I grow ever more aware of the quality of the Newhaven Parkers, especially in their early years. They are a pleasure to work on and a pleasure to write with. Of all their products I admire the Victory Mark IV most, not only the best of the Victory series, but the best of the Duofold group of pens of the forties, fifties and sixties.
The Victory Mark IV has it all. It has the classic tapered shape, the beautiful understated clip and the shallow pointed clip screw, the slightly proud paired cap bands, a long well-shaped blind cap and the sculptured aluminium button. It is more than just the sum of these parts; it all fits together in a splendidly harmonious whole.
The clip is somewhat of the style of the one that adorned the Challenger some years earlier. It is a simple elongated and truncated triangle with the word “Parker” contained within subtly inscribed lines. It’s an altogether more elegant clip than the overworked arrow clip, a cliche that many manufacturers had employed.
This pen was only made in solid colours: black, grey, dark green and burgundy. I think that was a wise choice. The shape would not work so well in marbled colours.
This pen was only in production for four years, from 1948 to 1952. The next, and final, version of the Victory was fully subsumed within the Duofold range and was identical to the Junior. To my mind, the button filling system is more satisfying and elegant, in the engineering sense, than the Aerometric, and the aluminium button brought the system into the space age.
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Agree, it’s an appealing pen, and judging by the quantity of Mk. IVs I have it’s possibly the most common of the four b.f. variations …………. perhaps the increasing U.K. post war public prosperity helped.
For some reason I don’t yet appear to have any examples of Mk. III (much shorter ball-ended clip, apparently), so assume it’s the most elusive/scarce model – made for less than two years, I believe.
Think you’ve forgotten to add the dark blue Deborah – like the dark green, but even more so, it’s so dark that in poor light it can be passed over as black.
The pre aerometric Victories – especially the less common colours – are very collectible now, and prices are up considerably from levels eighteen months – two years back. One or two nice nibs appear occasionally.
There’s a good overview of the Victory on Tony Fischier’s Parker ‘Penography’ web site, but have to say the entry in the ‘Duofold’ book is very disappointing.
Yes, I did miss out the blue. Like the dark red, it’s one of those colours that you need a strong light to identify. Same with Swans. The Mark III is pretty uncommon. Over the years I’ve had maybe two.
I think the aerometric version is the most common but they’re often mistaken for a Junior. They do not appeal to me.
if you do see another Mk. III Deborah, you might let me know 🙂
Certainly. But don’t hold your breath…