Is A Vacumatic Parker 51 In Aerometric Grey More Rare Than A Nassau Green?

[KZ900]

There seems to be a few Vacumatic Single Jewels showing up on Ebay and pen sites lately. The are what many would call Aerometric Grey. I have a few of them that I have been holding on to for almost 30 years in a deal I made in trade. I even sent one to a well known Parker 51 expert and he said they are Single Jewels in the Aerometric Grey color.The ones I see on Ebay may actually be the few I sold 15 or 20 years ago. Personally I think they are a color that was going to be produced just before they went to the Aerometric Style and scrapped the idea when the new model came out. Even though the Nassau Green is more valuable it seems a handful of these Aerometric Grey colored ones are out there. How many of you have seen them and do any of you own one?

[oztech]

The Aero or Navy Grey vacumatic 51's were repaired Parker 51's as a fix for Dove Grey vacumatic 51's when the supply of Dove Grey plastic was exhausted. Parker did the same for Cordovan vacumatic repairs using Burgundy plastic. I've owned a few Navy Grey and Burgundy complete vac filler 51's as well as Navy Grey and Burgundy barrels with blind caps and filler units. I've also seen Parker repaired pens ( owner sent them back to Parker in the 1960's) with a Dove grey hood and a Navy Grey barrel and matching blind cap.

As to rarity, it's hard to say. It is a valid Parker 51 variation in either Navy Grey or Burgundy, as the parts or the repaired pens were produced by Parker.

[pajaro]

The Aero or Navy Grey vacumatic 51's were repaired Parker 51's as a fix for Dove Grey vacumatic 51's when the supply of Dove Grey plastic was exhausted. Parker did the same for Cordovan vacumatic repairs using Burgundy plastic. I've owned a few Navy Grey and Burgundy complete vac filler 51's as well as Navy Grey and Burgundy barrels with blind caps and filler units. I've also seen Parker repaired pens ( owner sent them back to Parker in the 1960's) with a Dove grey hood and a Navy Grey barrel and matching blind cap.

As to rarity, it's hard to say. It is a valid Parker 51 variation in either Navy Grey or Burgundy, as the parts or the repaired pens were produced by Parker.

 

I haven't seen any of these repaired pens, Aerometric with Vacumatic colors, for sale. I wonder how these pens do in the resale market.

[KZ900]

I have only sold parts Here is a picture of a Vacumatic Dove Grey and a Vacumatic Aerometric Grey. They call it Navy Grey. I have Aerometric Demi's and regular size Aerometrics in the exact same color. They are just parts that have never been made into pens. Never inked. I have sold less than five of the Vacumatics. The highest I got was $400. I sold one recently for $380 but the buyer returned it. I have to figure any color single jewel NOS is worth $250 or more. I am sure very few were made. For years I have not seen one on ebay. But lately a few have popped up. Personally I don't buy the replacement part theory as the color between Dove Grey and this Grey is so far off that a customer would not accept it. I think parker would have just sent a new pen in a different color. Maybe if someone lost a blind cap or a hood they might. But the barrel part I seriously doubt. I still think it is a Vacumatic color that was going to be made and never materialized.

 

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr1/RussJackson/comparison_zpsp7b2awig.jpg

Edited January 25, 2016 by KZ900

[pajaro]

Yes, it's hard to know unless some information were found in Parker archives whether the Vac colors were to be used for aerometric pens. The 51 Vacs were, from figures I remember seeing, made in much smaller quantities than aerometric pens, so it's logical to think that NOS Vac 51s would sell at a floor figure at the numbers you quoted. I have seen a number of NOS aero 51s and have had several, but only one person I knew had NOS Vac 51s, and he had bought them back in the day.

[Florida Blue]

Richard Binder lists Navy Gray as both a Vacumatic and Aerometric color on his profile of the 51, so they are known somewhat to collectors.

 

I've never seen one for sale in person, so I'm not sure what one would fetch, but I'm sure they come up from time to time. Looking on David I's site, he sold one several years ago with a GF cap for $450, which is about what a comparable Nassau would sell for.

 

Binder states that it was a cataloged Vac color in Australia and that a small number of US examples were made, including one in his collection.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Florida Blue

[KZ900]

Also if they were for repair purposes you would think a double jewel blind cap would have been made also. I have never seen one of those. Thus making the theory of replacement parts non-realistic. I still think it is a legitimate single jewel color version of the Vacumatic. Also I have not seen one with the Parker Imprint or Date. Always smooth.

