Month: August 2023

“Two Supes.”

~ rupertarzeian ~ 8 Comments

Since discovering the Parker 17 range less than a year ago, I have accumulated seven of them. Two are small, Parker 17 Lady fountain pens. Of the five full size models, three are standard models and two are Supers, or Parker 17 Super Duofolds, to give them their full title.

My Parker 17 fountain pens. The two on the right are the Super Duofolds.

These Super Duofolds are distinguished by their wide gold cap band and decorative metal ring (called a tassie) at the end of the barrel. Otherwise, they are the same. All have the fixed squeeze-bar filling system known as the aerometric filler, although more basic than in the Parker 51 which is more enclosed and may also be larger capacity.

My red Parker 17 Super Duofold is the early model which was made from 1962 to 1964 only. This has an open nib, known as the beak nib, in an unconventional triangular shape. After that year, production switched to hooded nibs for the remaining run of the 17 range, ending in 1972.

Left: Early model with open nib. Right: Later model with hooded nib.

I had read good reports of these early, beak nibs and was keen to get my hands on one. When I saw this one for sale in an eBay auction I set my heart on winning it. The seller provided a series of good close up photographs. I looked at these many times in the days leading up to the auction, particularly the images of the nib, front and back. It looked in tip-top condition. It also occurred to me that the pen had some similarities to an old Sheaffer that my late mother had used, at least in its burgundy colour and wide gold cap band.

Parker 17 “Beak nib” (1962 – 1964 only).
And again.

After a tense finish to the auction, the pen was mine! The final price was £59.00 and I appreciate that you can buy a Parker 51 for that, but the early version Parker 17 commands a higher price than the later ones due to its rarity.

The package arrived just in time for me to bring on a weekend away, where I enjoyed cleaning it and trying it out with Parker Quink Royal Blue. The only visible markings on the nib are “14K, PARKER, ENGLAND.” It may be that there is more to see if the nib is removed but I have not done so. The nib writes beautifully. I would guess it to be a Fine. It is very smooth, fairly firm and has an ideal flow, all making for a very enjoyable writing experience, especially on my Stalogy notebook paper.

On close examination of the pen body with a loupe, I did find two hairline cracks, one on each side of the cap. These are not noticeable unless you look hard for them and do not affect the pen’s performance. I could run a little glue along these to seal them but there does not seem to be any real need. Crucially, I have not experienced any hard starts. The nib does not dry out, even though there is a round air hole in the cap, through which the nib can be directly seen. There is no inner cap. I am delighted with this purchase.

My green Parker 17 Super Duofold was another recent eBay purchase. On arrival, this did seem a problem pen. The slip cap was very stiff. There appeared to be a residue of adhesive above the cap band. Uncapping the pen, the grip section appeared slightly misshapen, as if deformed by having the cap pushed on too far or maybe, just by being capped tightly and left for years in a warm place. It could also be some chemical degrading of the plastic: I don’t know. It is some 50 years old, after all. But the pen filled normally and wrote with a buttery smooth feel. This nib could be a Broad or a Medium.

Unfortunately I found that the main issue with this pen was that, once the ink in the feed had been exhausted, it would dry up and stop. Ink was not getting to the feed. I suspected that this may be due to a blockage stopping air getting into the sac. I tried flushing and refilling the pen several times and changed inks but the problem persisted. Eventually, after a week or two, I disassembled the pen. Using a hairdryer, I warmed the section to soften the shellac to unscrew the section. However I was not able to remove it and suspected that it might have been glued with something stronger. Perhaps I should have persisted with my hairdryer to make sure.

Instead, I found that I had loosened the shellac holding the sac cover and, beneath this, the ink sac. I removed them both. This revealed the breather tube, which I pulled out of the section. But as well as this, there was something else in the sac: a loose, plastic rod. I gather that this is an ink agitator, to break any surface tension which may stop ink moving. It seemed a bit too long and I trimmed a bit off.

Parker 17 Super Duofold partly disassembled. The rod near the top is the ink agitator.

