Parker Pen Company · Janesville, Wisconsin · 1888–present

Vintage Parker fountain pens

George S. Parker founded his company in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1888, and from the 1920s to the 1960s it led the world's pen business. The Duofold of 1921, a bright red oversize pen, made the brand's name. The Vacumatic followed in the early 1930s with striped celluloid and a pump filler that held far more ink than rivals. Then the 51 of 1941 hid its nib under a hood, and collectors still rank it among the best fountain pens ever made. Parker sold tens of millions of them. The 45 of 1960 put cartridges and converters into millions of pockets, and the 75 of 1964 brought sterling silver and a nib you can turn to fit your grip. Parker also built pens in Canada, England and France. The Janesville plant closed in 2009, and production now sits in France.

How to identify one: From the Vacumatic's debut in 1932 to 1933 until the early to mid-1950s, Parker stamped a date code at the end of the barrel imprint, first a quarter digit plus the year's last digit, and from mid-1938 a single year digit with dots for the quarter (three dots for the first quarter, none for the fourth). A second code using the letters of QUALITYPEN for the year began in 1980, so pens made from the mid-1950s through 1979 have to be dated by their features.

9 pens we cover.