The New Parker 51 vs The Original Parker 51

[The Old Pen Shop]

Hi,

I have been lucky enough to have been gifted a Brand New Parker 51 GT Plum, so I thought I would give a short review of what I think about it.

 

 

The Original Parker 51 was released around 1941 so 80 Years ago. Now we have the New Parker 51, so how do they compare in general.

 

 

The look of the pens is very similar, especially as there is 80 years between them.

 

Cap Fitting

 

The main difference is the way the cap fits. The Original 51 is a push on fit, whilst the New 51 is a twist fit. Here I think is the biggest weakness of the New 51. The thread is very short and I do have concerns that with time and use, this may be compromised and the thread won't stand up to the constant twisting on and off, especially as the thread on is on the plastic of the barrel. Having said that, in a brand new model it does feel very secure.

 

Section

The section is significantly smaller on the New 51, with a distinctive step down from the barrel. Parker have tried to replicate the Clutch Ring of the Original 51 with a gold ring. Perhaps a little too big for my liking, but causes no issues.

 

Cap

The New 51 cap looks clean and well defined. The Jewel is an integral part of the cap clip and is designed to allow a breathing hole as is the regulation these days. It doesn't have the pearl effect of the original.

 

The clip is very similar to the Frontier - Chunky, but could do with a little more feathers and better definition.

 

The Barrel

 

For a modern pen the New 51 Barrel wall is surprisingly thick and feels like it is built to last.

 

The Nib

 

The New 51 has an 18k gold nib and protrudes in much the same way as the Original 51 nib (usually 14k gold).

 

Filling System

 

The New 51 uses Cartridge/Converter (Converter supplied on the GT models only) - The Original 51 had a fixed Aerometric Filler. Personally, I think this is an improvement as I like to use cartridges and bottle as the whim takes me.

 

Writing with the New 51

 

Below is a writing sample. The nib was smooth and the ink flow was consistent. Much like it's predecessor it is fairly rigid, but surprisingly flexible in a springy sort of way, rather than the tines separating.

 

The Original Parker 51 is one of my all time favourite pens. Built to last and writes consistently and immediately (because of the hooded nib). I have used more than 50 Original 51s and I have never been let down. Does the New 51 do the same - well yes (so far). It writes immediately and I have confidence in it to deliver every time.

 

I did try writing with the nib reversed. It gave a fine line, but wasn't instantly smooth. This is one of the best bits about the Original 51 - two nibs in one.

 

 

Box

 

The box is nice, but no documentation what-so-ever. It would have been nice to have a little history of the pen and its older brothers etc.

 

Value for Money

 

The CT Version is about £80 in the UK and the GT version around £200. I would say this is good VfM if the Cap is Rolled Gold like it's older brother, but there is no marking to say it is. (Can anyone advise?)

 

Personally at between £50 and £100 for a excellent condition Parker Original 51, I would prefer one of those.

 

But for a gift, this is a wonderful pen and I feel priviledged to use and own one of the new examples.

 

 

Overall Assessment

 

Whilst I am not sure about the short cap thread and I don't particularly like the step down from the barrel to the section, I do feel this is a very good attempt to reproduce a design classic and as the next generation.  It has a good build quality and  I feel it will last well. See me in 80 years to see if lasts as well as the original. Some how I don't think it will, but it will have a good go. It will probably outlive me anyway.

 

I would like to know how it is built so I can maintain it well (with the ease of the P25, P45 or P75 and not like the Original 51). The lack of documentation is a serious omission in my opinion.

 

I am sure many out there will agree and disagree with my comments, but in my humble opinion :-

 

Overall - Well done Parker - a brave attempt at a new model of probably the most successful pen in history.

 

Hugo at The Old Pen Shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[langere]

Thank you for this review!  I am on the fence about buying this one and this helps.

 

Erick

[jchch1950]

20 hours ago, The Old Pen Shop said:

 

 

Overall - Well done Parker - a brave attempt at a new model of probably the most successful pen in history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+1.

[Mike B]

+1 again!

The plum/purple does look nice with the gold trim.

