Has anyone here actually handled either of these pens ?
I recall about 5 years going to look at a Parker pen collection offered by a private seller.
Amongst the collection was the black version, I was informed that the cap was solid silver, so I had a very good look at it.
It was a brass section with silver & gold plate, I said nothing.
Bought alot of other Parker pens though.
Recently I have researched these two pens in detail.
A number of USA ebay sellers are selling this black version with the cap described as solid silver.
There is alot of talk of the Vista Blue version being solid silver, but not hallmarked 925 / Sterling Silver.
If anyone has either or has looked at either, I would greatly appreciate any comments.
I find it interesting, but I don't want to spend the money it will take. There is also the barrel deterioration issue. I don't know how many are in good shape.
Supply and demand. I don't think there was much demand early on. Some posters were contemptuous of these pens. I was more interested in original 51s at the time, and this issue might have passed on before I thought about it.
I think the failure was in the section, they were not made of Lucite as in the original 51, they just crumbled. In addition the pens were very expensive when new and Parker had many claims on their guarantee, in the end they gave discount vouchers for other Parker Models.
Not sure I can go along with the not rare comment, I have only owned one and only seen one other in 10 years, the last one I saw for sale was GBP400. Cannot remember the colour of mine, surf blue comes to mind but I could be wrong. Never seen any of the fancy finishes in the Parker ad.
Last edited by Bzzer; July 26th, 2019 at 11:19 AM.
I'm a fan of the 2002 Parker 51 SE. Had one of each color and traded the black one for a discolored but very nice Waterman Patrician onyx years ago. The turquoise one is still working perfectly; in fact, it is nearly always filled with a Parker cartridge. The original turquoise plastic was prone to cracks. At a Paradise Pen, where I bought both of the pens, there were extra turquoise barrels, so I bought a couple. My original barrel finally fell apart after quite a few cracks, so am happy I to have had a replacement. I have never had a crack in the turquoise shell. Its medium nib, by the way, in wide, smooth, and completely reliable. While certainly not in a class with the actual Parker 51, which is one of my favorite models, this modern c/c filler is quite a nice fountain pen.
Thank you to proteus & pajaro, who I believe perfectly capture the reason for current asking prices for these fountain pens.
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