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I recently acquired an O marked Parker 45. The nib is left foot Oblique, stubbish, and slightly wider than the R ( Left foot oblique Medium) nib that I have. Both the pens are made in England and nibs are 14Ct. Writing sample of the O nib. I would like to learn more about the O nibs and a copy of the Parker nib chart if any one can share. Thanks. Hari.

Can anyone please tell me anything about this Red Parker 45 Flighter - it's not something I have come across before with matching red section and end tip on a brushed steel Flighter body with gold trim. Pen was made in the US but I purchased it from Japan. Fine 14K Gold nib fitted when I got it. Was this a standard colour? Any idea of dates ... anything would be useful! Thank you. http://pencollect.co.uk/personal/45red.jpg

I have gotten my hands on a nice pristine Parker 45, everything is fine except for the flow. It is an Extra Fine but it isn’t much finer than a Parker Fine to my dismay, but isn’t much of a nuisance to me. The pen didn’t write finer than the Parker Fine, but the flow was blatantly drier. The colour of the ink is much lighter than it is supposed to be, and I have already washed the pen thoroughly and flushed it too. I have also tried multiple inks. Yet no matter which ink I use it in, it is still much much lighter! Any ideas on how to solve this? Cheers, Ian

A couple of years ago, I found myself on EBay bidding on two pens being sold by someone not familiar with fountain pens. As I recall, they had two Parker 45s and a Parker 61. Of the three, only the one Parker 45 with more in-focus photos was getting any bidding action. I zeroed in on what I hoped would be a double win. I was interested in the Parker 45 because, even though the photos were blurry and under lit, I could see that the nib was gold and that the cap was a nice stainless steel with a gold filled clip. Also, I have wanted to own a Parker 61 so I place bids on both and had over bid enough (I thought) to win the '61 as well as the '45. As it turned out someone else was waiting for the last 15 seconds and then out bid me on the '61. Oh well...I was going to get a Parker 45 with a gold nib! I paid the seller and waited. After about five days a plain manila envelope arrived with no absolutely no padding. I opened the envelope and was greatly disappointed. The barrel of the Parker 45 was in 3 pieces, two quite large and one so tiny that it was easily lost. I took photos and the seller refunded the purchase. I offered to return the broken pen but he said, "No, just throw it away." Well on closer examination, I realized that the cap was wrong! It was a Parker 61 cap! This meant that the person who out bid me on the '61 apparently received a Parker '61 with a Parker '45 cap. I took out the medium point gold nib and installed it in a nice black Parker 45 and put its stainless steel nib away. What to do? I listed the Parker '61 cap on Ebay. It was listed for nearly two months with no takers (that surprised me) so I eventually took it down. Then one day I thought, "what the heck." I got out the super glue and glued the barrel back together. They actually fit together quite nicely but the pen truly looked like "Frankenpen" what with the glue seams showing glaringly. After the pen had dried for about an hour (hey...I was experimenting and did not expect it to work anyway) I grabbed some 2000 grit wet or dry sandpaper and lightly sanded away at all of the seams under the kitchen faucet. What emerged was a pen barrel that at first glance looks totally fine. Closer examination will, however reveal the seams and one small, tiny, tiny, tiny (did I say tiny?) piece that had disappeared in the envelope and was too small to glue in there anyway. As you can tell in photos, the section of this pen has suffered from the plastic shrinking somewhat but I was able to fit the stainless steel nib that I had into this pen. I got a real cheap Jinao International converter (the short variety) and drilled out the opening to fit the Parker, loaded the pen with some Hero 232 Blue Black (a fine ink if you can find it anywhere anymore) and was pleasantly surprised. My little Parker 45/61 Frankenpen goes with us everywhere. It is aboard our boat each sailing season in the navigation drawer. All log entries are made with that pen. It has been in my carry on luggage to Europe and been loaned out a few times. It is a very smooth writing pen and believe it or not, the Parker 61 cap, while not feeling quite as secure on the barrel as a 45 cap does the job. The pen can sit idle for a week or so and still start right up. In addition to the Hero 232, I have run KWZ IG Blue #1, Sailor Jentle Blue, and Hero Carbon Black in the pen. It doesn't seem to mind. I was going to find a new barrel and section and then just move the nib over and create a "perfect Parker 45 with a new cap" but you know what? I love my lowly Frankenpen! So, in relating this story to you, it occurred to me that perhaps there are other Frankenpens out there that have a unique story and are actually being loved and used. Frankenpen anyone? The pen as it arrived: ...and after the glue job and wet-sanding...

