The "Shadow Wave"

I misspoke a little bit a couple weeks ago, when I suggested that a later Chicago Conklin pencil was made from the same material as a Parker Shadow Wave. Strictly speaking, there was no Parker model formally called the “Shadow Wave.”

There were, however, two Parker models cataloged in 1938 and 1939 which were made “with Shadow-Wave laminations”: first was the “Junior Vacumatic Line,” shown here in the 1938 catalog with two thin bands and the earlier plain arrow clip:

The other was the “Junior Debutante Line,” which had a wider deco band and a small version of Parker’s new “split arrow” clip, with the word Parker running down the center:

The Junior Vacumatic Line was unchanged in Parker’s 1939 catalog; while no changes were made to the Junior Debutante pens and pencils for 1939, the series was renamed the “Sub-Deb Vacumatic.”

I was pleased to find that when I finally got my “Shadow-Wave laminations” organized, I had a mostly complete run of both the Junior Vacumatic series and Junior Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic series. Starting with the Junior Vacumatics, here they are in burgundy (Model 645), gray (Model 635), brown (Model 625), a second brown one in more of a Halloween orange (I still think this is Model 625), and green (Model 655).

Note that the bottom two examples have split arrow clips, unlike what is shown in Parker’s catalogs.

I think these are probably correct, with Parker switching over to the split arrow clips shortly after the 1939 catalog was printed. Both of my split arrow exampless have 1939 date codes:

Also, recall that 1939 was a very weird year for Parker, during which anything that wasn’t nailed down was pulled from parts bins and cobbled together – see “The Class of 1939" (October 22, 2018: Volume 5, page 281). It would be interesting to see a split arrow-clip example with a price tag to see if a different model number was assigned to them (more on that in a minute); the two examples I have with stickers match the model numbers in the catalog.

As for the Junior Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic series, I’ve also managed to find the complete series there . . . plus a couple extras. From top, here they are in burgundy (Model 644), gray (Model 634), green (Model 654), and brown (Model 624) . . . 

Plus at the bottom, two examples with “stacked coin” bands, as they have been nicknamed by collectors. These bands don’t appear in either of the catalogs which include these “Shadow-Wave Laminations.”

My analysis of these pencils changed a bit after I saw, in an online auction, a Shadow Wave pencil in Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic trim with a price sticker. I had to give chase, but I thought I was just upgrading the things I’ve already shown you. However, this one opened up a whole new can of worms:

When it arrived, I found that it is the same size as the Junior Vacumatic, but with Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic trim:

In brown, a Debutante/Sub-Deb would be Model 624, and a Junior Vacumatic should be Model 625. This new one is neither: it is identified as Model 1625.

My theory is that after the 1939 catalog was printed, the Junior Vacumatic line was altered to include the same cap bands as seen on the Debutante/Sub-Deb series. This is supported not only by the nearly identical model number, but by the date code: this Model 1625's code states it was made in the second quarter of 1941.

As I was getting all of these organized, I noticed that I had another of these later Junior Vacumatics, in gray – presumably, Model 1635. Crap . . . I guess I don’t have the complete run of these after all, since there must be a green and a burgundy one out there somewhere.

I have not yet answered a question you might be asking by now: if a Shadow Waves at night, does anybody see it? The catalogs show both Junior Vacumatic and Junior Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic fountain pens in black, and it is easy to distinguish black Vacumatic fountain pens in the Shadow-Wave Laminates series from ordinary Vacumatics: Shadow-Wave laminations in the visulated area run lengthwise down the barrel, while typical Vacumatic pens have rings around them.

But that’s with the fountain pens – pencils have no such visulated sections to distinguish them. As I prepared to write this article, I rechecked my collection of Vacumatic pencils to see if any black Shadow Waves might have snuck in there. To my surprise, I found four – or three and a half, at least:

The top one is the half of one, since it has an exact counterpart in the regular Vacumatic line.

At top in this image is a Parker Debutante, Model 524. A Parker Debutante pencil in black would be Model 514, while a Junior Debutante/Sub-Deb Vacumatic in black would be Model 614, as seen here in the 1938 catalog. 

I think in the absence of a price sticker clearly identifying this as Model 514 or 614, it is fine to call it both. The next black pencil hiding among my Vacumatics is more clearly in the Sub-Deb Vacumatic series, complete with its uncataloged stacked coin band.

The other two were trickier to sort out from the regular Vacumatic crowd - I had them off to the side in my Vacumatic drawer, because they were shorter and fatter than the Parker Junior Vacumatic as cataloged in 1940. At the DC show, I acquired a 1940 Junior Vacumatic in brown (Model 629) from the late Gary Lehrer, via his good friend John Bedard of Fantasy Snorkel fame who has been helping Myrna disperse the rest of Gary's collection. This one is complete with price sticker, shown for comparison:

None of the available Parker catalogs mention a “reverse trim” black Shadow Wave – that is, chrome trim when gold filled trim would be what one might normally expect – and this chrome-trimmed example is a bit longer. Still, I can’t think of a better explanation for what it is.

Besides, what the heck – it was 1939, and Parker did a lot of things in 1939 that aren’t easy to explain.