Parker Lucky Curve
late 1920s
About This Model
Trying to describe Lucky Curves’ history is perhaps the most complex task in fountain pendom. They were Parker’s branded invention, a turn-of-century curved feed that provided a cleaner nib and cap by enhancing capillary action in the feed, accomplished by the curve actually touching the inside of the barrel. In the 1910s, pens were branded as Lucky Curves, sometimes Jack Knife pens with Lucky Curve imprints, sometimes Lucky Curve pens into the early 1920s. By this time, the curved feed was buried inside a latex sac but still helped create improved ink passage. These later pens were the evolution from Jack Knifes into Duofolds, both with Lucky Curve in their imprints. In the later 1920s, after Parker started producing Duofolds in high volume, Lucky Curve imprints were found on Duofolds and the final Lucky Curves looked like Duofolds, a strategem Parker used repeatedly in transitioning brands. Lucky Curves finally disappeared from production in the early 1930s, with Duofold having proven its success.
About This Pen
This Lucky Curve Lady Deluxe is one of the last of innumerable Lucky Curve variations, most likely from the late 1920s. In fact, although Duofold is not in its imprint, this pen is identical to a contemporaneous Lady Duofold Deluxe. It’s 4.4″ long capped, with the classic Duofold “turban” crown and late 1920’s streamlined blind cap, both in black ebonite. The pen itself is in Jade Permanite, the early celluloid, and has the discoloration one would expect. There is also a bit of what is believed to be deterioration in the top of the cap. This is a well-used pen: it has some scratching and nibble marks and is missing its ring. However, it is a shiny, attractive pen that cleaned up well. The Lucky Curve imprint is complete and easily read. The wide gold cap band, which made it a Deluxe, shows wear but is not tarnished. The pressure bar is strong and was polished; the pen fills well. The next owner won’t see it, but this pen retains its original curved feed, the source of its name. The nib, in further evidence that there were Lucky Curve pens in the Duofold era, is a Lucky Curve imprinted nib; it writes a firm but not too firm fine, a good writer.
This pen is not for sale.