Just want to see how common Parker 51s actually are

I don't know the actual number, but I believe "millions and millions" would about cover it. And if you include the number of Hero knock-offs made in China, it might even be a billion or so.

"51"s themselves aren't all that rare, if you don't care what condition they are in. Go to a pen show and you will see all of them that you would ever want (although certain members here would want *all* of them). "51"s in mint or near-mint condition are harder to find, though. My guess is that the number of "51"s laying forgotten in desk drawers and in attics is as large as the number in landfills.

"common" of course is a someone vaguely defined concept. Context tends to count, especially in the collectables arena.

For example... nickels are not uncommon, yet some nickels are very uncommon and can cost like $1,000,000

There are many 51's out there, no doubt. Also there is strong demand out there for 51's. And some are a wee bit scarce.

regards

david

I was thinking in orders of 10
Like, were thousands made, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions?

I thought I saw an estimate, someone had based on incomplete Parker factory records, of something like 17 million fountain pens.

It seems that Parker production records are not fully available, and during WWII production was limited. If I remember correctly, though, the totals for Vacumatic filler models are on the order of several million per year after 1945 in the US, and the Aerometric models ran to the 5 million mark up to the late 50s per year. They were VERY popular pens and sold very well.

Remember, they were also made in Europe, South America (several locations) and in China until 1949 when Mao nationalized the factories, so total production has got to be upwards of 30 million pens. They are NOT rare by any measure, although certain models or caps are very uncommon. Least common, of course, are the double jewel vacumatics, first year and prototype, and solid gold or silver barrel pens, as they were made in the least numbers. Double Jewel vacs were sold as up scale model pens with high line caps (gold fill, solid gold, empire, etc) for much higher prices than the standard pen with lustraloy cap, and some of the colors (notably Mustard) were short runs or very unpopular, but even those don't approach the status of rare.

Parker "51"'s were very heavily advertized, and for whatever reason, are quite popular with "collectors", leaving those of us who WRITE with them on the short end of things.

However, whatever the ups and downs of the market for used pens, a black or burgundy "51" with a lustraloy cap is one of the most common "vintage" pens you will see.

Peter

Reading this thread - couldn't help but post this link to an Ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320280581904

A quick count of 30 "51"s and a big handful of "21"s and pencils. I wish I was rich. It will be very interesting to see what this lot will eventually go for.

Un-restored "plain" Parker "51"s run between $30 and $50 as a general rule (vacumatic fillers higher), but anything other than plain black or burgundy or caps other than Lustraloy go higher. You can sometimes trip on one for $18 or so with shipping (I've done it), but not often.

They are popular pens amongst the collector set, so the demand is rather high, but there are PLENTY of plain "51"s out there, especially Aerometric fillers.

Special caps, first year pens, and so forth are uncommon to rare, and there are a few that are probably unique, but if you just want a "51" to write with, they are not hard to come by. Not that the rare ones have the same nibs as the common ones, so as far as actual use goes, barring a bad nib, they are all alike!

Peter