24 replies to this topic

[cedargirl]

Hi
This is my first post here.
I'm hoping someone can help me date a UK 51 vacumatic.

Because it is a UK version and most of the web pages on 51s concentrate on US made pens, I'm having trouble determining the year of manufacture and the Mk/type.
I just received it this evening in a mixed batch of pens needing to be restored. I have been all over it with a 30x loupe and I can't find any date codes.

Around the cap it reads "PARKER "51" 1/10 14 CT. R.GOLD Made in England"
It has a a single tassie - grey/pearl coloured. There is no blue diamond (I believe that UK 51s never had this.)

The plunger is a type of plastic - I think it will be clear when I clean it up.

There doesn't appear to be any imprints on the nib. It has a round breather hole.

And I guess the colour may be important. Unfortunately it is now dark here so I'm not certain.
It is either a dark burgundy or a brown. I think only daylight will show.

I would appreciate any help from the experts here.

Thanks
Claire

[Jos]

Hi,

You are absolutely right that the information on UK made 51s is very scarce. But can you show pictures from your pen? From your explanation it is not clear to me whether your pen is indeed a 51 Vacumatic or rather a P51 Aerometric.

I think that all P51 Vacumatics had a barrel imprint and a date code. The typical UK imprint is 'PARKER "51" REG TM 640.244 Made in England' followed by a date code digit. Even if the imprint is worn, you should be able to see traces of it with a loupe.
The cap that you describe is either from a late (1947-48) P51 Vacumatic or a (> 1948) P51 Aerometric. Chack the clip: the feather clip on an Aerometric cap is quite distinct from the split arrow clip (with blue diamond) on the earlier P51 Vacumatic.

So though dating may be difficult, pictures from the pen are helpful to deduce which model (Vacumatic or Aerometric) you actually have.

[cedargirl]

Thank you Jos

Any help I can get giving this pen a name and a date is greatly appreciated.
I am so new at this, I may have confused a vacumatic with an aerometric

Here are some photos.









Apologies for poor quality photos. They are from my phone.

[Jim B]

what you have is a vacumatic filling 51.

Parker Vacumatics, so named, are a different pen, but the confusion comes from "vacumatic" being commonly used as the name for the filling mechanism on these first generation 51's.

[cedargirl]

Ah! Understood. Thank you so much, Jim. I think I confused myself.

So according to parkerpens.net, it would be this pen:

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.

The Mark I Parker "51" came in seven colours:

India Black
Cedar Blue
Cordovan brown
Dove grey
Nassau Green (aka Sage)
Mustard (aka Yellowstone)
Tan (aka Buckskin Beige)

Except, being a UK model, it doesn't have the blue diamond and it may or may not have a date code on the nib.

And therefore, it is cordovan brown and not a dark burgundy. In some lights it is clearly brown and in other situations it looks a bit burgundian!

[Hugh]

My recollection ( I stand to be corrected) is that UK 51 Vacs appeared late on the scene and only made for a year or so before the aerometric version came along. I'm thinking 1948 or there abouts (??).

Regards
Hugh

Edited by Hugh, 19 April 2013 - 11:17 PM.

[cedargirl]

My recollection ( I stand to be corrected) is that UK 51 Vacs appeared late on the scene and only made for a year or so before the aerometric version came along. I'm thinking 1948 or there abouts (??).

Regards
Hugh

Thanks Hugh - always nice to hear from a compatriot!

You sent me searching again and I found this - on the same site

"In late 1947 Parker in Newhaven, UK, started to produce Vacumatic filler Parker "51"'s, although no double jewelled pens were offered and the pens only came in the colours of India Black, Cedar Blue,Dove Grey and Cordovan Brown. But, like in the US, vacumatic fillers in Navy Grey has surfaced (there are also some examples of US-made Burgundy vacumatic filler Parker 51's.)"

And the aerometrics came out in the US in 1948/49. It's interesting that the switch to aerometrics occurred so quickly in the UK. I'm not familiar with these models, but with the UK Duofolds, they appeared to continue producing the older styles (the cigar shapes rather than the flattops)for quite some time. I guess that's because the aerometric filler was seen as such an innovation.
Thanks for your help.

[Jos]

My recollection ( I stand to be corrected) is that UK 51 Vacs appeared late on the scene and only made for a year or so before the aerometric version came along. I'm thinking 1948 or there abouts (??).

