Parker Pens

Journaling with Parker fountain pen is just okay

2008-02-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

Speaking of writing, about the only non-work writing I've done for the last year has been journaling. I've got a couple of longer stories in the works that I have some ideas about how to complete, so I plan to do some work on one of those today. My goal is to get at least one of them submitted for publication by the end of the month. It's time to start collecting rejection slips.

Obviously, I'll be deliriously happy if it sells, but I want to condition myself to regard rejections as a positive thing. Every story I write that gets rejected is valuable in that I can learn from it how to write fiction that will sell. An author I admire, Roger Zelazny, wrote of using his rejection slips in just that way.

For the last year, I've been interested not just in the process of writing, and finally doing something to realize my longtime ambition to be a writer, but also in writing instruments, particularly fountain and dip pens.

I've used a Parker fountain pen since college, first with ink cartridges, then with a refillable reservoir converter. These have worked okay, but the nibs are steel and have no flex whatsoever. No flex means no variation of line width. Without variation of line width, you may as well use a rollerball or ballpoint pen. I would just go to office depot and buy a new Waterman Phileas, but that pen uses a cartridge converter system, and I've come to dislike such pens. I want a vintage pen with a built in reservoir in the market for a vintage Waterman or Pelikan pen. There's a lively trade for such things on eBay, so I expect to have something by the end of the month. If I don't find something on eBay, I'll probably buy something from Worldlux.

Earlier this year, I bought a stunning glass dip pen from Madison artist Martha Kauppi.. It's a thing of beauty, but I am too afraid of breaking it to use it regularly. Signing cards and writing letters is about the right frequency of usage for me. My fountain pen looks like one depicted on Martha's site. It's the one second from the top at the far left.

Caring about Parker Fountain Pen

2007-11-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Parker Fountain Pen Use and Care

Never let anyone else write with your Parker pen, not even to try it out for a few seconds. Really. High-quality nibs adapt to your (unique) hand position and writing style, and even a little trial scribbling from someone else can compromise this. It is especially important not to do this if the other person writes with the opposite hand than yours.

Don't overfill the Parker pen with ink. When filling it, get into the habit of drawing a full amount of ink into the pen, then releasing three or four drops into the inkwell and drawing back air. This will pull the huge pool of ink that is clinging to the nib from being dipped into the inkwell back into the pen. Flooded nibs can bleed or just drop pools of ink onto the paper. A flooded nib can also get jostled when the pen is closed and spray ink all over the inside of the cap, which will end up on your hands when you next use the Parker fountain pen.

Store Parker pen vertically (nib up, eg: in a shirt pocket), whenever you can. Leaving it horizontal for long periods of time can cause excess ink to flow into the nib.

Leave your Parker writing instrument at home when you fly - the changes in cabin pressure can cause pens to leak and discharge ink all over your luggage, shirt pocket, or whatever. If you must take your pen with you, empty it completely first. Travel with a small ink bottle with a really tight cap, and put the entire ensemble in a sealed plastic baggie wrapped in a paper towel, in case it leaks.

Leave the cap on whenever you can. The nib will dry out and clog if the cap is off for long periods.

If your Parker fountain pen does dry out (symptoms: ink doesn't start right away, pen seems to write badly or skips), empty it out and soak it in cold water, preferably with a few drops of ammonia. (I use a squirt or two of ammonia-based window cleaner like Windex). Draw the water in and out several times, and (ideally) let it soak for a while. Then empty it out and fill with ink as usual.

Use Parker pen for regular writing. The more you use it (correctly), the better and smoother it will write. If you leave it unused for weeks, it can take a while to get the ink started again.

A good fountain pen (which Parker definitely is) should glide effortlessly over the paper, which is the whole joy of using it. If it shows resistance, skips or has trouble getting started, you're either out of ink, or it has dried out and clogged, or both.

Don't lose it. Most fountain pens of acceptable quality are expensive, and since they're small they are quite easy to lose or misplace. Get into the habit of having a regular place for the Parker pen.

Parker T1 pen

2007-11-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

The Parker T1 is an extremely collectible fountain pen, despite it being one of the biggest failures to come out of Parker's R&D Department. The titanium nib was difficult to produce and did not write as well as advertised.

Parker did however, finally get the integrated nib concept right with the introduction of the Parker 50 (aka The Falcon).

The pen featured is the Flighter version of the Falcon and like all Flighters (IMO) a gorgeous pen. I was very impressed with this pen when I first picked it up and I normally do not like small diameter pens.

One of the things that Parker got really right was the development of the Flighter style of pens. It features a brushed stainless steel body and cap and the section is matte finished and leads to a high gloss integral nib. The clip is gold and it has a gold cap tassie with a black ring inset into it. All in all a very attractive pen.

The pen looks very much like the Parker T1 and the un-educated might mistake it at first.
The pen is slightly shorter than a Parker 45 and thinner in diameter. The stainless body puts in just about the same weight range (I had no way to measure the actual weight other than feel). It has a snap on cap, like the 45, and features a gold ring at the joint of the body/section that the cap snaps to. After a couple of weeks use, the cap still snaps on securely and shows no sign of coming off without effort on your part.

The nib is the part of this pen that is the most interesting. The nib is one piece with the section, unlike what most of us are used to when we look at a fountain pen. As mentioned the section is matte finished, but the nib itself has a high gloss finish that just looks so right on this pen. This pen has a medium nib and there is a big old ball of iridium at the end of the nib. It writes with a very smooth line and about 6/10 wetness loaded with Waterman Black ink. Out of curiosity, I tried the nib upside down and it still wrote smooth, but now produced a line about xf/fine in width and a bit drier.. but that was to be expected...
This is one sweet writing pen that allows you to use it just like you would a Parker 180, but IMO a lot nicer to hold. The Parker 180 is way to skinny for me to use comfortably.

Filling System
The pen is a cartridge/converter filler and came with a press bar converter. Since I was not sure I was going to keep the pen, I put a slide converter in it and have been using that. There is not much to say about the standard C/C filling system that you don't already know..

Overall I am very impressed with the design and writing ability of this pen. Parker really got the integrated nib right on this design. It is a shame it did not last longer than it did or it would have really given the Parker 45 a run for the money. Brand new these pens sold for $30.00 in the Flighter version.
Definitely more than a 45, but a much nicer pen and IMO a better writer.
I was fortunate to obtain a couple of Falcon Flighters brand new in the box with the original oversleeves, including 2 FP/BP combinations. The Flighter was introduced in 1977 and ended production in 1983. It should have enjoyed a longer run, but fountain pens were falling out of favor by then.

Parker T-1 Fountain Pen Titanium

2007-11-05T22:33:00.000-08:00

Titanium in pens is not exactly new, the Parker T1 was introduced in 1970, and was the first pen to offer the use of this metal as a main selling point. But it's only of late that titanium has become hot, turned into a real marketing commodity. OK, I'm told that advances in manufacturing technology that make it easier to work with titanium might also have something to do with the fact that it's being used more often now.

Titanium works well in pens for a number of reasons. It's light, strong, and can be finished in a number of colours. The trendy fascination with titanium is actually only a part of it's attractiveness. For the most part, titanium pens feature the use of the metal in the cap and barrel. In some cases however, the nib itself is made of titanium. It happens to work pretty well for nibs, the Stipula 22 features a plastic cap and barrel, but a rather nicely flexible titanium nib. The OMAS T2 was also made with a titanium nib.

We tried to assemble a good selection of the available titanium pens, some are obviously more available than others, but you should be able to find an example of just about any of the following pens. This really isn't a comparison piece, per se, so we didn't want to be ranking the pens against each other, but comparing various advantages of each one to the others was allowed. SO, with no further ado, the great titanium roundup of 2003!

To begin at the beginning seemed like a good idea, hence we start with the Parker T1. This pen is at first glance, very 1970s. It's relatively slim, and has a very sleek look to it, like many of the best pens of this era. Slim and sleek was "in". The T1 was one of those pens that was a pretty substantial flop when introduced, that has since become something of a collector's "holy grail" pen. Since it wasn't a huge success commercially, limited numbers were made and sold, making them harder to come by today.

At the time it was made titanium was a much more exotic metal than it is today, and one of the main reasons for the commercial failure of the T1 was the fact that it cost so much to manufacture. The titanium simply wore out the conventional metalworking tools of the day. As a result of the high manufacturing costs, the retail price tag was high enough to make selling the T1 very tough.

This was despite the fact that the T1 was being marketed as the "space age pen".... "Hold the metal that's going to Mars in your hand. And write" and so forth. The T1 was seen as being the most up to date of Parker pens, and the advertising of the time reflected this. Still, it wasn't enough to make up for the high price point, and the pen was made for only a year or so.

As you might imagine, this short production makes the T1 a difficult pen to find "in the wild", haunting your local antique shop is not likely to produce one for your collection! They're not what I would call a "rare" pen, it's easy enough to find one at any of the larger pen shows, and in fact, you should have your choice of examples, from "user grade" to mint.

Actually using the T1 might be another matter. It's the only vintage pen of the batch, and they're tough enough to find that putting one into daily use might not be everyone's idea of comfortable. The tipping material is prone to breaking off the nib tines, and once broken off, you're out of luck since retipping the T1 is very difficult, if not impossible. In addition, they are often not the best writing of pens, not as smooth as some of the more modern titanium pens in our group.
http://www.stylophilesonline.com/archive/jan03/02tit.htm

Family of T1 parker pens

2007-11-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

The Parker family long had an interest in aviation and aerospace. The Parker 51 had been compared in advertisements to the P-51 Mustang, elsewhere being called "like a pen from another planet". In the wake of the moon missions of the late 1960s, Parker decided to make a pen of the consummate aerospace material, titanium. The result was the T-1, released in 1970 and discontinued shortly thereafter.

