You've Got Your First Found In The Wild Parker 51 In Your Hand, Now What?

[dysmedia]

43 minutes ago, Mr Gutsy said:

 

 

I wouldn't deep clean it with ammonia, unless the pen was being troublesome and not performing. From your post, it sounds like all is well with the pen filling and writing.

I wouldn't worry about the sac not fully filling, that's completely normal for these pens and the way they fill. The pen has a breathing tube attached to the feed which helps the pen fill to its optimal capacity and retain ink be equalising the internal pressure with the outside. 

 

The only way to fully fill the sac would be to disassemble the pen and eye dropper ink into the sac. This isn't recommended as the pen is not designed to be regularly taken apart and will be sealed most likely with Shellac.  I also wouldn't worry about the staining of the sac from any ink you use. I've owned several pens where the sac is almost stained black and the pen worked great.

 

Thanks so much!  I'd read so many posts about how these pens generally require new breather tubes (if I have that right?), so I thought I'd best check.

[Mr Gutsy]

17 minutes ago, dysmedia said:

 

Thanks so much!  I'd read so many posts about how these pens generally require new breather tubes (if I have that right?), so I thought I'd best check.

Your pen is a 51 special, so it'll be a plastic breather tube. Given that the pen fills the sac almost completely and you can't hear anything rattling about when you shake it there's no need to replace it.

New breather tubes tend to be needed if the pen in a previous life was filled with "51"/"Superchrome" inks, which I'm led to believe used alcohols rather than water to suspend the dyes used in ink.

The result was a very aggressive solvent which attacked the breather tubes. Early 51s used sterling silver and eventually switched to plastic, given how quickly the ink chewed them up. 

[inkstainedruth]

I have a bunch of 51s (pretty much all found in the wild).  And NONE of the Aerometric models needed any sort of repairs or replacement of the sac or breather tube (although one needed to have the tines on the EF nib opened up a bit).  The 51 Vacs tended to need more work, such as replacement of the diaphragms but I don't remember offhand about the breather tube on those.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dysmedia]

Okay, seems that two new wild 51s just crawled into my apartment. They're in great shape, functionally, but I'd like to grind one of them down from a fine to an extra fine. Is this recommended? Might it ruin a good nib? And does this require a virtuosic nibmeister, or can any competent repair person do a perfect job?

[dysmedia]

On 1/13/2022 at 3:25 PM, dysmedia said:

Okay, seems that two new wild 51s just crawled into my apartment. They're in great shape, functionally, but I'd like to grind one of them down from a fine to an extra fine. Is this recommended? Might it ruin a good nib? And does this require a virtuosic nibmeister, or can any competent repair person do a perfect job?

 

Er, please ignore this post. I realize I just asked the same question in another thread (being, you know, a touch senile), and the responses were more than sufficient.

[matteob]

Just bought my first from Barry at Writetime. I have not inked it up yet but he seems to have a good reputation and I think he services pens before sale. There are people in the UK who can service these though so not worried if issues develop, I got it for a very reasonable price. What next well I am going to use it. I have seen these described as workhorse pens and it is compact and seems sturdy so it will get plenty of use.

[inkstainedruth]

Yup, IME they are exactly what they were designed to be -- superb writing instruments.  Expensive in their day (I think they were Parker's flagship line for something like 20 years), all the money went into R&D -- from the Lucite barrel to the hooded nib.  They sold 12 MILLION of them -- and then stopped counting (they probably made about 20 million overall).  That says something right there.

Even with the rarest Aerometric color, Plum (which was only made for the 1948-49 model year), there are probably thousands or even tens of thousands of them out there (mitto doesn't have them ALL, much as he tries... ).  I keep thinking that some day I'll luck into a full-size Plummer for not too exorbitant a price, but have the very nice Demi-size one in the meantime, with a rolled gold cap and a medium nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Encre Noire]

In one of my unfocused peregrinations I found myself in an antique store with vintage perfume in mind;and,there they were(it was),two pens that I had only seen pictures of,a Sheaffer's Imperial pen/pencil set and a Parker 51. Honestly I was more interested in the Sheaffer with its cool inlaid nib. I'm a noob.

 

What really stood out to me was that both pens were in fairly pristine condition and the boxes were beat and filthy. I decided I would try to take pity on them both but would just buy the Sheaffer if I couldn't haggle a good price. The Sheaffer set was marked $45 and the Parker $35. Looking back now I see that as a very fair price,I offered $50 for both pens and was met with "make it $55" which I agreed to. My very first vintage pen purchase! A two-fer. 

 

Knowing absolutely nothing about vintage pens,when I got them home I wasn't exactly sure what to do with them. In a David Copperfield moment of inspiration I thought,"I should wash them!"

And heated them a bath; but,first availed myself of How-to-wash a fountain pen 101 on the interwebs.

 

To my complete and utter delight BOTH pens came to life after soaking and flushing and filling with Montblanc Midnight Bleu; wrote smooth,juicy lines!

 

The "51",I believe to be from the mid-to-late 60's,a burgundy "Special" but with a matte Lustraloy cap with pearl-grey jewel(not shiny with black jewel). I also think it has a fine/medium gold nib.

Would this be called a "Standard"?

 

I am still amazed at the condition of the "51";no dents, dings,or scratches AT ALL. And it writes more wonderfully than I could have imagined. 

 

Yes,I get it. Epiphany! Feeling dumb-ass lucky to have the "51" and smile everytime I use it. Without knowing,it was exactly what I wanted. For $27.50. 

 

As found:

 

 

After a good scrubbing:

 

 

 

 

[Carguy]

You got a FANTASTIC deal….I’m jealous!

