Parker 88

The Parker 88 (later Place Vendôme and Rialto) is very much a nineteen eighties pen, straight and slender. It began life in 1987 in the UK. At first glance it’s a Vector with delusions of grandeur but there is a bit more to it than that. Bits and pieces were borrowed from other pens: the clip is from the Parker Arrow. It has some resemblance to the Parker 95 and the cap top is reminiscent of the Sonnet.

It doesn’t come across as a collection of bits, though. It’s a handsome pen of its time. The story is that it was inspired by a pillar in the Place Vendôme. This silver-plated version, the Corinth, is very pillar-like. It reminds me of a Victorian lamp post – also the result of classical inspiration.

The earliest models of the 88 had sections in a variety of colours. Later ones were black. This example has rich maroon lacque at the end of the barrel and on the section. Many 88s had lacque barrels. It is very attractive and gives the impression of depth in the colour.

Perhaps the least attractive part of the 88 is the Vector-style nib, something that either appeals or it doesn’t. It’s a good, dependable writer though.

Pen design in the nineteen eighties may be seen as a little eccentric, with pens that are too slender for extended periods of writing for many people. Whether intentionally or not, these slender pens hark back to the hard rubber pens of the tens and twenties, many of which were equally straight and slender. I’m not usually a fan of eighties pens but, having spent some time restoring this 88, I have begun to admire the classical design, rich lacque, silver and gold plating. Totally unlike modern pens or those that preceded it for several decades, it nonetheless works well as a design.

Parker 65

In the late sixties Parker evidently felt that it was time to move on from the hooded nibs that had sustained the company for so long. Perhaps it was felt that they were becoming old-fashioned, perhaps they were looking at what their competitors were doing in this changing and more difficult world.

The result was the Parker 65, a pen only made in Britain. In general shape it clearly harks back to the Parker 61. Over its relatively short period of production it appeared in a variety of forms. Perhaps the most common and certainly the most popular was the Custom Insignia, a gold-plated pen in a variety of patterns. The original filling system was not without difficulties and it was later offered as a squeeze-filler or cartridge/converter.

What is new and striking about the 65 is the sculpted open nib. It is both aesthetically appealing and practically successful. Most 65 nibs have some degree of flexibility. This nib is the herald of what was to become the more successful Parker 75 nib. Grafted onto a long section like that of the 61, it has a deep feed that causes a slightly less angled grip than some pens. The appearance is completely successful. All in all, this is one of Parker’s most appealing pens.

Times were hard. The ballpoint was at the peak of its popularity with obvious ill effects for the fountain pen. Though not unsuccessful the 65 did not remain in production for long with the result that it is comparatively uncommon and was, for a time, forgotten by collectors. Its demise was perhaps hastened by the development of the 75, a pen that was to become a great success.

The Parker 65’s time has come again. It is once more recognised by both collectors and users for its beauty and utility.

A new packet of catnip was delivered today. My assistant has retired to the garden to sleep it off.

Senator Windsor

This is a Senator Windsor, a handsomely patterned German piston filler, dating to about 1955. I’m not quite sure how the pattern is achieved. It looks like the celluloid of years before but I don’t think that is what it is. The gold plating on the Pelikan-like clip has proved durable but there is some wear on the cap lip ring. It is finished in shiny black plastic at the barrel end and cap. It has a blue clear area and the medium nib is iridium point Germany. The piston is directly activated by the blind cap.

This is a good quality pen but it doesn’t really compare with the Matador I wrote about recently. This is a school pen. To define that, it’s a pen made to a cost that parents can afford but it is also designed to withstand the hard knocks of school use. In other words, it’s a user pen, not without some decoration as children and teenagers value that just as much as the rest of us.

There was a time when I only bought gold nib pens. The steel and plated nibs were beyond the pale for me. In the course of time I learned better. Some of these IPG nibs are very good indeed and they are stronger and less likely to sustain damage than gold nibs. In use they deliver ink to the page very well.

Senator is what used to be Merz & Krell. Their pen making began in 1920 in their factory at Gross-Bieberau and they also made Melbi and Diplomat pens. For several years in the 1970s they made Pelikans under contract. I’ve had some of those Pelikans and the very similar pens they made under their own name. The quality and reliability is exceptional and a similar concentration on quality applies to this more humble Senator Windsor.

Matador Garant 994

Normal service will be resumed today! I am very grateful to Rard Changizi for the photographs of those wonderful, rare pens which I know I would never have seen otherwise.

Though the modern ones don’t do much for me, I admire older German pens. Going back to the nineteen seventies and earlier, there appears to have been an endless variety of good, well-made piston-fillers at a wide range of prices, almost all of them bearing that German style of clip, of which Pelikan remains the last example.

This Matador Garant 994 is a good example of the quality and style of pen that was being produced in Germany in the forties. The chased celluloid harks back to the black chased hard rubber of a few years before. It makes a very satisfying finish. The clip shines up very well and gives the impression of gold – which it probably isn’t – perhaps some shiny alloy. As I understand it, gold wasn’t available to pen makers during the war but Matador made a virtue of necessity, producing a flexible steel nib that was as satisfying in use as any gold one. I’m really impressed by this nib.

Like many other piston fillers of the time, this Matador has a blind cap which, when removed, reveals a milled turn-button to activate the piston. Though I’m sure that not everyone will agree with me, I find one piston-filler pretty much like another. They are are usually quite straightforward to strip down and renovate. There are exceptions like the Big Ben which seems impossible to repair. Piston fillers, it seems to me, are the best of the “ink in barrel” pens, less liable than eyedropper fillers or bulb fillers to discharge their contents over your work. This Matador remains just as practical a day-to-day user as the latest Pelikan and it has the advantage of a much superior nib.

Though the company was around for a very long time, beginning pen making in 1918, they were never one of the big producers with the result that Matadors are not very well known or very common. This is one of the more subtle examples; others appear in handsome patterned celluloid and with more shiny trim.