Pen Model: Parker/Eversharp

During the late 1950s, fountain pen sales were plummeting and those of ballpoint pens, nice and not so nice, skyrocketing. The Parker Jotter, an exceptionally fine and durable pen, sold millions annually through the 1950s. With Parker making money, they turned to acquisitions, took on the Eversharp Pen division from Wahl, and named the new division the Parker Eversharp Pen Company. One of their first products was the 10,000, the first of numerous pens of a wide range of Eversharp and Parker designs, but more importantly, Parker’s first cartridge filler (the marketing was 10,000 words in a cartridge) and the direct parent of the highly successful Parker 45. It didn’t last long: the 10,000 was gone by 1964 and the division closed by Parker in 1968.