[PAKMAN]

Thanks for the Review! I just got my Deluxe Plum and have been writing with it for 2 days. I'm really liking this pen!

 

[EmJ]

Thanks for this review! I really enjoyed your very thorough comparison to the original

[MBDostoevsky]

On 4/7/2021 at 10:44 PM, PAKMAN said:

Thanks for the Review! I just got my Deluxe Plum and have been writing with it for 2 days. I'm really liking this pen!

 

Can I ask if the barrel and section are interchangeable between the new and old parker 51s? I am getting a good deal for a plum on the new parker 51 and would like to switch it with the old version with my favorite nib

[Doc Dan]

I really liked the original 51 and tried to buy a new one for my wife for Christmas. After looking at it I had the same worries about the threads and the pen was a good writer, but I remember it being better. Maybe it was just that pen. I like the hooded nib look. I ended up getting her gold and burgundy Pilot E95s, which has a similar look overall. It was a much smoother writer. 

 

I'd like to see Parker back in the hands of people that take fountain pens seriously.

[PAKMAN]

8 hours ago, MBDostoevsky said:

Can I ask if the barrel and section are interchangeable between the new and old parker 51s? I am getting a good deal for a plum on the new parker 51 and would like to switch it with the old version with my favorite nib

No there are a number of differences. The original plum only came in a demi size with a slip on cap. The new is longer with a threaded cap and I am pretty sure the nibs are not interchangeable. Below are the new (left) and original. Sorry for the bad lighting that doesn't show the colors well.

[langere]

Although the original and the new version of the pen have the same name, I would say that they are very different pens.  The new one (of which I have two now, both the gold nib version), write very well but doen't have at all the same feel as the original.  And of course having a slip cap, as in the original, gives the pen a very different feel than the screw-on cap. I was reminded constantly of the difference, as I don't usually have long writing sessions and cap and uncap the pen frequently.

 

Erick

[jchch1950]

I thought the original Plum 51 was available in both sizes. I have been looking for one in a long shape but if it was not made better start looking for a new one in plum colour.

[inkstainedruth]

12 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

I thought the original Plum 51 was available in both sizes. I have been looking for one in a long shape but if it was not made better start looking for a new one in plum colour.

So did I. Especially since the same weekend I won the auction for my Demi sized Plummer, someone else got a full sized one (and for LESS MONEY ) and was posting photos of it, and going "What do people think?  Pen was listed as being black but I think it's actually Plum and here's what I paid...."  And my response was "I think I HATE you....  I saw that listing but didn't get past the header because I didn't need another black pen...."  Ironically, I was so focussed on the auction for the pen I ended up winning (best poker face EVAH! -- I never got outbid even as I nervously watched the price creep up over the course of the week, and got it for less than my intermediate bid even with the cost of shipping) that I had completely spaced on having bid the minimum for a black 51 Vac, just to get the ball rolling on that auction -- and got THAT pen for the minimum bid (it was a UK production pen, but had the cap for a US-made 51 Special on it; and then was able to trade for a more correct cap at a pen show that fall).

I was telling someone the story several years later at another pen show, and the guy who got the full size Plummer for just over *half* what I'd paid for the Demi overheard me and introduced himself to me, and we had a good laugh over it.... 

Ironically, Plum was only made for the 1948-49 model year, apparently.  Back then?  It wasn't popular.  And I had to take it and the black 51 Vac (both came in the same day's mail) outside to compare the colors in bright sunlight.  Now?  Because it's "rare" (but Parker still probably made thousands of them) everybody wants that color....  (Me, I didn't care about how "rare" it was -- I wanted one because it was PURPLE....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Cuppatea]

That Plum looks beautiful, as does the Black. Classy. Looks like both are Deluxe.

On Appelboom I'm seeing the new 51 CT for $103.99, the Premium GT for $216.94 and the Deluxe GT for $319.13. They are all beautiful. My fave for looks would be the Red Rage Premium. I love that gold and silver cap.

I look forward to reviews on the Premiere and CT. One of these is in my future. I have a soft spot for Parkers. 

[Estycollector]

My goodness, you can get the original and as a combo with those prices. 

