It's long been something of an article of faith that collectors for the "51" were machined of transparent acrylic (including the red collectors in the first-year demonstrators) until the arrival of the Mark II in 1962, which brought with it black injection-molded plastic collectors. Well, fans, 'tain't so, at least not entirely. Today I opened up a black 2Q1944 "51" with a Lustraloy cap. This pen was captured in the wild, and it had obviously had no restoration. Here's the machined acrylic collector I found in it.
Comments?