Would you recommend the Parker Urban?

[Nerdyhistorian]

I am eyeing the Parker Urban Vibrant Magenta CT. Does anyone has experience with this model? Would you recommend it?

[proteus]

Great question.

These Parker pens are impressive.

Beautifully made and so very cheap.

I bought one just to have a good look at engineering techniques.

Only paid £8 delivered ( UK ebay )

Then bought another one ( £ 10 ) to add to my collection.

The shell colours are the next level, quite remarkable.

[proteus]

Nerdyhistorian

Addendum :

I would be very interested to know what attracted you to his type of pen.

Do you have other Parker pens ?

If you live in the UK you can buy this pen in the colour that you have mentioned for £15 ( the retail is £56, most sell for about £40 )

Ebay UK auction no 292866127000 or use this link :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Parker-Urban-Fountain-Pen-Vibrant-Magenta-with-Medium-Nib-and-Blue-Ink/292866127000


Happy New Year ALL.

[Nerdyhistorian]

I like the magnenta color and the overall style of the pen, that is why I inquired :).

About the auction: is that a trusted seller? Would it be a real Parker, not a fake for that price?

[proteus]

Nerdyhistorian,

They are really good writing pens at this price range, I have tested one then bought another for my collection.

The auction link mentioned is for a real Parker and a good UK seller.

The card packing looks cheap, the pen is excellent.

( There are no known fake modern Parker card packaging of this type )

[KrazyIvan]

I have the older Urban in blue. It's a good pen but I don't use it often because the nib seems boring. I need to grind it to an italic and maybe I'd use it more often.

[proteus]

If you are a pen connoisseur, these nibs are basic but very useable.



( KrazyIvan - mid to late 1980’s USN subbie ? )

[Nerdyhistorian]

Hm, it seems he sells only to the UK. Some other auctions with this pen from other sellers are UK only as well.

[proteus]

Nerdyhistorian,

Where do you live ?

Your profile here shows nothing.

It may be an advantage to update your location

[Nerdyhistorian]

I live in Belgium :)

[KrazyIvan]

If you are a pen connoisseur, these nibs are basic but very useable.



( KrazyIvan - mid to late 1980’s USN subbie ? )

:crazy_pilot: Movie/Book and Playstation videogame, plus my real name is Ivan.

[pajaro]

I gather that this pen is a good knock around pen made in China.

[Nerdyhistorian]

I doubt it is a real Parker as well, for that price.

[grainweevil]

I suspect Pajaro meant it was a good knock-around pen made in China by/for Parker. Which, I gather, is the case for the Urban and also the IM.

[proteus]

For those interested, there is only one way to really know for sure.

That is to buy one of the 2 pens offered.

Which I did last night.

I will update this post when it arrives and I have looked at it.

[proteus]

The topic of fakes has always interested me a lot.

Have spent alot of time at it over the last 25 years.

A story :

I bought a genuine Rolex submariner bought from a jeweller in the lanes at Brighton England for £275 ( Mid 1980’s ).

It was not perfect ( marks on the face and band – links were too long for my wrist )
It looked average.

A few months later, on a trip to Singapore in the late 1980’s I walked into a Rolex dealer to ask if the band can be shortened.

The reply was Yes.

My next question was the cost – That will be £30, Sir

When I returned to collect it, it looked as new.

They had totally polished the face, shortened the band and polished it.

About 4 years later, a friend showed me his new Rolex ( same model – Submariner )
All he said - was what do you think ?

I looked at it for over 5 minutes.
It had the usual domed glass but there was something not quite right.
The weight was not perfect, the finish was not quite there, it was an instinct thing.

Then he told that he had bought it in Hong Kong.

Had paid £100 for it.

He thought he bagged a real bargain – a genuine Rolex - I did not tell him what I thought - I hardly wished to burst his bubble.

Nb – I can also spot 18th Century English soft paste porcelain from 20 paces.

[proteus]

It arrived today.

The Urban pen I mentioned that I bought for £15 on UK ebay

The pen shown has a 2016 code date.

The card packing is the current UK Retail packing for the lower end Parker pens.

The UK packing for this pen changed about 18 months ago - the retail price also increased from £54 to £61 ( last photograph shows the current URBAN retail packing for this pen )

[Scrawler]

Look like Cross in nice colours.

[Nerdyhistorian]

So, a real Parker after all? Perhaps liquidation of stock or something like that?

@proteus I will reply to your private message later!

[ilikenails]

So, a real Parker after all? Perhaps liquidation of stock or something like that?

@proteus I will reply to your private message later!

Fountain pens generally sell with a huge margin added. There's a lot of room to reduce the the price to move stock. The Urban is a very similar pen to the Pilot Metro aka MR, which is permanently priced at that level and has what most people would say is an outstanding nib. The Platinum Plasir is even cheaper if you want a similar look and has the advantage of an unusually tight seal for ink.

Or if you buy a Chinese branded pen direct from China (which is where the Urban is made) then you get something like this for about $5 -

https://kencrooker.com/review-baoer-100/

...So I'd only buy an Urban at sale price. (If at all - https://www.gentlemanstationer.com/blog/2017/4/17/pen-review-parker-urban - that slippery section would stop me, although the model you are looking at may be different.) And I wouldn't worry particularly worry about it being a fake. It's unlikely, and a fake would probably be just as good as the "genuine" article - both pens would come from China and you can get excellent Chinese pens for $2 now on ebay. You can get the VERY well liked Baoer 388, which is a clone of Parker's Sonnet, for $3 - and the Sonnet is sold at $200 or $300. (And then you could order a steel Bock 5 nib and feed from Beaufort Pens for not much more, swap it for the Baoer's, and you'd have an even better pen.)