I’ve had the slender version of the Televisor before but this is my first full-size Standard. It’s 132 mm capped whereas the Slender is 122 mm, an appreciable difference in the hand. Parker made these pens from 1935 to 1938, in other words, around the same period as the Thrift Pens. The Televisor cost a little more than them and I don’t think it would be right to include it with those pens. The only real resemblance is in the clip which is pretty much the same as the one on the Challenger.

Otherwise, I think, it’s very much its own pen, rather unlike other Parkers. This one, with its Pearl And Black hatched pattern, shows off the three slim cap rings well. The rounded ends are distinctive and remind me a little of one version of the Esterbrook Relief. It has an ink window which offers a rather small view of the contents of the pen. It isn’t entirely impractical, though. Hold the pen horizontally and give the ink time to settle and it will give a good indication of how much ink is left

This, I believe, was the first Parker to be made only in Canada, for the British market. The original nib is quite distinctive. Not only is it marked as a Canadian product, Televisor nibs are usually springy and even flexible. The ball end clip identifies this as the first version of the Televisor. Like most Parkers of this period it is a button filler and it uses the hanging pressure bar which allows the pen to be fitted with a friction fit section.

Televisor. That’s an odd name, but it reflects the fact that television was the great innovation of the time and the word was on everyone’s lips. It also hints at the presence of the ink visible section. The Televisor proved to be a considerable success and these pens appear quite commonly today. They are instantly snapped up for the same reason as they sold so well in the thirties: the Televisor is an exceptionally good pen!