Parker 45 Pen (1986)

First up on Ephemeral 80s is this rather fantastic Parker 45 ballpoint pen which I picked up on Ebay at the start of the year. Now, whilst Parker was founded in the US back in the 19th century, it was bought out in 1986 and its headquarters relocated to Newhaven, East Sussex, England. And that's the exact year this pen was made.

Proudly boasting a Made in England engraving on the barrel, this classy ballpoint boasts an all-silver body embellished by the luxurious gold Parker arrow. Housed in an admittedly basic plastic case, it remains in a virtually unused condition and I can only assume it was barely, if ever, used to scribble anything down. The original ink cartridge, of course, had dried up many, many years ago, but modern refills fit it perfectly.

The Parker 45 range was first launched in 1960 and production continued for 28 years, so this particular pen comes from the 45's existence. How do I know it originates from 1986? Well, that's simple! Above the Made in England engraving, there lurks, if you squint hard enough under a bright light, a code which reads YL - the Parker dating code which establishes this as produced in Q3 of 1986. 

I've taken it to work a few times - where I've let a select few people handle it, even if they have given me extremely curious and concerned looks - and it writes as elegantly as you would expect from the upper price echelons of an everyday pen. But on the whole, it sits in my drawer at home so that I can preserve its excellent condition for special occasions - mostly when I want to pretend I'm writing a letter to Smash Hits about the Pet Shop Boys.