Surf green on the right, Caribbean green on the left. The Caribbean green looks much more blue when seen with the surf green. It looks more green on its own.
Surf green on the right, Caribbean green on the left. The Caribbean green looks much more blue when seen with the surf green. It looks more green on its own.
amk (October 12th, 2021), Barry Gabay (October 12th, 2021), christof (October 11th, 2021), penwash (October 12th, 2021), Scrawler (October 13th, 2021)
Thank you Guy for this comparison. Although I have these pens in my collection, I never was sure about the color naming. I was always looking for the (missing) Vista Blue, until I found out that carribean green of Parker 61 is almost the same color as vista blue of later Parker "51" Mk III. So my guess is that Vista Blue and Surf Green are identical colors, at least on Parker 61. Can you confirm that, or do you have a Vista Blue 61 as well?
Last edited by christof; October 11th, 2021 at 01:26 PM.
I don’t have a Vista Blue here. From the pictures i’ve seen online, the Vista Blue is a lighter color than the Caribbean green and also lacks the green tinge of Caribbean green. Vista Blue was available for the entirety of the 61’s production. Caribbean green replaced surf green in 1959 and had a ten year run.
Supposedly Caribbean green is the same as the 51 teal. I think that may be true for some teal 51s. I don’t think it’s always true.
double
Thank you. my P „51“ teal is much darker than my P61 carribean green.
I will take a picture too of what I have here.
That would be great. Your pictures are superb.
I found this group shot of 61:
with the three blueish tones in the middle of which I was thinking they were (from left to the rigth) Surf Green, Carribean Green and Teal Blue.
I also have this group shot of Parker "51" Mk III
the third from the left is Teal Blue (which is identical to the Parker 61 Teal Blue) and the fourth from left is Vista Blue (which is, laying side by side nearly identical to the Carribean Green Parker 61)
Tonight, I will try to make a side by side picture of all the blue and green tones.
PS: according to Richard Binder, there is no Teal Blue Parker 61 and Carribean Green looks again different of what I have seen until now:
http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/61.htm
strange thing...
Last edited by christof; October 12th, 2021 at 12:24 AM.
Barry Gabay (October 12th, 2021)
Nice collection Christof. The MKIII was my first I'd love to add a few more.
Forgive my ignorance, but did P61s come in different sizes or is it an optical illusion in the photo?
from 1962, Parker 61 had about 2mm shorter caps. the lenght of the barrel was identical.
amk (October 13th, 2021), Barry Gabay (October 12th, 2021)
here's the promised side by side picture:
Teal-,Surf-, and Vistablue by C.M.Z, auf Flickr
from let to rigth:
- Parker "51" Mk III, Teal Blue
- Parker 61, Teal Blue (?)
- Parker 61, Surf Green
- Parker 61, Vista Blue (?)
- Parker "51" Mk III, Vista Blue
Would be happy about any comment/correction.
guyy (October 12th, 2021)
For what is worth............
An example of a USA Surf Green & Caribbean Green
Both are P61C, there are physical differences from manufacture
christof (October 12th, 2021)
I had already feared that it would not go on here now.
...But I really would like to have finally answered this question about colors and names. bummer.
Oh, Caribbean green is very pretty!!!
JoshuaL, they are so very rare to find..........
If you look at my previous with a very close eye, you may notice that the barrel end ring on the right is wider than than one left.
Whilst it is near impossible to photograph them both together to illustrate the colour, if you look at both in clear sunlight, Caribbean Green is about 4/5 colour hues lighter.
Most of the informed here will say, that is batch colour difference.
Not so, they are physically different - breather hole placement for one....etc
Is a complex area of research, I have no desire to discuss here.
Has anyone ever seen a USA Mk II Surf Green ?
Never managed to find a Mk 1 Surf Green with the mythical rainbow cap in Green / Pink.
They appear not be prototypes.
christof has outstanding images of three of P61 rainbow cap variants, there are in fact 5 different types.
Of the images shown, the first one is mine, the other two are from a good friend of mine - the images are not colour balanced - they are not Vista Blue
Last edited by proteus; November 2nd, 2021 at 03:13 PM.
Bookmarks