[Armo]

Bought 2 new to me 51's the other day. I already had a '55 burgundy aerometric but have been Jonesing for a vacuumatic and one with a blue diamond cap. Anyway both came up at the same time so I went for it. The Vacuumatic is a '49 black with a broadish nib but otherwise very standard, the other is a '48 grey with the diamond cap. When I looked closely it turns out to be what I believe is a Demi (133mm capped). The barrel has no date code, just the numerals 51. The nib is dated and made in Canada. Doubly delighted.

[mitto]

On 7/17/2022 at 11:33 PM, Armo said:

Bought 2 new to me 51's the other day. I already had a '55 burgundy aerometric but have been Jonesing for a vacuumatic and one with a blue diamond cap. Anyway both came up at the same time so I went for it. The Vacuumatic is a '49 black with a broadish nib but otherwise very standard, the other is a '48 grey with the diamond cap. When I looked closely it turns out to be what I believe is a Demi (133mm capped). The barrel has no date code, just the numerals 51. The nib is dated and made in Canada. Doubly delighted.

Nice pen. Enjoy writing with it. 

[stoen]

Hello Everybody,

 

I never thought I would post in the Parker forum, since I’ve never found their pens particularly attractive writers: my school pen was a 45; the pre-51 pens I’ve found somewhat vulnerable and arcane, the “post-fiftyones” appeared somehow plain and missing the writing charm I was hoping for. The 51 nibs I’ve come across were mostly stiff like nails or ball-point pens. So I got more into “european style” open nib piston fillers (Pelikan, MB).

 

Then all of a sudden, things changed. At a friends place I spotted a nice english aerometric 51 that nobody took care of. It had a soft, responsive, springy, slightly stubbish nib, quite unlike any 51 I’ve seen and tried before. I don’t know if this is an anomaly, but I immediately fell in love with it.  I couldn’t believe at how it felt in my hand! The friend offered it to me at a fair price, and so I got my 51, almost “found in the wild”.

🙂

Thanks to everybody for pointing at clear instructions in cleaning and taking care of the pen; after 36 hours of careful soaking and rinsing, here it is - near mint. I know that writing preferences are a matter of personal taste, so that’s my story of how I finally got the most famous pen in the world.

Hope you’ll like it.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Very nice!  Congratulations for finding your way over to the Dark Side (we have cookies...).  

I think all my 51s have nails for nibs....  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mitto]

On 12/3/2022 at 3:23 AM, stoen said:

Hello Everybody,

 

I never thought I would post in the Parker forum, since I’ve never found their pens particularly attractive writers: my school pen was a 45; the pre-51 pens I’ve found somewhat vulnerable and arcan;, the “post-fiftyones” appeared somehow plain and missing the writing charm I was hoping for. The 51 nibs I’ve come across were mostly stiff like nails or ball-point pens. So I got more into “european style” open nib piston fillers (Pelikan, MB).

 

Then all of a sudden, things changed. At a friends place I spotted a nice english aerometric 51 that nobody took care of. It had a soft, responsive, springy, slightly stubbish nib, quite unlike any 51 I’ve seen and tried before. I don’t know if this is an anomaly, but I immediately fell in love with it.  I couldn’t believe at how it felt in my hand! The friend offered it to me at a fair price, and so I got my 51, almost “found in the wild”.

🙂

Thanks to everybody for pointing at clear instructions in cleaning and taking care of the pen; after 36 hours of careful soaking and rinsing, here it is - near mint. I know that writing preferences are a matter of personal taste, so that’s my story of how I finally got the most famous pen in the world.

Hope you’ll like it.

 

Welcome to the P51 Club. 

[stoen]

15 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I think all my 51s have nails for nibs....  

Thanks for your kind words, Everybody.

 

I know that mainstream P-51 are notorious for zero-flex. Meanwhile I’ve learned Parker also used to offer some special nibs (shorthand, arabic, music, italic…) but never came across one before, so I still wonder if they had them in mass production, or perhaps as special orders only?

 

A pen repairperson told me that such a P-51 could go for double the price of a mainstream P-51 in equal condition, but I intend to keep mine for good, since it’s such a pleasure to write with.

🙂

 

 

[TrueBlue719]

I acquired my first 51 about a year ago. I was looking through the "junk pens" cup at my local antique store, and I saw something with a missing clip and cap jewel.  Upon closer inspection, I unscrewed the blind cap and saw the vacuumatic pump.  I knew I had found a needle in the haystack.  $5 later I had a 1946 Parker 51 in my pocket.  The pen definitely needed some love, and, being new into fountain pen repair at the time, I gave the job to Tim over at parker51.com.  He had a quick turnaround, great price, and excellent customer service.  Two weeks later I had a newly serviced, fully functional Parker 51 in my mailbox.  It is now my home office go-to pen.  Ironically enough, I was recently back to that same shop, and sitting on a shelf was a 1939 Parker 51 mechanical pencil.  This one they wanted $10 for because it worked, but I bought it anyway!

[inkstainedruth]

Nice score on that 51 Vac!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Glenn-SC]

On 7/17/2022 at 2:33 PM, Armo said:

The Vacuumatic is a '49 black with a broadish nib but otherwise very standard, the other is a '48 grey with the diamond cap.

You have a Vac “51” date marked as 1949?  I thought that Parker had switched to the Aerometric filler in 1948?

I also thought that Parker had stopped using the “blue diamond” clip on the cap in 1947 and was using the non-BD cap clips in 1948?

 

[crescentfiller]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:41 PM, TrueBlue719 said:

 and sitting on a shelf was a 1939 Parker 51 mechanical pencil.  

That is an exceptionally rare pencil and probably worth a whole lot more than you paid.....

[FarmBoy]

44 minutes ago, crescentfiller said:

That is an exceptionally rare pencil and probably worth a whole lot more than you paid.....

What cap?