PA3444 Parker 17 Super Fountain Pen and Pencil Set, boxed (Soft Medium)

PA3444 Parker 17 Super Fountain Pen and Pencil Set, boxed (Soft Medium)

Date: c1960s

Size: Capped - 139mm; posted - 153mm.

This very attractive burgundy coloured Parker 17 set is in excellent and near pristine condition.  I can find no damage on this pen at all.  Both pen and pencil have rolled gold trim that is bright and undamaged, and very unusually both pens have a near complete factory-applied chalk mark to their barrels, leading me to believe that they have hardly, if ever, been used.

Fountain Pen

The cap is tipped by a burgundy coloured plastic conical "jewel".  The pocket clip is a Parker arrow and the wide cap lip band identifies the pen as a 17 Super.  The barrel end has a similar conical end "jewel" with a rolled gold bevel.  The barrel imprint is crisp and deep showing no wear.  The barrel unscrews to reveal the aerometric filler.  This too is undamaged and the steel still shiny and with no dings.  The ink sac is very clean and clear with just a merest hint of a reddish colour caste.  Additionally, the pen was very clean inside suggesting that this pen has been hardly used, if at all.   The hooded nib is in 14 carat gold and a medium point.  The chalk mark applied to the barrel is designed to rub off very easily - that this one has survived for 50 to 60 years is a good indication that the pen has seen very little use.  Interestingly, it shows the original price of the pen as well as the nib width fitted.  

Pencil

This too has a burgundy conical cap top "jewel", the Parker arrow pocket clip and a narrower but still wider than usual cap lip band.  The cap pulls off revealing the original unused used pink eraser, and below this are a couple of spare 0.9mm leads.  This is a propel-repel pencil and works by twisting the cap.  The barrel imprint on the pencil is again crisp and deep.   The cone is rolled gold.  I have installed a fresh 0.9mm lead into the mechanism and the pencil works perfectly.  Again, the chalk mark gives the original selling price of the pencil.

Box

The original black and white Polka dot pattern paperboard presentation case is also in lovely condition. The pad is made from off-white satin.  I can see some minor age-spotting on the satin pad, and the lid has a split corner back right.    Inside the bos is the original instruction sheet, and outside is the original white paperboard slipcase.  

I have fully serviced this set.  Both items are in excellent condition.  The pen's nib is very smooth and writes with a splendid wet line with a good consistent ink flow.   A really lovely set.  You will not be disappointed.