Family pens......
#1
Posted 14 January 2013 - 08:32 PM
I had no idea the pen collecting hobby was so popular or interesting. These pens are bot 51's, but are quite different. The black and silver one is a aerometric (?) and still functions and I use it at my desk. I guess this might mean it is the newer of the two. The other is of the 'Blue Diamond' variety? A vacumatic, speed line perhaps. It doesn't have any blue to speak of, but the diamond is on the cap at the top of the clip. The cap is 16k gold filled and has 1/l0 on it. Photos below.
That is all I have, thanks to any who respond and I appreciate your time.
51s.jpg 68.92KB 33 downloads 51sopen.JPG 85.46KB 31 downloads
#2
Posted 15 January 2013 - 05:50 PM
Two nice pens. The Aerometric pen looks to be a "Demi", which was a slightly smaller profile than the standard size 51. Although the Demi was often marketed to women, part of the rationale for calling it a "Demi" as opposed to a "Ladies Pen" was to also capture a market for men who simply preferred a smaller profile pen. I'm not surprised the pen still functions. 51 Aerometrics are famous for being functional years after they were first sold. If you haven't done so yet, you might want to give the pen a good flushing in water with about a 10% ammonia mix (followed by some additional flushes with plain water). You'd be surprised how much old ink this flushing process dislodges from the filler system, and how much doing so improves the pen's performance.
The other pen is a 51 Vacumatic, which was the filling system Parker used until the Aerometric line was introduced in 1949. This pen likely needs to have the diaphragm replaced to get it functioning again. The good news here is that you shouldn't have a problem finding a pen restorer to do that for you for a pretty reasonable amount of money.
Hope this helps you.
Edited by nxn96, 15 January 2013 - 05:52 PM.
#3
Posted 15 January 2013 - 07:14 PM
Hi,
Two nice pens. The Aerometric pen looks to be a "Demi", which was a slightly smaller profile than the standard size 51. Although the Demi was often marketed to women, part of the rationale for calling it a "Demi" as opposed to a "Ladies Pen" was to also capture a market for men who simply preferred a smaller profile pen. I'm not surprised the pen still functions. 51 Aerometrics are famous for being functional years after they were first sold. If you haven't done so yet, you might want to give the pen a good flushing in water with about a 10% ammonia mix (followed by some additional flushes with plain water). You'd be surprised how much old ink this flushing process dislodges from the filler system, and how much doing so improves the pen's performance.
The other pen is a 51 Vacumatic, which was the filling system Parker used until the Aerometric line was introduced in 1949. This pen likely needs to have the diaphragm replaced to get it functioning again. The good news here is that you shouldn't have a problem finding a pen restorer to do that for you for a pretty reasonable amount of money.
Hope this helps you.
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge. Any idea on the age of either pen? I assume the Aerometric is post 1949, are they dated in any way? Thus the Vacumatic (the one my dad used) is older than 1949. He served in WWII and I wonder if this pen would date back that far? Anyway, thanks again.
#5
Posted 16 January 2013 - 02:01 AM
The other pen was pretty well identified by nxn96 as a demi 51, and fits the description "The MKIII Demi was also offered In 1950 when the model was redesigned with a metal casing, or sleeve, around the pli-glass sac that was shorter than on the larger model and the metal bar was curved like an "U" around the sac leaving it open (in a style later repeated on the Parker 21). The imprint on the filler now read "To fill press ribbed bar four times. Wipe front end. Pen point down, with soft tissue. Use dry writing Superchrome ink."". Mine is so marked, and is in Black and would have been made post 1950. Thanks for the pointers and help and as I wrote earlier I'd love to be corrected if I have something amiss.
Edited by befus, 17 January 2013 - 12:55 AM.
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