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Parker "51"
1940-current
HISTORY
The Parker "51" is the world's most sold fountain pen. The Parker "51" took eleven years to develop, but Parker sold over 20 million pens during more than 30 years! Parker spent the same amount in dollars to promote the pen, but in 1969 reached 400 million dollars in sales. A pretty good investment, eh? It was named the Parker "51" because Parker felt they needed a name that wouldn't be hard to pronounce in any country and also easy to remember. Also at this time, Route 51 was built through Janesville and it is quite probable that this also was a reason for the name. Furthermore, it also came out of research in 1939, the 51st anniversary of the Parker Pen Company.
The Parker "51" Mark II is probably the most functional fountain pen ever made. It never leaks, always works and never breaks—well, almost... It also, in my humble opinion, is one of the nicest pen designs ever made. It was the first pen that had the nib under a hood; the thought behind this was not to let the ink have a chance of drying on the way from the ink reservoir to the paper.
All pens dry up if they are left unused and uncapped for a while. The hooded nib prolonged this unavoidable thing. To achieve this Parker also had to redesign the nib, a pen part that had looked roughly the same for centuries. The new gold nib that was to fit inside the hood was tubular and rather rigid. The body was designed to look like a jet-fighter from the side (without the wings, of course) and the material used (Lucite) was the same that some wartime planes had in their nose-cones.
A "First Year" Parker "51" in Cedar Blue. from the first quarter of 1941. Note the distict features, Double aluminium jewels, metal filler with diamond imprint.
There are two easy ways to date the early Parker "51". First, starting in 1943, the year of making was printed at the bottom of the tubular nib, but of course, dating from the nib is inexact at best, as the nib is one of the most frequently replaced parts. Secondly, an imprint can be found on the top of the barrel, just under the cap clutch ring: PARKER "51" 6 MADE IN U.S.A. The small digit denotes the year of making for the barrel. This digit was deleted on the US-made pens in 1953, but continued until 1959 on European (and Canadian?) pens, the same for the date on the nib.
The exceptions were the so-called "First Year" pens, "MK 0", if you will, very sought after by collectors, that were produced during late 1940 and 1941. These pens had some distinct features. Most, but not all, had an aluminium filler with a diamond-shaped imprint on the brass button; others came with the plastic filler. They also had a blind cap with a tassie ring, a feature that later on was fitted to the more high-end Parker "51" models—so-called "Double Jeweled" or simply "DJ" pens. Also, the one-lined date code was situated at the end of the blind cap. This imprint was moved up towards the body clutch ring at the end of 1941; from 1942 the imprint was in double lines. The easiest way to quickly spot a First Year pen is that most of them were fitted with aluminium cap and/or tassie jewels. There are, however, today reproduction jewels available in aluminium, so this feature alone is not a guarantee that the pen is a First Year. Furthermore, these pens were fitted with clips that had a larger blue diamond than subsequent pens, and if the clip is removed, the Parker imprint is visible in reverse on the back, on account of a different manufacturing method.
The colours of the vacumatic filler Parker "51":
India Black, Mustard Yellow, Buckskin Beige, Nassau Green, early Cedar Blue, later Cedar Blue, Dove grey, Navy Grey and Cordovan Brown. At the bottom a half Demonstrator with the section in clear lucite, note the red ink collector,
The blue diamond is also a shade lighter in colour. Inside the cap the clutch is also longer. It's not uncommon for the First Year pens to differ in the colour shades from pens later produced.
The Parker "51" came in 4 basic different styles. There's been some confusion, since David Shepherd chose in his book "Parker 51" not to count the Vacumatic filler as MK I, instead starting with the first aerometric model. It might become grounds for confusion, but in this article the Vacumatic filler will be referred to as the MK I, the Aerometric with the rounded end as the MK II, the Aerometric with the plastic jewelled "61" style cap and squarish end as the MK III and the Aerometric with the metal jewelled "61" style cap as the MK IV. To complicate things further there's also a MK I-B, a transitional Vacumatic filler with the new style non-blue diamond cap with a long clip. The MK II can also be divided into MK II-A, with the longer clip cap (identical to the MK I-B), the MK II-B with a shorter clip and MK II-C with an even shorter clip with fewer feathers and the "halo" logo on the cap.
There's also the rare button-filled Parker "51" referred to as the Red Band, which was produced for a few months only from June 1946 until the end of 1947, and the Cartridge Filler Parker "51", produced 1958 until 1962. These were however produced side by side with the standard line.
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 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)
There are also examples of Demonstrators, a pen in all aspects like the ordinary Parker "51" but made in clear plastic, showing the workings inside the pen, primarily made for pen sellers. Two versions were produced, the so-called Half Demonstrator, which had the gripping section made in clear lucite, produced from 1941. Some had the ink collector made in red, which created a striking effect. The Full Demonstrator, with both the section, body and blind cap in clear plastic, was made from 1945, although most are dated 1947-1948. Care should be taken when buying a Demonstrator, since there are a number of recently made replicas floating around. The replicas do not (so far) carry any date code imprints.