Titanium is not an easy material to work, and Parker never managed to get production costs down to a reasonable level. It is probable that it was not just the reject rate that was excessive, but also the degree of wear and breakage to the tooling. Attaching tipping material to the integral titanium nib-shell was also very difficult, as nib repair specialists have come to appreciate when attempting to retip damaged T-1s.

The value of T-1s has been steadily increasing over the past ten or fifteen years. Not made as a limited edition, but made in very limited numbers, T-1s surviving in top condition are few indeed. Examples with original packaging are particularly scarce; the pen below rests on a nonproduction display stand designed to simulate the lunar surface.

Parker T-1 fountain pens are the most desirable, but ballpoints and cartridge pencils (ballpoints with pencil convertor inserts) were also offered. Two finishes are commonly seen, both with a brushed texture: one is quite dark, while the other, seen on the pens shown above, is a brighter, natural finish. Distinctive features include a nib adjustment screw on the underside of the shell and transparent red inserts at the end of the barrel and the top of the cap.
After the demise of the T-1 fountain pen, remaining stocks of titanium parts were used for ballpoints, cartridge pencils, and rollerballs which were incorporated into the Parker 75 line.

Parker Vector Pen Review

2007-10-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

It is unlikely that the humble ’chicken rice’ will ever win any culinary awards in the known universe at any time in the foreseeable future. However, this does not mean its a vile rice dish that would make the uninitiated cringe in horror. On the contrary, this dish is so good and wholesome that it is deeply entrenched in the Malaysian psyche. If it were ever to be made illegal (hypothetically speaking, of course), I won’t be surprised to see hyped-up protest marches being organized and a million self-styled webloggers working furiously on their keyboards crying, “FOUL!”.

So what has got to do with the ubiquitous Parker Vector Pen? Well, if the Vector was a dish, it’ll be none other than the ever-popular. If you are looking for something that hits the spot in the fastest, cheapest and most dependable way, you can’t go wrong with a Vector.

The Vector is a slender pen. Capped, it is 12.4 cm long and has a barrel diameter of 1 cm. While I am quite happy with the length (most Malaysians can comfortably write with the Vector unpasted i.e. without sticking the cap onto the end of the pen), I am not so hot about its 1 cm girth. Maybe its because - just like a woman’s breasts - I prefer to feel a little more of it in my hands when I go to work. Then again, this is just a matter of personal preference. Even with its meager 1 cm barrel diameter, there is plenty to work with and it writes just fine even if it is on the slender side.

The ink filling mechanism is the plunger system. Pull the plunger up, the resulting vacuum draws ink into the reservoir. It is simple and effective. Perhaps not as efficient as the piston system offered by German-made pens like Pelikan and Mont Blanc, the Vector’s plunger is more than adequate to ensure hassle-free inking of your pen.

The Vector has a steel nib. Naturally it is stiff with very little or no flexing at all. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The hard steel nib ensures years of very durable service. But don’t expect the Vector to write with that ’springy’ feel that more expensive pens offer. If you are looking at no-nonsense performance, the Vector is right up your alley. Again, a stiff nib isn’t the necessarily the mark of a lower quality pen. Steel nibbed pens may be cheaper than gold nibbed ones. But this does not mean that they will not write just as well. Moreover, you can be assured that they will last longer because steel is much harder than gold. Where durability is concerned, the adage “The harder, the better” truly does apply.

The Vector is a no-nonsense pen that is affordable, available and can prove to be a pleasure to write with. It does its job reasonably well, with no fuss or fanfare. It is a no-frills reliable workhorse - not exactly utilitarian but not exactly heirloom material either. Thus, it is the ideal pen for anyone who wants dependable writing instrument that will last and last. Equally at home in the classroom or in the office, the Vector will get the job done reasonably well every time.

Just because the Vector is the the pen world, this doesn’t mean that it is not a quality instrument. It is. And it fills a niche that no other pen can within this price range.

The Vector is a good ’starter’ fountain pen. Just don’t it expect it to have the ‘bling-factor’ of a Mont Blanc.

But that guy is about spinning ball-point pens, bro! Awesome, nevertheless.

Fountain pens are fascinating, at least, they are for me. I have also been told that my fascination for fountain pens is simply because they are powerful phallic symbols. To me, fountain pens rock!

What passion I detected here. Such a joy to read. Now I see Parker with a different light..ha ha. Mont Blanc definitely is bling. I received a pair for one of my birthday presents and every time I whipped any one out to write anything, I suddenly felt rich.

Montblancs are really jewelery masquerading as pens.

Yes. Whipping one of them babies out does make us feel rich… and also makes anyone within a 50m radius feel that we are rich, too!

Parker Pen moved to Germany

2007-10-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have been searching for work for quite some time. In fact, I put a long day in today searching for work and even had a job interview. I’m not sure how that interview went but I noticed something that concerned me. I applied at a very nice steak house and they interviewed me for a dishwasher position. They looked at my application and noticed that I asked for $8.00hr for the position they were hiring for. They said that they would only hire for $6.50!! Whats wrong with that? Well, I’ve worked dishwashing jobs in the past and have been paid wages from $7.00, 7.50, & 8.00hr; and that was in the late 1990s (like 1997/8)!! Here we are approaching 2008 and I now am faced with &6.50 jobs!

Here is a good example my dad told me about the place he retired from years ago. He use to work for a company called Jatco and they were bought out by Ryder (which actually wasn’t too bad at the time), and then they were bought out by a corporation I believe called CCI. My dad retired early and couldn’t stand the company any more. He was very angry because everything was falling apart, people thought my dad was just an angry drunk but he saw something that was true. Today, CCI has 15 to 20 trucks out of a 500-truck fleet! They only have 5-mechanics out of hundreds of mechanics! They have a very small little factory now and because of this many jobs are gone. Parker Pen moved to Germany and that broke many people and shrunk the chances for finding reasonable pay. These corporate business thugs have &old our country in the name of money, power, and sex! Yes, greed and lust is the sin they cherish.

But there is some good news. Today I learn that over half of a factory was fired (by the Feds?) because the workers did not have authentic social security numbers!! Yes, you could have easily guessed it...illegal Mexicans! The whole city has been taken captive to illegals and now I heard that their going to start cracking down on the illegals. We’ll see if that good work continues (or will the illegals come back to work once the Feds leave).

What kind of Parker Pens are shipped from China?

2007-10-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

Not something I’ve come across myself. Your logic sounds pretty good, though - air not getting back up would stop the ink flow after a while. I presume the Verve is a cartridge/converter filler? Are you filling the converter in the pen, through the dipped nib, or by taking it out and dipping the converter in the bottle?

If you’re dipping the nib, a paragraph might be about right for how much would be held in the feed and nib after dipping, without anything making it out of the converter. You could try dipping the nib right into the ink, then writing with it, and see how long you get then - if it’s a similar time, it might be you’re not getting anything flowing at all.

You could also try partially operating the converter again with it in the pen, to force some ink out through the feed - carefully, so you don’t get covered in ink ;) If that then works again for a while, the air pressure idea could well be right. Soaking the section overnight might be the best plan, just in cold water. Water with a little household ammonia is usually the next step.
Cross fountain pen ink doesn't flow

I have a Parker classic fountain pen I have sent to Cross twice because the ink stops flowing using their cartridges. When I use the converter with Parker ink it works fine. I would like to use the cartridges as I travel quite a bit. I have cleaned the nib at least ten times with no joy. Any ideas?
The only suggestion I’ve seen for that sort of situation is to use a little dilute detergent - washing up liquid - to flush it through a few times. Sometimes oils left in the feed from manufacturing can cause flow problems, and the washing up liquid will break down the oils. Might be worth a try, if you haven’t already done that.

Can I recommend that you use the pen regularly, daily if possible? You can also do the following, wash out the pen between each cartridge, use the converter to pump water back and forth through the mechanism. Sometimes I use the bulb part of a camera blow brush to force water through the nib.

I would be tempted though to give up on cartridges. They are a criminal waste of money and landfill space and instead change to bottled ink.

If it’s an Aerometric, they don’t usually need much doing - the collector can get blocked up, but the Sac is usually pretty reliable, and there’s nothing in there that needs specialist tools. The Vacumatic does need some special tools, but it’s supposed to be a very difficult fix - might be better left to someone who knows what they’re doing.

Firstly my fountain pen is an unknown model from China and I am sure you know the low cost fountain pen branded 'Parker hero 89-x'. I have one and it has gone through some things… I cleaned it with Cutex… is it ok?? My fountain pen the black thingy under the nib is a bit out of shape… how do you fix it back… and also…. If it is possible, could you send me a picture or diagram on how to align the nib?

My Parker 51 fountain pen worked well for 2 years

2007-10-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have a Rotring Isograph .10 (I bought the College Set) that won’t work. I stupidly left it with the ink in for several days and… I guess it clogged, because now it won’t write.

I’ve tried “quick” cleaning and “thorough” cleaning, and now the nib (that’s what it’s called right?) is soaking in a bowl of very warm water and some mild liquid soap. A thin trail of ink is slowly rising from the nib (it’s pretty cool watching this in the water). I’m hoping this will work.
they are a bit different, but probably pretty similar for cleaning (in a fountain pen, the ink goes down a slit cut into the nib - technical pens have a tube for the ink to flow down instead). They’re all plastic, so I’m pretty sure soaking is a good thing for them - may take a bit of time. The biggest practical difference is probably the ink - drawing ink is different stuff to fountain pen ink, so may be slightly different to get out - water is still going to be the best thing to try first, though.
I would think the household ammonia trick would probably work, well diluted. I’ve only heard it recommended for clearing fountain pen ink, but I doubt it’s that different.

