Hi,

This is my first post so I'll start by saying hello to you all and thank you for the information you have shared that I've spent innumerable hours pouring over the past few weeks.

I've just received a Parker 100 that I got on ebay from the Pen Seller From France, which by the way looks much better in real life than the pictures do justice too. I got the opal silver version and the graphite coloured textured cap looks great with the silver body. I got it for what I think was a bargain price of £46 approx $87 (plus £14 postage)

It was advertised as having a medium nib but it is much wetter and seems to write with a broader line than my Lamy Al-Star medium. Does anyone own this pen and if so is this normal?

I'm currently using it with Parker blue-black cartridges (I've just ordered 4 bottles of Diamine ink today from the Writing Desk) When I start writing with it each day the first few lines of writing are a funny turquoise colour instead of blue-black. This goes back to the normal colour after a few lines or if I give the pen a shake. Is this a symptom of the cartridges or is it peculiar to the Parker 100 or even this individual pen?

This whole pen and ink mularkey is getting addictive. I had a Waterman Expert 2 that I've been using for a few years but over the past few weeks since discovering this site I've added 2 Lamy Al-Stars, F & M nibs, the Parker 100, just ordered 4 bottles of ink (with a long list of others I'd like to try) but most worryingly I find myself being strongly drawn to vintage Conway Stewart pens (58's in particular) . I've found myself writing things down that I would never have done previously just to use a fountain pen, trying to think of things to do that would involve writing and I really must start trying to improve my hand writing.

Come to think of it I take back what I said at the top of the post, I shouldn't be thanking you I should be cursing you all

Lee

Yes, we're a bunch of ne'erdowells, aren't we?

Parker nibs tend to be a little broader than other brands, like-for-like, so what you're describing is normal. I'm not sure about the changing colour, though.

Ray

Lee,

I'm glad I'm not the only one who manufactures reasons to use a fountain pen. There are always lists - a list of what you're going to do, a list of what you actually did, a list of reasons why you did it or why you didn't do it, a list of TV commercials that interrupt your favorite show - you get the idea.

Then there are different kinds of journals - personal, business, food, literary, storm [if you live on the Gulf Coast], and on and on . . .

Judybug

Hahah

Welcome to the obsession - OOPS, i mean passion

What a beautiful looking pen your 100 is :

(though some would argue that it will never beat the original "51" )

Parker100 normal retail price is usually about £150 and the bargain price you got it for is so good that I was worried that you got conned into buying a fake. But, I have never heard of a Parker100 clone as of yet, and I think we can have the benefit of the doubt that what you have there is a genuine Parker 100 (Just in case, wait and see if someone more knowledgable builds on this).

Parker Mediums usually are on the broader side, so it's probably normal for it to write bigger than your Lamy. Also, Lamy's are considered to be on the drier spectrum of fountain pens, so a Parker 100 should feel wetter, like you stated.

As with the pen writing with a funny turquoise colour when fitted with a cartridge, it is perhaps the one of the main reasons why I always prefer converters over cartridges. I too have experienced this phenomenon of a pen using a cartridge writing very faintly for a few pages, then becoming darker into its proper colour. Since cartridges fill the feed and nib from behind the feed, rather in the traditional way through the nib - In my experience, I have found the ink flow to be less generous when using a cartridge. When I use converters, I feel that the rich flush of ink that the nib and feed get when ink is drawn up - the flow should feel better and write immediately in the correct colour. I'm sure your Parker 100 came with a converter? (I would have serious doubts against the seller if it didnt).

Hi Lee,

Welcome to FPN, I hope you can swim, 4 bottles of ink and a couple of pens means you have definitely got your toe in to test the temperature, it seems from your comments that you like the water.

Watch out it can get very deep.

20-30 bottles of ink and in some cases 1000+ pens and most of them the same make, this is where the harmless purchase of a couple of bottles of ink can lead to.
Many of us started out sure that we were in control, poor deluded souls that we are, 'I can stop anytime I like', most of us have said it, some of us thought we meant it, many of us believed it but that was several hundred pens ago and a few gallons of ink have flowed from the nibs since the days of our innocence.

Here we are a band of hopeless addicts, but in our case we are loving every minute of it, quite happily swimming around in pools of ink and happily fettling,fixing and in many cases even using fountain pens in the shallow end.

It might pay to bear in mind that these are the reasonably 'normal' ones of our community, there are some that immerse themselves so thoroughly that they apear only once in a while, take a breath, pass on news of what they have found in the depths of fountain pen history and vanish once more to explore the further and deeper more remote reaches and the more esoteric corners, nooks and crannies to emerge with further treasures. Like all of us, these too are friendly.

