Here's an interesting item being auctioned on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Parker-51-SPEC...1QQcmdZViewItem

No doubt that's pretty rare, but is it really that hard to leave a pen out in the sun for a few months? I'm not an expert on the "51" so maybe I'm wrong, but this looks like a sham to me. The question is whether the seller, who currently has 835 positive feedbacks (100% positive), believes what they're saying: "The colors are vibrant and not faded." Really, now?

That is a 51 Special that has a large color shift that is common with the grey pens.... nothing rare there at all...

I've got a barrel just like it, but oddly enough I alway thought of it as "junk" instead of "rare". Perhaps I need to take some lessons to improve my marketing skills.

Has anyone written the Seller and asked the question?

...

[me takes my teal 51 special and lays it in a very sunny spot with its cap on...
a few weeks there should be sufficient to make it a "rare two-tone teal 51 super-special"...]

...

My query is how they managed to get it so evenly faded. Must have been done over a fair period, otherwise one side would be much worse than the other.

Regards

Richard

I am going to make a guess on this one and say that somebody left it in a window, and that is why it got faded so evenly, maybe in a glass or something. Which is why I keep my mint grey "51" shut away warm and cozy in a box in my pen drawer

Jim

I asked the Seller who insisted that, while he had no evidence of Parker ever making a two-tone "51", since the shading is so uniform it had to have been made that way.

They also offered a full refund, including S&H, if I bought it and was unhappy with it.

right .

-d

The reason it is so evenly faded is because the cap covered the part that retains the original color while the rest of the body of the pen was exposed to the bleaching properties of sunlight.

They insist its not faded.

I don't believe it.

I don't think anyone here believes it.

But they do, and as long as they offer a "money back" guarantee, they can't lose sticking to that story.

I had never seen such severe yet uniform discoloration, which is why I thought I'd do a little "sanity check" of sorts. The pen was probably left on the dashboard of a car where it rolled around to get an even "tan" (or rather bleaching), or some unfortunate thing like that.

While we're at it, here's another strange-looking "51" on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Parker-51-Fountain-Pen...1QQcmdZViewItem

It looks like a Franken-"51" with the cap of a "21" Super.

It's often amusing to see what sellers can come up with, turning a flaw or damage into a "rare option". There's some nut case in Israel who periodically pawns off franken-pens made of parts from two different pen companies, citing it as a "rare joint venture". I'll never forget that Pelikan/Lamy pen. Too funny. And some idiot actually bought it for a price I wouldn't call a bargain.

What the Sell replied:
"Because the shaded area is to (sic) perfect. Meaning that area is one solid color. Not having any lighter or darker shades of coloring. Also the shaded color is also in the inside of the barrel. I can not confirm or find any info of Parker making a two toned 51. Hope that helps. helps...Thanks...Eli"

and

"Back to the description of the Parker 51 two toned. I can not confirm or find any info as to wether (sic) or not Parker made a two toned 51. Again if you win this auction and you think that this pen has indeed faded. Send it back and I will refund your entire purchase. S/H included....Thanks....Eli"

I have a couple of these 2-toned special pens in my collection. I use them as loaners to people who want to try out a fountain pen. No loss if something gets screwed up.

I also have a couple of "factory specials" with the extremely rare speckled hood option. It may appear to be ink stains but I have no documention that they did not come from the factory that way. Indeed, I believe that Parker made them that way to avoid concerns about ink stains developing on the hoods and ruining the look of a clean plastic look!!
Cheers,
Rob

I don't know how he can tell that. I went ahead and looked over my own rare, two toned barrel (which, by the way, I'm willing to trade for a NOS 51 flighter, or perhaps a cedar or cordovan DJ 51) and I can't see the color far enough into the barrel to tell, and this was with a barrel light. Also the line between the faded and unfaded areas is not crisp, it is kind of fuzzy, which would indicate that it was not purposefully done, at least to most normal people.

Hey Rob,

Missed you at last pen club.

At risk of stirring pot (what, who me?) there might be some odd speckled plastics out there... such as this early Mauve-with-black-specks. Quite different though from the usual "stained hood" sort

This one is not buckskin. It is first-year-or-earlier (iirc). Owner, a straight shooter and 51 expert who did not have it for sale (personal collection) considers it the real deal.

Such is the charm of doing vintage pen photography at pen shows.

regards

david

I should have named this thread "eBay anomalies" or something like that, because here's another one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Parker-51-Foun...1QQcmdZViewItem

Dude, that's not a "51"--that's an Arrow! It even says so very clearly on the filler sleeve.

A waht?

It looks like a VS but has an aero filler instead of button. Any information on these?

It's sort of the Canadian version of the VS:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%...mp;aq=f&oq=

I see that it's still at $22.50...maybe I should have sniped it from those newbies first and then told everyone about it.

i wrote to him pointing out from his pics, that it looks more like color fading from sun exposure whilst capped!!! he hasn't answer....

sorry, double post!!!!!!!!!!!

Got another Franken Pen, a red 'Parker 41'. Well the Cap's from a 41, the rest is a standard 21.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PARKER-41-FOUNTAIN-P...p3286.m63.l1177

Regards

Richard.

seller from OP answered:

"I think you might be right. I could not find any info on a Parker 2 tone. It just looks perfect. I think that I was fooled. That is why I'm offering a complete refund to the person who wins this auction who decides thst they do not want the pen..Thanks..Eli"

David, that speckeld dbl jewel looks like they did not get the barel cleaned out after shooting some black pens. I have seen the same thing in modern injection molding where the barrel was not totally clean and a speckled or mottled appearance takes place.

That is why alot of cheap plastic is black today, you don't have to worry so much when changing from part to part about cosmetics.

Cheers,
Sean

I take no stand.

I observe though that the color is different from conventional 51 colors and that- reportedly- others of this shade when found also have the black specks. Whether intentional or production glitch for that color run, i cannot say, but there is that reported association.

regards
david

Oh, and the collector also found a matching pencil with the same spots to go with the pen. The pen is definately one of those "lets try to come up with more colors/ brainstorm plastic" idea pens that parker tried to make. Keep in mind, the earliest known 3 highline colored pen with a datecode is 1942 (That I know of... who knows if there are earlier). Parker officially came out with highline colors in 1944 and they were stamped. I think all odd color 51's - non/ limited production - that were first year and pre production do not have datecodes that were found in the wild, and not at the Parker archives (once again, that I know of).
This one is a 1941 or even a late 1940's 51 definately. Cool pen.

The only reason I have doubt in Seans points is that the pencil looks the same, with specs, and that there were others in the color found. Perhaps it was possible that both barrel machines were pumping out black barrel and this light colored plastic got mixed in; reminds me of the early early watermans (1883ish) that have some RHR specks in them.


George