One Out of Three

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In August, I had another good run of luck hunting Parker Vacumatic pencils:

The top one caught my eye when it came up in an online auction for that slightly larger center band - similar to the earlier Deluxe Duofold models:

This one has a “26" date code, denoting second quarter of 1936:

The pencil, as I learned later, is the pencil matching the Vacumatic Senior pens – and I also learned that I had outbid a couple good friends in the process.  One of them has prevailed on me to sell it to him when I see him at the Ohio Show - he’s been working on completing a set of them, so he’ll let me photograph the other colors alongside this one as part of the deal.

The middle one comes from Daniel Kirchheimer, and he’s been teasing me with it for some time; he brought it with him to the DC show, and I was powerless to resist its charms. That unusual nose is an indicator of what you might know it is, yet think it can’t possibly be:

That LL stands for Liquid Lead.  This is the second example of these I’ve had the opportunity to handle – the other one was a burgundy example Jerry Kemp allowed me to photograph a while back (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2014/11/probably-unless-it-isnt.html).  The Liquid Lead pencil was introduced by Parker in 1955, making an example in Vacumatic plastic really weird since it was last produced in Canada in 1953.

Alas, this one isn’t going to stay with me very long, either.  Joe Nemecek scored another example of the Kaligraf (Snapfil) pencil with a side clip at the DC show – the one with the green cap in this picture.

Damn, I don’t know how I missed that one – but at least this meant his duplicate was vulnerable for a trade.  Joe is more rabid in his pursuit of all things Parker than I am, and I’ve been waiting for a side clip Snapfil for a long, long time. . . so, at the Ohio show next month, this one is also slipping through my fingers.

The last one of the three is something I found at the DC Show, and it needs no introduction:

This one sports a “37" date code - for the third quarter of 1937.

It also sports an owner who says this one is off limits!