Click on any link to view the Change Summary page for that update.
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2001
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Supplement after the Columbus Pen Show
Unusual sections:
blue color and a double-banded black. Another titanium
75 prototype, once more with the early clips and flat tassies, even
on the barrel end. French 18K nib comparison. Tassies with a slight outward bow and
not completely flat. Sample GP
Cisele crosshatch grid whose lines are more deeply cut than those
found on the GP Insignia. Owners manual packaged
with the sterling
crosshatch and Keepsake
(just the front and back cover pages). While we are on ephemera,
here is a look at the cap band inscription
requirements from Parker internal documents and a product
flyer for the "Laque Collection".
The inscription specification sheet brings to light several things
that affirm, correct and raise some implications.
Brings actual
proof from Parker documents the date coding using the words "QUALITY
PEN" and that the letters represent a decade form of encoding. The vertical bars
used to denote quarters did not start with 1990 as my original date
code page presumed. It
started with 1987. Since the first
year to use this quarter encoding form is 1987, this implies the document
was made prior to that. My
guess is it came from 1986. The last year
for this form of quarter encoding was 1996. Either
the 75 line would be ended by then or Parker would need a new form of
quarter encoding.
Parker 1990
and 1991 treaty pens. Solid
18K gold basketweave prototype. Yet another Keepsake
variant, this one must surely be a prototype. Curiously
it is inscribed as being made in France! Here is what I think
may be a prototype of the 75 in a grid pattern made out of aluminum. New book was added
for close relatives of the 75 family, the Parker Premiers and T-1, though the page
for the latter is still under construction. Information on the
felt tip and
rollerball sections. I thought that Parker's
date coding of the 75s began with the French-produced models. I
now have proof that this was wrong. Here
is an example of a US sterling grid 75 FP that is date
coded.
Wavy
lined prototype 75 FP in sterling silver that was auctioned at the
Chicago Pen Show on Saturday May 6th, 2001. With the discovery
of the FP, what I originally labeled as prototype #9 may actually be a
real production 75. No
one has been able to identify this to date. Thus
I am moving this from the prototype to the unknown
category. Parker supplied photograph of
the Apollo XV 75. Ken Parker's cigarette
case with the grid pattern. The US Patent &
Trademark Office granted Ken Parker a 14-year patent
#205,872 for the grid design as applied to a writing instrument. Prices
in 1965 have been updated to add those for the Vermeil, Spanish Treasure
Fleet, and Insignia. New chapter for pre-production information
created. This
contains early Research Shop Orders and several early designs for the
"International Fountain Pen", the early name for what later
became the Parker 75. New tassie shape was
found on a sterling grid BP; it is conical. Additional pictures
to show details of the Cartier
75.
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2000
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Updated information
about the Bicentennial
LE from Parker dealer materials. Added a new section
for Parker 75 ephemera. With all these prototypes
being added, this section has been elevated to that of a book/folder of
its own in the table of contents pane on the left. Found two prototype
Keepsakes and compared the differences
with the production version. Concept model retractable
75 FP. Two titanium 75 prototypes. Three Flighter prototypes, one with goldplated
trim fitted with flat tassies and the other with chromeplated trim fitted
with two different tassie styles. Two different black
prototype caps, anodized aluminum
and plastic. Brush stainless steel
barrel prototype with a finish
similar to the Ms. Pucci edition of the Parker 180. Smoke
gray stainless steel prototype with different matte gray finish on
part of the barrel. Textured
gray stainless steel prototype. Matte gray powder-coated
stainless steel or aluminum fountain pens with two different patterns
-- one in crosshatch grid
and the other completely smooth. Pencil
cartridge refill that will fit the BP.
A third Ambassador
pattern was added, this time it is the one branded Parker,
joining the other two from Tiffany and Saks Fifth Avenue. Being
released much later, this pen has the dished tassie and features the brand
engraving on the back
of the cap, opposite to the chrome plated clip. A gold plated prototype
with a lined pattern reminiscent of the Ambassador. Curiously
it also has "75" inscribed on it like the Flighter variant. A lacquer
prototype BP in a test-market olive-brown color with black speckles. A stainless
steel BP prototype with a satin finish, slightly larger in size than
a normal 75 BP. A sterling
silver BP prototype with etched lines that form a pattern of clustered
triangles. Additional information
provided on prototype 1.
