The Parker JOTTER (pt. 2)

So the Stainless Steel Jotter was a workhorse for me both in and outside the office for a lot of years. I can't remember exactly when, but it was on eBay that I saw a lot of used Parker jotters while shopping around for some mechanical pencils. Among the stainless steel ones and those with acrylic bodies I saw some that were stainless steel with gold tone clips and trimming. Gold tone? Really? Some bling to my SS Jotter? Cool. I got the lot for a song, and the SS Jotter with the gold trim became my new Ace. And through eBay I found a means to get more.

There's a handful of sellers on eBay who sell Jotters in trays of te.. Be they overseas or domestic, I usually get trays with the newest colors for about $35-45 shipped. For the older more common colors you can usually find trays for $25-30. When everything's said and done I get the new colors at domestic retail and the older colors at a discount. I own most of the colors available and multiple ten-packs of the SS Jotters. Lately a lot of different colors, old and new, have also come out with gold trimming. There are also now translucent bodies in red, blue, green, and purple.

In a personal note, there are also Parker Jotters out there with clear acrylic bodies and gold trim. I have one, but I'd love to find out where I can get more.

In 2004, Parker put out a line of 50th Anniversary Jotters that featured a new set of 5 bright colors and a retro look to the trim of the pen. Gone were the fletching and fine line detailing in the arrow clip. The ridged crown of the pushbutton was replaced with rounded edges and featured a "50" on the top in place of the new Parker "P" logo. Older Jotter users would actually find this "new" look reminiscent of the first Jotters' design. And the best thing yet: their cartridges now had gel ink. The same cartridge shape and size, only with a gel rollerball? I swear, Parker, you must be reading my diary.

Nothing compares to a SS Jotter with a gel cartridge, and very little approaches being able to beat it.

From as best as I can figure, the 50th Anniversary Jotters were only available in Europe. I didn't really find out about them until 2005, along with information on additional models of all steel bodies with two tone blue, black, and gold bodies, respectively. There were even some SS Jotters released that had yellow and gray plastic lugs, respectively, all along the length of their bodies. The price of all but the blue and black metallic Jotters have been too high for me so far. The gold and "lugged" models for for $30+ on eBay still, while the blue and black metallic ones go for $10-20 approximately.

Soon after, new Jotters were released that incorporated the rounded-corner pushbuttons of the Anniversary editions. More and more colors came out along with gold trim for more colors. Recenlty, as in a few weeks ago, I started seeing new Jotters on eBay that had all the features of the Anniversary editions, only in richer dark colors and with the newer Parker logo in place of the "50". With this new line, the Jotter continues to sustain its popularity as an elegantly practical instrument that one can easily acquire and confidently use anywhere.

As a fan and collector, the different Parker Jotter models and colors are a prize well worth the pursuit.