At this point, an ultrasonic cleaning bath would have been useful. As I do not have one, I washed the nib section by hand, also jetting some water through it with a syringe and then left it to soak in a jar of water for a few days.

Then, after reassembling the pen, I filled it with Waterman Serenity Blue, probably my favourite ink and a sort of “Pen-icillin” for pens. I was not holding out much hope that my efforts had solved the ink/air-flow problem but I began to write, in a Stalogy A5 notebook. Once again, the writing experience was super-smooth and silky. But this time, it kept going! I carried on writing for five pages, just to make sure. The problem of ink starvation had been resolved.

I am very happy with all my Parker 17’s. I gave a blue one to my niece recently, but promptly replaced it with an identical model from eBay, although every nib feels slightly different. I love the look, feel and writing experience, as well as the affordability of these pens.

A Parker 17 and a Stalogy A5 Editors Series half year notebook. Lovely paper!

Finally, for the benefit of anyone reading who was not around for 1980’s British tv comedy, the title of this post was a reference to the famed “Two Soups” sketch, starring Julie Walters and written by Victoria Wood, well worth a Google if you have three minutes to spare. I appreciate that this may be unfamiliar to many, but the pun seemed too good to waste.

My mum’s old Sheaffer (left) and the Parker 17 with a fine nib, that she would have liked.

On pens and pensions.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 11 Comments

I have mentioned before that I have a long-standing affection for Parker pens, which I can trace back to childhood well over 50 years ago. I can still recall a time when I became aware that a Parker ball point pen cost perhaps ten times the price of a disposable Bic Crystal. I associated seeing a Parker arrow pocket clip with wealth and thinking that anyone carrying more than one Parker pen must be very rich. My French teacher even had a Parker ball pen just for red ink, which seemed very decadent. On receiving my first Parker fountain pen, I had the idea that the 14k gold nib could eventually be sold to support me in retirement or if I fell upon hard times.

Parker 17 cap.

Now as I approach retirement age, I have long been aware that my understanding of relative values was somewhat distorted. It turns out that a Parker pen nib won’t go very far in covering one’s living expenses, after all. Learning this is one of life’s hard lessons.

Yet I still have my life-long interest in fountain pens. If my fountain pen journey were likened to a stationery-themed board game of Snakes and Ladders, then you now find me lingering on the Vintage Parker Pens square. A glance of my currently inked pens, of which there are 14, shows that five of these are vintage Parkers, all acquired in recent months as eBay purchases. Oh, and there is one other Parker 17 currently in bits, with the section soaking in a jar of water.

My fountain pen hobby continues to give me a huge amount of enjoyment. How can a value be put on this? In the BBC news, the newsreaders’ first question to their special correspondent is often an open question to quantify the unquantifiable: “So, how worried should we be about…” or “How much of a problem is this?”

As I am now at the age when retirement looms, I am getting to grips with my personal pension plans. The fund value of one of these in particular, has fallen by many thousands of pounds over the last couple of years, which is a depressing thought. But whilst a vintage gold nib will not fund my retirement, I have noticed that the enjoyment of the hobby does go a long way towards compensating for such financial losses, which gives a sense of worth to the hobby. I am constantly grateful for just how much pleasure I get, for relatively little expense, in wonderful combinations of pens, inks and paper. Perhaps my childish sense of relative values was not so far off, after all.

A Parker 17 and a Stalogy A5 notebook.

Early thoughts on the Sheaffer Icon, Lustrous Chrome fountain pen.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 14 Comments

On a recent visit to my old stomping ground of Uxbridge, in the north west outskirts of London, I took the opportunity to check out the options if one were looking to buy a fountain pen. From my brief reconnaissance, I found three shops: WHSmiths for some entry level Parker and Lamy pens and a few own brand cheapies; Ernest Jones, jewellers for a few Montblancs and finally, F. Hinds, another high street jeweller for some mid-range Parker, Cross and Sheaffer.

It was in the Bracknell branch of F. Hinds in April, that I had first seen a Sheaffer Icon, but did not know its name at the time. I had been struck by the gleaming chrome finish and the contours which harked back to the Sheaffer Legacy, a pen that I admired but never owned.

