Parker 51 fountain pen praise (redux)

[DGS]

We've had several threads over the last year or so discussing fountain pens. These usually begin with someone asking a simple question like, "I'm new to fountain pens and would like some recommendations on a decent one to try for my first one...", etc., etc. This is routinely followed by many helpful posts offering advice regarding modern pens, both nice (Lamy, Pelikan, Pilot), and (in my opinion anyway) not so nice (Chinese knock-offs of the Parker 51, like Hero).

Inevitably, however, the common theme among these threads is that many folks will throw their enthusiastic recommendation in for the classic, venerable Parker 51, made between 1941 and about 1965. I confess to being one of the Parker 51 "holy rollers," for I think it is the best fountain pen ever made. In its aerometric version (i.e., squeeze filler), made from 1949 to the end of its production in the mid-1960s, it is virtually indestructible, and a well-used pen from that era found in a flea market will likely need only to be rinsed well and soaked in water for awhile to be able to write good as new.

So, today I decided to pull out one of my more special 51s that I hadn't used in quite awhile. This is a custom-made pen I purchased from a Brazilian pen maker. He crafted the cap and barrel out of sterling silver, with aluminum end jewels (these are the jewels used in the 1941 first-year Parker 51 pen). The incised pattern he used in both the barrel and cap are an all-over "Empire State" art deco pattern that is just gorgeous. My lousy photos (taken with my cell phone) don't do it justice but do give you a hint of what it looks like in person. The clip is a vintage clip from a Parker Vacumatic pen (similar to the Vacumatic 51 but with a slightly larger diameter on top to be able to fit this particular cap). The innards of the pen are a vintage Parker 51 aerometric pen with a beautiful, smooth medium gold nib that writes like butter. I will NEVER sell this pen! :biggrin: Here are the pics:

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/fullpen1.jpg?t=1280194331
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/fullcap2.jpg?t=1280194331
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/clip.jpg?t=1280194331
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/cap2.jpg?t=1280194331
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/jewel.jpg?t=1280194331

[brianw]

That definitely looks like Ariel Kullocks work... What a beauty......

[DGS]

That definitely looks like Ariel Kullocks work... What a beauty......

Not Ariel, though he does magnificent work down in Argentina. This is from Sergio, who has long since disappeared...

[brianw]

Wow work from sergio, those are now classics....

Ones I will never sell...

My grandfathers 1950 flighter with a factory stub

a 1949 Plum Gold cap set

[DGS]

Wow work from sergio, those are now classics....

Ones I will never sell...

My grandfathers 1950 flighter with a factory stub

a 1949 Plum Gold cap set

I have two plums, but with GOLD cap??!! I will hunt you down!!:lol:

[brianw]

A old Korean war vet gave me the set as a gift

Pencil still had the lead from the 60's and the pen had not been flushed when he put it away in the drawer... a quick warm water flush and it was off and writing....medium/fine nib and like butter. Caps no scatches or dings. He told me his kids would just throw them away, and he wanted them to go to a good home

Oh I forgot to add, he also gave me his fathers Crescent Filler

[DGS]

A old Korean war vet gave me the set as a gift

Pencil still had the lead from the 60's and the pen had not been flushed when he put it away in the drawer... a quick warm water flush and it was off and writing....medium/fine nib and like butter. Caps no scatches or dings. He told me his kids would just throw them away, and he wanted them to go to a good home

Oh I forgot to add, he also gave me his fathers Crescent Filler

Nice story, and I'm sure you enjoy the set more knowing the background. Do you use the Conklin also?

[jbird1264]

Andy, that is really a treasure! Here's the story behind mine. My grandfather flew a B-29 in WWII, and my grandmother gave him the Parker 51 to carry on his missions in the south Pacific. After the war, he became a college professor, and he carried the pen until he died. Many, many years later, I became a professor at the same school, and I signed my first contract with his Parker 51.

jbird

[brianw]

Oh yeah, semi wet noodle on the nib... what a flex. I did have Zorn resac it. The hard rubber really warms to your hand.... great check signing pen with noodlers bulletproof black

[DGS]

Andy, that is really a treasure! Here's the story behind mine. My grandfather flew a B-29 in WWII, and my grandmother gave him the Parker 51 to carry on his missions in the south Pacific. After the war, he became a college professor, and he carried the pen until he died. Many, many years later, I became a professor at the same school, and I signed my first contract with his Parker 51.

jbird

Fabulous story! :thumbup1: Try telling that story with a Bic. Doesn't have the same ring...

