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A fantastic collection of Parker "75" prototypes.
B y 1965 the Parker 75 range included:
Sterling Silver Cicelé
A very attractive Vermeil, plain gold-filled Sterling Silver The silver under the gold giving it a special lustre.
The Insignia Cicelé, all gold filled
The Presidential Cicelé Solid 14 ct gold
In 1967 Parker introduced the Keepsake. This pen was made in plain silver with broad "stripes" for "Habitual but well-intentioned forgetters of birthdays and anniversaries" with room to "Engrave this magnificent pen with a record of the important events in your life... all the occasions you want to remember. Anniversary — Family Birthdates — Special Honors — Membership in Fraternal Organizations". The idea might have been good but the pen never really got to the hearts of the public (although it followed the Cicelé pricing). A Presidential Keepsake in solid 14 ct gold was also offered at $100.
In 1968 Parker increased the price of all 75's to $30. And in the same year the two Keepsakes were discontinued. Today they are so extremely rare, especially the solid gold pen, that collectors do not even know them well enough to collect them. Kenneth Parker used to carry his in his pocket. And former secretary of state, William P Rogers used his to sign the Vietnam peace agreement in 1973. Other than that, Vincent Fatica has one, and he won't sell...
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A marvelous collection of Parker "75" prototypes.
Also in 1970 a new model, the Ambassador, was offered, this was about the same design as the Cicelé with the two differences that it was striped lenghtwise and had chrome trim. It was discontinued in 1980. Also in 1970 the Flighter DeLuxe was introduced. It was made in stainless steel with gold filled trim and the thin cap ring was made in gold. The Insignia Rainbow was another new addition with a two-tone cap. The Rainbow was made for two years only.
The line in 1970:
Sterling Silver Plain
Sterling Silver Cicelé
Vermeil Plain
Vermeil Cicelé
Insignia Cicelé
Presidential Cicelé
Flighter DeLuxe
Ambassador
Insignia Rainbow
In 1979 the French Parker subsidiary in Meru introduced an attractive Parker "75" line called the Lacquer collection inspired by the eastern laquer-painting techniques with layers on layers on layers...
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An incredible collection of Parker "75"'s. From top to bottom: An incredible collection of Parker "75's" From top to bottom:
Parker "75" presidential in 14k solid gold
Parker "75" presidential in 14k solid gold ballpen
Parker "75" imperial 14k solid gold
Parker "75" Godron 18k solid gold
Parker "75" Tiffany Grid in 14K gold
Parker "75" Tiffany Grid in 14K gold ballpen
Parker "75" Tiffany Grid in 14K gold mechanical pencil
Parker "75" Acacia or Bark 18k solid gold ballpen
Parker/Boucheron "75" Bark in 18K gold
Parker/Boucheron "75" Bark in 18K gold ballpen
Parker "75" Grec
Parker "75" Grec ballpen
Parker "75" Fougére
Parker "75" Fougére ballpen
And a new Vermeil collection:
Fugére
Florence
Damier
And a new solid gold collection:
Fugére
Bark
Zebra
The Vermeil and Lacquer collections were discontinued in the late 1980's.
In 1991 the ink-collector became larger and the gripping section, previously with three sides, became rounded. The gold ring at the lip of the section (close to the nib) was prone to discolouration on accout of the acid in the ink and the ring was moved away from the nib, leaving a plastic ring between the nib and the gold.
The last setup for the Parker 75 was:
Cicelé
Perlé (22 carat goldplated)
Milleraies (22 carat goldplated)
Laque Black
Thuya
Quite a few nib sizes have been offered for the Parker 75:
X fine - semi flexible
Fine - semi flexible
Fine Italic - semi flexible
Medium - semi flexible
Medium - right oblique
Broad - semi flexible
Heavy Italic
Other costum nib styles was also available for special order.
The Parker 75 is an odd pen since it actually became more and more popular as the time went by. It managed to increase in sales during the "dark ballpoint years" of the 1970's and 1980's, like no other pen did. Between the years 1965 to 1981 Parker made and sold 11 million Parker 75's of different designs. It took the pen eight years to sell one million units per year, then sales was rather steady for about five years during the early 1970's, then again in 1980 it suddenly sold 2.2 million per year and it continued to be a good seller until it was discontinued in 1994 to make room for Parkers new top-line, the Sonnet.
Nevertheless the Parker "75" is one of Parkers best money makers. Compared to the profits made by the lower priced Parker "45" (that had been around for even longer), the Parker "45" in its heyday sold 75 million units during 20 years, generating $140 million for Parker, the 11 million Parker "75"'s generated $111 million over a 15-year span and, of course the fewer the pens, the less overall production costs...
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