If the ink is coming out with a soak, though, you’ll probably ok that way. Just give it a swirl around every now and then, and change the water as it starts getting all inky.
I left the pen tip to dry on a towel while I went to school today. I got back and decided to try it. The pen tip still had some ink coming out of it (from the.. umm.. rear end) actually, but I decided to try it nonetheless and it unsurprisingly still didn’t work. Grrr. So now it’s soaking again. SIGH

I hope my local bookstore has that cleaning kit in stock. That “pen key” thing didn’t come with my college set though.

Do you mean for removing the sleeve from around the nib unit so you can get to the feed? It’s the cap! Push the centre part of the cap out through the cap from the top - the bit with the width marked on it. Just push where the “.50” or whaterver is marked, and it should drop most of the way out - might need poking with something to come all the way out. You then push the nib in through the top end of the cap, and the part that centre bit was sticking in is the key. Push the cap over the nib, give it a bit of a twist and wiggle, and the bit surrounding the feed should come right off.

That should make cleaning a good bit easier.

If it won’t come clean, Sanford are pretty much killing Rotring off now, so you might stand a good chance of finding them getting sold off cheaply. Our local Staples sold the Parker fillers off for £6 each - used to be £18 - and I’ve seen quite a few of them going cheap on eBay.

I’ve just opened and tried our set, probably left full of ink and unused for a long time - all three work fine, so it looks like you were pretty unlucky there.
My Parker 51 fountain pen worked well for 2 years. In recent months, I write a paragraph or two and the inks ceases to flow. I unscrew the piston and reassemble it, the ink flows again, a mite too copiously at first. A paragraph later the flow stops once more. I do not think the problem has anything to do with dirt blocking the flow of ink. I suspect that for some reason air is not flowing back into the piston to push the ink out.

Parker Arrow Pens

2007-09-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

For over 100 years, Parker has been at the forefront of design, producing some of the best pens in the world. More than fluent tools, they are also there wherever we need them most - always making a contemporary statement, relevant to each generation. This has led to Parker pens achieving iconic status, sitting proudly amongst some of the best-designed and most admired produts of the modern era.

Like the car you drive, the watch you choose and the shoes you buy, the pen you use can send a signal about you. The diversity of the broad Parker product range helps different individuals express their progressiveness in different ways.

There are in fact three models of Parker pens that goes by the name of Arrow.
The first one was a Canadian pen, produced during the 1950's, with
many similarities to both the Parker "51" and the Vacumatic. It was in fact very similiar to the Parker "VS" which sold in great numbers and also was an open nib alternative to the Parker "51". The Canadian Arrow was also an attractive pen indeed. It came with a solid color barrel, probably black, green, red and blue and possibly grey. They sported a Parker "51" style body ring and a black section. The nib was the Vacumatic style in gold with an engraved arrow. The cap was the early style with a (vac filler) Parker "51" clip, and a brushed lustraloy cap. It was an air metric filler and had the additional imprint Canada Arrow as an addition to the normal filling instructions on the pli-glass ink sac-container. Although it was clearly a pen that was manufactured from left over parts from discontinued models, and by right should fall into the category, they are by no means second grade pens and are much sought for by collectors.
The second Arrow was a version of the Parker "45".
On the introduction of the Parker 45 Arrow in 1964,it had the name in white (which was instantly rubbed off at first use) on the body. The name survived only for a short while and was soon replaced by the denotation CT (Chrome Trim). This pen didn't have the steel cap, found on the other Parker "45", but was solely made out of plastic. This made production cheaper, partly because metal was more expensive than plastic, but also because of a new production process in which the entire pen could be made up from the same dyes, which sped up the production. A breakthrough that economized production costs. It was continually produced in the standard colors Black, Burgundy,Grey, Light Blue, Dark Blue and Green.
The body of the Parker 45 , introduced in 1960, was tapered at both ends, creating a slimmer and lighter pen than the Parker 51. The body also sported a metal ring and a completely new kind of nib. The nib was triangular and very small, compared to prior Parker nibs. The complete nib/feed could be unscrewed and easily replaced and many styles of nibs were offered. The 14 carat gold nib was very unusual on a pen that initially cost only $5.
The third, and the only true designed model of the Arrow, was introduced in 1982. It was a all metal gift-range school pen that sported a clean, straight cap with no cap rings and a newly designed clip, taken from the Parker roller ball pen "RB1". It had the appearance of an arrow with three facets. It had no engraved feathers and was a very modern and clean design. It has since made it on to other Parker models, notably the Vector, which succeeded the "RB1". The Arrow also had a metal and clip screw. The body had a broader body ring, which served to hold the cap in place. The nib was gold plated stainless steel and was of an almost tubular design with a black rounded cap-lip, which was part of the section. It had the imprint "Parker" in a semi-circle. It came in three designs: Brushed stainless steel, Anodized black matte and 12 carat rolled and silver plate. in 1983 the line was updated with a stainless steel and chrome plated trim model. In 1985 came the costume Arrow with a matte black barrel and 12 carat rolled gold cap. In 1986 lacquered finishes in Marbled green, Marbled blue, Marbled red, Marbled grey and one in Solid black were introduced. All models had gold plated trim, except the stainless model which sold with chrome trim as an option. In 1988 the pen was slightly redesigned and renamed the Parker "95".

Parker pens in Berlin, Germany

2007-09-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

If your ideal pen shop includes pens from all your favorite brands, displays of private collections and ephemera, and a quiet and relaxed atmosphere in which to try out a variety of pens and find just the right one, then stop at Berliner Pen.

Since opening in 1993, Berliner Pen has been a full service pen store that is, in the words of its proprietors, "devoted to the collector and owned by collectors." That devotion is rooted in the fact that business partners Geoffrey Berliner and Bernard Isaacowitz are both accomplished collectors, users and lovers of fountain pens.

Geoff and BernieBerliner has also been restoring pens since 1988. He serves on the board of directors of the Pen Collectors of America and writes for its journal, The PENnant, in addition to authoring a long-running "Restoration" column for PWI. He began collecting over ten years ago while a graduate student in religion and philosophy at Harvard. He found pens made during the 70 or 80 years between the Victorian Era and the Machine Age to be historically interesting as well as beautiful and well made. "Vintage pens evoke the past," says Berliner. "They involve a standard of craftsmanship, quality and materials that perhaps doesn't exist today." Berliner's personal collection reflects his love of vintage instruments and includes an extensive collection of early Waterman and early Parker pens. He has also focused on early Maki-e, Parker 51's, vintage Omas and current Omas limited editions.
Isaacowitz joined Berliner Pen as a partner in 1996, bringing a strong business background from a career in hospital administration. He has been collecting for about four years now, ever since receiving a book on collectible pens from his wife and purchasing his first pen - an Astoria No.2 black hard rubber safety - at a flea market for $4. His flea market habit proved fateful when he met Berliner there. These days, his collection includes more than 110 early Waterman and early Parker pens.

The shop has recently celebrated the grand opening of its new location on Broadway, between 21st and 22nd Streets in New York's Flatiron district. The expanded shop has 520 square feet of retail space - nearly twice that of the original location. The increased space has allowed the owners of display portions of their personal collections - which include over 1,100 pieces combined - in a special "museum" section of the shop. In addition, the museum occasionally features vintage pen repair tools and other ephemera.

The shop's interior is designed to be just as pleasing as the pens it showcases. Pen-related advertisements and artifacts line the walls. Vintage cases are always stocked with an array of vintage pens, vintage accessories and books. A variety of high-quality contemporary pens and limited editions from Omas, Parker, Waterman, Shaeffer, Pelikan and Aurora are also offered.

Parker Alive for Teenagers

2007-09-22T12:30:00.001-07:00

Parker Alive! Pen will animate Christmas with a new range of fun pens hitting the shelves in time for the holiday season.

The Parker Alive! range, perfect for pre and early teens, is available in three unique designs each with a unique personality that allow the user to make a statement about themselves.

Build up that special someone with Buttercup Daydream in warm pink and plum tones contrasted with vibrant yellow buttercups. Hosting a pretty-in-pink female character with wild flowing hair, Buttercup Daydream will prove it is more than just the thought that counts.

Be a charmer with Underwater Love in a powder blue and aubergine finish. Sure to make a splash, Underwater Love features a shell bikini-clad mermaid and cute deep sea creatures.

Space Age Glamour will take you into the future in style. Featuring a precious princess figure surrounded by sparkling stars on a lime green and navy blue barrel, Space Age Glamour will leave your friends star gazed.

Under the unique barrel and cap designs of Parker Alive! is a Vector Gel Ball Pen, featuring Parker’s Gel Ink Refill Technology for smoother and brighter writing - guaranteed by a full lifetime warranty.

A $250,000 fountain pen?

2007-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

250,000 Dollar Fountain Pens!? by John Morris

Many individuals would probably raise an eyebrow when they hear someone willing to spend $40,000 to buy a fountain pen. Renaissance Pen Co founder Patrick Pinkston, however, says that the amount - apparently exorbitant for what is seemingly 'only' a writing instrument - is a reflection of the fact that these pens are also considered special works of art.

1. Insanely Expensive Pens Are Works Of Art

The high price fountain pens fetch are also due to the approach taken by Fisher, Michel Perchin and other industry leaders to make their product available on a limited edition basis. This trend first emerged in the early 1990s, creating a new market of pricey items that Fountain Pen Hospital President Terry Wiederlight said made the pens more like jewelry.

