Parker 45 Starting List....

[Rockyrod]

Say some fool has all the 51's and VAC's he can afford at the moment and was looking at a less expensive set of pens he could put together. What would be a good list of Parker 45's to collect and feel one had them all? Also how does one tell the year of make on these same pens?

[OcalaFlGuy]

I'd of course start with Tony's and Richard's page on them.

 

There's a freekin' slew of models and colors. Several of the colors (Coronet and Texas) are getting hard to find. Harlequins are around but pricier.

 

One thing that bugs me most about them is the veritable lack of NOS nibs available. You can find the Stainless ones but the Gold are few and far between and there were probably mountains of them at one time.

 

I don't think you can date them reliably. There are about 4 I think evolutions of the model so about the best you can come is a year range.

 

Generally the earlier ones are more desirable as they, especially the Deluxes, are most likely to have the gold nibs. Many consider the final domed cap jewel to be it's nail in the coffin.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[nxn96]

At a minimum, I would suggest a selection of the basic chrome cap/ plastic barrel versions with a selection of different barrel colors. From there you could move to the more de-luxe models, such as the CT &/or GT Flighter, an Insignia, plus some of the harder-to-find models, such as the Harlequin, TX, etc.

 

Another variation on the 45 "Theme" would be a 45 deskpen or deskset. You see them a lot on eBay, and quite often they are in mint condition, as most of them were produced as giftsets during a period when general fountain pen use was declining and often given to recipients who likely had little use for such an item. I bought one on eBay a few years ago for $19 in the original presentation box. It was pretty obvious from the condition of the pen that it had only been used once (the cartridge was empty and the converter looked unused.

 

Much as Bruce notes, I've often read that the later-series domed cap versions were not of the same quality as the earlier production.

 

Overall, I really think the 45 series is an often underappreciated pen; particularly when you consider that it was introduced as a "schoolpen", and for most all of its production was targeted as a popular price/midline pen; certainly not a "flagship" line. Looked at this way, how well these pens write and how well they've held up over the years is quite impressive.

Edited March 26, 2012 by nxn96

[OcalaFlGuy]

There's another aspect of the 45's that really impresses me.

 

How easy Parker made it to be fully field stripped for cleaning.

 

If you've done it once, I think you could pull the nib and have it broken down in less than 30 seconds. Parker also made it almost impossible to reassemble incorrectly. I can think of no pen before it that came apart so easily and it took probably 50 years passing for Twsbi to do the same thing but it's a lot easier to break down a P-45.

 

So, not only are they great writers, but Parker made it very easy to keep them that way.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Rockyrod]

Here is what I came up with so far.

 

Parker 45 Pen Listing:

1960 era:

• Black

• Burgundy

• Grey

• Light Blue

• Dark Blue

• Green

In 1962 the Parker Arrow CT was introduced with plastic caps.

1964 era:

o Black

o Burgundy

o Grey

o Light Blue

o Dark Blue

o Green

Models:

• Classic (plastic body, metal cap)

• CT (plastic cap and body)

• Flighter (steel cap and body)

• Insignia (goldfilled cap and body)

 

 

 

 

1965 era:

o Black

o Burgundy

o Grey

o Light Blue

o Dark Blue

o Green

Models:

• Classic

• Custom

• CT

• Flighter

• Insignia (rolled silver and rolled gold)

In 1967 the DeLuxe was introduced, a CT with rolled gold filled trim.

Also the Student was introduced with steel caps, chrome trim and steel nib.

Student Colors:

• Yellow

• Orange

• Mauve

• Aqua

• Olive

 

 

1970 era:

Models:

Coronet

Colors:

• Grey

• Black

• Red

• Blue

• Green

Metallic colors:

• Red

• Blue

• Grey

• Black

• Brown

 

Harlequin

o Circlet

o Shield

 

 

 

1980-1983 era:

• Model TX

Color: blue

 

1980 era:

Gold tone with wooden ends

Silver tone with black plastic ends

Model: Classic with steel cap, chrome trim, steel nib, and plastic barrel.

Colors:

o Black

o Blue

o Maroon

Model: Flighter Deluxe

o Color: Steel with gold plated trim.

1989 era:

Model:

• Flighter GT (stainless steel with gold trim)

• Special CT Blue

• Special CT Red

• Special CT Black