Can any of you Parker 61 collectors tell me what the capped length is on the Mark I and Mark II versions?

Secondly, with due respect for the authors, I read conflicting info between Richard Binder's site

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_info/61_profile.htm

and Michael Richter's Pentrace article

http://www.pentrace.net/2002/article042502_178.html

with regard to the rainbow caps' years of manufacture.

In particular, Richard states that the Heirloom Rainbow cap (rose & green gold) was retired in 1957 (a good year for births, ahem) in favor of the Legacy Rainbow cap (nickel & silver).

Michael writes that the Legacy cap ran from 1956-1957 and the Heirloom cap ran from 1956-1967. Could this be a typo?

If any of you can clarify these years of manufacture, please comment. I do recognize that Richard credits Michael at the and of his 61 profile.

The mk1 I have is 140mm in length
and the mk2 is 135mm.

Funny that i'd never before noticed the difference in size.

A.Lambrou has a picture of an Heirlooom cap dated 1964.
He also states that the complete rainbow series was
discontinued in 1967 indicating that both designs were
available till then.

Hi
Thanks for your comments. May I ask (in a respectful manner) how you identified your Mk I as such (and your Mk II as well)? How do you know that's what they are? I'm trying to educate myself on identifying these.

I have what I thought were Mk I and Mk II pens measuring 134.5mm and 131.8mm respectively. Seems consistent with Richard's statement that the Mk II cap is 2mm shorter. My Mk II section is in rough shape and may be allowing the cap to mount a bit deeper than it should. Maybe they are both Mk II's.

Lambrou's book states that the Rainbow Caps were discontinued in '67 (thanks for that info) but the question is still-which ones survived that long? (Rhetorical question I suppose).

Thanks most kindly and best regards,

The way I understand the P61 mark numbers are as below:-

Mk1 Capilliary Fill
Mk2 C/C fill, plastic barrel jewel.
Mk3 C/C fill, metal barrel jewel.
Except the flighter, which seems to always have had a metal barrel jewel.

Can someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Regards

Richard.

I do have a flighter with a plastic jewels.

The easiest way to determine a MK1 is the size of the 'o' ring.
It's barely a sliver.
This would mean that capillary fillers could be MK1 and MK2.
MK3 would then be metal jewelled.


Lambrow goes on to list the range of Parker designs vailable in 1960 and has
Heirloom,Heritage and Legacy caps listed amongst the 61's.
He doesn't seem to agree with the idea that any of the caps had been phased out earlier.

See it really is as clear as mud.

I have a few old Parker Parts Catalogs.

One catalog from around June 1958 lists the following caps 61s:

Heirloom -- Laminated ping and green gold filled cap w/rolled gold plated clip
Heritage -- Laminated yellow gold filled and silver filled cap w/rolled gold plated clip
Custom -- Gold filled cap w/rolled gold plated clip
Legacy -- Laminated nickel and silver filled cap w/chrome plated clip
Deluxe -- Satin lustraloy cap w/rolled gold plated clip
Standard -- Bright lustraloy cap w/chrome plated clip
Classic -- Satin lustraloy cap w/chrome plated clip


A pricing guide I have for 61 Pencils lists these:

665-841 Laminated Green & Pink Gold Cap $10.50
664-841 Laminated Yellow Gold & Sterling Silver Cap $8.00
663-841 Lustraloy Cap - Gold Clip & Trim $5.50

(I date this from late 1958 or early 1959)

In a Fix-ations dated 15 December 1958 these 61 caps were to be added to the general parts guide:

728-180 61 Presidential $65.00 (14 K Gold cap and clip)
730-180 61 Insignia $9.00 (Gold filled cap w/rolled gold plated clip)

Now I know that this doesn't answer your question but since I had the old folder out looking for something else and spotted the 61 data, I thought I would share.

Todd

Thanks very much for sharing and validating your 61 information, Todd. I will certainly archive your post in my reference folder. Did you see anything regarding an all gold plate 61 (1/10, 12K Gold Filled)referred to as a Signet?
Here's a hallmark example:

http://tinyurl.com/2kjwtl

I have seen gold filled or plated 61's called Signet and Insignia but I could not validate either name or knew what the difference is. Your reference to an Insignia cap is the first confirmed validation I've seen or heard.

Many thanks for your info.