1937 Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima Oversized Fountain Pen

Vintage: 1937

Make: Parker

Model: Vacumatic Senior Maxima

Color/Pattern: Golden Pearl 

Materials: Celluloid, gold-plated trim

Filling System: Vacumatic Speedline filler (fully restored with a new diaphragm and guaranteed to fill and write as designed). To fill simply unscrew the blind cap to reveal the plunger, sumberse the nib to the section, and depress the plunger until the barrel is full. Vacumatic fillers are something of a specialty of mine and I take pride in the amount of attention I devote to each. Any dried/coagulated ink is removed from feed channels. All remnants of thread sealant and ossified diaphragms are cleaned away. Threads are meticulously chased. Interiors of barrels are cleaned and polished to remove ink staining and restore transparency. Sections are sealed against leaks using rosin-based thread sealant. 

Length: This oversized model has a thick girth and measures 5 1/4” capped. 

Nib: Oversized 14k Vac Arrow nib lays down a smooth and consistent F line.

Condition: Gold-plated trim is clean with no notable flaws aside from a sliver of brassing around the bottom edge of the blind cap tassie and a couple slivers of wear on the high-point edges of the clip arrow. Good barrel transparency of an orange color. Celluloid has a smooth, lustrous surface with no deep scratches or other noteworthy blemishes – scarcely even any microscratches. Manufacturer imprint and date code on barrel are deep and fully legible. 

Details: The Senior Maxima was Parker’s flagship Vacumatic. Scarcer than smaller sized models, it remains one of the most desirable Parkers of the period. This Sr Max in Golden Pearl was made when Parker was finishing up the transition from the 1st-generation Oversized model to the more streamlined pens of the 2nd generation. It retains the feather-together clip and the matching striped section and double jewels of the 1st generation, which would fall out of production in ensuing years. But it has the characteristic streamlined profile, aluminum Speedline filler, and wide chevron cap band of the 2nd generation. These features make early 2nd-gen Vacs like this one especially sought after.