In a junk/tool drawer at my grandmother's house was an original Parker 51 single-jewelled pen with a striped, gold-filled, Blue Diamond cap and a gray barrel. I did some research at vintagepens.com, and judging from the date code stamped on the barrel and the time period when that combination of cap and barrel were in production, the pen was probably made in the first quarter of 1945, but was definitely made between 1945 and 1947.
I cleaned it out with some water and re-inked it, and it still writes perfectly well. Unfortunately, the finish on the cap is worn off near the bottom, and the Vacuumatic filler mechanism leaks ink when the pen is capped and inverted, so the diaphragm probably should be replaced. Still, it's a nice pen.
Comments (1)
The 51 is a great pen, though I don't imagine it'll write much different than the Hero (the Hero 100 is actually so close that parts will trade off it with the aerometric-filled 51s). There are some folks who do restoration of gold plating, if that's something you're worried about. And, lots of folks restore 51s, generally, so you shouldn't have trouble finding someone to fix that sac, or buying the necessary parts and doing it yourself if you're feeling brave.
FWIW, I have two 51s, a vac and an aerometric. Neither's that nice (steel cap and black barrel).
Posted by Pederson | January 16, 2006 11:42 PM
Posted on January 16, 2006 23:42