Nib guide of August 1991

This material is interesting for several reasons:

1. Here is yet another nib numbering system, this time for the French-made 14K nibs that fit into the later thin-banded sections without the triangular grip.

2. Published just about a year away from the end of the Parker 75 line.

3. Lists other pens and their nib numbers:Duofold 18K, Premier 18K, 45, etc.

I wonder what motivated Parker to issue the 14K nibs since late-model 75s were usually found with the same 18K nibs as found on the Premiers.  I thought perhaps that the price of gold had skyrocketed in 1991, but actually prices fell from around $380 to $340 between 1990 and 1992.

I then thought Parker might have tried to sell a lower-priced 75 but catalogs from this period showed the prices held steady, at least in the USA.  Perhaps there was a special target market that Parker was selling into that required using a 14K nib?  Email me if you have internal documentation that might explain Parker's motivations for these nibs or why they had to change the nib numbering system.

Click on any of the pictures below to get a high-resolution image.  As these images are ~250KB in size, please be patient for them to load if you are using a dial-up connection.

Here are a few pictures of these nibs.