I was reading the Parker 51 book by Shepherd and got the impression---though I don't think it stated it directly--- that the blue diamond cap was discontinued by the time the aeromatic Parker 51 --- came into existence. Is that generally correct or did I misinterpret?

Thanks,
Sparky

Hi Sparky,

Yes, the blue diamond cap was only in production during the Vacumatic 51's tenure. The Aerometric 51s (which is what you mean by "aeromatic, I think) only came with non-blue diamond clips. Too bad, because I very much prefer the BD clips but like Aeros a lot too.

Thank you for the clairfication.... like you I like the aeromatic filling system, but the blue diamond caps are more appealing than the arrow caps.

Parker actually began phasing out the Blue Diamond cap before the appearance of the aerometric "51" -- the Blue Diamond was the symbol of Parker's lifdetime warranty, and in 1946 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission outlawed such warranties if the manufacturer charged a fee -- any fee. Rather than continue the warranties without the service charge, the major U.S. pen makers all discontinued their lifetime warranties. So Parker did away with the Blue Diamond. Here's a 1947 Vacumatic Demi with an Arrow clip:



FWIW, Parker continued making the Vacumatic in other countries until the early '50s; and the Split Arrow clip stayed until the end. Here's a 1951 Canadian Vac:

Note that the FTC outlawed the warranties as structured in 1945, but Sheaffer continued to use the White Dot as a logo even though they dropped the lifetime guarantee, and Parker continued to use their Blue Diamond in the same manner for about two years, so it is not clear that there is a causal relationship between the FTC's action and Parker's dropping of the Blue Diamond.

It should also be noted that Parker challenged the FTC's ruling in court and eventually won a partial victory in late 1946 that made its way into a modified FTC order in early 1948, though they do not seem to have taken advantage of the modification, which allowed them to offer the lifetime guarantee poviding that the statement regarding the service charge was made more prominent . Perhaps, even with the service charge, it was too burdensome financially to re-introduce the guarantee, and not competitively necessary in light of the fact that the other makers had also dropped their long-term guarantees a couple of years earlier.

--Daniel

I would note that it is most surprising to see a Blue Diamond on Richard's 1951 red Canadian Vacumatic. Having examined at least two zeelion 1950+ Canadian Vacs, all examples i've seen of all models that earlier had sported BD clips (eg. Major, Debutante) show the split-feather non-BD clips at this late date. Clips of course are swappable, and nonBD clips readily available, but it is odd to see that clip on that pen.

best

david

David,
I'm new to this, but what is a BD clip? Thanks...

BD = Blue Diamond -- the small blue diamond insignia up at the top of some Parker arrow-shaped clips (it also appears on other locations, but the clip is the overwhelmingly most common such site).

--Daniel

The blue diamond barrel stamps are some of the most charming applications of the BD. Have to post a pic of one some time

d