Help with identifying age of my Parker 51

[Medieval78]

Happy New Year guys 🎉

 

Welcoming New Year 2025 with a vintage Parker 51 Dove Grey Vacumatic MK I which I found in an antique shop for €18 two days ago. I think it is from a third quarter of 1939 as it comes with the following marks on the barrel:

 

Parker "51"

REG TM 640244

Made in England 

9.

 

Am I right? 

 

I inked it with Waterman Mysterious Blue ink and it writes buttery smooth. Nib is Medium.

[Beechwood]

I cannot open your image but the pen  will be from 1949 as opposed to 1939

 

 

If the pen fills and writes as it should then you have a bargain.

[Medieval78]

45 minutes ago, Beechwood said:

I cannot open your image but the pen  will be from 1949 as opposed to 1939

 

 

If the pen fills and writes as it should then you have a bargain.

I have read the P51 Vacumatic was produced until 1948 and then the filling system was replaced by newer Aeromatic one. Were the Vacumatic models manufactured after 1948? The pen writes really nice.

[Beechwood]

Hi

 

Production didn't start until the 1940s so it has to be 1949.

 

Your pen looks to be in a  very nice condition and has the English preferred Medium nib, I can see very little fading and no dings on the cap. The plating on the cap needs special care, I would not use anything but a dry soft cloth, the plating is thin and can easily be worn through.

 

I don't know where you are in Europe but in certain countries, especially Germany, the zippered leather pen case, leder etui, was very popular at this time, if you can find one of these cases for your 51 it would be a very nice pairing and would protect the pen if you intend to carry it around.

 

You did very well at 18 euros

[Medieval78]

10 hours ago, Beechwood said:

Production didn't start until the 1940s so it has to be 1949.

Hi,

 

On this website (https://parkerpens.net/parker51.html) it says the MK I and MK I-B were offered by the 1948. In 1948-49 Parker introduced the new MK II model (Aeromatic). Were these MK I variants manufactured after 1948 in UK?

 

I do have a leather case for this pen sí it is protected now

Overall condition of the pen is good, no cracks or dents on the barrel, just lots of micro scratches. Cap still has plating with no serious damage, just faded and heavily scratched (mostly small scratches). There are two little dings. If I find the same cap in better condition for a good price I will replace it.  I still think it was a good deal.  

[Beechwood]

1949 UK made Vacumatics are out there, Tony may have been thinking about US production.

 

Micro scratches can be improved by careful polishing, we all have our preferred method and the subject has been covered elsewhere on FPN. The cap is best left alone, removing dings on a lined cap is problematic, removing scratches on a thinly plated cap even more so.

 

If you replace the cap for something better remember that your current cap will be valuable to someone, a 51 without any cap is not unusual on ebay.

 

In terms of price you did very well, I know that there are people who just  want your nib and would pay  more than you paid for the entire pen.

 

75 years old and the 51 is still a desirable purchase.

[inkstainedruth]

@Medieval78 Beechwood is right -- that is an exceptionally good price (I plugged in the price on a currency exchange rate website and and paid roughly four times what you did for *my* Dove Gray 51; although, admittedly, it had been restored when I bought it).  

Plus, Dove Gray is just a pretty color than the later Navy Gray 51 Aerometric (for which I paid EVEN MORE at an auction at a pen show a few years ago -- but in my defense I WAS mostly bidding on the oblique nib on that pen).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[VacNut]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the dates.

 

We like to think that Parker was well organized and had absolute start and stop production runs, but there were many factories throughout the UK and US. 

 

Pens were assembled with available parts from large bins and imprinted based on the local technician’s whim.

Parker wasn’t tracking imprints for correct dates so future collectors could evaluate pen parts.

It would be interesting to research whether or not people were collecting older pens in the 1940’s and 50’s. 

 

Enjoy your great buy. It is a worthy pen with interesting trivia.

[jchch1950]

In the 50s and 60s, there were some collectors of fountain pens, a time when the hobby was a solitary one because there were no publications pen fairs or pen meetings. One of the first magazines was produced in  Dunedin, Florida and it sold pens. Then came the first pen shows more previews and the internet made the pen collecting pens a universal entertainment.

[inkstainedruth]

I think I will NOT describe collecting pens as "entertainment" to my husband.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Although going to estate sales that might/do have pens at them often is, of course....

[Armo]

Production of English 51 Vacs started much later than in America, 1947 I believe, and also continued a little longer than in America so it will be '49.

[Medieval78]

Thank you guys! 

[mitto]

In 1949 the Newhaven, England factory was churning out only the Vacumatic 51s. The production of Aerometric 51s in England, is understood to have started as late as early 1950.

So a English Vacumatic 51 date coded 1949 is pretty common. 

You have a very special R. Gold cap with four straight (non - converging) lines - space - four lines all around the cap and a two line inscription on the back of the cap with "51" (in italics) in the first line and the gold content in the second line with a relatively broader cap band. 

Also, the long arrow clip has more than 14 tapering feathers. 

Enjoy your beautiful pen. 

[Medieval78]

Quote

You have a very special R. Gold cap with four straight (non - converging) lines - space - four lines all around the cap and a two line inscription on the back of the cap with "51" (in italics) in the first line and the gold content in the second line with a relatively broader cap band. 

Also, the long arrow clip has more than 14 tapering feathers. 

Enjoy your beautiful pen. 

Thank you. That's my cap. I spotted it is not very common browsing eBay for a potential candidate for the replacement but I couldn't find the same variant.