Components of a section
disassembled into its components can be seen in this exploded
view. With the growing number
of unknown patterns, this page
was reorganized so that pictures you are interested to see may be downloaded
faster. Thus
the main page for these unknown patterns will have thumbnails with links
to view a larger picture and more information about each pattern. For a similar reason
as with the unknown pattern, the prototype
page was also reorganized. For those of you trying
to identify your Parker 75 pattern I have created a new page with thumbnails
of all the production 75s. Follow
the link to see the corresponding details of that pattern. Speaking of unknown
patterns, a sixth one was added,
an engraved floral pattern in silverplate. Photograph of another
prototype pattern, this one made of vermeil
with rings going down the length of the pen. Unfortunately
only the cap was available. In the limited edition
section, we present Parker's pens that commemorated space travel: John
Glenn's orbit around the earth and man's
reach to the moon. Bicentennial limited
edition in the rarer pewter
colonial writing desk package. When did US production
of the Parker 75 end? View
this page to find out. Additional details
were added to prototype patterns 4
and 6. One
correction is that prototype 4 is made of sterling silver instead of silverplated
brass. The
other correction is the gold Ambassador prototype #6 was actually 14K
not 18K. Parker advertisement
(150K in size) for the Spanish
Treasure Fleet was found although publications where this ad appeared
are not known.
New page showing slight
variations I found in the
sterling crosshatch grid pattern, specifically the inscriptions around
the cap band. Most
noteworthy are those engraved with the Cartier
name and "Made in Aust". Another prototype
75 was found, this time with a snakeskin
appearance, green no less! Added a variation
on the smooth stainless steel Flighter model with the numbers
"75" inscribed on the cap. Added a variation
on the smooth solid 14K gold Presidential with additional
hallmarks. Added the National
Geographic ad for November
1973. Found a burgundy
colored section.
I added a ListBot
group mailing list. If
you want to be notified via email whenever this website is updated, please
join the mailing list from the bottom of the main Parker 75 cover page.
All you
need to do is simply enter your email address and press the Join button. Added the ability
to resize the left pane. Simply
float the cursor near the separator bar and drag left or right until the
desired window size appears. Discovered that some
early goldplating had inscription of 30
microns. Previously I thought goldplating thickness was only 20 microns. Marketing
literature from the United Kingdom showed Parker claims that the early
sterling grid 75 were made of 9K gold. Several prototypes
were added:
Add a picture of matte red FP. Add another unknown
FP, a smooth
22K goldplated that is devoid of any pattern, a less expensive version
of the Presidential. Add picture of the
Spanish Treasure Fleet BP
package. Add silverplated versions
of the Perlé and Écorce. Add new pattern, the
basketweave made out of solid
18K gold. Expanded page for
the Premier with additional pictures
of the variants. New page depicting
the various ink convertors
that fit the 75 FPs.
Corrected the omission
of the Ecossais page. Previously
this model had been incorrectly identified as the 11-band Prince de Galles. The Spanish Treasure
Fleet silver used to make the limited edition pens cannot be identified
as to which ship was the source of the silver. It was just one of the
10 that sank. The previous reference to the ship Atocha was incorrect.
The Atocha sunk on September 6, 1622. Added picture that
was taken at the signing
of the INF Treaty, the leaders the USA and USSR exchanging their Keepsake
75s. Added pictures of
the vermeil Damier and sterling Fougère. Additional facts gleaned
from the Parker documents on the Rainbow,
Flighter, Lacque,
Vermeil, Ambassador, Added internal model
number designations for many models. It appears that Parker sometimes
preceded the model designation with "5-"; for example, the sterling
grid FP is known as both #131-100 and 5-131-100 I do not know why they
found it necessary to do so. Table
of prices obtained from annual Parker US catalogs & price lists. Added pictures of
a 2 more signed Chinese
lacques -- lapis blue and jasper red. For lacque color comparison
found another blue lacque variant, this time with white
speckles. Discovered another
unknown pattern, a lined
variant, and this one is made out of solid 18K gold! Based on the
number of lines around the pen, this is not the Godron or the Milleraies.
I found proof
that Parker did use the term Ciselé with the Parker 75 line. At the Chicago
show, I was found this Parker
75 pen case using that term. Added 2 new ads for
Bicentennial 75 in the wooden
box and pewter writing
box. Refreshed all the
pictures of the Bicentennial
limited edition including all the pages of the brochure
contain the certificate of authenticity. Correction made with
the identification of the Ecossais
pattern, a more dense crosshatch pattern that was previously mistaken
and written here as the 11-band Prince de Galles. Variations in the
Insignia caps are
documented. GP Milleraies variant
with the an opal
cabochon on cap tassie. Added pictures of
many 14K US nibs in a side-by-side comparison
along with one to show the difference
between the 14K US/French and 18K French nibs. Added a new page for
prototypes. Added additional picture
a later version of the silverplated Grain
d'Orge with goldplated trim. New unknown
75 pattern engraved by non-Parker artisans was added.
March 18
February 17
Fix for the Netscape
incompatibility problems caused by mixed back and forward slash characters
in file paths. Netscape requires all paths contain only forward slashes.
Also added this new
update page, SP Cisele, Flighter, and speckled (brass) Lapis.
February 2
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