Both the Half Demonstrator and Full Demonstrator are being reproduced, and also a version where both cap, barrel and section are made from clear lucite. All versions are being made both as Vacumatic fillers and Aerometric fillers with original Parker internal parts, so it's very hard to tell the difference.
Parker offered more than twenty different cap designs, some of which were:
Lustraloy (steel) with GF clip, this is the standard cap (intro
1942)
Lustraloy with GF clip and GF cap band
Lustraloy with Chrome Plated clip
Lined Coin Silver and GF clip
Sterling Silver with vertical lines with GF clip and chevron band
Sterling Silver plain with GF clip and chevron band
Sterling hammered Silver (intro
1942)
Custom, Gold filled plain
Custom, GF with thin vertical lines
Custom, Gold filled with alternating 4 vertical lines and plain band
Insignia, Gold filled with alternating 9 vertical lines and plain band
Insignia with Gold filled alternating straight and wavy lines and plain band
Signet GF with converging lines
Signet GF with thin vertical lines and chevron band
Heritage GF cap solid 14k gold clip, "squares"
Heirloom, all solid 14k gold, plain
Heirloom, all solid 14k gold, fish scales (aka Scallop) (intro
1942)
Heirloom, all solid 14k gold, two-tone red/yellow lines
Heirloom, all solid two-tone red/yellow 14k gold, fine barley Empire (aka Icicle, aka Manhattan, aka Empire State) (intro
1942)
Some of these designs are very rare.
Parker had tried a number of new filling systems, meant to replace the Vacumatic filler, and in 1946 an uncommon Parker "51" was introduced, the so-called Red Band "51". It was in most aspects a re-designed button filler. It was fitted with red threads by the filler and it was also advertised as the Red Band "51", as opposed to the Black Band "51", which had the ordinary Vacumatic filler. The early red threads were made from plastic, while later versions had threads made from aluminium. Most surviving Red Band pens are India Black, and a few have been found in Dove Grey and Cedar Blue. Red Band desk pens are more common than pocket pens. The Red Band Parker "51" was very hard to repair and it was discontinued already in 1947, making it much sought after by collectors.
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 have surfaced (there are also some examples of US-made Burgundy Vacumatic filler Parker "51"s.) These anomalies are most likely the result of pens having been sent back to Parker for repair, and since there was no more old stock, Vacumatic filler sections and bodies were made from later Aerometric coloured stock. These are relatively rare, especially the Burgundy.
Also in 1947 a ladies' size Parker "51" called the Demi "51" was introduced. The Demi was made in three different types. MK I was a Vacumatic filler; this model was in all aspects identical to the standard Parker "51" but with a shorter barrel and cap. There were no double jewelled Demis produced either. Nor were any Demis made in the UK.
The Vacumatic Demis were offered with either Lustraloy or Custom caps and were produced in four colours:
India Black
Cedar Blue
Cordovan Brown
Dove Grey
Images © Andreas Lambrou courtesy of http://www.classicpensinc.com
A fantastic collection of double-jewelled Vacumatic filler Parker "51" 's" with rare caps.
From the top: India Black, Cordovan Brown (aka Burgundy), Dove Grey, Cedar Blue, Nassau Green (aka Sage), Mustard (aka Yellowstone) and Tan (aka Buckskin Beige).
The three bottom ones being the rarest colours.
In 1947 a court ruled in the US that products could no longer be sold with a lifetime guarantee. Parker decided to discontinue the Blue Diamond on the clips. The new clip was very similar to the early Vacumatic clips but was longer. The clip is often referred to as the "transitional" clip and the pens could be categorised as the MK I-B. Both transitional and Blue Diamond clips were offered until 1948, while Parker cleared out old stock. These clips were also fitted to all Vacumatic filler Parker "51"s made in the UK; no English Blue Diamond caps were produced.
There are also two models of the MK II Parker "51": The first, MK II-A (1948-1949) had the transitional clip and the filler instruction engraving included "Press ribbed bar 6 times." There were two types of filler sleeves: one made of aluminium, the other of chrome-plated steel. Also, the barrel threads were extended (raised). The second MK II-B model, made from 1950 onwards, had a shorter clip and the filling instruction read: "Press ribbed bar 4 times", and the filler sleeve itself was made of brushed stainless steel. A rubber O-ring was fitted by the threads under the hood joint and the barrel threads were indented. There are no O-rings on the Vacumatic fillers.
