Duofold Centennial Fountain Pen | Classic Big Red Vintage | Fine Solid Gold Nib | Black Ink And Convertor | Gift Box

It's orange. An expensive ballpoint at over £200, but well worth it. It is precisely made and oozes quality. Parker at their best. I've used it for months now and it's a joy to use.

Much better than expected. I have an extensive collection of great pens but no Parkers. Like another reviewer I was biased against their modern pens preffering vintage ones. This big red duofold has changed my opinion, above all the nib is a dream and the build quality is sound. Very happy with my purchase maybe I won't be as sniffy towards modern parkers anymore.

Beautiful design, really smooth writing, comfortable grip and reassuringly solid design. The colour looks fantastic.

I bought the Parker Duofold Blue Chevron fountain pen with 18 karat gold thin nib – the pen itself writes beautifully and feels lovely in the hand. A truly elegant and substantial feeling pen which I feel I got at a bargain price of £300.00 2 weeks ago – the price today is £592.57. The pen is indeed on the heavy side and can envisage myself writing Christmas cards and signing documents but not writing long letters. So why only 3 stars? The pen is a 5 star instrument, no doubt about that and of course it has a price to reflect that. Even with the discounted price of £300, this is still a lot of money for a pen and everything that accompanies this purchase should also reflect this. No blame lies with Amazon as I received the pen on time. What I don’t appreciate is how it arrived. Firstly, a very flimsy card board box with loose tape wound around it, the packaging burst open at one side and then the whole thing rattles! Not the care and attention I was expecting. After opening I find the white Parker sleeve with the pen box inside, only to find a standard, not luxury gift box with 2 ink refills rattling inside - no welcome card and no premium booklet. So 2 stars missing for a shoddy box? Yes, because everything about this purchase should be special – I bought a Parker Sonnet for my partner at £100 and it came with the luxury box which of course complimented the purchase. I would have expected the same for my pen given it is a more prestigious range from Parker. My first impressions were tainted, I felt very subdued about the whole thing and had it not been for the premium condition of the pen, I would have considered returning it. But after all that, I will indeed keep it and hope to enjoy many years of writing, but will also search for a nice box, antiques auction perhaps - thanks for reading.

The resin is solid and beautiful. You don't feel it like a cheap plastic nor less precious than other high end resin. The nib is artistic and gorgeous. It writes perfectly even when reverse writing.

The Vintage Big Red is a very nice pen overall with some genuine heft and a feeling of luxury - it’s actually surprising how nice a “resin” pen can feel. The fine nib writes close to a medium, and the two-tone colouring is lovely. I can definitely see myself being nervous about scratching the resin in the long-run, but such is life - I don’t have these fears with my metal Parker Premier. Unfortunately I had to return the duofold because the ink converter was damaged at the top - like someone had pushed it in before it was properly aligned, and so I couldn’t draw up ink. A shame. I don’t think the pen is worth more than the £263 Amazon was selling it for, and I think if you’re paying £300-£500, you’ll certainly question the value of what you’re getting. The materials aren’t worth that and in my case neither was the quality control. You also don’t get the larger presentation box as described.

After some questionable experiences woth Parker in the 90s, I bit the bullet on a recommendation of a friend and a decent discount. I have to say, that the Duofold Centennial punched well above expectations. Solid build quality, nice heft and an exceptionally smooth nib which competes with my Sailor and Pilot pens for smoothness.

This is a beautiful ballpoint pen. I’ve already got the matching fountain pen so this makes my collection complete.