Well, apparently you can still find good deals out there!

Yesterday, my wife and I went to an outdoor Antique Fair in Hendersonville, NC. The entire old-timey downtown area was covered with antique dealers. Lots of stuff, lots of pretty high prices!

Well, one old guy had a glass case of silverware, silver bracelets, etc. I noticed he had six or seven old fountain pens mixed in with the silver, so I asked him if I could take a look. Most of the pens were old second-tier brands, in not particularly great condition...

Then, I noticed a gray pen with silver cap, and the easily recognizable Parker arrow clip... Hmmm. Opening up the pen, I discovered it was a Parker 51!

And the best part? He had it marked $4, lower than most of the other cheapie pens! SOLD!

I don't know a whole lot about 51s, but I figure this is as good a place as any to learn. It is a aerometric filler, and the gray body is in good condition.

Some quick questions: Is the squeeze-filler bladder OK to fill with ink? It doesn't seem brittle at all. Can I clean it out with cool water, or will that adversely affect any of the parts?

Thanks for any info you can provide...I'm looking forward to filling it with black ink, and testing her out!

Brian

Give it a complete flushing with cool water until that runs clear... then sit it nib down in some paper towels to wick out all the water that might still be trapped in the collector...
That should be all it needs as long as the nib is not out of alignment...

Things like this never happen to me. That's a great find, and at $4.00, you can easily send it to have repairs made if necessary. That the sac is in good shape (pliable, not brittle) is a good sign.

That's a nice pen. Congratulations!

I need to check the newspaper for antique fairs.....

Even if you need to send it somewhere to get it sorted, that's a pretty efficient $4. The Aerometrics are so reliable the water-rinse is likely to be the only thing needed to get working, so all you really should need to do it get that horrible sticker off it.

Wow! The nib.. or the cap..or the body anything individually should be worth many times more than $4...
just give it a good flush with water and fill and see if it works. Most of the times it does. '51' aeros are surprisingly good
at being in the full pace after sitting idle for a few decades. And if it doesn't, you always have the option to send it for some tuning. Then too you will have a working '51' for much less than their market price.

I guess I'll go weep in my pillow for a while.

Wonderful find!

OK, here's an update.

I started to flush the pen, and realized it was chock full of blue-black ink. How old, I'm not sure. But instead of completely flushing it, I figured I'll write with it this week at work until all the ink is out, then flush, then refill with black.

BTW, it writes like a dream!

Thanks for your enthusiam...you're the only folks who 1) appreciate this pen and 2) don't think I'm nuts!

Brian

Congratulations! My last 51 cost $60 shipped, so you got a very good deal!

And I am in North Carolina vacationing at the moment...wow...but I think my wife will be upset if I hijack the trip and start running to antique fairs, however.

I think the basic P51 aero with Lustraloy cap is one of the best-writing and most durable and enjoyable pens you can own!

Sounds like a great finds in the "wild" are still available. Congratulations! The 51 is a wonderful pen. /Craig

I think that $4 qualifies as a 'Sumgai'.

Very good deal, you lucky thing.

Regards

Richard.

Good find. My black "51" cost me £2.50, just over $5, but that was NM, with the chalk, box and instructions, which I feel justifies the extra dollar

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Awesome find! Congrats!

Oh, BTW, I bought another pen at the same show, but from another dealer - got this one for my wife.

I believe it is a late-50's Sheaffer Skripsert, sort of an olive green with silver cap and the cylindrical Snorkel-style nib (steel). It is a cartridge-fill pen, so no re-sac needed! I gave $7 for it, and my wife loves it.

All in all, a great day.

Why do people buy cheapie pens when there are such gems just waiting to be used again???



-Brian