Just a quick one, today. A correspondent asked me if I knew what the incomplete “R” on this early Parker Victory means. I don’t know. Well outside my area of expertise. I’d be glad to know if any of you can tell me.
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This “R” letter probably means that the nib is a replacement.
Maybe. If that’s the case it would cover very few actual replacement nibs. Repairers just install whatever they had to hand that was appropriate for the model and date.
Is it an “R”? Based on the letterforms it is not like the other “R”s, so it might be a “P” (for “PARKER”) with a mark signifying something.
Yes, it occurred to me too that it may not be an “R” but simply a symbol.
Dear Deb, Is it possible that this a date code? Bill Gerber
I can’t discount the possibility but I did check date codes which you can find here:
http://parkercollector.com/codekey.html
Of course it’s possible that these are American date codes and there are other national ones. Sad but true – I know very little about Parkers.
Hmmm… I have seen English Parker pens for sale before that are described as having an “R” nib, just like yours. So it may indeed be the letter “R”. For example, there is currently a 1953 Parker 14k Duofold with an “English R nib” (as described by the seller) for sale. Look at pen #310 here:
http://www.hanspens.com/Parker.htm
But this doesn’t answer what the “R” means…
Sometimes, an “R” metal imprint means “Rolled” for Rolled-Gold. This is particularly true of Parker pen caps. On Parker pens you will sometimes see (for-example) “1/10 10ct R Gold” stamped on the cap lip. Maybe the “R” on the nib means Rolled Gold instead of Solid Gold and they simply left the word “Gold” off because there is no room on the nib? (This is pure speculation on my part.)
I agree that “R” does not overlap with any Parker date-code designation, at least none I know of – I looked through several references just in-case.
I suggest you post a question in the Parker area over on the Fountain Pen Network about this.
Problem with that is that it also stamped 14K which means solid 14 carat gold and that would override anything else. In any case I’ve never heard of a rolled gold nib.
I believe the question has already been raised in fountain pen network – it’s not a place I frequent but the person who raised the issue with me also did it there.
As I understand it an “N” on a nib stands for Newhaven and I have a feeling that some Danish pens have a D on the nib, it is possible that the R could refer to the place the nib was made. Where was the factory in France for instance?
Hi Simon,
Good to hear from you! So far as I am aware the Victory was not made in France but only in Canada (for the earliest ones) and Newhaven. It’s not impossible that the “R” might refer to some Canadian location.