he Duofold is the pen that actually made the Parker Company one of the greatest pen-manufacturers of the world. Until the Duofold few pens were made of anything but black rubber. Parker found a method to make the rubber in a red-orange colour, and when the pens began to sell they really sold. The Duofolds had their world premier in early 1921.

In 1921 the first pens came in a colour initially called Pompeii brown. They came in one size only: the SR (app 139mm Long 16mm Wide) and only in Red. Very quickly this unusually large pen was nicknamed "Big Red", a name that still survives. These pens didn't have any cap band and had very large engravings, called the Giant Imprint:

n 1922 the JR Duofold and a Lady Duofold was introduced. The JR was similar to the SR but smaller and thinner (app 115mm Long 14mm Wide) . The Lady was slimmer and smaller still, sporting a cap ring rather than a clip. The engraving was still very large.
  

In 1923 a cap band was added to the SR and JR and the Black Duofold was added for all three models. The Lady Duofold was fitted with an extremely wide cap band covering the cap lip, following the design of some earlier Ladies sized Lucky Curves. Duofolds were also produced in BCHR during this time but these items are quite rare.

In 1924 the imprint was changed called the medium imprint. The rubber was now of a somewhat lighter style:

In 1926 Parker began to produce the pens in plastic rather than rubber. The green Jade-coloured Duofold was introduced but these first models were not engraved "Duofold" as yet. All three pen sizes were produced in the new green. The barrel engraving also changed to an even smaller Imprint.

he cap band, previously set slightly raised was now levelled with the cap and became half a millimeter wider.
Two plastic Duofolds called the Special were also introduced. The Special came in two sizes, the first being as long as the SR but of the same width as the JR (app 131mm Long 14mm Wide) , the second being shorter but still longer than the JR (app 127mm Long 14mm Wide). Another new pen was the Juniorette, this was actually a Duofold Lady but had the cap ring on top replaced with a clip like the Jr.

In 1927 the Jade Duofolds became part of the series and the Blue Marble (Lapis Lazulii) Duofolds were introduced. The first model had the colour referred to as the blue-on-blue and is much rare (top pen) than the ordinary white speckled lapis (bottom pen).

The famous Mandarin Yellow colours was also introduced for all models. The Mandarin Sr Duofold of 1927 is one of the most popular of all the plastic Parkers. It didn't sell very well and there are five hundred Big Reds for every yellow. Depicted below is a Junior.

In 1928 the cap bands on the Sr and Jr Duofolds were split into two while the broad band on the Lady Duofold was split in three. The overall design, however, stayed the same. A new top line, the Duofold DeLuxe was introduced in the colour black and pearl.

In 1929 the complete line was re-designed and the pens became shorter and tapered in both ends, often referred to as "streamlined" Duofolds (Senior: app 131mm Long 16mm Wide).

Transitional models also exists. The longer of the two Special sizes was discontinued but instead the JR was produced in two sizes, one a little longer than the other (app 115mm Long, 14mm Wide and 122mm Long, 14mm Wide).

nitially the Lucky Curve banner-imprint remained but the Lucky Curve was also re-designed after serving Parker pens for 35 years! And very soon the pens got the new imprint:

GEO.S.PARKER DUOFOLD MADE IN U.S.A. PATENTED

  In 1930 the colour Burgundy/black marble was introduced for all pens.

A new, very tiny, model called Vest pocket was also introduced.

In 1932 came the last colour for the american Duofolds, the Moderne Sea Green Pearl/Black Marble. This colour exist in both the Duofold and the more exclusive Duofold DeLuxe line, that is either with two cap rings or three.

The three cap rings of the Lady Duofold was also re-designed in 1932 when the middle one became wider. Also the imprint changed and was simplified.

n 1933 the Duofolds still sold but Parker stopped producing them in favour of their new flag-ship The Vacumatic. In England and Canada Duofolds was, however, continued to be produced in large numbers well into the 1940's.

Images courtesy of Jake Levethal

verveiw of the Duofold sizes

ther imprints:
There are many additional imprints:


English Duofolds:

GEO.S.PARKER PARKER REG T.M. DUOFOLD

Canadian Duofolds:

GEO.S.PARKER DUOFOLD FOUNTAIN PEN TORONTO- LUCKY CURVE -CANADA

  The Lady, Jr, Special and DeLuxe models had each their imprint.

THE GEOMETRIC DUOFOLD   1939-1940

hile the top-line Duofolds was phased out Parker continued to produce two cheaper Duofold pens aimed at the low-priced market. The first was introduced in 1939. It was quite different to the old Duofolds. It had an attractive body with a sort of marbled design enhanced by a very unique pattern of repeated "toothbrushes" it has also been called the "geometric" and "broom" -pen. It came in eight designs only in the colours: Black, grey marble, green marble and brown marble and in two sizes: standard and slender. It had a simple clip, tapered rather than ball ended, with "Parker" inscribed on it. It had a wide cap band and was a button filler.

THE BRITISH DUOFOLDS
he first british Duofolds were manufactured during the early 1930's and followed the US designs, but they very soon started making pens in a wide variety of designs and colours: lizard skin designs in pink/black, brown/black, green/black and pearl/black; marbled designs in: golden/pearl, blue/pearl, red/pearl , dark brown/pearl, green/pearl, golden/green, brown/black and golden/blue. They were produced in the same sizes as their american predecessors and were all of the (1929) streamline style. Sometimes these pens had Vacumatic nibs with the archers arrow on it, this somewhat confusing to later day collectors.
  In 1946 a new Duofold was introduced, the Duofold NS, New Style. This was fitted with an arrow clip and the old ball ended clip was discontinued, the clip screw was made of the same colour of plastic as the pen. It was still a button filler and sported a tassie ring on the blind cap, like the early Vacumatics. With these pens the engraved cap band found on the Major Vacumatics (app 4 mm) , a pattern of repeated chevrons leaning alternatively right and left: ///\\\///\\\. The new colours were: black, green, blue/black marble, red/black marble and golden/black marble.
  In 1948 this Duofold was changed again when the metallic button on the filler was transformed into an aluminium rod, rather than a button as such. This new pen was called The AF Duofold, aluminium filler. With this pen the tassie ring was also discontinued and the blind cap became rounded, like on later Vacumatics.

he new colours were: black, red (burgundy), grey and blue. The blue ones are most hard to find today. The big brother, The Senior, was also introduced. This followed the line and was only bigger.
  The Duofold line was changed again in 1953 when the aerometric filling system from the Parker 51 was fitted. The pen, called New Duofold, became slightly shorter and the blind cap vanished. The cap band remained unaltered. Colours were: black, red, blue and green. The green being the rarest.
  In 1959 The Maxima was introduced with the aerometric filling system. And the same year a smaller Lady sized pen, this had a hooded nib.
  In 1962 came the Slimfold and the Junior, all three sported a thinner cap band (app 1 mm) but it was still engraved in the same manner.

In the early 1970's Parker launched a cheap ball- or felttip pen based on the Big Red design. It was produced in a variety of colours.

In 1988 Parker introduced the Centennial Duofold, which was soon followed by the International. And the Duofold was again on the top of the list of Parker's best seller pens. (more to come)

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