In all honesty, the subject first came to mind when I was trying to figure out the 'I could pass this one along since I'm not emotionally attached to it (yet) value.' Then I remembered a previous post in this forum, and it seems like some sizes might be more common than others--so I would think they'd also be easier to come across..

I believe the gist of the other topic was how to find replacement nibs, and a place that sold both fine and medium ones was offered as a suggestion. In that particular context the medium nibs cost more than the fine, and nothing was mentioned about bold.. aaand this is turning into a whole mess of tangents. I do apologize for doing that.

I was mainly just wondering if that would ever be a factor. I guess some nibs could be inherently more coveted, but if there was ever a pen with a really nice (and neither fine nor medium) nib, would that make it automatically worth more? or would it be worth the same amount and just the desirability factor of the pen would increase?

Nib size can definitely make a difference in the price of a Parker 51...
Below is a picture of all the nibs that were offered on the Parker 51 (this is from the Parker 51 book)
You will most likely see nibs you never thought of being offered... how about a Parker 51 with an Arabic nib??
Some collectors really go nuts over the English 51 nibs. They claim that they have more iridium and write broader than the US nibs. I personally don't know, not owning any. XF, F and M nibs are the most common with the M being the less common of those three.
A 51 with a B nib will always seem to bring a premium price, from my experience.
Now if you really want to have some fun, look at the prices of 51s with stub nibs (I have one). A decent 51 Vac with a stub nib (restored) and a decent gold cap will bring in the neighborhood of $200 give or take a bit. That same pen, in the same condition, with a XF or F nib will be about $85-100 or so.
Obviously, a nib that is scratchy is also going to detract from the value of a pen also
So to answer your question, YES nibs can and will make a difference

Well heres something else that might sound funny Tom. How do you tell what kind of nib is on a 51 if its under a hood, short of taking pen to pieces

Oh wow! Thanks so much!! How incredibly cool of you to post that chart.

That is quite neat (and that book is looking more and more tempting. ) I didn't know there were so many variations! I knew there were factory stubs, in fact I saw yours a little while ago when I was searching to see if this topic was already hashed about! Its a beauty!!

I actually just got a stub not too long ago from the green board. (I will never have a Leica camera, the 'Leica camera fund' is now a terribly moot point. )

It is a very, very cool pen.. but I was wondering about the nib--I believe it was something like a medium stub and I think its either clogged, I've got a horribly light hand, or its got some babybottom-itis going on. I'm not sure though, but I really do love the pen, so I might have to ship it off to get tweaked.. I just haven't come to terms with that yet, I've got so many pens out being fudged with right now, so its hanging out in the pen box until I can learn to deal with letting it go for a while.

The one in question is a really pretty cordovan vacumatic with a T7 date code.. its not too shabby condition-wise, and it does have a rather nice gold filled cap with no dents that jump out at you (I will scrutinize much further though, I'm planning on grabbing it one day when the morning sunlight is overwhelming and checking out all the angles) It's got a scratch right below the clip that looks like it got swiped by something while it was sitting inside of a drawer.. The thing is, its also got a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice nice nice smooth big huge fat awesome broad nib. One that looks like its almost triple the size of the medium nib I held it up next to!!

If the nib is just a crazy-nice broad (with a major golfball-ish glob of iridium sitting on the tip) would that inch it up very much in value, or is it just the really specialty ones that manage to go for the highest amounts?

I never read that a wider nib necesitated greater pressure. Is this true? Come to think I do have to be a bit firmer with my broader stubs.

Most 51's are fine or fine-med.

More uncommon points add to value. for a plain ol' aerometric, an exotic nib can be worth more than rest of pen.

david

As one who writes with Parker 51s ranging from fine-nibbed to almost broad, let me reassure the original poster that she can write with a medium nib without using hard pressure. People keep saying on FPN that the nice thing about writing with a fountain pen, one nice thing, is that if the nib and feed are in good adjustment you don't need to press down very much at all. It's true.

I believe what that Parker nib chart is trying to tell purchasers is that if they press down firmly, they would be well advised to buy a pen with a medium nib. And avoid a pen with a fine nib.

Not that they would *need* to press firmly with the medium or broad nib, but that if they are in the habit of pressing firmly a fine nib may not be the best idea.

The finer the nib, the less metal in contact with the paper, and the more precise the user needs to be. Medium and broad nibs are more forgiving of not getting things exactly right. They are often recommended to left-handed writers.

For that matter, some European pen manufacturers have produced ball nibs with unusually large balls of tipping material, denominated by the German K for Kugel, or ball. Those pens can be recommended to new users of fountain pens who are still developing their writing skills, or to left-handed writers who need help. As not all of us lefties do.

They're also pleasant for anyone who wants a somewhat more voluptuous experience than a smaller blob of tipping material would provide.

Tom and I had this discussion not long ago on the relative values of nibs in "51"s The type of nib can add at least $80 to a normal "51" IMHO. Broads and Stubs seem to be the most desirable and therefore attract the biggest premium.

There is a good dodge to getting a reasonable stub nib for a "51", not a factory original but a compromise. Go hunting on Fleabay in the UK. The most common nib in the UK is a medium and the UK medium has a huge tip, in the US they would almost certainly be a broad. See a picture of a typical UK M nib:



These grind well into a nice stub, loads of material to work with.

Now nobody tell Old Griz, but I can get a nice premium, by swapping a US F nib for a UK M Nib. Fine nibs are more unusual in a UK "51" whereas M/B nibs are harder to find in the US. So I can get a standard UK "51" with a fine and a US Vacumatic "51" with a M/B maybe ground into a stub, which again is not a daily find.

Jim

Thank you guys so much for all of the wisdom! (again : ) Jim, the picture in your post inspired me!! As to why I'm not too sad to let one of these guys find another home. I'll just go ahead and issue a warning about the vast endless rainbow of color variety--this might look like creative thinking, but it came from me starting to get confused about which pen I was looking at.

The pen on the left the whole time is an early aerometric with a medium nib. It came straight from Ernesto Soler--well, the pen and the diagnosis. so I figured that might work as a starting point.

Here is that one with a fine point gray vacumatic. I picked it up from the post office and was like.. 'hey.. I guess I have some pen parts.' But the filler worked great, the plastic wasn't hard to spruce up, and it writes so smootly that I've always got it filled.. its still sort of non-clean, but this one I have become strangely attached to..



Here is the cordovan vacumatic that started this whole topic. I love how you can't even see the glob at the end of the nib since its basically just sitting there reflecting most of my lightstand and nearly all the black cover of the softbox.
It is incredibly nice--but I don't think I'm cut out for the broader nib type of thing. I do like the stubs because of the variety in the stroke, but I have big handwriting anyway, and I try to write smaller than I think I'm naturally inclined to, so the 'big fat round' thing just doesn't end up working out too well in the end. (It never really has either, not even with other types of pens)



This one is the stub. It sort of surprised me.. mainly because it was supposed to be a medium, but also because it was so funky and clogged up with ink. I think I was expecting to see a close-up baby bottom-looking situation, but now I believe it could just be incredibly dirty--which could have to do with the increased pressure. This doesn't at all look like a medium though. (??) well, at least, compared to the medium its next to.



I apologize for the massive pictures, but despite the dust globs on my camera sensor, these turned out so well I figured they might help.