Parker Vacumatic With Jewelers Cap Band Review

[grandmia]

Hi all...Here we have a very sought after Parker Vacumatic with Jewelers Cap Band...Enjoy.

[fountainpenkid]

I have a slender vac like this one, albeit without the jeweler's band. They look really cheap to me with the thick band...maybe I've seen too many cheap indian copies...

[david i]

Hi,

Based on collector convention, that isn't the "Jeweler's" cap-band, though it indeed is a rather special cap-band. More special in fact than the actual Jeweler's cap-band. Nice find.

regards

david

[david i]

I have a slender vac like this one, albeit without the jeweler's band. They look really cheap to me with the thick band...maybe I've seen too many cheap indian copies...

Hi Will,

With the caveat that the pen in the first post has a cap-band different from what Vac collectors call the "Jeweler's Band", I would take some issue (it is a personal call) with dissing the Canadian Vacs with solid gold cap-bands. What with having what might be the "world's largest collection" of them... I admit to being rather fond of the darn things.

At risk of pulling readers briefly over to another Board, for those who would like to see and learn a bit about subset of the 1930's Parker Vacumatic pen made in Canada with solid gold cap-bands, here is a thread that dives into the subject...

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/in...gold-cap-bands


best regards

david

[grandmia]

I have a slender vac like this one, albeit without the jeweler's band. They look really cheap to me with the thick band...maybe I've seen too many cheap indian copies...

Hi Will...I wish they were a cheap price !

[grandmia]

Hi,

Based on collector convention, that isn't the "Jeweler's" cap-band, though it indeed is a rather special cap-band. More special in fact than the actual Jeweler's cap-band. Nice find.

regards

david

Hi David...I was under the impression it was the jewelers cap band.Unfortunately the Parker Vacs are so many and so diverse and i must admit i am not by all means a authority in them.Out of interest what is the cap band ?
Thanks Stef.

[david i]

Greetings.

The "Jeweler's" cap-band refers to the horizontally lined extra wide cap-band done in usual material (gold-filled on most colors, chrome plated on gray pens). The USA saw a very limited run of pens in just two colors and two sizes done with all 14k solid gold trim (extra wide band, tassie, clip) called the Imperial Signets. Your pen is not that either, though. Canada produced a wide range of colors/sizes probably from about 1935-1940 with typical tassie and clip but with solid gold cap-band (usually 9k. sometimes 14k). There is no formal model/variant name for these (they've never appeared in known documentation and we don't have Canadian catalogues that show them). There is speculation they were for the English market. Your pen is one of the Canadian vacs with solid gold cap-band. I do have (it is shown in the Fountain Pen Board thread to which I linked) a Parker pen case that proves original intent for these. The band is not unsanctioned after market. These Canadian gold-band Vacs make an interesting niche within Vac collecting.

Here is the thread about solid-gold-band Canadian Vacs.

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/in...gold-cap-bands

Here is some serious eye candy. A complete set off blue Vacumatics with the so-called Jeweler's cap-band. Lined.

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/in...tic-eye-candy/

regards

david

[grandmia]

Greetings.

The "Jeweler's" cap-band refers to the horizontally lined extra wide cap-band done in usual material (gold-filled on most colors, chrome plated on gray pens). The USA saw a very limited run of pens in just two colors and two sizes done with all 14k solid gold trim (extra wide band, tassie, clip) called the Imperial Signets. Your pen is not that either, though. Canada produced a wide range of colors/sizes probably from about 1935-1940 with typical tassie and clip but with solid gold cap-band (usually 9k. sometimes 14k). There is no formal model/variant name for these (they've never appeared in known documentation and we don't have Canadian catalogues that show them). There is speculation they were for the English market. Your pen is one of the Canadian vacs with solid gold cap-band. I do have (it is shown in the Fountain Pen Board thread to which I linked) a Parker pen case that proves original intent for these. The band is not unsanctioned after market. These Canadian gold-band Vacs make an interesting niche within Vac collecting.

Here is the thread about solid-gold-band Canadian Vacs.

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/in...gold-cap-bands

Here is some serious eye candy. A complete set off blue Vacumatics with the so-called Jeweler's cap-band. Lined.

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/in...tic-eye-candy/

regards

david

Hi david...They all look very similar to me...Thanks for pics....

[david i]

Hi,

By collector convention, "Jeweler's" cap-band refers to a non-solid-gold cap-band extra wide, with lines as shown above. The Canadian smooth solid-gold cap-band pens are scarce and are interesting, but are not what we call "Jeweler's". So it goes...

regards

david