I am quite interested in buying a Parker 45 after using Camlin 47 for almost a decade now. I don't know what will be the ideal pricing of Parker 45 . I see lots of being sold on the several FB groups, plastic barrel and flighter model both. Any suggestions and recommendations of the things to look for in a Parker 45 regarding the pricing or whether the pen is genuine or not. I am in search of Parker 45 flighter(steel nib) with a budget of Rs. 1500. Will it be enough or should I extend my budget?

I’ve been buying and obsessing over some new pens coming out of the vast Chinese market, fueling my long interest in Hero pens, especially those that resemble Parkers, as well as pen makers formerly unknown to me. In taking some other photos today, I pulled out the remains of my 45 collection (I kept my most prized 45s and most of the specialty nibs) and took a quick shot. Here is that photo below, with two ‘ringers’ included. One is a Parker, but not a US-made pen, and the other is a Hero. Can you spot them?

Here is what’s left of my 45 nibs after I sold off most of my 45s some years ago. The second photo shows the reverse side with a nib designation on the plastic nib collar in some cases. From left to right: gold* EF, faint X on collar; Steel stub w/ S on collar; gold right oblique, unmarked; gold stub with faint S; gold right oblique marked R; gold-plated EF nib marked X; gold nib marked N for Needlepoint (it does not give a finer line than the EFs here so that was disappointing); and finally a medium gold nib marked M. This is a small and random sample, but I hope it gives an idea of how wide a variety of 45 nibs existed. Not as many as the 75, but quite impressive for a budget or midrange fountain pen at that time. I think of the Parker 45 as the last widely used fountain pen in America—anyone have a different candidate? I used the term gold* above because some are 14K, while others are 10K or 12K and I did not disassemble the nib to check which was which. (In general, the 10K and 10K nibs are paler.) That Medium is 14K, however, and I don’t use mediums so if anyone is interested in it… (please excuse if that offer is against guidelines, I’ll delete if so!)

Last month I bought a Parker 75 with a 14k gold ‘M’ nib. The pen has the date code ‘IE’, so is from either 1984 Q1 or 1988 Q3. One of the first inks that I put through it was Parker Quink ‘Black’, from a cartridge that I bought back in the mid-2000s. It worked delightfully in my 75, being far more ‘black’ than I remember it as being. Today I decided to put a cartridge from the same box in to my early-1970s Parker 45, which has a 14k gold ‘M’ nib. In that pen it barely wrote at all. I assumed that there was something wrong with the pen, and switched the cartridge in to my late-1970s Parker 45, which has a steel ‘M’ nib. The ink barely worked in that pen either. I then spent Some Time switching the nibs, feed-‘spikes’, and grip-sections between my two 45s, in a quest to cobble-together a 45 in which my cartridge of Parker Quink ‘Black’ would produce a pleasant writing experience. Whilst I have now managed to create a 45 in which the flow of Quink is improved slightly, the pen is still laying down a very fine line that looks ‘washed-out’ and grey. Does anybody understand why this might be occurring? Do I perhaps own the two driest-writing 45s in Christendom? I don’t think it’s this, because I haven’t had problems with any other inks in them. Or do I have the wettest-writing 75 on the planet? Is 2000s-era Quink ‘Black’ merely incompatible with 1970s Parker pens? Or has my house become host to either a Dybbuk, or perhaps a convocation of the Unseelie Court? (If I had to lay money on any of these possible explanations, it would undoubtedly be the latter one.) My thanks to you in advance for any explanations that you can offer. Slàinte, M.

