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View Full Version : Parker 51; what to buy?



AndrewG
January 5th, 2015, 07:59 AM
So, let's assume I have a budget of £100 to invest in a 51. Ignoring colour options and the scarcity or otherwise of the many variants, which model should I be looking at-as a newbie to the hobby?

Thanks,
Andrew

carlc
January 5th, 2015, 08:24 AM
Personally I prefer the aerometrics over the vac fillers.

If you're buying from a dealer it's worth shopping around as prices can vary by quite a lot. I would check Penamie or Writetime.

Hawk
January 5th, 2015, 01:13 PM
Either the vacuumatic or the aerometric are great pens, I own both. It depends on what technology one prefers.

Scrawler
January 5th, 2015, 10:03 PM
I have 2 vacs and my daughter has an aerometric. From a practical point of view the later aerometrics are less troublesome, with a very robust sac that probably will never need replacing. The diaphragm of a vac will not last and will need expert care to replace. While I recognize the technological superiority of the aerometric, I prefer the older vacs.

welch
January 6th, 2015, 12:12 PM
Assuming you are in the UK, check Ebay UK. A few things I have learned:

- P-51 aerometrics are more likely to write as soon as you get them. As mentioned above, the "pli-glass" sac on the aero can be cut or punctured, but they don't seem to wear out. The aerometric has a "breather tube" that might be clogged or broken; both vacs and aeros have an ink collector, under the hood, that might be gunked so badly that it doesn't collect.
- Parker England made 51 vacumatics only for a couple of years...1948 and '49, I think. You are more likely to find a UK 51 aerometric
- The English 51 (says "Made in England" on the cap) seems to have more tipping and more of the nibs were medium or broad than the US. Tom "Old Griz" Mullane once estimated that about 80% of US-made 51s were fine points or finer (accountant, needle etc). I like the "English" medium nib.
- Study the pictures on Ebay. Even then, it might be better buying a 51 from someone who promises that they have cleaned the filling system and tuned the nib.

Cob
January 6th, 2015, 12:24 PM
Always worth having a look at Goodwriter's pens. Deb sells only good stuff and gives great service. She has a very tidy-looking 51 on sale at the moment - have a look here (http://www.goodwriterssales.com/pens/parker-c-3_6.html).And she's in the UK no no nasty customs charges!

Cob

Wahl
January 6th, 2015, 01:49 PM
I would choose an aerometric, I have four of them and they never gave me a problem.

amk
January 6th, 2015, 02:07 PM
I've found a few 51s 'in the wild'. All but one of four aeros worked pretty much straight off when I got it home. None of the three Vacs did.

welch
January 7th, 2015, 06:10 PM
Always worth having a look at Goodwriter's pens. Deb sells only good stuff and gives great service. She has a very tidy-looking 51 on sale at the moment - have a look here (http://www.goodwriterssales.com/pens/parker-c-3_6.html).And she's in the UK no no nasty customs charges!

Cob

That is, indeed, a nice looking P-51. I can't spend your money, of course, but she also has a pair of good-looking Parker 61s...the pen that evolved from the 51. You will probably want a P-61 eventually, and the 51 and 61 together fit closely to your budget.

The early P-61s had the ultimate, the perfect, filling system...except for one catastrophic flaw. The capillary-filling 61 was "designed like no pen in this or any other world"; had a teflon-coated cylinder attached to the feed. Cyclinder had a small opening at the back, and a coil of ink-absorbing material inside. You dipped the cylinder into ink for about ten seconds, wiped the teflon, and screwed back the barrel. Ink would move by capillary action from the absorbing material down the feed to the nib.

The big issue for fountain pens was handling liquid ink. A bottle might spill or an ink reservoir -- in a pen -- might crack. Ballpoint pens -- "biros" outside the US -- wrote from an inky paste contained inside a refill that also carried the tiny ball that put ink to paper. You change the refill without risking ink on your hands, clothing, carpet, or furniture.

Parker's capillary system was almost the perfect solution to the competition. Almost. No moving parts. No ink-sac to break. Unfortunately, if the 61 dried out or something else clogged the tube, an owner had to send the pen to Parker Service.

By the mid-60s, Parker's 45 and 75 had shown that a cartridge/converter could be nearly as clean as a ballpoint. Around 1968 or '69, Parker replaced the capillary mechanism with the same sort of cartridge/converter used today. (Slight overstatement: the Parker squeeze-converter from the '60s is too wide to fit current Parker fountain pens, but an old cartridge fits a new Sonnet and a new converter fits a 1965 Parker 75).

Goodwriter lists two cartridge/converter Parker 61s.

AndrewG
January 8th, 2015, 04:55 AM
Thanks all for your suggestions and know-how; your patience with a newb is much appreciated. Then again I guess we were all newbs once!

pajaro
January 12th, 2015, 09:49 PM
I have 36 aerometric 51s and 3 vac 51s. The three vac 51s are tokens, you need something that needs resaccing or, if all you have are aeros, you risk thinking that every pen will last forever.