Parker 75 Fountain Pen

Name: Unsharpen
Item: Parker 75 Fountain Pen
Rating: 4.5
Author: Unsharpen.com Staff

The Parker 75 is an popular Parker design that was sold as a ballpoint pen, rollerball, mechanical pencil, and — most notably — a fountain pen. The Parker 75 was first released in 1964. The pen remains very popular with collectors and is highly sought after in all its designs.

The Parker 75 was co-designed by lead Parker pen designed Don Doman and Kenneth Parker (the son of the company’s founder). Coming in 1964 it was a follow-up to the Parker VP, the 75 was first sold for $25, making it a luxury pen.

Notable features of the Parker 75 include the iconic grid pattern, known as Sterling Cicelé or just Cicelé, and a triangular grip that is reminiscent of today’s Lamy Safari.

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The main design of the 75 fountain pen was the Sterling Cicelé, which was made of sterling silver which then had the grid cut out of it, making narrow channels in the body. These channels were stained black in order to add contrast to them versus the exterior area of the pen’s body.

The Parker 75 was made through the 1990s giving it a fantastic 30 year run.

Parker 75 Versions

The Parker 75 was sold in wide variety of models throughout its life. Here is are some of the most popular and notable variants (but not the full list):

Sterling Cicelé

The most popular version of the 75 was the Sterling Cicelé, which was made of sterling silver and had a black grid pattern with gold trim. Most of these pens were made in France.

Insignia Cicelé

Later came a more expensive Insignia Cicelé, which used the same crosshatch grid but in a 14K gold-filled body. This pen used shallower channels in the body and didn’t use the black stain to create the contrast. This pen design didn’t last as long, running from 1964 to 1978. The Insignia models were all made in the United States.

Flighter

Like most popular Parker pens, the 75 was made in a brushed stainless steel model called the Flighter. This model retained the gold trim but used a tough stainless steel body. Some versions used silver-colored trim to match the stainless steel. These are the most affordable of the 75 pens for today’s collectors.

Laque

The Parker 75 Laque was a lacquered version of the pen, usually seen in black or a deep burgundy color. This French-manufactured pen is another model that is quite nice but also affordable for today’s collectors.

Diamant

The Parker 75 Diamant is one of the gold models that is relatively easy to find on the secondhand market. It’s 14K gold plated with a cross-hatch pattern that is similar to the Insignia Cicelé. The tiny squares on the Diamant are raised to a pyramid-like top, instead of being flat like the Cisele. “Diamant” translates in French to “diamond” which makes sense given the pyramid tops to each grid piece. This pen was first sold in 1971.

Vermeil

The Parker 75 was sold in a vermeil, which is silver with gold-plating over it. This model looks similar to the Sterling Cicelé but ages to a darker, more gold color. It’s much rarer than the standard Sterling Cicelé but isn’t generally considered a limited edition.

Godron

The Parker 75 Godron was a gold-plated model of the 75 with vertical lines running up and down it. It’s a rarer model that was sold in the late 1960s.

Regency

Parker 75 Regency was one of the rarest of the 75 fountain pens. It has a “rainbow” pattern that was made of 18K for a brief period in the 1970s before being discontinued.

Damier

The Parker 75 Damier is another rare model. It has a silver body with an extended grid pattern, like the Cisele but with some of the horizontal grid lines missing.

Chevron

The Parker 75 Chevron is another gold-plated model, but this was sold later, in the early 1970s. It was plated in 18K gold, bringing a darker, deeper color than 14K plated models. The pen has a “V” pattern throughout the body.

Parker 75 Limited Editions

The 75 was also made in interesting limited editions. These include…

Spanish Treasure Fleet

The Parker 75 Spanish Treasure is the most famous of the pen’s limited edition models. Released in 1965, the pens were made of silver recovered from Spanish galleons that had sunk off the coast of Cuba. 4821 of the pens were made in total and they sold for $75 at the time. The pens were sold with:

Standard Parker 75 booklet
Wooden gift box with a map of the ship’s route and a layout of the ship on the inside
Faux-notarized certificate of authenticity

On the cap band of the pen it said, “STERLING SILVER – SPANISH TREASURE FLEET – 1715” given the pen a special distinction from the rest of the silver Cisele pens in the series.

Bicentennial

This model was sold in 1976 to commemorate the American bicentennial. 10,000 of the pens were produced. At the top each each pen was a wood finial piece that was taken from Independence Hall in Philadelphia when the building was restore in the late 1800s. The piece of wood would have been present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The pen itself had a smooth steel body, and was similar to the Flighter.

R. M. S. Queen Elizabeth II

This limited edition model was sold in 1977 had just 5000 pens made. It was constructed from brass hardware recovered from the RMS Queen Elizabeth, a passenger ship that sunk off of Hong Kong in 1972.

There were number of other limited editions Parker 75 pens, but many were most for special occasions, like a treaty signing, and only 2 or 3 pens were made. Such pens are essentially impossible to find for sales aside from in high-end auctions at places like Christie’s and Bonhams, where the pens may sell for upwards of $25,000.

More information is available at Parker75 and ParkerPens.