[DGS]

Oh yeah, semi wet noodle on the nib... what a flex. I did have Zorn resac it. The hard rubber really warms to your hand.... great check signing pen with noodlers bulletproof black

I just filled that 51 with Noodler's Black this morning. :001_smile

[brianw]

Andy, that is really a treasure! Here's the story behind mine. My grandfather flew a B-29 in WWII, and my grandmother gave him the Parker 51 to carry on his missions in the south Pacific. After the war, he became a college professor, and he carried the pen until he died. Many, many years later, I became a professor at the same school, and I signed my first contract with his Parker 51.

jbird

A pen owned by your father... priceless, what a great story

[DGS]

Oh yeah, semi wet noodle on the nib... what a flex. I did have Zorn resac it. The hard rubber really warms to your hand.... great check signing pen with noodlers bulletproof black

Speaking of hard rubber, I'll have to get out my Dani Trio raw ebonite eyedropper one of these days. Haven't used it in ages. You're right about that warm feel. The Dani pen is huge, and holds enough ink for a couple months' writing, at least for me. (Not quite as big as a vintage Dunn Dreadnaught, though; wish I had one of those).

[brianw]

Just did my weekly fillings:

1. Flighter - Legal Lapis
2. Crescent Filler - Noodlers Black
3. Edison 76 - Noodlers Texas Blue Bonnet (thanks Jakespoppy)
4 '49 "51" cursive italic - PR Chocolat

[brianw]

Speaking of hard rubber, I'll have to get out my Dani Trio raw ebonite eyedropper one of these days. Haven't used it in ages. You're right about that warm feel. The Dani pen is huge, and holds enough ink for a couple months' writing, at least for me. (Not quite as big as a vintage Dunn Dreadnaught, though; wish I had one of those).

Dani holds a boatload of ink... nice pen

[Ru4scuba?]

That Sir is a gorgeous pen...I've owned two Parker 51s and sold both on the boards...I now find myself wanting another one.

I thank you for the pics....my wife will not :lol:

[mdevine]

Sweet pen. I have may different fountain pens but the one I write with all day, every day is a Parker 51. They are built like tanks. In this way, it kind of reminds me of my 40s Superspeed. It may be 50-60 years since these were produced, but none of the subsequent "innovations" have improved on the function or durability of either.

[DGS]

I thank you for the pics....my wife will not :lol:

:biggrin1:

[Uncle Erik]

That 51 is a real beauty!

I have about a dozen, but they're all ones I picked up here and there - no good stories behind them. My two favorites are a GF cap/gray barrel Blue Diamond Vac that was my first 51 and a Lustraloy/gray Aero that's my EDC. The Aero goes with me everywhere and has been through probably 30 states and eight or nine countries now. The nib is broken in just right and I keep it full of Noodler's Blue.

It almost goes without saying that the 51 is my favorite pen. However, I keep a few of the 61s around - I have a red one with a solid gold rainbow cap, a stainless rainbow and a plain stainless one. The plain stainless one goes with me now and then - it's a fine pen - but I still reach for the 51 99% of the time.

[bythbook]

you guys are doing me in... wonderful legacies to those pens.

I'm just getting caught up by this particular AD... and despite having a few decent (and indecent) pens, I don't have a 51... and I REALLY REALLY want one....

...you are not helping.

[brianw]

PM me I might be able to help

[goby]

Just did my weekly fillings:

1. Flighter - Legal Lapis
2. Crescent Filler - Noodlers Black
3. Edison 76 - Noodlers Texas Blue Bonnet (thanks Jakespoppy)
4 '49 "51" cursive italic - PR Chocolat

BTW, you mean an Edson, not an Edison, right? What is an Edson 76?