Sheaffer Icon, Lustrous Chrome edition.

Here in Uxbridge, I spotted the same model Icon in the shop window, displayed next to a matching rollerball. The fountain pen was reduced from £85.00 to £63.75. I went inside to have a closer look.

The sales assistant, a helpful lady named Vaishali, came back outside with me so that I could point out the pen in the window. Ah, the joys of buying from a bricks and mortar shop, which I have missed lately!

The steel nib is tiny, firm, smooth and a joy to use.

I had a close look at the nib, using the magnifying app on my phone. The pen felt very comfortable to hold with a generous wide girth and no step or cap threads. The nib certainly looked unusual and small in relation to the large pen but appeared to be perfectly aligned over the tiny feed. The tines and tipping and the tine gap all looked spot on. Without needing to try it, I decided that I would take it. Vaishali went to get the box, which she found with impressive speed, unlike my recollections of Paperchase or Rymans where this often means a long wait!

Unusual semi-hooded nib.

The pen came with a converter fitted but the gift box also contained two Sheaffer cartridges, one black and one blue. On a nearby public bench I inserted the black cartridge. I had a Stalogy A5 notebook with me and eagerly put pen to paper. Within a few seconds, ink reached the nib. The nib was very smooth. Ink flow was just right. However the Sheaffer black ink was feathering and bleeding through, even in my Stalogy notebook which normally resists this.

A push-in converter included.

Later at home, I ditched the black cartridge, flushed the pen and filled it instead with Diamine’s Gibson Guitar Series Pelham Blue. This was much better: no feathering or bleeding on Stalogy. Indeed the pen felt so enjoyable that I wrote for five pages. I revisited reviews of the pen on The Pen Addict and SBREBrown.

Unboxing. Two cartridges and a converter included.

Size and Weight.

Length capped134mm
Length uncapped125mm
Length posted145mm
Weight capped / or posted44g
Weight uncapped29g
Weight of cap alone15g
I only found the M later when I got the pen home.

Likes and Dislikes.

Likes:

  • Unusual, sporty design with elements from the Legacy and the Taranis;
  • Striking, bold grip section and semi-hooded, tiny nib – which is exquisite;
  • Comfortable grip, generous girth, no step, no cap threads;
  • Tough, metal barrel and cap; Nib would be protected if the pen were dropped or stepped on;
  • Long enough to use unposted and with a decent heft, without being too heavy;
  • Small nib, (marked as “M”), beautifully set up and which writes a smooth, medium/fine line; A Fine nib is also available;
  • No branding on the outside, except the Sheaffer white dot and, if you look very closely, the name Sheaffer on the far end of the pocket clip;
  • On close examination under a loupe, I found that the red stripe in the cap band and the red portion of the grip section, are glittery!
  • Converter included;
  • Inside, there is a long metal collar to support the cartridge or converter; (this was lacking in my old Sheaffer Connaisseur, where a cartridge could wobble about);
  • Metal threads on the outside of the cartridge collar, meeting plastic threads inside the barrel;
  • Two cartridges included (although the black ink may bleed through)
  • Lifetime mechanical warranty;
  • Comes from Sheaffer, a brand for which I have a long-standing affection (albeit now part of A.T.Cross Company);
  • Nicely presented in a lidded cardboard gift box, with padded pen bed, a clear plastic protector cover, and a compartment beneath for cartridges or converter and the care and guarantee booklet.
  • Is photogenic!
Doesn’t this look a bit like a racing car or an aircraft?

Dislikes:

  • Polished chrome looks great but is a bit slippery when you uncap the pen;
  • The cap posts deeply but not securely (at least, mine didn’t) – although Stephen Brown did not have this problem;
  • Cap is quite stiff to pull off;
  • The metal collar which supports the cartridge or converter, is so long that it leaves little of the converter’s ink reservoir on view;
  • Another reviewer commented that the rim of the cap is sharp, although this did not trouble me;
  • Black ink cartridge included is so wet that it feathers and bleeds badly.

Conclusion.

