Accompanying my better half on a Saturday afternoon shopathon, I entered a local antique store next to her target clothes shop, and, while trying to ignore the odor of scorched plastic eminanating from next door, I found a few items of note. The first was an 8 1/2 inch sterling silver serving spoon in olive pattern marked for Tiffany & Co., the indicated price less than the bullion value of the contained silver. Okay, refreshing, a good omen, I can handle that. Then I came across a cigar box of about fifty pens, marked for a set sales price each, take your pick. So, searching through the box, I came up with four Parker 51s, three Vacs and one Aero. The bodies, fillers and nibs all appeared to be in excellent shape. But all four had misfitting Parker 21 caps! And so I searched further, and found four or so Parker 21s, all with 21 caps. Further exhaustive search failed to find a single 51 cap in the box. I expected Rod Serling to appear at my elbow with a dry devil chuckle. So I bought the 51s for parts, but may switch caps from a few of my other complete 51s with less excellent bodies. Anyone want to trade a 51 cap for a 21 cap? I have four (well, three and one Parkette cap). Or else, anyone have a decent explanation how this mega-botchup might have come about?