Regards
Hugh

1948 also seems to be correct for the cap on this late P51 Vacumatic: the typical clip of the 51 Vacumatic (split arrow blue diamond clip with 'Parker' imprint) was replaced in 1847-48 by the feather clip and the 'Parker' imprint was moved to the bottom of the cap lip. The cap of this pen also has the correct early long feather clip. These caps survived on the early P51 Aerometrics though the length of clip was shortened a few years later.

Can you check the barrel for remains of an original Parker imprint. The imprint should be located near the silver coloured clutch ring in the middle of the pen.

Edited by Jos, 20 April 2013 - 02:34 PM.

[cedargirl]

My recollection ( I stand to be corrected) is that UK 51 Vacs appeared late on the scene and only made for a year or so before the aerometric version came along. I'm thinking 1948 or there abouts (??).

Regards
Hugh

1948 also seems to be correct for the cap on this late P51 Vacumatic: the typical clip of the 51 Vacumatic (split arrow blue diamond clip with 'Parker' imprint) was replaced in 1847-48 by the feather clip and the 'Parker' imprint was moved to the bottom of the cap lip. The cap of this pen also has the correct early long feather clip. These caps survived on the early P51 Aerometrics though the length of clip was shortened a few years later.

Can you check the barrel for remains of an original Parker imprint. The imprint should be located near the silver coloured clutch ring in the middle of the pen.

Thanks Jos. With a clear direction on where to look I've tried again. I've been peering intently at the barrel near the cap ring through a 30x loupe but to no avail (even tried a 60x loupe). If there was an imprint there it has long gone. I guess that can't be uncommon in a pen that is 65 years old. Or maybe someone has polished it in the past - not recently though as there are many fine surface scuffs that are very visible, especially under magnification.

Did Newhaven models always get the date marking?

[Inkysloth]

Thanks Jos. With a clear direction on where to look I've tried again. I've been peering intently at the barrel near the cap ring through a 30x loupe but to no avail (even tried a 60x loupe). If there was an imprint there it has long gone. I guess that can't be uncommon in a pen that is 65 years old. Or maybe someone has polished it in the past - not recently though as there are many fine surface scuffs that are very visible, especially under magnification.

Did Newhaven models always get the date marking?

I can't be wildly informative, but I have a black vac-fill 51 Made in England, and it has an imprint just under the clutch ring with year code 8. So, Newhaven were dating at least some of their vac fill 51s!

The imprint isn't very deep, and not all of the lettering is clear. I can see the potential for a well-used pen to lose its imprint entirely.

Best wishes

Robin

[Paul M]

I believe the English 51 Vacumatic was produced from 1947 thru to 1949. The produced a Brown one that turns up from time to time, but there was no production model in Burgundy, so yours is probably the former. I think the nib will usually have a date on it, down near the foot.

The pens do often have a date code at the bottom of the barrel stamp, although that said I have today received a English grey 51 Vacuamtic that simply has "made in England" on the barrel. This grey example is in the Navy Grey usually associated with the aerometric, rather than the dove grey seen in the US vacs. (which makes me think it is 1949

[cedargirl]

I believe the English 51 Vacumatic was produced from 1947 thru to 1949. The produced a Brown one that turns up from time to time, but there was no production model in Burgundy, so yours is probably the former. I think the nib will usually have a date on it, down near the foot.

The pens do often have a date code at the bottom of the barrel stamp, although that said I have today received a English grey 51 Vacuamtic that simply has "made in England" on the barrel. This grey example is in the Navy Grey usually associated with the aerometric, rather than the dove grey seen in the US vacs. (which makes me think it is 1949

Thanks Paul. Yes, I have come to the conclusion that my pen is cordovan brown. I've taken the grip section off and there is no date making visible on the nib. Unless of course it's on the portion inserted into the feed.

Your pen sounds very nice.

Claire

[Paul M]

I believe the English 51 Vacumatic was produced from 1947 thru to 1949. The produced a Brown one that turns up from time to time, but there was no production model in Burgundy, so yours is probably the former. I think the nib will usually have a date on it, down near the foot.

The pens do often have a date code at the bottom of the barrel stamp, although that said I have today received a English grey 51 Vacuamtic that simply has "made in England" on the barrel. This grey example is in the Navy Grey usually associated with the aerometric, rather than the dove grey seen in the US vacs. (which makes me think it is 1949

Thanks Paul. Yes, I have come to the conclusion that my pen is cordovan brown. I've taken the grip section off and there is no date making visible on the nib. Unless of course it's on the portion inserted into the feed.

