I have 3 Parker 51 pens and have never used them until recently. For those who have seen most of my posts I'm a Esterbrook fan. Anyway, I have a Parker "51" Special and I was wondering, why is is special? Were they produced on mass or limited?

The "51" Special is a less costly version. It uses a "hoop" style sac guard and pressure bar instead of the full shroud of the standard sac guard. It usually has a steel nib. It was offered in a limited selection of colors. And its filler is not a true Aero-metric filler.

I "accidentally" acquired one off eBay and it's a very nice writer. It writes as well as several of my non tweaked "51"s, but not the jaw dropping smoothness of a couple others. Don't know how it would write if someone like Richard worked on it. I suspect it would also be jaw dropping.

Good enough. Thanks.