Parker 88 weirdness

[ReK]

Hi all,

 

I just managed to grab a Parker 88 on ebay - the silver one. 2 things about it: first, the colours of the section and ends don't match up. It looks like this:

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/8511/88colourspu3.th.jpg

(The white balance in the photo is very high, it was hard to make the difference show up otherwise.) Is this normal, or was something swapped with another pen?

 

The other problem is some discolouration on the gold where the barrel joins the section. It looks similar to steel that's been heated too much - dark, with a blue spot in the center.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7981/88burntxs8.th.jpg

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

 

There are other oddities like the nib having PARKER engraved on it, but those ones don't bother me.

-ReK

[kirchh]

The other problem is some discolouration on the gold where the barrel joins the section. It looks similar to steel that's been heated too much - dark, with a blue spot in the center.

I refer to this phenomenon as peacock tarnish or toning. In my experience, it is the result of the migration of (typically) copper ions up through the gold plating to the surface, where oxidation occurs when the copper ions come into contact with the oxygen in the air. It may be indicative of plating gold directly over brass (or perhaps silver?) without a barrier layer of nickel. It will wipe off with a soft cloth, but it will reappear.

 

--Daniel