IVORINE

Three fantastic Ivorines from around 1920.

Much later, in 1916, according to their own recapitulation, Parker introduced a small, colourful pen aimed at the ladies market. It was in all other aspects based on the Jack Knife button fillers offered at the time. It was called the Ivorine.

It wasn't widely advertised, although Parker in one november 1921 ad boasted that it was selling like "wildfire", The truth was that Parker had trouble obtaining the raw material. Since casein wasn't readily available in the US it was being shipped all the way from France. A somewhat risky endevour since it was so sensitive to moist storing. The ad continues to explain that 1 200 pounds of the Ivorine pen material had arrived in New York on October 23rd 1921 on it's trip from Bordeaux. It was destined to be made into Parker "Safety sealed, self filling pens".

It is possible that World War I hindered the export from Europe. David Nishimura refers to Parker ads in turn referring to the interruption of Ivorine availability due to the war. He believes that the source of the material prior to that interruption was Germany rather than France.

The 1921 colours were:
     Coral
     Light and dark purple (old rose)
     White
     Orange
     Light blue
     Yellow
     Red

Three sizes and six variants were offered and priced accordingly:

     Small sized with nickle clip $3.50
     Small sized with cap ring $3.75
     Medium sized with nickle clip $4.00
     Medium sized with cap ring $4.25
     Large sized with nickle clip $5.00
     Large sized with cap ring $5.25

Later colours included:

    Turquoise blue
    Jade green
    Coral tint
    Slate grey
    Deep violet and crimson

New colours were introduced before christmas 1921:

     Purple
     Green
     Mauve
     Taupe
     Transparent bakelite
     Black

Five wonderful Ivorines from the 1920's.

L ater they were also offered with gold clips and standard Jack Knife numbers:

     #20 Nickle clip $3.75
     #23 Nickle clip $4.25
     #20 Gold clip $4.25
     #23 Gold clip $4.75
     #20 Ring top $4.00
     #23 Ring top $4.50
     #66 2 point pen with ring top and gold crown $5.00
     #67 3 point pen with ring top and gold crown $5.50

It's quite possible that many of the mentioned colours were the same only with different names used in the advertising.

When the celluloid was invented the, casein in pen making was rapidly rendered obsoleted but some pen manufacturers, notably Conway Stewart, continued production. The Parker Ivorines were discontinued in 1925. They were replaced by the very similar celluloid (or as Parker refers to it Permanite) Pastels that were introduced in 1926.

There has been much controversy regarding which pens are casein and which are not. Pen collector David Nishimura has handled many true casein pens and devised an easy test to see if the pen is really casein or "just ordinary" plastic. The only way to know for sure is to scrape a small amount of plastic from the inside of the pen and drip some acetone on it. Acetone will desolve celluloid but not casein (which also makes them difficult to repair). He argues that most pens in collector's hands believed to be casein are in fact celluloid, be that colourful ones.

Hand painted Ivorines from the 1920's.

Parker Ivorine ad, 1921.