Parker 61 Jewels

[Shepium]

Hello everyone,

 

I have acquired a Parker 61 Insignia, but it has a gold jewel on the barrel and traditional grey plastic jewel on the cap. It is made in England. It has a shield on the cap 14K RG.

 

Which jewel is wrong and is it possible to remove the Barrel jewel?

 

Thanks

 

Mark

Edited June 10, 2009 by Shepium

[richardandtracy]

Hello everyone,

 

I have acquired a Parker 61 Insignia, but it has a gold jewel on the barrel and traditional grey plastic jewel on the cap. It is made in England. It has a shield on the cap 14K RG.

 

Which jewel is wrong and is it possible to remove the Barrel jewel?

 

Thanks

 

Mark

Not sure, but you may have a transitional pen, or one that's been rescued from parts of 2 pens.

 

The grey jewel in the cap is the 'Mk 2' style. Towards the end of the pen's life the P61 was re-designed with metal jewels. I suspect that either the pen was like this from new in the transition period, or someone has salvaged bits from two different period pens to make one, but the two pens were of different ages.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[richardandtracy]

Shepium,

 

As a result of the question I went & had a good look at my P61 Insignia.

 

The Jewels are actually the opposite of yours. The one in the cap is a metal jewel, and the one in the barrel is a celluloid jewel. Maybe mine is a transitional pen too. I reall don't know. Maybe someone with more experience than I can chime in.

 

The jewel, should you wish to take the barrel jewel out, should unscrew if you use a rubber pad to grip it and then twist anticlockwise. There may be some shellac holding the thread, so dipping the end of the barrel in hot water may help before unscrewing. Now, I have never suceeded in getting a P61 jewel out of the end of the barrel, despite the good advice I've repeated above. I hope you suceed if you feel the need.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[gvl]

Hi Mark,

 

If the pen has a capillary filler, then the pen should definitely have two plastic grey jewels. The change from plastic to metal occurred during the metal press bar filler era.

 

I agree with Richard about removing barrel jewels. I would actually question whether they are meant to unscrew. I received insignia recently which had a loose grey plastic barrel jewel. I could get my finger nails behind it and turn it but it would not screw or unscrew. I would question whether both barrels and jewels have threads - perhaps the jewels were originally manufactured to be pushed in like a press-stud?

[richardandtracy]

Hi Mark,

 

If the pen has a capillary filler, then the pen should definitely have two plastic grey jewels. The change from plastic to metal occurred during the metal press bar filler era.

 

I agree with Richard about removing barrel jewels. I would actually question whether they are meant to unscrew. I received insignia recently which had a loose grey plastic barrel jewel. I could get my finger nails behind it and turn it but it would not screw or unscrew. I would question whether both barrels and jewels have threads - perhaps the jewels were originally manufactured to be pushed in like a press-stud?

The Laurence Oldfield/Jim Marshall book indicates they're threaded. The UK ones will probably use a 7 BA thread (now there's a non-preferred size if there ever was one!).

 

I think you'd be better off living with it.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[Shepium]

Thanks for all your input, I am going to try to swap the gold jewel if possible or live with it if it is not possible.

Maybe Richard and I should exchange caps or barrels!

 

Mark

[mitto]

Thanks for all your input, I am going to try to swap the gold jewel if possible or live with it if it is not possible.Maybe Richard and I should exchange caps or barrels!Mark

The P61 caps with metal jewels are not made to accept the plastic jewel. With the metal jewel the clip sits inside the cap top and the jewel screws directly into the inner cap top with no retaining screw. While with the plastic jewel the clip has a ring that sits on top of the cap end that is held by the clip retaining screw. And the jewel screws into the top of that retaing screw. So is the case with P51 plastc and metal jewels versions.

Edited April 27, 2017 by mitto

[Allan7]

I have found that using a very fine abrasive, 800 or 1200, gives a little extra grip when removing jewels. Any small marks are easily polished out. Hope this helps in some way.

[PaulS]

I couldn't bring myself to use a wet and dry abrasive paper - even a fine grit one - occasionally you get one that won't shift - but generally some dry heat, some persuasive tapping and blue tack does the trick. Or perhaps one of Ron Zorn's Jewel Tools.