I recently repaired a Parker 45 bent nib. It writes infinitely better than it did, but I've noticed the nib wobbles up and down a little bit (~0.5mm?) against the feed. This makes it feel a little bit floaty/brush-like/extra flexible (? my first gold nib, not sure how flexible it's supposed to be) when writing, and I suspect causes it to hard-start due to broken ink flow. Can anyone offer any suggestions to stop the wobble? Is it one of those pens that needs heat-setting to the feed with boiling water? Should I try jamming a bit of paper/plastic/thin rubber in there? Has anyone else had or fixed this sort of problem before? I'd sure appreciate any advice; thank you, once again, for the previous times you've helped me! Previously, the left tine was bent. I straightened it by rolling, which perhaps could have changed the shape of the rest of the nib (not that I can tell with the naked eye, though I do have a couple other 45s around I could compare to), allowing it to wobble. The feed is undamaged, and it writes "okay", quite wetly (gap between tines is probably a little wider than brand new, due to the repair). I'll post a writing sample/photos if anyone thinks they'd be useful... EDIT: Writing sample, using Diamine Matador ink. All Parker 45 lines are single, some of the reference Parker 25 lines are double (e.g. flames in the Ring verse). Noticeably more shading due to ink deposition.

Hello again to all my FPN friends, When the original Moonman 80 came out, I resisted buying one because I already have more Parker 45s than I can remember. However, when the 80mini came out I knew it was worth a try, if only to be a recepticle for my favorite Parker 45 gold nibs. Although the quality isn't nearly as good as that of a real Parker 45, these pens still hold their own and nib swappability opens up endless possibilities. How cool is it that I can put a soft 14k UK Parker 45 OBB stub in a tiny pen that will fit in my pocketbook or even directly in my pocket?? Here are some of my impressions after taking the pen apart and playing around with it today: (This first page was written with the stock EF nib. Notice how hard it is to read due to how dry the pen writes.) (Problem solved with a quick and easy nib swap.) Size Comparisons: (top to bottom: Platinum Preppy 02; Pilot 78G; Delike Alpha; Moonman 80mini) Comparison of Nib Assemblies: (Parker 45 on the left; Moonman 80mini on the right) Notice the extra bits of plastic from the injection molding process still on the Moonman's feed and cowl. This leads me to believe that the Moonman will probably write much better if one uses a razor blade to scrape off the extra plastic bits and floss the channels. Moonman 80mini vs. my son's "moon man":

So my pen dealer out of the blue messages me yesterday to tell me that she's got a NOS Parker 25 for me. We go back and forth with pictures and pricing and she also discloses the existence of a Parker 45 Convertible GT with a 14K gold nib that is also for sale. Resistance is futile and so I cave in! Today I picked up these two beauties: an old NOS Parker 25 Stainless Steel with black trim with original box, original Spanish sticker price hanging from the clip, and a clear tag identifying this pen as a 25 with a fine nib. Turns out the pen was made in England between 1975 and 1979 as there is no code in the cap. It is a flat top with no dimple. Lovely pen! And then, I get the Parker 45 which came with a black barrel, a 14K fine nib and an original metal squeeze converter. All these for just $53!! I already have a bunch of 45 pens, but none made in the US (only England and Mexico), and none with a gold nib or gold trim. I promptly switched the barrel to a Flighter one I had from a pen that came with a faulty section, since I already have an Arrow and a Convertible pen with a black barrel. What do you all think?

Does the long Moonman 80 take genuine Parker cartridges with a good, tight fit. I have a pack of Parker Blue/Black cartridges to use up. It is sad that while the pen is a clone of the Parker 45 it isn't an exact copy when it comes to the nib unit. It wouldn't screw all the way into my Parker 45. It's 'M' nib is broader than I like.