Overall, I am delighted with the pen, glad that I bought it and happy that it was on special offer. The nib is tiny but a joy to write with. Although the design might not appeal at first sight, I have quickly come to appreciate it.

Travelling with ink: Audley, near Stoke-on-Trent.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 7 Comments

We recently enjoyed a relaxing long weekend break, on a farm. Our accommodation was annexed to the impressive Georgian farmhouse, facing a delightful courtyard. This is a working dairy farm, with 240 acres of land and 400 cows.

Our cottage was annexed to this farmhouse.

During July, I had an outbreak of Parker Pen Purchasing on eBay. The first of these was a Parker 17, in black with a medium nib, which I wrote about earlier. This was followed by a Parker 51 also black, but with an oblique nib which I was very keen to buy. Next, there were two more Parker 17 fountain pens, each for sale by auction. There were no competing bids and I got both 17’s at their opening prices of £16.99 each, plus p&p.

The final purchase was rather more dramatic. I had seen a Parker 17, burgundy red fountain pen, with the open, “beak” nib, made only from 1962 to 1964 and harder to come by. I read that these command a higher price than the later, hooded nib models but had heard good reports of the nibs.

The auction was still several days away. For most of this time, mine was the highest bid but I made a maximum bid, of £59.90. In the tense final few seconds, I watched my screen helplessly as a flurry of increased bids were placed. I was successful! Afterwards, I found that another bidder had offered £58.00 with just four seconds remaining: eBay then bid one pound higher for me automatically, so it was a close shave.

Three more Parker 17 fountain pens. I am hooked on these.

These last three Parker 17s arrived just as we were setting off for our break, so I was able to bring them with me to clean and try out, with a bottle of Parker Quink Royal Blue.

Pen Time on the farm.

It was wonderful to get away and have a change of scene. We were in a rural area with views of fields and trees. Our comfortable cottage had vintage furniture, a large kitchen with an electric AGA and a lounge/dining room which included a grand piano, which I enjoyed playing.

Having a full sized, concert grand was a bonus!

There was time to inspect my three new Parker 17’s. The blue one was a basic, standard model with a medium nib and wrote very nicely, with a pleasing bit of feedback. The green one was the Parker 17 Super Duofold, which featured a wider gold coloured cap-band and a ring on the end of the barrel. However this one had a few issues. The cap-band appeared to have been glued but with glue residue around the edge, on the cap. Also the cap was unusually tight. The grip section was misshapen, as if it had been forced into a cap that was too small. The pen filled normally and the nib was glassy smooth and felt like a broad.

The four colour options of the Parker 17.
The nibs turned out to be Fine, Medium and Broad.

However, the pen would write only for a paragraph or so before drying up and suffering “ink starvation.” A check inside showed that the ink had not got stuck at the back of the sac and so it was not obvious why ink flow had stopped. I suspect that it may be an issue with the air replacement to the sac, rather like trying to pour from a carton of milk with only one opening.

Talking of milk, we were invited to watch the cows being milked in the afternoon. This was a highly informative and memorable experience. The owner had farmed here for 53 years, taking over from his father who came in 1930. These days, the milking process is highly computerised with the milk piped to a large holding tank. The milkman comes to collect, every day including Christmas Day. The milk from this farm, goes to make cheese. Whilst being milked, the cows eat from a hopper of grain, which is automatically piped into the milking sheds from a big silo outside. Each cow is identified on the computer system, which monitors how much milk they yield and how much grain to give them. We were shown the harvester, which cuts grass for silage, the cows’ winter feed. It was quite an education for us city dwellers.

The view from our bedroom window.

We explored the nearby city of Stoke-on-Trent. We browsed the shops and bought some clothes and shoes and enjoyed a meal. There was little in the way of fountain pen action, aside from a WHSmiths with Lamy and Parker pens for the “back to school” season. Looking at these, I felt that my vintage Parker 17s with their 14k gold nibs were a better buy.

Returning home, I found that my Quink bottle had leaked. It was only around the cap and had not done any harm except that I got it all over my fingers. Fortunately it was Washable blue, but I might not chose Quink bottles for travel next time.

The Parker 17 with beak nib (1962-1964 only).