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"Vacumatic Successor" or "Victory Successor". A last try
during the hooded nib-era to introduce a pen with an open nib. An eccellent
writer but overlooked by the costumers. The VS was however more
popular in Europe where it sold much better that in the US. Christian
Olsen continued producing it into the 's,
adding a colour not found in the US, the brown.
It was very similar in design to the .
Outwardly the only thing that differed was the clip, which in turn was
very similar to the later style 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".
had a novelty filling system which was an
aluminium button filler, fitted inside an aluminium socket, of the same design
of the later 1948 made in
Newhaven, UK. This filler, in the Parker tradition, hid under a blind cap the
colour of the body.
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) ,
introduced in .
A more probable explanation is that the letters stand for
"Vacumatic Successor", since the VS was introduced while the line was
being phased out. Furthermore the VS combined the open nib of the best-selling
with the "bomber" design of the all ready best-selling .
In the colours were:
• Black
• Grey
• Rust
These
first pens had a "leathery" finish to the plastic. The second generation,
, included the colour and
later the . Late in 1948 the aluminium filler — following
the 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 .
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 no more VS's were produced. Production
probably ended before that, they just kept on selling out the old stock.
The 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, , with the
new body imprint "". This last style also included the final (and rather rare) color
of to the line, a colour not found in the US versions.
The early
"leathery" 's
are easily discoloured on the section, by the ink feed, so to use them one might
recommend light coloured inks. The 's aluminium
fillers also have proved to not withstand the age of time, since they sometime
corrode and get stuck. I have tried the hard way with pliers sometimes but to
no avail, they seem fused.
The VS has become very popular among collectors, since they are excellent writers
and often are equipped with flexible or semi-flexible
nibs. It is also relatively easy to obtain a "complete" collection of the VS.
Updated december 2003
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