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What Makes Parker 51 So Great?


WhoCares1537

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Interesting, and thanks, but I should have specified I was asking about the USA.

 

Anyone know?

Sorry I should have realised that. I believe the price in USA was $19.75 in 1949.

Peter

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Sorry I should have realised that. I believe the price in USA was $19.75 in 1949.

Thanks ... that was not an insignificant sum back then.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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The consensus of a few online inflation calculators puts it at just under $200 in today's money.

And around £100 in the UK.

Peter

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The consensus of a few online inflation calculators puts it at just under $200 in today's money.

I'd put it closer to $350.00. I use the candy bar rule. In 1949 a Snickers cost $0.05. Now it's over $1.00.

 

A bottle of Skrip - 25 cents. Now nearly $10.00

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Well what to add here.

After over 25 years in this hobby I can truthfully say, you just have to buy one and use it. See its' that simle .. It sort of grows on you. says pick me up and use me. I usually have about 30 pens inked at all times in and around my small bungalow

all completing for my daily user carries.. Lately it has been the 51 which by the way in my house they can be found by the dozens

 

I've bought them for $ 5.00 at flea markets some in deplorable condition , planning on using it for parts only to fall in love with it and end up fully restoring it, and then at the Philly show I ending up buying a First Year Parker in Jet black having a smooth Sterling Silver Cap

paid a few dollars more than the Fiver but I had to have it to go with my Parker 1st Year Sub collection..

 

So as someone said to Mickey , try it you'll like it.... : ) .

penfancier1915@hotmail.com

 

Tom Heath

 

Peace be with you . Hug your loved ones today

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Yes, I think we take present prices for granted.

 

This is something I thought about bringing up in the conversation about pens over $100 a while back. Many vintage pens can be purchased *today* for less than $100, but their price new was above or even well above the comparable amount.

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Sorry I should have realised that. I believe the price in USA was $19.75 in 1949.

 

We did a little better than that. The base price was $12.50. (From the Shepherds' book, page 45, but also from memory, because I got one for my birthday in 1949.) Prices did range upward from $12.50, of course. The Presidential Deluxe, with 14K gold cap and barrel, cost $275. But you got a mechanical pencil with it.

Edited by Jerome Tarshis
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We did a little better than that. The base price was $12.50. (From the Shepherds' book, page 45, but also from memory, because I got one for my birthday in 1949.) Prices did range upward from $12.50, of course. The Presidential Deluxe, with 14K gold cap and barrel, cost $275. But you got a mechanical pencil with it.

Are you still using it? :)

Peter

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And around £100 in the UK.

I'm always a little unsure about converting pre-decimal values into current worth, it seems more difficult because of values shifting unnaturally during the transition. If we take take £4-3-4 as 1000d (wonder if that was a coincidence), and use the cost of a loaf of bread at 4d as a measure of purchasing power, then that puts the 51 at around 250 loaves. Today, depending on what bread you buy, you're paying between 85p and £1.40, so maybe say an average of £1.15, and 250 of those would cost around £285. Though that's hanging a lot on bread!

 

I know it's not as simple as that, there are plenty of other inflation measure that can be used, and the cost of bread is not necessarily representative of the cost of other commodities for purchasing measures (rationing in Britain was a factor with food costs for example), I think it does highlight the potential error margin involved in calculating values across decimalisation. And potentially puts the 51 value higher!

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Is a better indicator what we'd pay for a new one now in the current market ? Closest I'd imagine in today's market is the Lamy 2000 ?

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