Parker 45 Photo Thread

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Seems this thread just never got created... 

 

let's correct that.

 

original scan:

 

restored:

 

[Mercian]

I only have three 45s - and each is a stainless steel pen with chrome trim. One of them has a 14k nib - but it is of course semi-hooded, and so doesn't exactly make for 'spectacular' viewing.
 

Would my 'fleet' of 45s be worth photographing...? 🤷‍♂️

[Lithium466]

  On 3/15/2025 at 4:18 PM, Mercian said:

Would my 'fleet' of 45s be worth photographing...? 🤷‍♂️

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Of course!

[Mercian]

  On 3/15/2025 at 4:54 PM, Lithium466 said:

Of course!

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Then I shall do so (once I'm back home after the weekend).

[Beechwood]

I should know this, but if I did I have forgotten.

 

Was the Parker 45 the first Parker to take either a cartridge or a converter?

[Claes]

Yes, in 1960.
Ref: http://richardspens.com/ref/profiles/45.htm

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

 

[inkstainedruth]

My first semi-vintage pen and my first one with a gold nib was a Parker 45 (from what people on here told me when I posted pix of it -- I didn't even know what the model was at the time -- it's a GT Deluxe, with a medium nib).  You put the right ink in that pen (modern Quink Black for one) and it's so smooth a writer it's like dancing on ice across the page! 

When the weather gets a little better I should get a group photo of all my 45s at some point, including the Dark Blue/Midnight one I got at an estate sale last fall, along with two additional spare press-bar converters (besides the one installed in the pen) and the Cordovan Brown 51 Vac all in the same box (honestly -- I went to the sale for the 45!  The 51 Vac was just an added bonus ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

  On 3/15/2025 at 4:18 PM, Mercian said:

I only have three 45s - and each is a stainless steel pen with chrome trim. One of them has a 14k nib - but it is of course semi-hooded, and so doesn't exactly make for 'spectacular' viewing.
 

Would my 'fleet' of 45s be worth photographing...? 🤷‍♂️

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YES!

  On 3/15/2025 at 4:59 PM, Mercian said:

 

Then I shall do so (once I'm back home after the weekend).

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Sweet, can't wait to see them (I have several flighters myself)

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

  On 3/15/2025 at 6:33 PM, inkstainedruth said:

My first semi-vintage pen and my first one with a gold nib was a Parker 45 (from what people on here told me when I posted pix of it -- I didn't even know what the model was at the time -- it's a GT Deluxe, with a medium nib).  You put the right ink in that pen (modern Quink Black for one) and it's so smooth a writer it's like dancing on ice across the page! 

When the weather gets a little better I should get a group photo of all my 45s at some point, including the Dark Blue/Midnight one I got at an estate sale last fall, along with two additional spare press-bar converters (besides the one installed in the pen) and the Cordovan Brown 51 Vac all in the same box (honestly -- I went to the sale for the 45!  The 51 Vac was just an added bonus ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

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... knowing the kind of deals you tend to get... I am extremely jealous... also I just really really like Cordovan Brown Vacs...

 

[Beechwood]

  On 3/15/2025 at 6:32 PM, Claes said:

Yes, in 1960.
Ref: http://richardspens.com/ref/profiles/45.htm

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

 

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Thanks, the 45 was the pen of choice during my schooldays, blue ink cartridges with the Tap-a-tank.

[Beechwood]

  On 3/15/2025 at 7:18 PM, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

... knowing the kind of deals you tend to get... I am extremely jealous... also I just really really like Cordovan Brown Vacs...

 

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I bought one 10 years ago in a job lot, it was so dirty that I thought it was black, very pleased when I started the polishing.

[inkstainedruth]

  On 3/15/2025 at 7:18 PM, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

... knowing the kind of deals you tend to get... I am extremely jealous... also I just really really like Cordovan Brown Vacs...

 

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That was a fluke.  I really went to that sale for the 45 -- and it wasn't until I got outside and back to my car after paying that I took a good look at the other pen and REALIZED that it might be Cordovan Brown.  

