Parker 51 Pan American Green

[INeedAFinancialAdvisor]

The best way to guarantee someone wants to do something, is to tell them they aren't allowed to...

On that note...

Parker "51" Ink Pan American Green

An ink so deadly to pens, they had to invent a new pen just to handle it!

Imagine a time when the only writing implements around were dip pens, pencils and fountain pens. It was called the 1930s!

Ink and Pen manufacturers are in a race to make the fastest drying ink. Everyone is carrying around a blotter, they are so common that they are used for advertising the way match books and ballpoint pens are now. Smearing ink is an everyday inconvenience. To get an edge, manufacturers need a faster drying ink. First, Parker invented Quink (a portmanteau of quick and ink) but then, they invented the fastest drying ink they could. It didn't really "dry" by evaporation so much as it soaked into the paper.

There was only one little tiny problem... It ATE PENS. Especially celluloid pens... oh, and it also dried out on nibs... Of course, the only OBVIOUS solution was to invent an entirely new pen just to handle this one ink! (available in 4 colours)

And boy did they. The Parker "51" was so successful that after making the first 12 million or so, they just stopped counting.

Learn more about the ink here: http://www.richardsp...care/51_ink.htm
Learn more about the pen here: http://www.richardsp...profiles/51.htm
Too bad the ink was still semi-deadly to that pen too... so it was only made from 1941 to about 1948. (when it was replaced by the SLIGHTLY less deadly Superchrome MTF on that...)

That makes the bottle in question at least 72 years old.

Now then, in Monty Python fashion GET ON WITH IT!

Obligatory "artsy" glamour shot (yeah... it's no where near PenHero's level, I know. #photographygoals)




There was some sedimentation... but don't worry, I shook the bottle vigorously to ensure all the dyes got back into suspension (obviously not solution...) After all, we need as true of a representation of it's original colour as possible!


And now the writing... My handwriting is bad enough that I may as well have just written out the first 6 pages of Lorem Ipsum... legible text typed out below the page
Rhodia Notebook


Parker "51" Pan American
Green 3oz Bottle bought
on eBay April 2020.
But the ink is over 70
years old. "51" ink
was only made from 1941 to 1948!
The ink was designed to
dry quickly. It was so aggressive the "51" pen had
to be developed just to
handle it. This bottle doesn't dry especially
quickly (actually, it's pretty good) The colour is
not saturated by today's
standards

Would buy again? Not Applicable :P

Shading: OK, not great
Saturation: Low
Feathering: Low/Nil
Spread: Low/Nil
Bleed: Low
Cleaning: (not evaluated yet as it is still in the pens)

Water test Results: Water Resistant to a reasonable degree as can be seen

I take it back,
dry time is pretty
good. Especially in
dryer pens.


You can't / shouldn't realistically buy this ink... but but... but what if i LOVE the colour? Well have no fear, a reasonable approximation of it can be achieved by mixing Noodler's Squeteague 7:5 Water:Ink
Yes, it says 7:1 in BOTH scans... that's a "typo" it should be 7:5 water:ink
Clairefontaine Notebook

Clairefontaine Notebook
Legible text typed out below... Lorem Ipsum caveat from above applies here


Parker "51" Pan American
Green
TWSBI Eco Medium nib
Wing Sung 601 Fude nib
This ink is new old
stock.

The bottle is nearly full,
accounting for only a little evaporation

The ink does not seem
to be drying at any
kind of special rate.

It's not a "slow" drying
ink by any means,
but it's not excepti-
onally speedy either

By today's standards
this does not qualify
as very saturated
But 70 years may have
had some effect on that



Notes:

I initially put this ink in a Wing Sun 3006 (a cheap copy of a "51"/61 CC). The nib dried out over night... but then again, the cap on these is not great. Still, the irony was not lost on me.

So then I put it in a TWSBI Eco, it was fine.
I wrote with it for a couple of days. Today I refilled the TWSBI and then eyedropper filled a Wing Sung 601 with a fude-esque nib (not wanting to stick the pen in the ink and risk contaminating it, and not having a decent sized sample vial... I pulled the hood, and collector from the 601, dumped some ink in and reassembled the pen.) That was a couple of hours ago.

The 601 is now experiencing hard starts and general dryness at the nib. The irony of this happening to a pen that is a VERY VERY faithful reproduction of a Parker "51" is, again, not lost on me. It should be noted, I think this particular pen writes relatively dry in the first place. But still...
I will leave it capped, horizontal on my desk overnight, and update this thread WRT dry out.

The Eco is fine. Seems to really like this ink, Most of the review above was written with the Eco.

Conclusion:

So there it is. the Colour of Parker "51" Pan American Green.

It's like a pale Noodler's Squeteague that will kill your pen in the long run and cost you a ton of money for the privilege!

My curiosity is satisfied... for now

The bottle of Tunis Blue is already on it's way ...