When were you born? And what pen, if you wanted one, would you use to symbolize your birth year?
Sometimes, it’s really easy to nail a particular pen to a year. Sometimes, it’s not. This article, which was inspired by a thread on Pentrace: The site for fountain pens that write, offers some ideas for finding a pen to remember when you were born. This information is also useful for general reference, serving as a limited timeline for the evolution of the fountain pen from 1921 to the present.
Parker has made it very easy to date some of their pens. From the 1932/1933 introduction of the Vacumatic until the 1950s, and again beginning in 1980, Parker has imprinted date codes on its pens. Parker’s Date Coding Systems explains the coding systems Parker has used.
Most pens have no date codes, and they aren’t so easy to pin to a specific year. There are a few pens here and there that can be nailed down, such as Sheaffer’s Balance in Blue , a color that was produced only in 1932 (and possibly ’31). The obvious approach, it seems, is to identify the year in which a certain pen model was introduced or a point at which the features of a given model changed in a distinctive way, and use that information to locate a pen that might not have been made in a specific year but can at least be dated to a narrow range of years. That’s what the rest of this article will help you do, by presenting a table listing dates and corresponding pen models or features. Most models remained in production for several years; in some cases, I have indicated in colored type the year during which a given model was discontinued. Certain other events are also marked in colored type.
This timeline is a work in progress, and any further suggestions you can offer to help me add to it will be very much appreciated.
1921 Parker introduces the Duofold as a bandless model in red hard rubber. Wahl introduces the Wahl Pen.
1923 Conklin introduces the Duragraph. Sheaffer introduces the White Dot. Waterman introduces woodgrain (“mottled”) hard rubber.
1926 Parker converts all production to celluloid. Waterman introduces red rippled hard rubber.
1927 Carter’s converts production to celluloid. Waterman introduces two new “Ripple” models, the No 5 and No 7.
1928 Parker introduces the Three Fifty in Modernistic Blue (“True Blue”).
1931 Conklin introduces the Nozac. Wahl introduces the Doric and Oxford.
1933 Parker introduces the Vacumatic (briefly called the Vacuum-Filler). Some Bantams are imprinted for the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exhibition.
1934 Parker introduces the Parkette.
1937 Parker introduces the more-streamlined Speedline Vacumatic. Sheaffer introduces the Model 47, later named the Crest.
1944 Esterbrook converts its “twist” filler to lever filling, creating the Model J.
1945 Reynolds introduces the Rocket ballpoint. Eversharp introduces the CA ballpoint. (Both pens are disastrously unreliable.) Waterman introduces the Taperite.
1947 Parker introduces the “51” Demi. Sheaffer introduces the Fineline.
1958 Sheaffer introduces the Lady Sheaffer, a Skripsert model.
1960 Parker introduces the 45.
1961 Sheaffer introduces the PFM-styled Imperial.
1962 Parker introduces the VP.
1969 Parker introduces the 65. Sheaffer introduces the flat-top economy pen that will be renamed in 1976 to brecomer the No Nonsense.
1970 Parker introduces the T-1. Sheaffer introduces the Nostalgia.
1974 Waterman introduces the Gentleman.
1976 Sheaffer introduces the Targa and relaunches its economy flat-top as the No Nonsense.
1977 Parker introduces the 180.
1978 Parker introduces the Falcon 50.
1983 Parker introduces the Premier. Sheaffer adds fountain pens to the TRZ line, introduced in 1981 as a ballpoint. Waterman introduces the Man 100.
1986 Parker relaunches the 180 as a new member of the Classic line, with a redesigned nib that is no longer flippable. Parker introduces the Vector.
1989 Parker introduces the 95, a slightly retooled version of the Arrow.
1990 Sheaffer introduces the Fashion. Waterman introduces the Harlequin.
1991 Cross introduces the Signature. Parker introduces the Insignia. Sheaffer reintroduces the Crest.
1992 Cross introduces the Townsend. Montblanc introduce the Writers and Patron of the Arts Editions. Sheaffer introduces the Fashion II. Waterman introduces the Edson.
1995 Cross introduces the Solo. Sheaffer introduces the Legacy and the Triumph Imperial.
2000 Cross introduces the ATX. Parker introduces the Ellipse. Sheaffer introduces the Intrigue.
2001 Bexley produces the Sleeve Filler. Parker introduces the Inflection.
2005 Bexley produces the Stradivarius LE. Parker introduces the Latitude. Taccia introduces the Mother of Pearl.
2009 Bexley produces the 56 SE in ebonite.
2013 Montblanc introduces the Heritage 1912.