The Parker 75 'Grain d'Orge' (grain of barley), was introduced, by the French branch of the Parker company, in 1971. The very first pens carried a '20u' stamp, indicating that the Gold plating, 22Ct., was 20 microns thick. This is a fine example of a '20 micron' Parker 75, much sought after and highly collectable.
The pen is in totally mint condition and shows no signs of use or handling marks, it did not come to me specifically as new old stock but I think it is unused.
The length of the pen, when capped is 13cm. The cap is a push fit, it snaps into place with a satisfying 'click' and posts securely in position for writing, although many users prefer not to post a metal bodied pen. The posted length is 14cm.
At each end of the pen is a Gold filled 'stack of coins' stud, this was replaced by a plain stud in the very late models. Around the plain cap band are the words:
The Parker 75 is a cartridge/converter filler, a most convenient arrangement as it allows for the ease of use of cartridges with the flexibility offered by the use of bottled ink. The pen performs equally well with both filling systems and which one to use is merely a matter of personal choice. I favour using bottled ink, partly because I always have a range of inks to hand but I do enjoy the process of filling the pen and being able to easily flush it between changes in inks. The use of bottled ink is probably a good deal more environmentally sound and is certainly much, much cheaper than using cartridges. The pen has the original Parker 75 converter fitted and is supplied with two ink cartridges, so it is ready to write in either configuration.
The box is new and of high quality, it will serve well for transport, protection, and display.
The barleycorn finish is particularly attractive and has the advantage of being very 'fingerprint resistant'. As they were only made for a very short time, It is rare to find a '20u' pen in such remarkable condition.