Edited January 25, 2016 by KZ900

[kirchh]

We have specific evidence that in at least some instances, Dove Gray Vacumatic pens sent in for repair were returned with Navy Gray parts.

 

--Daniel

[KZ900]

We have specific evidence that in at least some instances, Dove Gray Vacumatic pens sent in for repair were returned with Navy Gray parts.

 

--Daniel

Odd someone would accept it that way with the vast difference in color. The two colors are very different.

 

Do you think Navy Grey Pens were sold? And if not why would the barrel be made?

[RalphP]

Or likely to become more confusing would be a Navy Grey, Burgundy, and Cocoa in a double jewel vacumatic as in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th from the left in the photo below...

 

 

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll110/pratherpens/51-Variety-DJ-1_zps089bbeb1.jpg

 

 

...if they existed.

 

ralph prather

[FarmBoy]

Odd someone would accept it that way with the vast difference in color. The two colors are very different.

 

Do you think Navy Grey Pens were sold? And if not why would the barrel be made?

Parker ran out of the Vac gray material and honored the warranty when pens were returned by replacing the barrel and blind cap (and sometimes the hood) with the gray color they had. Same occurs for the Burgundy vs Cordovan though less frequently.

 

They turn up regularly if you know to look. They are often reported to be Nassau, they are not. I know of them only in the single jewel configuration. I don't put much of a premium on them. I believe a Nassau DJ pen to be worth more and harder to find in good condition. A SJ Nassau pen would be much rarer than a Navy Gray SJ pen.

 

Farmboy

[FarmBoy]

I have only sold parts Here is a picture of a Vacumatic Dove Grey and a Vacumatic Aerometric Grey. They call it Navy Grey. I have Aerometric Demi's and regular size Aerometrics in the exact same color. They are just parts that have never been made into pens. Never inked. I have sold less than five of the Vacumatics. The highest I got was $400. I sold one recently for $380 but the buyer returned it. I have to figure any color single jewel NOS is worth $250 or more. I am sure very few were made. For years I have not seen one on ebay. But lately a few have popped up. Personally I don't buy the replacement part theory as the color between Dove Grey and this Grey is so far off that a customer would not accept it. I think parker would have just sent a new pen in a different color. Maybe if someone lost a blind cap or a hood they might. But the barrel part I seriously doubt. I still think it is a Vacumatic color that was going to be made and never materialized.

 

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr1/RussJackson/comparison_zpsp7b2awig.jpg

Is this the one that was returned?

Todd

[Glenn Atkins]

Is this the one that was returned?

Todd

 

Cedar Blue?

[kirchh]

 

Cedar Blue?

Looks like Navy Gray, but described as being Nassau Green.

 

--Daniel

[KZ900]

Is this the one that was returned?

Todd

Yes that would be the one.

[kirchh]

Yes that would be the one.

 

Why did you list it as Nassau Green?

 

--Daniel

[FarmBoy]

Why did you list it as Nassau Green?

 

--Daniel

Good question.

[ANM]

As late as the 1980's, I read a note from Parker regarding a pen I was considering sending to them for repair. They said words to the effect that they realized that a person might have sentimental attachments to a pen and that they strived to repair and return the original pen or as much of it as they could after it was repaired. I don't have the original correspondence but that is what I remember the thirst of the message as saying.

Edited January 26, 2016 by ANM

[Ron Z]

I wouldn't say that a navy gray 51 vac is rare. What is rare, and what I have restored is a 51 made out of Parker VS plastic. A distinct gray that is different from the aerometric gray, and also rather brittle. I suppose that it is possible to confuse the two colors, but the plastic is distinctly different in its properties.

[ANM]

Another ancedotal story: At a pen club meeting in Kansas City late last year, Sherrell Tyree and her brother Joel Hamilton were in attendance and I brought up a Duofold that had been converted to a bulb filler. Joel said he had seen lots of weird things done to Parkers that were pretty convincingly done by Parker themselves. His theory was that (especially during the depression), Parker was determined to repair pens and return them to the owners and would do whatever was needed to be done to accomplish that goal.

Edited January 26, 2016 by ANM