The price range for fountain pens is quite extreme. A Fisher pen capable of writing upside down is available for $15. On the other hand, the Modernista Diamonds pen from Caran D'Ache - which has over 5,000 small diamonds - will cost the interested buyer $230,000. The bottom line is that fountain pen enthusiasts are eager to flaunt, admire or simply collect the specially-designed fine writing instruments.

2. Where The Passion Started

Although pens with their own ink cache have already been available earlier, the first patented fountain pen is attributed to insurance salesman Lewis Waterman in 1884. In his case, the motivation came from failure to close a major contract after the pen he was using spilled ink onto the document. Waterman's efforts grew the business from a simple hand-made operation based in a cigar shop to one with annual sales of 350,000! Nephew Frank D. Waterman launched the company abroad after his uncle died in 1901.

3. How Fountain Pens Work

Earlier attempts to patent their creation before Waterman - including the self-filling pen of John Jacob Parker in 1831 and the quill-and-metal pen of John Scheffer in 1809 - either failed or posed other problems that prevented these products from taking off. Since a fountain pen's internal supply of ink is crucial, many inventors and pen makers going back to the early 19th century explored various ways to come up with the optimum reservoir design. One that emerged during the period was the self-filling design, which spawned several patents that included the Parker Pen Co's Button Filler in 1905, Walter Sheaffer's Lever Filler in 1908 and the Weidlich Company's Matchstick Filler in 1910.

Another key figure in the development of fountain pens is George Safford Parker, who worked as a distributor of John Holland fountain pens to supplement his salary as a school teacher. His frustration with the quality of the pens he sold to students compelled him to repair the faulty ones, eventually making him learn how fountain pens were made and convincing him that he could make pens of higher quality. The now 110-year-old Parker Pen Company was incorporated by Parker in a team-up with insurer W.E. Palmer in February 1892, helped by several Parker patents, including The Lucky Curve. This innovation made use of capillary attraction that fully drained ink from the pen's feed tube, preventing the liquid from expanding and reaching the tip to ensure that no ink will blot the user's hand when the cap is removed.

4. Fountain Pens Of Today

Entering the 20th century, fountain pens have become more than writing instruments. Ownership became a clear symbol of prestige, with holders of the pen seen as an educated class, who at that time were the only individuals recognized for their reading and writing skills.

Disposable ink cartridges for fountain pens emerged in the 1950s and became a market success, primarily due to the ease with which they could be inserted in pens and a design that practically prevented any spillage. Ballpoint pens were later developed and eventually surpassed fountain pens as preferred writing instruments. Despite the competition, fountain pens remain a collector's item.

The world's foremost fountain pen brands can all be found at the Fountain Pen Hospital in New York. Besides the fine-writing instrument, Fountain Pen Hospital also offers desk sets, leather pen cases, pen displays and other accessories. Among the top labels available at the dealer are Germany's Graf von Faber-Castell; Cartier; Italian maker Aurora; high-tech proponent Rotring; Sheaffer; Michel Perchin; Waterman and Parker.

Advertizing campaings that went wrong: Parker Pens

2007-09-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Despite all the hype, no one can guarantee that today's Super Bowl match-up between the Patriots and Eagles will be riveting, or that Sir Paul's performance at halftime will make us forget last year's wardrobe malfunction. But there is one sure thing: It's still the Super Bowl of Advertising, as a 30- second TV spot will set you back a mere $2.4 million.

In honor of those pricey spots and the nervous ad folks who created them, we've decided to take a look at a few classic campaigns gone wrong.

Behind the Iron Curtain: Clairol in Germany

A few years back, Clairol, the hair products company, introduced a curling iron called the "Mist Stick" to the world. The vapor wand was all the rage with stylistic vunder-babes and sold like hotcakes worldwide ... except when Clairol execs brought the beauty product into Germany. Turns out that "mist" is German slang for "manure" or "excrement." And while many farmers may have had a use for a Manure Stick, fair-haired beauties did not. On a related note, Rolls-Royce had a mighty hard time marketing its "Silver Mist" coupe to Germans.

A pun in the oven: Parker pens in Latin America

In 1935, the Parker Pen Co. invented and marketed a truly innovative product: a reliable fountain pen. Most businessman of the day carried their pens in sparkling white shirts, and the Parker model offered them the promise of being able to holster those puppies without worrying whether they would leak or stain. The pen was a wonder, and the ad slogan "Avoid embarrassment, use Parker Pens," was a huge success. The next step? Go global, of course.

When they first expanded their market to Latin America, what the folks at Parker wanted to say was, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." Problem was that the Spanish word "embarazar" has a double-meaning; it means "to embarrass," but it also means to "impregnate." So, to some unsuspecting souls, the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

George Parker's ladder 2 success

2007-09-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Beginner of The Parker Pen Manufacturing, George Safford Parker, was determined to make a better pen when he couldn’t find one that wrote well and didn’t leak. The name Parker has become synonymous with high quality writing instruments, bringing to mind descriptors such as reliability, dependability, tradition, streamlines, style, prestige, innovation and timelessness. George Parker began his career as a teacher of telegraphy and to supplement his teaching income, he started selling pens for the John Holland Pens Company.

The first major technological breakthrough for the company came in 1894 with the Lucky Curve ink feed system. The feed system was designed to drain the ink back into the reservoir by capillary action when the pen was upright in the pocket of its owner. Parker became a major player in the fountain pen industry with the introduction of the Lucky Curve. In 1900, The Gold Filigree Lucky Curve Pens were introduced. Also that year, Parker patented the taper on the inside of the outer cap, a design improvement to make it fit more securely. In 1911, an improved Lucky Curve feed was patented and in 1912, a new form of the safety cap was introduced.

Unexpectedly, the pens he sold, mainly to his telegraphy students, malfunctioned and he felt obligated to fix them. Soon becoming overwhelmed with repair work, he decided to invent his own version of the fountain pen. In 1888 the Parker Pen Company was born. The following year he patented his first fountain pen. In 1891 he found an investor, insurance broker W.F. Palmer, who initially invested $1,000.00 and bought half of Parker’s shares in both the patents and the business.

After years of intensive research, Parker launched the first self-filling fountain pen, the Parker 61, in 1956. Engineered to “self-draw” ink from the bottle, the Parker 61 could hold enough ink to last for six hours of steady writing. The British Royal Household awarded Parker the Royal Warrant as its sole supplier of pens and inks in 1962. Also in that year, subsidiaries opened in Peru and Columbia.

There were several precursors (The Black Giant, The Emblem Pen, The Sterling Silver and Gold Snake Pen, The Trench Pen and The Jack Knife Safety Pen) to Parker’s next star: The Duofold. In 1921, the company’s biggest and most important launch to date was that of the Duofold fountain pen that earned Parker its reputation as the pen company that produces the most dependable, as well as the most fashionable writing instruments on the market. The Duofold, nicknamed “Big Red,” embodied the feel of the Roaring Twenties – big, bold and very jazzy. Now synonymous with vintage fountain pens, The Duofold proved its durability and Parker decided to guarantee these pens for twenty five years. Parker’s Duofold family expanded in 1926 and 1927 to include Jade Green, Mandarin Yellow, Lapis Blue and Pearl and Black. All of these pens were available in a first-of-its-kind durable plastic called Permanite. The new material replaced the traditional vulcanized rubber, which tended to be brittle.

Celebrating the company’s 100th birthday in 1988, Parker relaunched the most famous Parker pen, the Duofold, now recognized as the Duofold Centennial. Parker established the Platinum Club in 1989 in the United States and Australia for Duofold owners, offering elite privileges and complementary services.

For more than a century, Parker has been a leader in the writing instruments industry. After years of diligent and determined attempts “to make a better pen,” this world famous idea of George Safford Parker came to life. Today, The Parker Pen Company continues their commitment to strive towards scientific improvements and excellency. With the latest technologies, traditional skills, using the finest materials, techniques and craftsmanship, Parker Pens are “beyond words!”

I grew up with Parker pen

2007-09-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

I used to stay at Nizam Palace in Kolkata, and had quite a big group of friends, one of whom was Shalini, a part-time ramp model in Kolkata. She used to rub shoulders with the then models of Kolkata like Bipasha Basu [Images].

Celina used to frequent Shalini's home, where we met on numerous occasions.

I still remember a funny incident, where she needed to sign on some paper but was not carrying a pen. I had a Parker pen with me, and offered it to her. She took it, but somehow forgot to return it the same day. Later, I pulled her leg for almost maaro-ing my Parker and she laughed it off.

She had a beautiful face even then, but her hairstyle was quite different from what it is now.

I was very thrilled to know that she had bagged a role opposite Fardeen Khan [Images] in Jaanasheen.

Parker 45's series pens

2007-09-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Parker 45 is the best selling low priced pen in the history of Parker. Not necessarily the greatest title to obtain but one obtained through longevity and a quality design. The Parker 45 was one of the first pens given to me by my Grandmother. It belonged to my Grandfather and was given to me when I was about fourteen. She always kept a collection of old pencils and pens around to draw and write with on rainy days. On this day, I asked he if she had anything different to write with and she gave me a Parker 45 and an Eversharp Skyline. I was hooked.

The buyer had a choice of seven nibs from the Accountant Extra Fine to Stub. The pen was the first commercially successful implementation of a cartridge/converter system by Parker. Adjusted for inflation, the Parker 45 would cost about thirty-one dollars today. The recently re-introduced version of the Parker 45 can be found for under thirty dollars from most shops. The 45 also had an even cheaper cousin that shared a similar aesthetic but had a different nib design. The Eversharp version had an all plastic body with a metal clip and retailed for $2.98.

