I recently ordered a lot of three fountain pens on ebay and the two Parker's were damaged goods. The sack was basically so dried out on one of them that when I pressed down, it shattered completely. I would like to swap out the gold colored nib and place it with the black casing and have this pen restored. Is there a way to make a Parker 21 work with cartridges or a converter? Also, where can I send these for repair and does anyone have an idea of the cost? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

You may look at the pens in the attached picture. Thanks in advance.

I saw those in the bay as well. The top pen doesn't look like any parker I can recall. Does it have a parker nib? The middle pen is a Parker 21 no question and the green is a sheaffer school pen.

Why do you want to swap out the nibs? Is the 21's damaged? If it's just scratchy or out of alignment when it's restored the repairman can adjustit. & Most usually do as part of the restoration process if it's just a minor adjustment. The 21 uses a squeeze or aerometric filler & usually they are found in still good condition. One thing to check for are cracks in the shell covering the nib. Look at the mouth of the shell where the nib extends and around the base of the shell near the clutch ring. These are famous for cracking if you cough too hard while in the same room. If you have one thats got a good sac & shell you have a decent pen on your hands. Just a good flush with room temp water should clean it out so it can be used.

Good Luck
POE

edited by RZ to fix the quote

I think that the Sheaffer school pen is the best of the lot. The were tough pens, and one of my first fountain pens - preceeded by my Wearevers, which leaked so badly that they should have put me off of fountain pens for life!

The top pen looks like a Wearever, or some other lower end pen. Was there a cap for it?

If the 21 isn't cracked (and POE is right, they do crack if you cough in the same room or look at them wrong) just rinse it out and use it. If the nib is scratchy, it an be smoothed. Unfortunately, you can't fit the silver pen's section into the 21 barrel. Chances are that it's a slip fit, so no threads, no lever for filling. And............. (the bad news continues) there is no way to convert a 21 to a c/c filler.

If you want to have the pen repaired, there are several around. You'll find a link below to my web site. Other qualified restorers include Richard Binder, Joel Hamilton, and Rick Horn, to name a few.