Tributes and Reboots

Modern versions of Golden Age fountain pens show how history continues to inspire us

- RICHARD BINDER

The period spanning the years from about the end of World War 1 (1918) to the end of World War II (1945) is often called the Golden Age of the fountain pen. It was a time when a great many very beautiful pens emerged, and a surprising number of pens from those years are considered classics.

Nostalgia is often a powerful force in the minds of collectors, and nowhere has it had more influence than in the world of fountain pens: dozens of classic pens have inspired tributes, or even reboots by the original manufacturers, and these latter-day "classics" have often done well in the market. Let's sit back and look at a few of the greats.

Reboot 

It all started with the Parker Pen Company. Founded in 1888, the company introduced one of the all-time classics in 1921. The Parker Duofold changed the landscape by showing that black wasn't the only color suitable for the pen of a businessman or a bank president. The Duofold was a smashing success, surviving essentially unchanged until 1938.

The Duofold lingered in the back of the company's mind for another 50 years, coming to fruition with the 1988 introduction of the Duofold Centennial. Initially, the new version was Chinese Red, the same color as the original, and it came in only one size. Both of those limitations soon disappeared: the Duofold Centennial and its smaller sibling, the Duofold International, have appeared in a wide variety of colors and, successively, in three versions, and they are still in production as of this writing. The initial release of the original Duofold had no cap band; shown here with the Duofold Centennial (lower) is a 1926 Duofold with a cap band (upper).