Your pen sounds very nice.

Claire

Here is a photo of a spare 51 nib I have sitting on my desk. It shows the location of the date (in this case 1953).

EDIT - having now removed the nib from the grey 1949? vacumatic previously mentioned, it did not have any date on it... so perhaps the early 51 nib, like the later ones, had no date mark?

Edited by Paul M, 05 May 2013 - 03:05 PM.

[cedargirl]

Here is a photo of a spare 51 nib I have sitting on my desk. It shows the location of the date (in this case 1953).

EDIT - having now removed the nib from the grey 1949? vacumatic previously mentioned, it did not have any date on it... so perhaps the early 51 nib, like the later ones, had no date mark?

Thanks for that. It clearly shows that any markings are on the part of the nib buried in the collector. I haven't attempted any restoration on this pen yet, so all I have done is remove the hood.
I'm not sure how to proceed from there. How do you remove the nib? Is it just a friction fit. Will a bit of dry heat do it? Or am I better off soaking it? I'm not sure what the collector is made of and how it will react to heat.
I'll need to be careful because my pen has a small split in the collector where someone has been a bit too heavy handed already, presumably in an attempt to remove the nib.

Claire

[entertainment]

Once you have the hood off, you are done with the hard part.

All you need to do then is soak the nib and collector in water for a day or so (just to be safe). Then pull the collector assembly out of the barrel with a slight twist. Heat is usually unnecessary. The collector is supposed to have a slit in it, so what you think is a split may just be the slit to provide ink to the nib. The nib and feed can then be pulled out of the collector. Pull straight out without twisting.

[cedargirl]

Once you have the hood off, you are done with the hard part.

All you need to do then is soak the nib and collector in water for a day or so (just to be safe). Then pull the collector assembly out of the barrel with a slight twist. Heat is usually unnecessary. The collector is supposed to have a slit in it, so what you think is a split may just be the slit to provide ink to the nib. The nib and feed can then be pulled out of the collector. Pull straight out without twisting.

Thank you!
Soaking starting now.

[entertainment]

Here is a Richard Binder Pen Doctor article with more detailed info:

http://www.richardspens.com/?pendoc=18

He suggests taking the nib out of the collector before removing the collector from the barrel.

He also has good information about reassembly. Often 51s have been taken apart in the past and the components have not been properly aligned on reassembly. One thing to watch out for is not to lose the tiny hard rubber plug in the hidden end of the collector. It often comes out during ultrasonic cleaning and can easily be dumped down the drain.

Edited by entertainment, 06 May 2013 - 12:58 AM.

[cedargirl]

Here is a Richard Binder Pen Doctor article with more detailed info:

http://www.richardspens.com/?pendoc=18

He suggests taking the nib out of the collector before removing the collector from the barrel.

He also has good information about reassembly. Often 51s have been taken apart in the past and the components have not been properly aligned on reassembly. One thing to watch out for is not to lose the tiny hard rubber plug in the hidden end of the collector. It often comes out during ultrasonic cleaning and can easily be dumped down the drain.

That's great - thank you.

[Paul M]

A English Parker 51, I assume you are UK based.

If you are contemplating repairs / restoration like this then you would do well to join WES (Writing Equipment Society). In addition to good newsletters, and valuable contacts, they run a three day repair course that is both cheap and comprehensive.

[cedargirl]

A English Parker 51, I assume you are UK based.

If you are contemplating repairs / restoration like this then you would do well to join WES (Writing Equipment Society). In addition to good newsletters, and valuable contacts, they run a three day repair course that is both cheap and comprehensive.

Hi Paul. I would love to do a three day course, but alas, I'm not UK based and it would be a long trip for me. I'm an Aussie. Lots of UK pens here!

I only started buying pens to restore very recently - I have Marshall & Oldfield and Dubiel's book. I'm scouring the web for the good stuff too. I've bought a few tools and I'm starting easy with some lever-fills that only require a sac replacement - mostly UK brands - CS, Mentmore, Onoto. I'm finding Deb's Goodwriter's blog useful.
I had put aside my single P51 and a Snorkel for later.


BTW - I have a nice hard rubber Summit (175) in need of some love! I'm assuming it was your web site I used to identify it as a Mk I. Am I right? It is a great site. Now I'm keeping my eye open for more Summits. It wasn't a brand I was aware of until I picked this one up in a mixed lot.


Claire