The MK II pens of course had a brand new filling system that was to be adopted by virtually all Parkers in the future, the Aerometric. Almost all pens had to have moving parts (well, all until the Parker 61) to make the filling easy. Most European pens had screw or pump plungers (Mont Blanc, Pelikan, etc.) while the American pen companies preferred rubber sacs with different levers or plungers. These rubber sacs inevitably rotted away in time due to the acid in the ink. When this happened a lot of clothes got destroyed, and the pen companies all had special departments that dealt with paying for clothes ruined by their product.
Parker developed a sac in a tough plastic material, called Pli-Glass, that had a life expectancy of 30 years, but are now going on 60+. These sacs were also in a see-through material which allowed one to see how much ink was left in the pen. The sac was encapsulated inside a metal tube on which a metal pressure bar was mounted. To reveal this filling mechanism one had to unscrew the entire body cover from the section ring and back.
The barrel colours were:
Black
Midnight Blue (aka Dark Blue)
Teal Blue (aka Turquoise)
Forest Green
Navy Grey
Plum (aka Aubergine)— the MK II type 2 pens were not produced in this colour
Cocoa
Demonstrator (not produced in the Demi-size)
The Aerometric filler MK II Demi was launched in late 1948. It was identical to the MK II standard Parker "51" type 1, only with diminished diameters—a miniature "51", if you will. The MK II Demis had chrome-plated aluminium fillers identical to the larger versions, with the imprint "To fill press ribbed bar firmly 6 times. Use dry-writing Superchrome ink."
Also in 1948, the Parker "51" Signet was introduced with an all-GF cap and barrel with vertical lines. It changed name to Insignia in 1957 and both names are used by collectors.
In 1949, the Parker "51" Presidential was introduced in solid gold. The Demi pens were not made in this style. From 1950 the single "year" digit on the body became 2 digits: "MADE IN U.S.A. 50".
Also in 1950, the Parker "51" Flighter was introduced. This pen was made of steel with GF trim and survived until 1960. In the late 1950s, the gold cap ring was deleted from the Flighter pen.
The MK III 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. The metal bar was curved like a "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."
Two Vacumatic filled Parker "51" in Dove Grey
and the more uncommon Navy Grey.
Another Parker "51" was also added to the series in 1950, the Parker "51" Special. This had the Aerometric filling system but in the manner of the Demi "51" with a U-shaped pressure bar. The big difference was that it sported an octanium (eight metal alloy) nib rather than one made of gold and it came with a shiny chrome cap only (the standard Parker "51"s were made in a matte chrome design). The cap jewel or clip screw was made in black (while the standard had a pearl-coloured plastic).
The "51" Special initially came in four colours, Green being a later fifth addition to the line:
Black
Grey
Burgundy
Blue
Green
There was also a Demi Special offered with a steel nib and steel cap, but these were not marked "Special" as the bigger versions were.
The Demi Special was offered in the colours:
Black
Burgundy
Navy Grey
Teal Blue
Forest Green
In 1954 the engraving "Made in USA" was added to the back of the cap. In 1956 the ink Superchrome engraving on the metal filler sleeve with filling instructions was replaced with "Parker ink". In 1957, Parker introduced the Parker "51" Insignia, but this was really only a renamed Signet. In 1958 Parker tried a cartridge/converter filling system on some Parker "51"s, but this didn't sell well at all, so it was discontinued around 1960, making these pens rather hard to find. The filling system was instead moved to the Parker 45, introduced in 1960. Also in 1960 Parker stopped imprinting the year of manufacture on the nib and body on European-made (and Canadian?) pens. The same year, the additional logo with the arrow through a circle was added to the cap, aka the "halo" logo, while the Demi Parker "51" was discontinued.
In 1964 the imprint "51" was added to the cap lip. In 1969 the Mark III Parker "51" was introduced. It sported a smaller, more conical cap, quite similar to the Parker 61, with the same type of clip. Also, the section ring became thinner. The biggest difference between this and the Parker 61 was that the Parker "51" MK III didn't have the arrow set in the plastic on top of the section just behind the nib.
Mark IV (Early 1970s-mid 1970s) still looked a lot like the Parker 61. Cap screw now in metal, section ring wider again.
The Parker "51" became so popular that all the other American pen companies were forced to adopt the hidden nibs. The Parker "51" became such a status symbol that the company used to get large orders for caps only. The customers wore the caps in their pockets with the clips visible to let others believe that they were proud owners of that very popular but also very expensive fountain pen. It is to this day one of the most collected fountain pens and one can still find them relatively cheaply at flea markets. The beauty and wide variety of colours and designs, together with the unprecedented functionality, has made it a real classic indeed.
In 2002 Parker launched a retro model, the Parker "51" Special Edition in one of its rarest finishes, the Empire State Building etched cap.
Read more about the great "51" in David and Mark Shepherd's book "Parker 51".
Image © Ernesto Soler courtesy of Parker51.com
A collection of Parker "51" MKIII/IV in standard and uncommon colours.
(Updated 2015)