[Mike B]

Clearly it's a good thing I'm not overly fond of purple!

 

As inkstainedruth has sort of suggested, she's been on the lookout for a plum full-sized '51' for more than a few years. For her, this probably included attending well over a hundred estate sales, a couple of pen conventions, and also hours happily spent on internet website auction sites (oh, the sacrifices we make for our hobbies!). No doubt she has found some (perhaps more than some) other knick-knacks at the sales, to keep her cheerfully occupied while waiting for that purple '51' to show up.

 

So the low-cost find-one-in-the-wild option for plum '51' pens is often labour-intensive, and seems likely to take years before gratification arrives.

 

As a second option, there is currently a plum '51' for sale on a well-known used '51' website: a 1949 aerometric in good condition for $250. Good condition fully-tuned M1 and M2 '51's, in other colours and with gold nibs,  go for $135 and up at that site.

 

The third option is a new model 51 for just under $90 (with steel nib) in standard colours at a B&M, or a purple/plum GT for about $250 (all figures in $US even if all spelling is CDN). I note the price similarity between options 2 and 3. I suspect this is not accidental.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

@Mike B -- The sad part is that the same weekend I got the Plum Demi, I completely *ignored* another listing on eBay because the seller said the pen was black -- so didn't look past the listing header.  Then someone on here (Farmersmum, IIRC) posted a thread saying HE'D gotten that pen for the minimum bid of $40, guessing that it was really going to turn out to be Plum.  Posted photos and said, "What do people think?"  And of course I said, "I think I hate you!  I saw that listing and didn't look past the header because I didn't need another black 51...."  And then of course the joke was on me, because the day after I'd won the Plum Demi, I won another auction I had completely lost track of (I was so focussed on the Plummer), where I'd bid the minimum, just to get the ball rolling.  And it was... (yeah, you guessed it) a black 51....  It was IIRC a UK production pen but had the cap for a US made 51 Special on it (I was able to trade for a more correct cap at a pen show).

Both pens came in the mail the same day, BTW.... 

I got to meet the guy a couple of years later at another pen show -- he overheard me telling the story to someone and came over and introduced himself and we had a good laugh over it....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MBDostoevsky]

Well... I don't have many plums, only 3 individual FPs and 2 x FP/MP sets.

 

The lowest price I paid was US$ 49 with a smooth medium nib, the ink sac was working but it needed a change. It was listed on eBay as dark brown. Paid around $25 to get it shipped to the country where I reside. 

The most expensive price I have paid is US$315 for a FP/MP Plum set. This was on open eBay auction, with listing mentioning the plum color. It was fully restored with a new ink sac and the MP was also in very good condition. 

The two plum sets I got were listed as Plum by top sellers on eBay. One has to be wary of sellers selling Burgundy as plum.

The Individual Plum FPs were a hard buy, looking at the pics, asking indirect questions from sellers to secretly send more pictures, but also being careful not to activate their attention too much on my interest about the color. Prices I got were US$49, US$ 150 and US$ 225. 

 

I got the new Parker 51 Plum in Medium and the nib is nothing short of a disappointment. It is springy, writes okay but aesthetically the way the nib juts out of the hood just defiles the beauty of the color (not to mention all the other compromises). 

 

A month back I saw a seller from Argentina selling two Parker 51 plums. The seller ratings were high but he was using the same picture for two listings which made it a bit dubious.

 

Plum Demi is a personal liking, they are not that significantly cheap and with some more pocket burn a full size 51 plum would give a more lasting satisfaction.

 

 

 

 

[Estycollector]

I never liked the plum color. 

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, MBDostoevsky said:

Plum Demi is a personal liking, they are not that significantly cheap and with some more pocket burn a full size 51 plum would give a more lasting satisfaction.

The problem is that, anymore, a full size Plummer would be more than *just* pocket burn.... 

Much as I would love to have one, I may have to content myself with the Demi -- and mine, which has a medium nib, *is* a really lovely writer....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jchch1950]

To have the Plum colour Parker 51 in either size can be  a real challenge to someone trying to put together

 a collection of all the colours.