Parker introduced the 45 in 1960 as their quintessential “school pen”at a price of five dollars. The 45 was designed by Don Doman who had also designed the very successful Jotter line and would later design the classic Parker 75. The pen shared some initial styling cues from the clip on the cap of the Parker 51 Special. The Pen had a taper design that ended in flat indented ends reminiscent of the Doman designed Parker 61 . The 45 was designed to be thinner and lighter than the 21/41/51/61 line probably a purposeful design goal given that the pen was meant for younger smaller hands. Another interesting design feature of the pen was that it had a removable nib/feed section.

Many people who first came to fountain pens came to them via pens like the Parker 45. It had a reputation of being an affordable pen that was also very reliable. It took cartridges so you could keep your hands a little cleaner if you wanted to avoid filling from a bottle. Some people have commented on how pedestrian the 45 is in terms of design. I would have to disagree. To some degree, the 45 inspired what is probably the best looking design of Parker's recent history – the Parker 75. By the time the Parker 45 was introduced the 51 had been replaced as their premiere offering by the 61. Also by this time the design of the 51 and similar 61 went back nearly 20 years. Parker needed new blood and a new image. In many ways, the 45 was the pen that provided the image shift that was needed.

The Parker Space Pens

2007-09-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Parker produced 254 pens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1968. The pens were made in part from the Atlas booster rocket which launched John Glenn on his historic 1962 orbital Mercury flight.

The flown booster material used by Parker was recovered in Africa. After its discovery, it was sent to NASA, which subsequently verified its origin.

Of the 254 produced, all but four were Parker Classic 75 models, sterling crosshatch grid ballpens with its push button clicker fashioned from the booster material. Never released for sale to the public, George Parker presented the ballpoint pens to heads of state and NASA officials.

Engraved around the cap lip was the inscription:

U.S.A. into Space.
20 II 1962.

The remaining four were fountain pens. The entire cap and barrel material was made from flown metal. Parker kept two of the pens for its internal use while the others were presented to Glenn and President Johnson.

Engraved on the barrel of the pen was the inscription:

This Pen is Made from a Fragment of the Rocket which Boosted Astronaut John Glenn into America's First Orbit Space Flight 20 February 1962.

Of the two kept by Parker, one recently surfaced at a Chicago pen show and auction in 2000. There, the rare fountain pen sold for a hammer price of $3000. Subsequent to the auction, this pen and another produced by Parker with Apollo-recovered moon dust (see below) sold for approximately $20,000.

On February 23, 2001, this same set of space pens changed hands once more via a Bonhams auction. ÊIncluding the buyer's premium of 15%, the Mercury fountain pen sold for over $22,500 alone.

In 1972, Parker produced five fountain pens entirely from titanium with the exception of a special plate mounted to the barrel. To distinguish these pens from all others, moon dust collected by Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin was mixed with powdered gold to mint the attached panels.

The plate was then engraved to read:

Traces of Lunar Material
Apollo 15

At first it was thought that only three of these pens were made and presented to the US State Department. President Nixon kept one and took the other two on his historic trip to China in 1972. The President presented the the two moon dust-embedded fountain pens to Yao Wen-yuan, Municipal Representative of the City of Shanghai, and Nan P'ing, the Chairman of Chekiang Provincial Revolutionary Committee.

It was later learned that Parker secretly produced an additional two moon dust pens. One of these pens surfaced at a Chicago pen show and auction in 2000 and sold for $4500. Subsequent to the auction, this pen and another produced by Parker with Mercury-Atlas 6 flown metal (see above) sold for approximately $20,000.

On February 23, 2001, this same set of space pens changed hands once more via a Bonhams auction. Including the buyer's premium of 15%, the moon dust fountain pen sold for over $26,500 alone, likely the record for the single highest price ever paid for a Parker 75 fountain pen.

Parker Pen Writes Again

2007-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

I’ve never worked on a newspaper. I imagine it to be exciting but stressful. There would be editors barking things into phones, like “Get me rewrites!” and “Stop the presses!” If I went out to cover a story, I’d wear one of those hats with the PRESS card stuck inside the band. Then I’d rush back to write it up, typing furiously to meet a deadline. An interesting way to make a living, I’m sure.

I did have a taste of newspaper writing, just once. It was the spring of 1970, and I was a student at Parker Elementary School in a suburb of Boston. My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Fay, had given us the unusual assignment of creating a newspaper.

I probably would have forgotten all about it had I not cleaned out a bookcase this past weekend. As I read the masthead, “Parker Pen Writes Again!” I had to smile. All the other kids and I knew that Parker Pen was the nickname we used for our school, “pen” being short for “penitentiary.” Not that we really felt as if we were in jail. But the old building with its creaky floors had a formal, institutional feel to it. And like many schools, the rules were strict.

Our class had a talented artist named Anne. For the paper’s cover, she drew a feather pen with a fluffy, voluptuous shape to it, which might be why Mrs. Fay let us use the name. Maybe she was aware of our inside joke and decided to let it go.

We had a meeting to decide who would do what. “I’ll do sports!” said Doug. “I want to do fashions,” said Mary. “Hey, I can do jokes,” piped another kid. We then wrote up the articles, carefully copied them using carbon paper, and gave them to our teacher for mimeographing (now there’s an old-fashioned word!)

The Pen’s table of contents revealed six sections spread across 26 pages: News, Astrology, Sports, Entertainment, Gourmet, and Fashions.

Here’s an example of some earth-shaking News of the Day, complete with missing words and misspellings, by John. “On Wednesday the March 4th there is going to a spaghetti dinner for PTA. This is only for the fathers of Parker and helpers. Believe me, this is good spaghetti.” Mmm. I can taste it now.

Somehow, I’ve never put the same stock in astrology since then.

Sport news was all about the Maple Leafs and Red Wings. Apparently there was a championship that hadn’t been played out by press time. Doug’s analysis: “I figure Johnny MacKinney will win the most goals this year. Michael Sutherland is the Maple Leaf’s goalie, and a great one he is.” A future sportscaster?

The Entertainment section had lots of fill-in-the blanks and other fun games. A joke page, contributed by me, had this gut-buster: Wife to her electrician husband arriving home at 3 a.m.: “Wire you insulate?” Husband: “Watts it to you? I’m ohm, ain’t I?”

I probably don’t need to tell you that stand-up comedy wasn’t in my future.

More joke pages were provided by other kids as well. A different kind of humor page was called Children’s Letters to God, presented by Gabrielle and Kathryn. The one I like best is “Dear God: Please make my sister prettier so she can get married.”

The Gourmet section had great-sounding recipes for Mexican Cookery and Vanilla Creams, although I can’t imagine any ten-year-old preparing them alone. One dish has enough chopping, slicing, and dicing for a kitchen full of Japanese chefs. Yikes!

At the end of our newspaper is an array of 1970 Fashions that even my friend Sally could love. An excerpt from Thigh Boots: “High boots are getting more and more popular by the year. Especially with teen-age girls. The mod, mod ones go up to about your thigh.” The piece concludes with this sage advice: “If you want to go sightseeing for these mod, mod boots, go to Boston.”

The next page contains another fashion tip, by Mary: “Big, groovy rings are in. I think the big ring would weigh my hand down.” More than likely.

The last page displays fashion drawings accompanied by spirited captions. “Maxi skirts are in, man!” “Maxi coats are real in.” “Bell sleeves are REALLY in.” And lastly, a commentary on the male side of things: “Boys have long hair today.” This drawing shows a round boy face with a shaggy rat’s nest of hair scribbled on top. I get the feeling the artist didn’t approve of this trend.

Parker wins compensation from a supermarket in hubei

2007-08-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

On August 22, the Xiangfan Intermediate People's Court in Hubei Province ruled that a supermarket in Xiangfan should compensate 30,000 RMB yuan to Parker Pen (Shanghai) Limited for selling counterfeit Parker pens .

In 2006, Parker Pen Limited started a campaign against counterfeit Parker pens in China. In June 2006, Parker Pen (Shanghai) Limited bought a Parker pen in the defendant's supermarket with the presence of notary officials. The plaintiff later tested the pen and confirmed that the pen were counterfeit pens bearing the trademark representation of Parker.

The supermarket argued that it sold the pens on consignment by a stationary company and it did not know about the trademark infringement.

The court held that, although the defendants signed a sales agreement on consignment with the stationary company, it should not be exempted from the liability for infringement. In the agreement with the stationary company, the defendant did not request the company to provide trademark registration certificate and other essential certificates for the goods, which demonstrated that the defendants did not fulfilled its duty to check the source of the goods. Therefore, the court ordered that the defendant should bear the civil liability for trademark infringement and make compensation to the plaintiff.

History of Parker pens brieflined

2007-08-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

‘Make Something Better and People will buy it' - George Safford Parker, 1888

In 1636 William Parker left Dover, Kent with his wife Mary and set sail for the New World. Their dream was to make a better life in a new country. They settled in New England.

Over two hundred years later George Parker's parents, in the best frontiersman tradition, trekked out of New England to the Mid West.

Born in Shullsberg, Wisconsin on the 1st November 1863, George Safford Parker started his working life in 1880 at the Valentine School of Telegraphy at Janesville, Wisconsin (where he was to later open the first of his three major manufacturing plants). After answering an advertisement for a position at the school, he saved up the $55 for fees and enrolment, and within one year he was on the staff.

In order to supplement his poor wage, George Parker became an ?Agent? selling fountain pens ? primarily to his students ? for the John Holland Fountain Pen Company. Like most of the pens at this time, they often had technical problems. Amongst these were leakage of ink from the barrel and nib, as well as an inadequate flow of ink to the nib.

After receiving many complaints from his students, Parker felt obligated to repair the pens and his reputation for after-sales service grew. He would dismantle the pens, repair them and then return then to his students.