[DGS]

Thought I'd post a few quick and dirty (REALLY dirty, as in poor cell phone pics) of some of my 51s, just to show you can never have enough of them. :biggrin:

Here's quite a few (with some straggler non-51s thrown in, like a couple of "toothbrush" Duofolds, a Big Red and a lapis Duofold, and a Pilot MYU/Murex):

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/51s-4.jpg

The photos stink, but there are several vacumatic filler as well as aerometric, both double jewel and single jewel, and many with special caps (including lined sterling and a couple with the "window pane" Heritage caps and solid gold trim). There are also a couple of semi-custom jobs that Ernesto Soler did for me, on which he took some scratched or dented sterling lined caps and turned them into either brushed finish or gorgeous mirror-finish caps. I actually have one of the mirror-finish sterling caps on one of my plum aerometric 51s (I still have the original steel lustraloy cap for it as well).

In the group of 4 loose horizontal pens on the right, the middle one is a vacumatic-fill, double jewel in the rare nassau green color. The one on the bottom (in the fold of the pen case) is a gorgeous black double jewel with a perfect, pristine lined sterling cap.

Because the color is so bad in the photo, it's hard to tell the difference, but there is also a flighter pen (all brushed stainless steel), as well as a signet pen and pencil set (all gold-fill caps and barrels).

Here is a close-up of the Heritage cap (gold fill window-pane design). It's the second cap from the left. The clip is 14K solid gold, as is the barrel end tassie.

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/heritagecap2.jpg

The middle cap in this photo is like the Heritage cap, except that it only has concentric hoizontal rings and is gold filled (no solid gold clip). It is an English made Parker 51 with a gorgeous, smooth medium nib). BTW, the cap on the right is one of the custom, brushed sterling caps that Ernesto did for me. It's on a demi-size aerometric 51 with a factory original stub nib.

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/englishheritage3.jpg

Here's a close-up of the 4 pens I discussed earlier. The nassau green is second from left. To its right is an aerometric in rare plum color.

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/nassauetc2.jpg

I'll try to post better photos later.

Cheers.

[DGS]

Group shot:

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/entire2.jpg?t=1280531064

Some groups in close-up:

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/group5.jpg?t=1280531064
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/group7.jpg?t=1280531064

From top to bottom: a beautiful double-jewel vacumatic fill 51 in cedar blue; a rare double jewel vac filler in nassau green; a rare aerometric fill in plum (it's plum, not burgundy, believe me. The lighting makes it look a bit lighter than it really is).

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/trio1.jpg?t=1280531064

A close-up of the same trio:

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn411/inkvue/trio2.jpg?t=1280531064

Cheers,

Andy

[brianw]

BTW, you mean an Edson, not an Edison, right? What is an Edson 76?
Nope Edison....http://pencraftonline.com/

[Gallo]

What a nice collection, Andy!

Really want to start using fountain pens instead of ballpoint. I think the 51 would be a nice option...

[Legion]

Sweet pen. I have may different fountain pens but the one I write with all day, every day is a Parker 51. They are built like tanks. In this way, it kind of reminds me of my 40s Superspeed. It may be 50-60 years since these were produced, but none of the subsequent "innovations" have improved on the function or durability of either.

Yes, good analogy. I've always thought of the 51 as the 40's SS of the pen world too.

I am, at this very moment, sitting at my desk at work filling in paperwork with a Parker 51. This particular one cost me $5 at a yard sale a year or so ago and has been used almost daily ever since. I have dozens of fountain pens but the 51's are my favorite.

[DGS]

Yes, good analogy. I've always thought of the 51 as the 40's SS of the pen world too.

I am, at this very moment, sitting at my desk at work filling in paperwork with a Parker 51. This particular one cost me $5 at a yard sale a year or so ago and has been used almost daily ever since. I have dozens of fountain pens but the 51's are my favorite.

+1, excellent analogy. :thumbup: