Well, it's "hell week" here at school, but I've decided not to freak out this semester as I usually do. So, in taking a break from my seminar paper, here are some pictures of my Parkers - no real reason other than a good excuse to procrastinate for a few minutes. Not very good pictures, but I'm kinda short on time.

First is my new arrival from Richard Binder. I sent him this "51" a few months ago, and it arrived on Monday with a wonderful cursive italic nib. It's hard to beat the combination of "51" and Richard's work - I'm a happy camper!


My collection of "51"s - in order: burgundy aero, black aero, blue aero (Binderized), blue aero, black vac - though you can't see the colors very well.


And my black "51" and Cobalt Black 100 - the 100 is in Janesville getting a nib swap currently.

Ryan, how big was the nib for Richard to make into a cursive italic? Do you know approximately what size cursive italic it now is?

Thanks.

Ron

Ron - it was a medium nib to begin with, and Richard made into a 0.7mm cursive italic.

Thanks, Ryan.

I guess if I had read your post carefully, I would have seen the reference to .7mm.

That looks fantastic!

Ron

No worries - I should have included that in my text.

The nib is fantastic! Richard's work is unbeatable as far as I'm concerned, and to be able to match that with my all-time favorite pen is as good as it gets for me and fountain pens. This is my first cursive italic from Richard (I normally stick to stubs), and I really like the crisper feel of the nib - though it does take a bit more effort to square the nib to the page than my stubs. I'm hooked!

Nice photos, Ryan.

In many ways the "51s" are some of the best vintage FP for newbie collectors. There are a lot of them out there, they are relatively easy to diassemble, (once you understand how to do it,) and of course, they are great writers. My one complaint about the "51s" is the lack of nib choices for these pens. It's relatively difficult to find a true medium or a broad nib for these pens. And if you do find one, you'll pay a premium for it.

As for Richard B.'s work...what else could I say that hasn't been said before. He just does amazing stuff with nibs! I just received back my Parker Sonnet from him. He turned the somewhat dry, slightly scratchy medium nib into an amazingly smooth stub with flow that is wet, but not too wet. It's now my favorite pen. I just ordered another stub nib from Richard for my Pelikan m215. I'm pretty excited; it should be here at the end of this week. I've actually considered packing up my entire collection of FP's and having him turn them all into stubs...hmm...that's not a bad thought, really.

Anyway, thanks for the pics, Ryan. Good luck with the exams!

TMann

beautiful photos.

I am starting to lust after a 51.

I keep checking eBay . . .

Thanks all! "51"s are awesome pens; good luck finding one!

^thanks. this is turning into an obsession.

I've always liked the parkers with the silver caps, reminds me of my grandpa's old jotter pens. maybe i'll pick one up one day.

off topic but now because of your pretty cursive handwriting, there is an italic nib on the way for my lamy. (well and also the reason that the nib section is leaking due to a crack...how sad)

TMann,

I have a theory on this, the further West that you travel from the prime meridian, the finer the nibs get. The standard medium nib in UK or Europe could be judged as a Broad in the US, whereas a US fine would almost be a medium in the Far East, until you get to where Asia turns back into Europe again and nibs go back broad again.

I am sure that there is some rational explanation for all this, but to answer your issue about interesting nibs for a "51", the best place is to get a Vac in the US and a nib from the UK. Fine nibs are really not common in the wild in the UK, which is why I was delighted to find and restore a fine nib amongst my pile of 'bits'.

So if you were to look on the UK eBay, you will get more "51"s with bigger nibs than in the US. With a Newhaven made nib, you get a load of tipping material so it is relatively easy to have it ground into any shape you want. A friend who restores pens in the UK has a theory that Newhaven only ever made medium and broad nibs in quantity and the finer mediums were ground into true fines and everything else was ground from either a medium or a broad. Coming from a family of fountain pen writers, I can't recall anybody ever buying anything other than a medium or a broad. Up until very recently, ie the last two years, I had never used a traditional fine nib pen, for years I used a medium fountain pen for writing and a Rotring Isograph for fine work. Now I use a US fine "51" Vac and the Rotring gathers dust

Jim

I neeeeeeeeeeeed a Parker 51...

^yes, you do. I just got one.

i can't let it go.

I can spare one of my spares. I sell them in good working condition. PM me if you want to proceed.

Andy Hoffman