not unusual for an extra fine nib. It makes a beautiful line.
Being that this is such an unusual Parker Vacumatic and it's so gorgeous, I'm going to price this one accordingly. I'm willing to give this pen up for $180 US plus shipping. If you're interested in buying this fountain pen then send me an email at inkquiringminds@gmail.com with your name and your address. I'll get you a shipping quote and instructions on how to pay my PayPal. THIS PEN HAS BEEN SOLD!
Members will see this video well before its main publication date on a Sunday. Members will always get first dibs on buying these pens, so don't be surprised if this pen is already sold by the time you're watching this video on Sunday morning.
I've already had a couple of emails asking whether they could purchase the pen. Of course, you can purchase the pen, but I want to be fair to people. I'll only entertain emails from prospective buyers after the video goes out to members first. Generally, members get to see the video five or more days before it goes public.
You can also look forward to the resurrection of this golden pearl. The same deal on this one, with 1959 stamped into the barrel, the same section, and the same punched diamond clip.
I'll be resurrecting this pen next. To see these videos first, all you have to do is become a member of my channel for only 99 cents a month. In addition to instant access to my videos the moment I post them, you'll get cool emojis, badges, and sneak peek unboxing videos.
And that just leaves it for me to say thank you for watching.
And that's all she wrote!
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