Jump to content

"i Got You A Pen Today"

Bill Broome

By Bill Broome
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

 Share

Recommended Posts

Bill Broome Mint

Bill Broome

Posted
Posted

Sitting at dinner in a restaurant with friends a few days ago, my wife turned to me and said, " I got you a pen today." As she rummaged in her purse, she told how she had overheard one of her colleagues in the nursing school office about to throw away a fountain pen she had found in the common pen cup used by all the instructors. She'd been cleaning out the cup, throwing away pens that did not write, picked one up, declared that it was a fountain pen. "Who uses those anymore? And it doesn't even have any ink in it . I'm throwing it away."

 

My alert wife said, "Let me have it. I'll take it to my husband. He's interested in those things."

 

It had a black body with a silver colored cap. I immediately recognized the Parker clip. I pulled the slip cap off and noted a hooded nib. I unscrewed the barrel, and saw on the filler sleeve, PARKER "51"... " To fill press ribbed bar 4 times..." etc. "Use superchrome ink, etc." ( aficionados will know the precise words) .

 

I took it home, flushed it, inked it with Aurora black, and tried it out. It was smooth and wet. Studying at under bright light I saw no damage except one tiny scratch on the cap.

 

I have been reading off and on about P 51s for several years, sometimes considering trying to acquire one to see what all the fuss was about. Now I know.

 

I am feeling pretty lucky. Can anyone tell me when it was manufactured?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 12
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • inkstainedruth

    3

  • Bill Broome

    1

  • gweimer1

    1

  • Feanaaro

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

Posted
Posted

If you look closely at the barrel, right at the clutch ring, you should see the Parker imprint, and a date code stamped there.

 

A free Parker 51? It doesn't get much better. Nice!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

Posted
Posted

Man, that's awesome. Your wife is a keeper. My husband has flat out told me he'll never buy me a pen because he has no idea as to what I want (seriously? It's not like I don't talk about them all the time, or use them almost exclusively...). Okay, admittedly, I do have a lot of the pens I really wanted at this point, and once everything is repaired and tested I should probably think about thinning the herd a bit....

So, can you tell what sort of nib it's got on it? My best 51 is the Plum Demi, and I *think* it's an M. But while I could brag about the time around a year ago where I found a late MkII Burgundy Aero and a Cedar Blue 51 Vac for cheap because they had the wrong caps on them, that doesn't even begin to match "free" in the sumgai department.

And yeah, what Feanaaro said -- the drill around these parts is "pix or it didn't happen!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mastiff Extremely Rare

Mastiff

Posted
Posted

Lucky. I also heard of a lady who went to a Salvation army shop (? could be something else) and fetched an Omas arco brown set (FP and BP) for 5 dollars. I wish thing like these would happen to me too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ac12 Donor Pen

ac12

Posted
Posted

 

Lucky. I also heard of a lady who went to a Salvation army shop (? could be something else) and fetched an Omas arco brown set (FP and BP) for 5 dollars. I wish thing like these would happen to me too!

 

 

Be lucky that you don't run into the antique dealer than wants $85 for a "vintage" Hero fountain pen. All the other pens were similarly priced WAY UP.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dogpoet Collectors Item

dogpoet

Posted
Posted

   

 

Be lucky that you don't run into the antique dealer than wants $85 for a "vintage" Hero fountain pen. All the other pens were similarly priced WAY UP.

Seriously? That's rather messed up.

 

Bill, that's great. A wonderful find, and I'm happy for you.

The pen sounds nice as well...

;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sasha Royale Museum Piece

Sasha Royale

Posted
Posted

Sumgai has a wife who can get free Parker 51 fountain pens.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

Posted
Posted

   

 

Be lucky that you don't run into the antique dealer than wants $85 for a "vintage" Hero fountain pen. All the other pens were similarly priced WAY UP.

Or the Waterman with the nib bent in half for nearly 300 bucks....

I've looked occasionally at places like the Salvation Army stores. Never seen anything but brand new 10 packs of ballpoints.... :(

I occasionally get lucky in antiques malls -- especially ones that are a little off the beaten track around here. But last week I went to the place where I got the two sumgai 51s last year, and the best of the bunch was a Sheaffer Tuckaway for $30 US and I passed because I just don't know enough about Sheaffers.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

Posted
Posted

Now go back to the lady and tell she could have gotten up to $50 for it!

I'm just waiting for the people who ran the estate sale where I got the Parker 41 for 50¢ to see me on TV (local version of "Antiques Road Show" being interviewed on the sidewalk about that pen and the $12 Lucky Curve).... (I'll know it's them by the mushroom cloud when they go ballistic...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33583
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26772
    5. jar
      jar
      26105

  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc.

      By Shanghai Knife Dude · Posted

      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o

  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More

  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...