The Book
Added 06-30-2009
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This is a very special package for the Premier that was marketed in
Japan starting in 1987. As
you can see the box is made of wood, specifically the nyatoh from trees
that grow in Indonesia, India, Phillipines, New Guinea, and the Western
Pacific Islands.
Nyatoh wood is similar to the distinctive teak coloring, although teak
is more golden, and it is often used as a substitute for teak. While
it is not as durable teak, this package doesn't need to weather the elements
so the choice of nyatoh gives this box an exotic cachet.
Click on any image on this page to see a larger, higher-resolution version. |
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In a 1987 letter to the US regional
sales managers, Parker's
Marketing and Sales Director wrote that:
the sample being provided excluded pamphlets because
they were in Japanese, and
The Book cost an extra US $50 to the dealer, and
could only be ordered with a Premier writing instrument(s).
Fortunately I have the two missing pamphlets: a marketing piece describing
The Book, and pricing. I
will add the translation once I have them.
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Marketing pamphlet |
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Pricing pamphlet |
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The pricing pamphlet shows the Japan retail prices for this special
packaging and I converted those prices to US$ at the 1987
averaged conversion rate of ¥144.72764 for each US$ (range was from
¥123.15 to ¥159.40 per US$).
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Model description |
FP ¥
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FP+BP ¥
or FP+MP ¥ |
FP $
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FP+BP $
or FP+MP $ |
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Chinese Laque |
¥75,000 |
¥120,000 |
$518 |
$829 |
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Sterling silver crosshatch grid |
65,000 |
102,000 |
449 |
705 |
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22K Gold Electroplate and Laque (Athenes) |
52,000 |
82,000 |
359 |
567 |
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22K Gold Plate (Grain d'Orge) |
52,000 |
82,000 |
359 |
567 |
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Silver Plate (Grain d'Orge) |
45,000 |
65,000 |
311 |
449 |
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Noir |
40,000 |
55,000 |
276 |
380 |
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How odd that such a fancy package did not
include the solid 18K gold Premier model! Also
note that the Chinese Laque Premier was more expensive than the Sterling
Silver, just as in the USA up until 1986. For
comparison here are the US retail prices for the Premier line of pens
according to the 1986
and 1988 retail price lists.
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Year |
Model description |
FP |
RB |
BP |
Pencil |
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1986 |
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18K Presidential |
$2750.00 |
$2200.00 |
$1925.00 |
$1925.00 |
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Chinese Laque |
220.00 |
175.00 |
155.00 |
155.00 |
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Sterling silver crosshatch grid |
195.00 |
155.00 |
140.00 |
140.00 |
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22K Gold Electroplate and Laque (Athenes) |
165.00 |
130.00 |
115.00 |
115.00 |
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22K Gold Plate (Grain d'Orge) |
155.00 |
125.00 |
110.00 |
110.00 |
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Noir |
100.00 |
85.00 |
75.00 |
75.00 |
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1988 |
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18K Presidential |
2750.00 |
- |
2000.00 |
- |
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Chinese Laque |
215.00 |
- |
145.00 |
- |
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Sterling silver crosshatch grid |
215.00 |
- |
145.00 |
- |
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22K Gold Electroplate and Laque (Athenes) |
165.00 |
- |
120.00 |
- |
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Single desk set |
350.00 |
- |
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Double desk set |
500.00 |
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Doing the math, it appears that the Japanese prices for The Book really
commanded a significant premium of a few $hundred as compared to the USA
prices for the FP or sets. For
example, the currency-converted price for The Book with Chinese Laque
FP is $518 compared to the USA $220 or $215 for the pen alone!