Except for pens, inks and associated paraphenalia we are mostly quite 'normal', reasonable and sociable beings, honest. Dive in and enjoy yourself the ink is lovely. John

It's me again, Ray, by the way, perhaps your Parker 100 had been used, or if supposedly new, dipped or used as a demonstrator using a more turquoise tinted ink, the dried old residue could be dissolved by the ink that you are using whilst the pen is idle and concentrating in the feed, when you write the ink that you use will dilute the concentration as it is drawn throught the feed and the colour will return to your chosen colour.

Probably wrong but its just a thought, a thorough flushing with cold water wiould probably sort it out if this is what is happening.
Cheers, John

I have this exact pen. Love it. It is in my regular rotation. The only thing you may find annoying is that the silver lacquer can be a bit slippery so hold on!

I have the pen with a fine nib and it is what I would call a firehose.....

-Bruce

Hi,

I have just bought the very same model, and I love it. I am in the middle of the first Parker Black cartridge, and it is a serious candidate to become one of my favourite pens.

We agree on the impression that the M nib gravitates towards a B one, and that it is quite wet. I love it as it is, but I will probably have it reground into a stub.

Enjoy your pens, your ink and welcome!

Alejandro

Bad thing about mine (the smoked bronze) is that She saw it - went "Oooooo" and it cost me another (gold/white) then "I didn't realise they had a ballpoint to match" Ouch !

Lovely pens - I took mine to italic, eased the corners, and it's a sweetie. Still prefer to do away with the nubs though

As it happens I'm ecpecting this week the delivery of a brandnew Parker 100 Diamond Blue from France. My ebay seller in this case was 'bleulibre'. They have a buy-it-now price of about € 80 + € 12 shipping to Germany (no further taxes within the EU), a great price which I could't resist. The only compromise is the nib size, as they had only F-nibs, while I prefer XFs.

I think I've got their last Diamond Blue, but they still have ten White Honeys (F-nibs) for the mentioned price, plus further BPs for about € 60 etc.

I was eyeing the Diamond Blue since last year, and I'm lucky as they are on discount at many places now, because Parker discontinued the White Honey and Diamond Blue versions.

This is going to be my first fully hooded nib fp (Lamy 2000 counts as semihooded), I hope mine won't run too wide. It may be stubbed otherwise ...

Let's not forget: Aurora cartridges can fit into Parkers, so I'll try my Aurora black carts.

Edit: I just saw 'bleulibre' still has Diamond Blue 100s for that price ...

A specialist pen shop I went in recently said they would not stock the 100 as the nib section was fragile and prone to breakage. I had not heard this before so as anybody got any comments? As regards the ink Quink Blue Black is a strange one and does seem to have a turquoise tint to it sometimes.

John

I don't know about it being fragile but I recall Richard mentioning that it was not easily repairable (I could be corrected on this).

Kissing,

This pen won't be a fake! I've bought several pens from this particular Ebayer and he is very, very good. I've never been any less than delighted with any purchases I've made from him. £46 plus shipping is a great price for a 100 though! Could be tempted there!

Bernie.

If the pen seller from France is J.M Lewertowski and you did not get a convertor with your pen don't be surprised. I bought an Expert 2 from him and they always come with convertors but for some reason he does not include them with the pens. You can buy one separately from him though.

I've always found Jean to be a reputable seller

Regards,
Ruaidhrí

Hi,

About the pen I sell on EBAY, all are new, unused and genuine PARKER, WATERMAN or ROTRING pens.

If you have paid it 40GPB you have made a very good deal, at this price I sell them with loss of course but it is the "EBAY GAME".

Every days I list some pens at 0.99GPB with no reserve price and every day I sell some pens with loss and a PARKER 100 is not a fake if I sell it 40GPB and a genuine PARKER pen if the winner buy it for 80GPB, of course it is the same pen.

About the nibs:

In France all the gold nibs are tested in the NANTES manufactory and sometime they are not cleaned very well after this test, that is a real problem because some buyers can think that they are use pens.

About the converters: In france all the Fountain pens HAVE NOT the converter included.

WATERMAN: KULTUR, GRADUATE, HEMISPHERE, EXPERT: NOT INCLUDED
PARKER: VECTOR, FRONTIER: NOT INCLUDED
ROTRING: NOT INCLUDED

Thanks and sorry for my poor English.

J.M.Lewertowski

I just purchased my first Parker 100 from Levengers (they're selling off their name-brand stock of pens) and I love it. It's the Diamond Blue variety, and I too have found that it writes very wet (fine point, could easily write as a medium).. It was fine when I used the included cartridge, but when I switched to the converter and put in my Noodler's Luxary Blue (a very fine ink, btw), it decided to write like a firehose. I did some research (and switched legal pads and tried a steno pad) and put in Noodler's Black ink. You might as well have switched off the hose.. It writes perfectly, without feathering (except on one legal pad).. I need to find some newspaper to see if it will write on it without feathering too..

So my vote: 2 thumbs up for the parker 100, two thumbs up for the Noodler's ink as well.

BTW, Paradise Pens is having a clearance on their 100's too... $159 might fine another one into my collection.

mG