Parker 51 Comeback 2020?

[rvur]

Here we go... 

 

[TheRedBeard]

Thanks, Rvur...

At a glance, that sounds not bad ...

[rvur]

7 minutes ago, TheRedBeard said:

Thanks, Rvur...

At a glance, that sounds not bad ...

 

Watched with English subtitles to overcome the language barrier, a positive first impression.

Excellent nib, good ergonomics even with the threads, all steel parts are palladium plated, made in France. Not the original "51" but a nice modern proposition indeed.

[TheRedBeard]

33 minutes ago, rvur said:

 

Watched with English subtitles to overcome the language barrier, a positive first impression.

Excellent nib, good ergonomics even with the threads, all steel parts are palladium plated, made in France. Not the original "51" but a nice modern proposition indeed.

That sounds very encouraging indeed...

Hopefully, I will get my one to try in February :)

[Aysedasi]

There is a degree of temptation here.....    But no included convertor?  Surely that can't be right?  Perhaps he just didn't get one with the test pen.

 

Having looked around though, I've only seen pre-orders for fine and medium nibs, which would be disappointing....

[bbs]

Thank you, Rvur, for that in-depth review. What’s the writing experience like compared with the original, in your opinion?

 

I suspect I will be tempted by one at some point.

[rvur]

2 hours ago, bbs said:

Thank you, Rvur, for that in-depth review. What’s the writing experience like compared with the original, in your opinion?

 

I suspect I will be tempted by one at some point.

 

So do I, maybe a teal one...
 

(Not the reviewer, sorry 🙁 I have seen this on YouTube, should be the first proper review of the new 51)
 

[peroride]

Thanks @rvur good find😀, the video makes a better impression for me than the marketing pics.

 

Interesting how the original section to barrel threading is plastic on plastic, this new one is metal on plastic and the recent Jinhao 85 is metal on metal?! At least, I know plastic on plastic has stood the test of time.

[inkstainedruth]

6 hours ago, Aysedasi said:

The Plum does look good.  But, to me, that's a lot of money.......

Agreed.  Even with the "discount" that's more than $100 US more than I paid for my most expensive 51 (and the price of it included the buyer's premium).  And more than 3 times what I paid for the Plum Demi.  

And of course the question I have is "What is it made of?"  Lucite, like the original 51s? Or some poor quality plastic like the old 21s and the 61s?  Or something in between?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Estycollector]

17 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Agreed.  Even with the "discount" that's more than $100 US more than I paid for my most expensive 51 (and the price of it included the buyer's premium).  And more than 3 times what I paid for the Plum Demi.  

And of course the question I have is "What is it made of?"  Lucite, like the original 51s? Or some poor quality plastic like the old 21s and the 61s?  Or something in between?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Dont ask don't tell is operative. 

[Glenn-SC]

I am amazed at the number of people who want the new version of the "51" to "fail" somehow/anyhow.

 

[vicpen123]

Maybe fail is too strong an expression. My feeling is that those of us who have long enjoyed and valued our "51"s do not want to see their unparalleled reputation tarnished by a heavily promoted poor imitation.

 

Without the proper aerometric filling system to go with the elegant timeless subtle design and the hooded nib, it is not a "real" "51".

[ZeroDukE]

Interesting.  Well, I am surprised too at the number of people who say they  like fountain pens and go crying everywhere because it is not the primary writing instrument any more while keep fighting against any new pen appearing in the market remembering the original version!  Quite contradictory, isn't it?  If we want this kind of product  be manufactured for a long time it is good to accept the new fountain pens like this one as well as the old ones, IMHO.  So, welcome P51, 2021 edition.  I've got a couple of the old ones and I'm thinking on buying one of the new P51.

[corgicoupe]

57 minutes ago, vicpen123 said:

Maybe fail is too strong an expression. My feeling is that those of us who have long enjoyed and valued our "51"s do not want to see their unparalleled reputation tarnished by a heavily promoted poor imitation.

 

Without the proper aerometric filling system to go with the elegant timeless subtle design and the hooded nib, it is not a "real" "51".

What, in your opinion, makes it a poor imitation? Is the aerometric filling system really superior to a piston fill converter? Plastics today are surely better than the plastics of the 1950s. I don't think it's meant to be a real 51; it;s a new 51 for 2021.

 

That said, I am not planning to buy one.

[Ferocity]

AysedasiIasiI I agree... My brain told me "no it's too much," and my heart told me it was a "deal." I'm not happy they're so much. What's hilarious is that I bet this is not an investment. 100+years from today, there's no way that if it's sold to anyone, whomever sold it is not going to make a profit on what I paid for it in today's money =\ 

I got it so I could use it and not feel bad about a little microscratch here & there showing up over time, so I never considered it an investment. Seriously though I'm bummed they didn't have any broad nibs available. I like super broad nibs, and I'm actually going to use this pen so it would have been nnnnniiiiiiiiiiice if they had something like a super flexible double broad stub nib available ❤️❤️🤤❤️❤️