I've wanted one for a long time, after seeing one on eBay a number of years ago.  Had a good rapport with the seller over the course of the week -- I'd ask questions and a day later the seller would get back with an answer from the original owner (a relative or neighbor, I think).  And then?  With seconds to go, I got sniped....   I'd pretty much given up hope of EVER getting one, and then it just (metaphorically) fell in my lap....  

Go figure....

Of course, THIS weekend there weren't any estate sales worth going to -- for pens or anything else....  So I kinda got to sleep in.  Only to discover, of course, that the driveway people (who hadn't bother to phone -- they just sent a text message to my husband, who is still in Mississippi -- that they were coming this AM to put down topsoil and grass seed) had showed up and I had to have them move some of the equipment so I could get down the driveway and go mail a bill that I'd missing paying (it should have gone out in the mail yesterday) only had gotten stuck in the stack behind some other bills by accident.

And while discovering that we didn't have enough money in the checking account to PAY the final installment  there was a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder that sound as if it was maybe a block or two away....  And made me think of the time the house we lived in when my husband and I first got married DID get hit by lightning in a freak storm (which I think *hadn't* been predicted...); plug here for slate /shale roofing tiles, BTW 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

There are no estate sales here.  eBay is my only source. Which works out fine as I have a current budget of $0.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

  On 3/15/2025 at 7:25 PM, Beechwood said:

 

I bought one 10 years ago in a job lot, it was so dirty that I thought it was black, very pleased when I started the polishing.

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I might never have found out as I don’t generally do anything beyond a VERY deep cleaning… I generally don’t polish at all. 

[Mercian]

And now, with my apologies for my inept photography, here ↓ are some pics of my 45 'Flighters':

 

 

All of mine are from the 1970s, so all have the 'wide' 'PARKER' logo, but no production date codes stamped on them.

 

Top → bottom they are:

• early 1970s 'MADE IN FRANCE' 45, with steel 'X' nib that is very rigid;
• early 1970s 'MADE IN ENGLAND' 45 with 14k gold 'M' nib that is slightly 'bouncy' ;
• later-1970s 'MADE IN ENGLAND' 45 with steel 'M' nib that is very rigid.

I hope that the gold of the 14k nib is visible on that pic.

 

Next:

 

 

↑ an attempt to show the nib-grade markings.

• 14k 'M';
• steel 'X';
• steel 'M'.
   

The 1970s 'M' nibs on these pens are narrower than are the 'M' nibs on my Parkers from 1980 and later.

 

 

Finally:

 

 

↑ an attempt to show the 'country of manufacture' stamps.

ENGLAND; FRANCE; ENGLAND.

 

I like the Shininess of chrome-trim on steel bodied pens, and I chose to opt for the robustness of steel pens over the pretty colours that are available in plastic when buying my 45s.

 

I hope that some of the rest of you will now showcase some of your 45s in the wide range of plastics of pretty colours in which 45 were made.

Or, even better, some of the steel 45s from the 'Harlequin 80' range.
I would really like one of those, but have always been too tight-fisted to shell-out for one!

 

Slàinte,
M.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

wow, all "silver tails" neat

 

I have a mix of silver tails, black tails and I think I have a "no tail"... can't check right now..

 

 

[baz666]

Parker 45s you say?
Here are a few I used to have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy. 😉

[OCArt]

@baz666Wow! Many I've never seen before, thanks for sharing.

[Mercian]

  On 3/20/2025 at 1:13 PM, baz666 said:

Parker 45s you say?
Here are a few I used to have.

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Please excuse me while I all over those Harlequins!

 

I have to ask though, did you really sell all of them?
I do hope that they weren't stolen from you, and that your sale of them was not one that was forced upon you by Exigent Circumstances.

[baz666]

  On 3/20/2025 at 7:28 PM, Mercian said:

 

Please excuse me while I all over those Harlequins!

 

I have to ask though, did you really sell all of them?
I do hope that they weren't stolen from you, and that your sale of them was not one that was forced upon you by Exigent Circumstances.

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Mercian, thank you for your concern and don't worry about the 🤤.
Yes, I sold all these Parker 45s (and more!) as one lot, to a gentleman in Australia.
Please don't ask how much I got for them all, suffice to say I paid off the remainder of my mortgage with the proceeds!

When I get a little time (next week) I will post my current P45 collection.