1898 Parker Catalog [source]
Parker · 1916-1918
Parker Trench Pen
What to Look For
WWI military pen. Red blind cap contains ink tablets — dissolve in water to make ink in the field. Very collectible military item.
A WWI military pen designed for soldiers in the trenches — the red blind cap contains pellet-form ink tablets that dissolve in water, eliminating the need to carry a bottle of ink in the field.1
Design
The Trench Pen was an eyedropper-filler with a unique feature: dried ink tablets stored in a compartment under the red blind cap.1 A soldier could add water to dissolve the tablets and fill the pen anywhere — critical in trench conditions where liquid ink was impractical.
Collectibility
Produced only during 1916-1918, the Trench Pen is highly collectible as both a writing instrument and a piece of WWI military history.1 Complete examples with intact ink tablet compartments are rare.