Estycollector thank you for the kind welcome! This is a great place to be, and I'm definitely going to be sticking around, and posting content in the future alongside my new youtube channel = )

this is it: https://youtube.com/channel/UCy6MPRYQm68NDyo0o0ckTUA

I already have 1 whole subscriber bud
Also, to expect anything expensive like this from me ever again is the equivalent of waiting for seconds coming of Jesus hahhhaha I would definitely review them if I had the money or the ability to get my hands on them but as it stands I had to work extremely hard and save up for a long time to be able to even get this one. This was a special occasion and I am definitely not going to spend more than $0.91 on a pen for a long Long tiiiiime. I might not even get another writing instrument for the rest of the year hahaha I'm pretty much set for life with all the pens I got this month(spending money on fixing pens does not count towards those ninety one cents okay hahaha❤️❤️I'm talking about not buying any other pens any time soon)

 

Also 100% of my videos on my YouTube channel are all about pens EXCEPT for the last two videos I put up = ) ❤️❤️👍❤️❤️

 

 

 

p.s. PARKER PEN COMPANY THIS THREE HUNDRED TEN DOLLAR PEN BETTER COME WITH A CONVERTER i tell you what ~ !

[FarmBoy]

I find it interesting that there is a constant comparison of list price of a new 51 and the price one has paid for a used "51"  What a used pen sells for is really not relevant to how the reissue is priced.

[Jerome Tarshis]

1 hour ago, FarmBoy said:

I find it interesting that there is a constant comparison of list price of a new 51 and the price one has paid for a used "51"  What a used pen sells for is really not relevant to how the reissue is priced.

 

I am not clear about what is meant by the word "relevant" above. Relevant to the executives at Parker deciding how to price the pen? That's one kind of relevance. Another kind, relevance to the purchaser, concerns what I think is a very common set of ideas: Is this brand-new pen good enough value for money, to me, compared with something else I might buy, such as (but perhaps not confined to) a used Parker 51? Or a used example of the new pen.

[FarmBoy]

I should clarify.  What someone paid for a Plum "51"  or the average price someone paid for 10 "51"s doesn't really matter.  The "new" 51 is an entirely different pen.  Stating I paid 33.42 average for "51"s in the month of December and that I purchased 17 of them IF I throw out the one I paid 950 for is of no concern when purchasing a new current manufacture pen, 51 or otherwise.

 

If you want a cartridge filled "51" I'd like to see where you are getting them for $40. 

That the real "51" may be a better value to some when compared to a "new" pen of any sort is a different discussion.  I'd ask why anyone would pay $70 for a Twisby when they could get an Esterbrook for $25 or even a 51 for less or more if you want.

 

I'll say it again, FPN is NOT the target market for the 'new' 51.  The pen is entirely different, they share a name and that is about all.   What would a "51" have evolved into if they hadn't been out of production for 40 plus years, I don't know but certainly they would now be cartridge/converter and I doubt they would have a collector or a tubular nib.  Parker spent a lot of effort trying to figure out how to keep the collector from flooding after a fill because no one filled the pens correctly.  Well maybe I do have a hint, I've seen a lot of the prototype and experimental pens in the "51" lineage with names like "51 successor pen".

I'm also still waiting for documentation that demonstrates a connection between Parker and Hero or Jinhao or ???

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, zeroduke said:

Interesting.  Well, I am surprised too at the number of people who say they  like fountain pens and go crying everywhere because it is not the primary writing instrument any more while keep fighting against any new pen appearing in the market remembering the original version!  Quite contradictory, isn't it?  If we want this kind of product  be manufactured for a long time it is good to accept the new fountain pens like this one as well as the old ones, IMHO.  So, welcome P51, 2021 edition.  I've got a couple of the old ones and I'm thinking on buying one of the new P51.

The problem isn't that they're "new" pens so much as that they're rehashing the old classic models (possibly not even in a good way at that, since the "new" 51s are apparently just one more c/c pen) and living off their former reputation.  The company isn't even being innovative: it's "Let's make yet another cartridge pen but make it look sort of like like vintage model".  

For new pens?  I don't tend to buy Parker (other than Vectors -- which are cheap fun pens) because the quality isn't there.  OTOH, I've paid MORE than the price of the "new" 51 for Pelikan without blinking an eye because the quality *is* still there.  And just plunked down a good chunk of my second round stimulus checks on a couple of Japanese pens -- the Sailor 1911S Wicked Witch and Loch Ness Monster pens.  And part of the first stimulus check went to a Pilot Falcon with a soft fine nib.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[peroride]

Here's a classified from about 10 years ago for a used Aero just under the 20% discount of the current retail for the comeback. It appears used vintage prices have either retained value and not depreciated despite the clones and homages. I wonder if they actually are stepping stones for folks starting out to then seek the real vintage. The interesting thing is whether the comeback will have any effect on the used vintage market pricing, up, down or none at all. Maybe the comeback will GameStop spike 🤯 up the vintage market to the benefit of current owners.

 

I find the comeback intriguing because it pulls on the heart - ah an upgrade to remind me of the good old Parker days housed in these old Aeros I have and yet reason says there's probably no functional advantage over vintage or current clones other than affording compatibility with the Parker converter I have with Mk1 Duofold and current Centennial. Maybe the precious resin from 2020 is better than 1950, new polymers, etc; c/c also has a proven record of ease of maintenance and heck it's new! -- all help to rationalize pursuit.🤓 Or one can just be satisfied with our lucky lots. It is really a win win for all; I mean who really cares about fountains pens anyway? 🤪