What cap should my pen have?

**zygote** · February 22nd, 2016, 08:01 PM

I recently purchased a black aerometric from ebay and it arrived today. I'm fairly sure it's a 1951 date mark although the 5 and the 1 are surprisingly widely spaced and the 1 looks like it could possibly be a scratch or gouge. The pen has the hallmarks of being a Mark II-B with "squeeze 4 times" and a black plastic cap on the filler, but it arrived with a Lustraloy blue diamond cap. I'm not a huge stickler for correctness in pens that are for using, which is what I purchased this pen for, but I'm curious to know if there's a way to know what type of cap is likely to be original to this pen on the off chance that I run across one in the future. It has a silver colored (but not silver) clutch ring, so I would lean toward a lustraloy cap with a plain arrow clip, but I don't know if the clutch rings matched the caps or not. I've been googling and I've found clutch rings in gold, silver, and gold and silver, with caps running the gamut. I'm starting to get the feeling that caps like to wander LOL
Once I got looking at the cap I realized that the diamond has no trace of blue, nor does it have any sort of marks where the blue was removed. I've heard rumors that after the court ruling Parker simply didn't paint the blue in and ran out their stock, which makes sense, but has anyone been able to substantiate said rumor? I highly doubt and will not claim that I have anything more than a solid and sturdy pen with an incorrect and slightly damaged cap (because it's missing the blue in the diamond) but it makes one wonder.
Thanks for anything you may have to add, it's all appreciated.
Enjay.

**Farmboy** · February 22nd, 2016, 09:35 PM

I am not sure I believe the story about the non-blue diamonds. At any rate, all Aerometric pens should have the later arrow clips with Parker on the cap and not on the clip. The clutch rings were the same until the pen got the skinny gold ring.

**zygote** · February 23rd, 2016, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by Farmboy

I am not sure I believe the story about the non-blue diamonds. At any rate, all Aerometric pens should have the later arrow clips with Parker on the cap and not on the clip. The clutch rings were the same until the pen got the skinny gold ring.

So It'll be correct to the type regardless of what the metal is. Good to know, thank you. Now I'm off to research how long of a clip and what kind of jewel it might have had

Enjay

**pajaro** · February 24th, 2016, 07:30 PM

Why don't you research on parker51.com?

I have often bought 51s that were aerometric with the Vac 51 type caps. They get swapped around to meet need.

**Flounder** · March 25th, 2016, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Farmboy

I am not sure I believe the story about the non-blue diamonds. At any rate, all Aerometric pens should have the later arrow clips with Parker on the cap and not on the clip. The clutch rings were the same until the pen got the skinny gold ring.

The lucite body, Parker 45-style cap clutch phase also look to have their own clutch rings.