Malachite mechanical pencil?

**Escaliba** · September 21st, 2016, 08:31 PM

In with my deceased father's papers, I found this mechanical pencil as per attached photograph. It is a Parker and possibly malachite. Can anyone please date it for me? It would be somewhere between the 1920s and the 1950s, most likely. Many thanks.

**MPGeek** · October 20th, 2016, 01:53 AM

Speaks like Duofold, check http://www.parkerpens.net/duofold.html and Google "Parker Duofold" images.

**Escaliba** · October 21st, 2016, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by MPGeek

Speaks like Duofold, check http://www.parkerpens.net/duofold.html and Google "Parker Duofold" images.

Thank you very much for those suggestions. I found the pencil on http://www.parkerpens.net/duofold.html , identical in every detail. What a great site, by the way.

**MPGeek** · October 21st, 2016, 06:48 AM

Thanks, good stuff then

**Scrawler** · October 24th, 2016, 10:54 AM

This is called Jade Radite or Permanite and it could date to as early as 1928.

**Escaliba** · October 25th, 2016, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by Scrawler

This is called Jade Radite or Permanite and it could date to as early as 1928.

Many thanks, Scrawler. Can you tell me anymore about Jade Radite, please?
Re the date, yes, I think you would be right. My Dad was born in 1913 & the snippets of family history I am slowly collecting suggest the pencil belonged to his younger years. It could even have been a confirmation gift.

**Scrawler** · October 25th, 2016, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by Escaliba

Originally Posted by Scrawler

This is called Jade Radite or Permanite and it could date to as early as 1928.

Many thanks, Scrawler. Can you tell me anymore about Jade Radite, please?
Re the date, yes, I think you would be right. My Dad was born in 1913 & the snippets of family history I am slowly collecting suggest the pencil belonged to his younger years. It could even have been a confirmation gift.

It was used by Parker and Sheaffer to make fountain pens and pencils starting in late 1926 until the depression really caught hold a few years later. It was only used on upper end more expensive pens. It is highly sought after when it is not faded or discoloured. It discolours mostly by absorption of gasses from pen sacs, but also a little from sweat. It tends to shrink a little with age and sunlight. It is beautiful material. Yours looks like it has been kept in a dark place when not in use. This is one of the first coloured plastics invented at a time when most pens were still black.

Edit: The first Jade prior to 1928 was paler green. Yours is the brighter green, which is how I have dated it.