Family pens......

Hi all-I am new obviously and am finding out some info on pens passed down from my family, among which are two Parker 51's. One was my dad's and the other I really don't know, maybe one they had in the desk for bill writing? Any way if any of you would take the time to point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

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

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.

Edited by nxn96, 15 January 2013 - 05:52 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.

Peruse this.

O.K. thanks. Here is what I am seeing, correct me if I am wrong if anyone reads this. The Vacumatic is likely made in the mid-forties. Per "Mark I (1942-48), had the (late) Vacumatic filling system with a plastic plunger hidden behind a blind cap. It also had the arrow clip with the blue diamond design previously added to the the Vacumatics in 1939. From 1943 the nib was date coded". It is late Cedar Blue and has the gold filled lid as denoted by the 1/10 and 16K marking on the lid. It might , or might not have the date of manufacture on the nib, and I am in no way going to tear it up trying to find out. It needs a new sac and maybe other parts and I sent emails to two guys (both named Ron!) today to see if they would be willing to do it for me. May not be worth what it costs, but hey it was my Dad's. Further study led me to finally be able to see the "6" with a dot on each side and under it. I now presume this pen was made in early 1946 and Dad got it following his discharge.

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.

Look at the barrel, below the clutch ring, is where a date code should or would be stamped. Some don't have them, sometimes they get worn away, nothing to worry about. The date code should tell you the year and quarter that the pen was made.