Eventually Parker decided that he needed to eradicate these faults rather than just fix them. So, armed with his knowledge of the mechanisms and with his philosophy, ?Make something better and people will buy it? (a philosophy he followed passionately throughout his life), he designed and finally built his own fountain pen. Less than a year later, George Safford Parker was in the pen business.

Since 1888 the Parker Pen Company has been devoted to making the Better Pen. With the tradition of excellence born of George Parker's determination to make something better, his legacy of pride has only been strengthened over the years.From teacher to pen maker and corporate founder, from student to President and Royalty, the Parker story, from its humble beginning, has developed into a classic tale of how one man's determination and inventiveness has shaped an industry.

1889 George Parker took out his first patent

1891 George Parker entered into partnership with W.F. Palmer, an insurance man who wanted in on the pen business. Palmer persuaded Parker to sell him half his shares in both the patents and the business for a cost of $1,000. The check was made payable to the Parker Pen Company, thus starting the successful and very profitable partnership between Parker and Palmer.

1892 On the 8th March the Parker Pen Company was legally incorporated.

Replacing Parker Penman Sapphire

2007-08-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Parker Penman ink is one of my all time favorite inks. The intense saturation is unlike any other ink I've ever experienced. Since Penman hasn't been made for a while and my last bottle of Sapphire is running low I decided to attempt to find as close of a replacement as possible. My hope and desire was that somebody had finally filled the niche left for all of the Penman fans out there. Omas had issues a limited edition color that a number of folks raved about as being similar to Sapphire but I never got around to trying any of it. Perhaps, I held out a small bit of hope that the new owners of Parker would see the light and re-issue Penman. With these two opportunities not in the realm of the realistic I was left with only one choice – go find a new ink as close to Penman Sapphire as possible. What I didn't know was that my hunt would take me so far beyond the mall pen store.

Now some of you might be reading this and thinking why on earth would anyone want to use anything like Penman let along actually use that stuff. There's a whole different group who just love the stuff. Frankly, I have always felt that Penman gets a bad wrap in the area of clogging. It is a very intense color which means that it has a higher saturation of dyes which if left to dry or used in a pen that allows a lot of air to get to the nib the pen will be hard to start or it may just “clog”. The bottom line is that some pens simply cannot use Penman ink unless you are committed to a higher level of maintenance. In my experience, I have found that certain pens perform at their best with certain inks. A lot of it comes down to the pen and the magical interaction between the feed, the nib, and user.

My first stop was at the largest indoor mall in the Chicago land area and the pen shop within. The women who assisted me has worked at the shop for quite some time and is generally quite helpful. I told her what I was looking for and she said "oh you need to try some Aurora Blue - you'll love it". While Aurora blue is a nice enough color it is not at all similar to Penman Sapphire. I took out a Lamy Safari loaded up with it and showed her the color I was wanting to get close to and asked if she had another suggestion. She then said that I should try the Visconti blue but I found it too purple and it didn't have the brilliant color I wanted. At this point, I decided that maybe I had better do some research myself and see if there were any better suggestions out there.

The next logical step (it seemed logical at the time) was to look for color samples from the popular ink companies and compare them to my personal sample of Penman Sapphire. There ended up being a few issues with this idea. The first was that as many of the sites state – the colors on the monitor might not accurately reflect the color of the ink. Printing these ink samples brought a compounded issue - not only were the colors on the monitor potentially different than those used on the monitor that created and reviewed the color swatches but additionally my color printer was probably calibrated differently. It quickly became obvious that while the color swatches were nice from the standpoint of comparing color families they were not useful for truly accurate color matching. Before I threw up my hands in disgust and gave up on my quest and attempted to find the last bottle of Parker Penman Sapphire on the planet via e-bay, I decided maybe I should let my fingers do the walking.

After looking over the ink swatches I figured I would try and give the folks at Private Reserve a ring. I was able to get a hold of Terry for a quick conversation about what I was looking for and we had a nice conversation about his products and ink. He recommended their Lake Placid Blue. I asked him about the American Blue and he said that his customers seemed to think the Lake Placid Blue was a better alternative for a Penman Sapphire like color without some of the potential Penman issues of clogging. Terry was extremely helpful and I have been a long time user of a number of the green colors that they make. I thanked Terry for his advice and told him I would check out Lake Placid Blue as well as some other colors.

Living in the Chicago area I am very fortunate to have a variety of nice pen shops and retail stores to shop for ink, paper, and even the occasional modern pen. One of the truly friendly stores in the area is located in a wonderful town called Elmhurst. West Suburban Office Products has a pen lover who carries a nice supply of ink by the Sheaffer's, Parker's, Waterman's, Pelikan's, and other major manufacturer's as well boutique brands such as Private Reserve and Noodler's. He echoed Terry's comment that the closest ink he had seen to Parker Penman Sapphire was the Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue. As fate would have it, I had been in the shop a couple of weekends before and picked a blister pack of Midnight Blue cartridges, a bottle of Lake Placid Blue, American Blue, and a couple of bottles of the 2004 DC Super show Blue. Maybe the answer to my quest was already in my house. Why hadn't I tried the new inks yet? If you collect pens you already know the answer to that!

One of the advantages of collecting pens is that once in a while people unload some wonderful items (and sometimes a lot of worthless junk) on you. Thankfully, my in-laws fall into the former category rather than the later. The dip pen hadn't actually been used in at least 30 years and it needed a little cleaning before it was ready for duty. I figured the best way to compare colors would be to use the dip pen for each color with a thorough cleaning between colors. This gave me a nice set of baseline results and put me on the road to closing the case on my quest.

After finishing up with the dip pen, I figured it was time for some real world tests. My modern Sheaffer Balance stepped in for the dip pen and I created the samples included.

Parker Penman Sapphire has a certain tint at the edges of it that is quite noticeable in the right light. It is a dark blue with a hint of purple to my eyes. Waterman Florida Blue on the other hand is almost washed out looking in comparison. I also looked at a couple of vintage inks but both of them seem to have faded noticeably in the 40 or 50 years since they were made. I also tried out one of the all time great cheap pens – a Pilot with blue ink and another modern cheap – the Parker Reflex with permanent blue. The Parker permanent blue was actually a little nicer than the Waterman Florida. The Pilot ink had a noticeable violet cast to it and wasn't very interesting.

Red Parker Pens

2007-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of Fountain Pen Articles, Fountain Pen Histories and Fountain Pen Essays that have been published either online or in obscure books or jorunals. Things that I found while doing research on other pen topics and I thought were too good to be lost to obscurity and should be put online where a Google search could unearth them easily for the fountain pen enthusiast and fountain pen researcher.. If you know of an article that should be placed here, please let me know.

George S. Parker, of Janesville, Wis., maker of fountain pens in six colors, offered all farmers in six townships surrounding his home 12½% of the cost of painting their barns, provided they would not use red. Said he: "The average farmer's barn is an eyesore. The red paint is monotonous."

Parker Pens lock bikes?

2007-08-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

Ever since Parker pens worth pennies have proved capable of defeating expensive, steel bike locks, campus cyclists have worried about the safety of their bikes.

$80 to $100 locks are rendered useless by the barrel of a pen. On a campus where the average student is already a victim of bike theft at least once in their four years, this news has many worried.

The lock sabotage method was posted on a San Francisco cycling Web site, BikeForums, two weeks ago and has since prompted a full recall by the leading maker of U-locks with circular keys, Kryptonite. The company plans to give costumers new locks at no charge.

“I just got a brand new bike that I paid $200 for,” freshman Marina Scannell complained. “I bought the lock, which guaranteed that your bike wouldn’t be stolen and now I feel like it could be stolen right away.”

Christian Parker of the Campus Bike Shop affirmed this fear, saying that he has seen a student break a U-lock in about 20 seconds using the pen method.

“It’s crazy that you can break the unbreakable lock with a bit of plastic,” freshman Amy Briggs said.

Parker claims that the bike shop hopes to be able to replace all U-locks on campus, regardless of where the lock was bought. However, they have not yet negotiated a deal with Kryptonite. Also, anyone hoping to exchange their lock needs to register on the Kryptonite Web site.

It will take several weeks until new, alternative locks are manufactured and distributed, and PARKER-resistant brands of locks — including On Guard — are sold out at the campus bike shop.

Parker Teacher History (Russian)

2007-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

В 1636 г. Уильям Паркер вместе с женой Мэри покинул Дувр (графство Кент, Англия) и отплыл в Новый Свет. Его мечтой было обеспечить лучшую жизнь в новой стране. Они осели в Новой Англии. Более чем двести лет спустя родители Джорджа Паркера в лучших традициях первопроходцев в фургоне отправились из Новой Англии на Средний Запад.

Родившись в Шалсберге, Висконсин, 1 ноября 1863 г., Джордж Сэффорд Паркер начал работать в 1880 г. в Телеграфной школе Вэлентайна в Джейнсвилле, Висконсин (где он позднее открыл первое из трех своих основных производственных предприятий). Ответив на объявление о приеме на работу в школу, он сэкономил 55 долларов на трудоустройстве и через год оказался в штате.

Для того чтобы получить прибавку к низкой зарплате, Джордж Паркер стал "агентом", продающим перьевые ручки, - в основном своим учащимся и работникам компании "The John Holland Fountain Pen Company". Подобно многим ручкам того времени, эти перьевые ручки часто страдали от технических недостатков. К их числу относились вытекание чернил из корпуса и пера, а также недостаточная подача чернил к перу. Получив много жалоб от своих учащихся, Джордж Паркер счел себя обязанным ремонтировать ручки, и репутация его послепродажного обслуживания росла. Обычно он разбирал ручки, ремонтировал, а затем возвращал учащимся. История Parker.

