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HOME PENOGRAPHY PENOGRAPHY PARKER VS
  1946—1949 |
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 he Parker "VS" — "Vacumatic Successor" or "Victory Successor" was introduced in late 1946. A last try during the hooded nib-era to introduce a pen with an open nib while the somewhat dated (right David?) Vacumatic was being phased out. The Parker "VS" is an excellent writer but it was sadly overlooked by the customers. The Parker "VS" was however more popular in Europe where it sold much better than in the US. The Danish Parker subsidiary, Christian Olsen, continued producing it into the 1950's, adding a colour not found in the US, the brown.
It was very similar in design to the Parker 51. Outwardly the only thing that differed was the clip, which in turn was very similar to the later style Challenger, or striped Duofold "Duovac"-clip, a tapered version with the imprint "Parker".
Inside the cap was a standard sized gold nib and had an uncommon feed, made in a transparent material referred to as "lucite", but this had the disadvantage of becoming ink stained from the inside rendering a somewhat dirty look, hence it was replaced by an ordinary black feed in early 1947. Mark I had a novelty filling system which was an aluminium button filler, fitted inside an aluminium socket, of the same design of the later 1948 Duofolds made in Newhaven, UK. This filler, in the Parker tradition, hid under a blind cap the colour of the body. The aluminium socket could be disassembled with the old Vacumatic tool. The Mark I's aluminium fillers however proved vulnerable to corrosion which rendered them stuck. I have tried the hard way losening them with pliers, oil and the occasional song and tap-dance, but to no avail, they seem fused.
Later items, also from early 1947, had an integral button collar.
There has been much discussion regarding the meaning of the letters "VS". Some have suggested "Victory successor", either relating to the end of World war II, or to the English model Parker (new) Victory, introduced in 1946. A more probable explanation is that the letters stand for "Vacumatic Successor", since the VS was introduced while the Vacumatic line was being phased out. Furthermore the VS combined the open nib of the best-selling Vacumatic with the "bomber" design of the all ready best-selling Parker 51. In 1946 the colours were:
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hese first pens had a "leathery" finish to the plastic. The second generation, Mark II, included the colour blue and later the burgundy. Late in 1948 the aluminium filler — following the Parker 51 restyling — was replaced with the aerometric filling system . The VS-sales weren't going too good so Parker tried to stimulate the market by modernising the line. Since the Parker had a lot of un-sold VS's they decided to re-use the old stock and actually glued the blind caps on to the bodies, creating a body even more in the manner of the Parker 51. Looking close the glued crack is clearly visible.
Still the filling system wasn't the problem with the pen. People just wanted the fashionable, smart, hidden nibs and in 1949 the Parker "VS" was discontinued. Production probably ended before that, they just kept on selling out the old stock.
The Parker "VS" was also produced by Christian Olsen (Parkers subsidairy in Denmark since the 1920's) . The VS sold much better in Europe and Christian Olsen (also known for their own brand of pens "Penol") re-launched the VS, Mark III, with the new body imprint "New VS". This last style also included the final (and more uncommon) colors of brown and green to the line, not found in the US line.
The early "leathery" Mark I's are easily discoloured on the section by the ink feed, so to use them one might recommend light coloured inks. The Parker "VS" has become very popular among collectors, since they are fantastic writers and often are equipped with flexible or semi-flexible
nibs. It is also relatively easy to obtain a "complete" collection of the VS: Black
Grey
Rust Blue
Burgundy
Brown Green
There are also some extremely rare examples of demonstrator Parker "VS's". Most Parker "VS" come with Lustraloy caps, but there are also examples of custom VS's ( gold filled caps). |
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Five Parker "VS", in black, blue, rust, 1947. |
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