1981 Parker Arrow - Found in the wild! *PICS*

Most weekends I hit the road with the family and go yard sale-ing on the way to the Goodwill an hour away. We always stop at about the same places, here and there. Most of the time I don't find anything notable but this weekend I scored! Besides the $3 coffee-roasting popcorn popper I found at Goodwill, I found a gorgeous 1981 Parker Arrow in excellent condition. It didn't have a box or a converter but it looks like it has never been inked. It was, of course, in a junk box with a bunch of other stuff but that's usually what I like to dig around in anyhow. It looked a little scuffy and grimy at first but it cleaned up wonderfully. Nice and shiny!

It didn't have a converter and I don't have any Parker ink carts, but I dipped it in some Diamine Majestic Blue and gave it a whirl. Results below.













Some of the photos are kinda crappy, but you can get the idea.

My question to you is this: Should I try to get an old aerometric converter to keep it somewhat original or one of the newer piston converters?

Nice looking pen, congratulations!

Nice looking score. That pen is the predecessor to the Parker 95 (i'm pretty sure). They both appear to have the same feed and nib set up. I have a 95 that is a wonderful writer, so I'm sure yours is just as nice. Congrats.

My initial investigation into its identity pointed me to the Parker Arrow Flighter. But the fact that it is fluted instead of brushed and that it is plated brass (?) and not solid stainless suggested that it is just an Arrow, not a Flighter.

It gets interesting when you start looking at that stuff.

So, NOS vintage aerometric converter or new piston converter?

It depends on what the price difference is imho. If everything else is the same, I would get the aero converter since that is what was intended.

Certainly a nice looking pen! Not knowing what types of converters were/are available that work with that pen, I can't advise. I suppose it would be up to personal preference if both aerometric and twist/piston converters were options, with the aero probably having greater ink capacity and the piston being able to see how much ink you have left.

The new little sliding Parker converter isn't the greatest in my opinion. The twist converter that comes with the Sonnet and up is a nice one as is the old aero-converters. Any Parker converter and any Parker refill will work with any Parker c/c pen.

NOS Aerometric inbound. For a few dollars more, it will be nice to have it all as it was intended.

Congratulations! Where did you find one in such shape? I'm guessing eBay, but one never knows...

Congratulations on an incredible find.

Years from now my guess is you'll still recount the story of your find, rehab and subsequent use of this beauty.

Penknight said:

Congratulations! Where did you find one in such shape? I'm guessing eBay, but one never knows...

Click to expand...

I found it at a yard sale, one we have stopped at before a couple times. It was in a junk drawer box with a bunch of other stuff. It was meant to be found by me.