В конце концов Джордж Паркер решил, что ему нужно искоренить эти неисправности вместо того, чтобы только устранять их. Поэтому, вооружившись своим знанием механизмов и философией "Сделай что-то лучше, и люди это купят", - философией, от которой не отступал всю свою жизнь, он спроектировал и, наконец, собрал собственную перьевую ручку.
Менее чем через год Джордж Сэффорд Паркер уже занимался предпринимательством в сфере ручек.

С 1888 г. "Parker Pen Company" привержена цели изготовления "ЛУЧШЕЙ РУЧКИ". Придерживаясь традиции превосходства, заложенной еще тогда, когда Джордж Паркер решил делать что-то лучше, с течением времени компания только приумножила доставшуюся ей в наследство гордость за свою марку.

От учителя до изготовителя ручек и основателя корпорации - вся история Джорджа Паркера с ее более чем скромного начала развилась в классическую быль о том, как решимость и изобретательность одного человека сформировали целую отрасль.

Parker Pens generation

2007-06-29T03:08:00.000-07:00

Parker pens are by far the most extensively chronicled and avidly collected of vintage fountain pens, and it is easy to see why. Few other pen manufacturers have exhibited such consistently high levels of style, technical innovation, quailty, and commercial success. There doesn't seem to be a bad period for Parker Pens (as there is for most other makers), and there aren't many "junk" Parker pens out there - just about everything Parker made is of interest both to the collector and to the user.

One of the reasons I like Parker pens is that over the years, they've maintained the most diverse lineup of just about any manufacturer, a lineup that now ranges from the humble but serviceable Jotter ballpoint up to limited edition fountain pens selling in the four figures. Also, Parker has also never forgotten the value of technological research and development, and the firm's list of contributions to writing technology ranges from the button fill and the Lucky Curve feed through to the Vacumatic filler, and the revolutionary 51. Even their less successful technological ventures, like the capillary filler 61 and the liquid lead pencils are notable for their ambitiousness.

The Parker pens story begins in 1889, when George S. Parker established the company as an outgrowth of the small business he'd had making reliable pens for his telegraphy students (transcribing Morse being one enterprise where you don't want to have to wrestle with your pen). Capitalizing on several patents, chief among them for the so-called "lucky curve" feed (which curled outward to touch the inside of the barrel so as to draw ink out of the point when the pen was not in use, minimizing the danger of leaking), he quickly moved to a commanding position in the young fountain pen industry.

The introduction of the Duofold in 1921 is one of the events that marks the beginning of the golden age of fountain pens, when both style and technical innovation drove the market to ever-greater triumphs. Racing neck and neck with arch-rival Sheaffer, Parker introduced celluloid "Permanite" pens later in the 20s. In the early 30s, Parker stole a march on other penmakers with the Vacumatic, and less than a decade later they set the competition further with the 51. Parker (with Sheaffer) was one of the few U.S. firms left standing after the winnowing of the fountain pen industry during the 1950s and 60s, thanks to its remaining active in the low price market. Most recently, Parker pens have changed hands a couple of times; first, they were acquired by Gillette (who had previously purchased Waterman). In 2001, both Parker and Waterman were taken over by office-supply giant Sanford (famous for its "sharpie" markers), and Parker has introduced several models (including fountain pens) at lower price points, and has retained the trusty Duofold Centennial and Sonnet series.

Parker Warranty (Russian)

2007-05-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

В эпоху одноразовых вещей пожизненная гарантия выглядит анахронизмом. Но многие компании по-прежнему используют иллюзию вечности как мощный маркетинговый инструмент.

В 1926 году с одного из обрывов Большого каньона (максимальная высота -- 1,6 тыс. м) сорвались несколько перьевых ручек Parker. Падение не было случайным. Таким образом Parker Pen Company доказала общественности и себе прочность нового пластика, используемого при изготовлении ручек. Спустя два года компания начала давать пожизненную гарантию на свои письменные принадлежности.
Бесспорно, время, застывшее в самых обыкновенных вещах, имеет особую ценность. Чего стоит нежность, с которой пожарные города Ливермор (штат Калифорния) относятся к обычной 4-ваттной лампочке накаливания, «живущей» в одном из помещений пожарной команды с 1901 года. Во время переезда ее, обернутую ватой, с почетом везли на полицейской машине со спецсигналами.
Личный опыт каждого потребителя доказывает: товары могут жить долго. Чего уж там -- кое-кто умеет продлевать жизнь даже чайных пакетиков и пластиковой посуды. Однако обычно это случается вопреки планам компаний, стремящихся сокращать жизненный цикл своей продукции. Сегодня на потребительском рынке товары-долгожители -- исключение из правил. Совсем редкость -- «вечные» вещи. И тем не менее СФ смог найти ряд компаний, готовых гарантировать своим товарам пожизненный бесплатный ремонт и -- иногда -- замену. Какой расчет стоит за этими обещаниями?

Parker pens collection

2007-05-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

Fountain pen manufacturing became one of Janesville's most lucrative enterprises. Most important in this sphere was the formation and gradual expansion of the Parker Pens Company. In 1891, George Parker incorporated the Parker Pens Company and began producing quality fountain pens - beginning with the "Lucky Curve" fountain pen. Over the next two decades, the company flourished and expanded, moving to larger accommodations on several occasions.
by 1920, the Parker Pens factory was built at East Court and Division streets. The factory was expanded in 1930 when employment reached over 700 workers. By 1950, the company had offices in Canada, France, England, Africa, and Scandinavia, and Parker Pens rivaled the best in the world.
At its peak, the Parker Pens company had a 212,000 square foot factory with over 2,000 workers, making it one of the largest employers in the county. By the 1980s, the production of cheap ball point pens and disposable ink pens had a negative impact on Parker Pens. Eventually the company was sold to overseas interests and the factory was shut down. However, Parker Pens are still used today for ceremonial bill and treaty signings at the White House.

Parker at the base of American history

2007-05-07T03:34:00.000-07:00

In America, the pen-making industry officially began in 1809. But, it wasn't until the 1880s that the fountain pen as we know it got its start. Among the early industry leaders was George Safford Parker, a school teacher from Janesville, WI who became frustrated with the unreliability of the writing instruments then available to his students.

To augment his meager teaching salary, Parker pen had a sideline as an agent for John Holland fountain pens. The pens were unreliable, delivering too much ink at times and at other times, no ink at all. In any case, Parker felt obligated to repair the pens he sold to his students. So, he purchased a few small tools, and began to learn the inner workings of fountain pens. As the students learned they could depend on their teacher to keep their pens in working order, the number of Parker pens he sold increased, as did Parker's frustration over the time required for repairs. Finally, he decided he could make a better pen himself. And he did.

Parker patented his first fountain pen design on December 10, 1889. Two years later he entered a partnership with insurance man W.E Palmer and in February of 1892 they incorporated the Parker Pen Company.

In 1891, Parker patented an improved under-overfeed. It was the third patent Parker acquired in a time span of only 18 months. In 1893 he patented yet another feed; this one would be the forerunner to the Lucky Curve.

The Lucky Curve, patented on December 4 1894, was to become the foundation for The Parker Pen Company's first real success. Like many of Parker's innovations to come, this one was designed to solve a problem. The problem was that pens carried in a pocket retained ink in the feed tube. As the ink was warmed by body temperature it expanded forcing ink to the pen point. When the pen cap was removed, the excess ink inevitably soiled fingers. Parker's Lucky Curve employed capillary attraction which completely drained the ink from the feed tube.

Additional product innovations in these early years included the development of the Jointless Pen and the slip-fit outer cap. Parker redesigned the Lucky Curve as an underfeed pen in 1898.

By 1899. Parker pens were successfully selling to the public and the armed forces. In fact, it was a Parker Pen Jointless Lucky Curve that was used to sign the Treaty of Peace ending the 1898 Spanish-American War on February 10, 1899.

Parker Pens Models (Russian)

2007-04-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Наверно, ни одна авторучка не имеет за спиной столь блистательной истории, как знаменитый Parker. Ею была подписана окончательная капитуляция Германии и капитуляция Японии во Второй мировой войне, Договор об окончании войны во Вьетнаме, а также Договор о ядерных силах средней дальности между Горбачёвым и Рейганом в 1987 году (всех договоров, подписанных "паркером", и не перечислишь!). А гораздо ранее знаменитый Артур Конан Дойл написал одному из членов совета директоров Parker Pen Company лорду Моулсуорту, что в ручке Parker Duofold он, наконец, "встретил родственную душу среди ручек"...
История самой ручки заслуживает отдельного внимания. До её появления перьевые авторучки приносили своим хозяевам одни сплошные хлопоты: то текли, то наоборот внезапно переставали писать. Так было, пока в 1888 году, когда преподаватель Телеграфной школы Вэлентайна Джордж Сэффорд Паркер открыл в Соединенных Штатах в городе Джейнсвил фабрику по производству перьевых ручек собственной конструкции... Не всё было сперва гладко, но Паркер, как человек ответственный, сам ремонтировал возвращённые неисправные экземпляры. Видимо, это ему надоело, и спустя год он основал фирму The Parker Pen Company, поставив целью создание "идеальной" авторучки.
Уже в 1894 году Паркером была изобретена изогнутая трубка-капилляр, удерживающая чернила в ручке и предотвращающая их высыхание. А в 1899 году была создана т. н. "бесстыковая авторучка". В ней не было резьбовых сочленений, все жизненно важные детали авторучки были заключены в неразборную гильзу, и она была напрочь лишена такого недостатка, как протекание чернил.
В годы Первой мировой войны, когда множество фирм разорилось, Parker выстоял, благодаря тому, что остроумно приспособился к новым условиям. Новая ручка Trench имела специальный контейнер для чернильных гранул. Разбавив гранулы водой, солдат мог написать письмо домой прямо в окопе... В 1916 году была выпущена авторучка Jack Knife - прямая предшественница самой известной до сего времени ручки Parker Duofold.
Если вы решитесь на покупку Parker, не стоит боятся брака. Эта марка, практически, не поддаётся подделке. Сама компания даёт на свои изделия пожизненную гарантию (!), как бы оправдывая титул "вечных перьев". К тому же фирма обещает сменить само "перо" в течении 28 дней, если оно вам "не по руке". Сами же перья выпускаются четырех типов и разных степеней мягкости.
Модельный ряд авторучек Parker очень разнообразен. Есть модели эксклюзивные, отделанные золотом и серебром, есть массовые - со стальными перьями и практичной отделкой. Но любая авторучка Parker может быть модернизирована заменой стандартного пластикового поршневого заправочного механизма на металлический механизм De Lux. Расходные материалы к перьевым авторучкам для всех моделей одинаковы. Это разовые чернильные картриджи и чернила во флаконах Quink - пяти цветов, быстросохнущие, стойкие к выцветанию, выпускаемые в разных странах филиалами компании, но очень при этом качественные.

Parker Vacumatic

2007-04-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

Parker Fountain pens are simple devices. They have very few parts, and the parts of any given pen are very much like those of most other pens. One of the most strikingly different pens is the Parker Vacumatic. This article describes how the Vacumatic’s filling system is unique. The illustrations represent a pen with the Speedline filler; this pen would have been manufactured between 1937 and 1941. The illustrations depict a pen with its proportions altered for illustrative purposes.
the Vacumatic has a section that screws into the barrel. The nib and feed are pressed into the section. In addition, a breather tube is inserted into a hole drilled into the back end of the feed, and a smaller hole is drilled to connect the breather tube with the feed’s air channel. This system allows an unimpeded flow of air to the back end of the barrel, and it also provides the path through which ink is drawn into the pen when the filler is operated.

The Filling System: The next figure shows a larger view of the Vacumatic’s unique and revolutionary filling system. Although Parker advertised the Vacumatic as having no rubber sac for ink storage, the pen nevertheless does have a rubber diaphragm. The diaphragm is exposed to the ink supply, and — like a sac — can ossify.

The diaphragm is deeply cup-shaped, with a small pocket at its closed end. In the pocket is a small pellet of hard rubber or plastic. To install the diaphragm, a small tool is used to push the pellet into the hole at the end of the tubular aluminum plunger. The rubber of the diaphragm is stretched so that it will fit through the hole, which is just small enough to keep the pellet from popping out when the rubber is not being stretched. The open end of the diaphragm is then folded back and fitted around the tapered portion of the inner collar. No adhesive is required.
After the diaphragm is in place, the filler unit is inserted into the back end of the barrel and secured by the retaining collar. This step is also performed without adhesive. Because the retaining collar is threaded at both ends, it must be tightened with a special tool that screws onto the threaded portion that will remain exposed. This threaded portion receives the blind cap.

The retainer strip passes through slots in the inner collar and the plunger, to provide a stop against which the spring rests. The retaining collar secures the inner collar in place and also prevents the retainer strip from sliding sideways and coming out of its slots. The pinkish plug (not called out) is a relatively tight fit into the plunger; it is blocked by the retainer strip and forms a cushion for the diaphragm where it is compressed by the pellet.

Depressing the plunger compresses the spring and distends the diaphragm to drive air out of the barrel. Releasing the plunger allows the spring to extend, relaxing the diaphragm to draw ink in through the breather tube.

These notches are at the outer end. By depressing the plunger and turning it slightly clockwise, the user locks the plunger in its depressed position.

Beginning in 1942, Parker used a redesigned filler in order to conserve critical war matériel. This newer filler is much simpler in design. Its plastic plunger is smaller in diameter than the aluminum plunger. The spring in the newer model fits outside the plunger. It is attached to the plunger at the end nearest the diaphragm, and its other end is made so that it rests on the back end of the inner collar. Depressing the plunger stretches this spring.

Parker is synonimous with fine pens

2007-03-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

The name Parker is a household word, and is synonomous with fine Parker pens. Through the 20th Century Parker pens forged a reputation for quality writing instruments that continues today in the 21st Century. From the flagship Duofold line, to the more affordable Insignia series, Parker pens offer consistently high quality and value. The complete Parker line is barely affordable, but there are the two most popular lines of Parker pens potential customers would most appreciate. Parker also markets lower end pens. Parker Pens are made in the United Kingdom or in France. All Parker pens are warranted for life by Parker, unlike Montblanc.

Parker Pens Decide the Quality of Your Life

2007-03-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Parker is famous throughout the world for superbly crafted pens that write extraordinarily, balance perfectly in the hand, and last for a lifetime. Parker Pens that are beautifully designed to deliver a total writing experience. Parker Pens present a perfect balance of form and function. Only the finest materials and highly engineered manufacturing processes are used to ensure maximum performance from all Parker Pens. Parker pens are trustworthy and reliable for over a century with established shining reputation for their durability and fine quality. Classically styled and yet contemporary, handsome and timeless, Parker creates serious pens for those who care about writing. With Parker pen you have a writing instrument that is not just a pen, but an experience beyond words.

Parker pens imprinted with your corporate logo or your company message reminds your customer of your company every time the item is used. Parker pens are a high-quality product for promotional pens that your customer will keep and use everyday. Parker pens are the perfect gift for giveaways, tradeshows, and of course promotional gifts.

Some history about Parker Pens

2007-02-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

The “Pen Parker” was one of Parker Pens innovations to add value to the Duofold line and increase sales during the great Depression.
The idea was simple, offer a machined metal stepped Art Deco styled desk pen base with a special spring loaded loop to let the pen cap be used as the vase. The cost to Parker seems to have been minimal.

In 1932, Parker pen advertised it as “Comes without charge”. The ad copy read: “We are giving a million of these Penparker foutain pens, at no charge, with Guaranteed for Life Parker Duofold pens purchased promptly, at $10, $7, or only $5.”

Parker Pens come in three different sizes to accommodate the Duofold Senior, Junior and Juniorette sized Parker pens.
One final curiosity, the drawing of the gentleman taking a pen from his pocket in the ad bears a significant resemblance to Kenneth Parker, who was in charge of Parker Pens advertising among other things in 1932.

Quality Parker Pens

2007-02-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

This blog is dedicated to the wonderful parker pens that the Parker Pen Company® has produced for over a century. Hopefully You will also find other useful information regarding collecting fountain parker pens.
You can also find info about the great Parker Montblanc pens, produced in Germany. There are also selected pens, mostly Parker, for general awareness. Also don't hesitate to use search tool for other Parker Pen sites on the web.
Parker Pens offers an extensive Parker inventory of Vintage Pens, Pencils, Parker Fountain Pens, Desk Sets, Pens and Pencil Sets, Gold Parker Pens, Original Vintage Boxes, Vintage Nibs, Sylver Parker Pens & Parker Ephemera.

How Parkers were promoted

2007-01-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

The brain drain to the U.S. has slowed in recent years, but Canada still has a trade deficit where feature films are concerned. That's one of the messages brought by Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, in a recent whirlwind trip to Vancouver.

"Last year, English Canada made 16 feature films with public funding," said Parker, enjoying a sunny respite in Robson Square, "and 10 more without help from Telefilm." That's as opposed to 135 features churned out in the U.S.A. during the same period and-get this-37 in Mexico.

The long-time WGC head wasn't here from Toronto to boost Canadian movies per se, but to make sure that writers get a juicier slice of the ever-shrinking pie.

"I'm trying to draw attention to how we use our limited resources, especially in the West. We have to start focusing on the link between TV and feature films, as the former should be nurturing the latter-the way HBO and other cable stations have done in the States, with people like Allen Ball and our own Paul Haggis making the leap and doing it superbly."

Her biggest concerns at the moment are the paltry amount of drama being developed for Canuck TV-after the takeover of reality shows and feeble variety packages-and the lack of impetus provided by the CRTC (the nation's regulatory commission) to stimulate home-grown production and consumption.

"Compare us to almost any European countries and you see how much more support there is for arts elsewhere-and for providing venues for the arts. Here, we have to fight for every inch of screen space, and not all of the product deserves it, in any case."

Parker knows the whole subject of government-induced labour pains is a tricky one, and there are some unique factors at work in a system that finds many directors working from their own scripts when they might be better off, you know, hiring a professional.

"I'm mystified by our lack of success. Obviously we have the talent here, but we're just not quite using it right. Mainly, I think, we've failed to follow the Quebec model, in which an impressive talent pool is working in both TV and film, and they are supported by both the government and an enthusiastic audience. How come they're able to beat back Hollywood product and we aren't?"

The reason, she figures, has a lot to do with the fact that we haven't put sufficient time and resources into crafting clever enough scripts. It's not all our fault, however. Big changes in the EU have altered the marketplace, making the international coproductions that used to fill our airwaves harder to make. Alliance Atlantis-a leader in exportable, if somewhat generic dramas (think Due South and Earth: Final Conflict) for the past decade-has virtually ceased making hourlong programs, thanks largely to American protectionism and Euro rules that tip the scales toward strictly continental affairs.

On the other hand, the CTV network, which used to be content to recycle American space-fillers-and that's where the money is-has recently taken the lead in developing script-driven series like Corner Gas and Robson Arms. (The latter is clearly becoming an industry standard-bearer for innovative pairing of writers and directors.)

"We have a small population geographically spread out, and there's no way to get anything made without supports of some kind," Parker said. "I'm just concerned that we're not putting them in the right places."