Parker 51 Tunis Blue

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

The best way to guarantee someone wants to do something, is to tell them they aren't allowed to...

On that note...

Parker "51" Ink: Tunis Blue Edition!

A series of inks so deadly to pens, they had to invent a new pen just to handle it!

Imagine a time when the only writing implements around were dip pens, pencils and fountain pens. It was called the 1930s!

Ink and Pen manufacturers are in a race to make the fastest drying ink. Everyone is carrying around a blotter, they are so common that they are used for advertising the way match books and ballpoint pens are now. Smearing ink is an everyday inconvenience. To get an edge, manufacturers need a faster drying ink. First, Parker invented Quink (a portmanteau of quick and ink) but then, they invented the fastest drying ink they could. It didn't really "dry" by evaporation so much as it soaked into the paper.

There was only one little tiny problem... It ATE PENS. Especially celluloid pens... oh, and it also dried out on nibs... Of course, the only OBVIOUS solution was to invent an entirely new pen just to handle this one ink! (available in 4 colours)

And boy did they. The Parker "51" was so successful that after making the first 12 million or so, they just stopped counting.

Learn more about the ink here: http://www.richardsp...care/51_ink.htm

Learn more about the pen here: http://www.richardsp...profiles/51.htm

Too bad the ink was still semi-deadly to that pen too... so it was only made from 1941 to about 1948. (when it was replaced by the SLIGHTLY less deadly Superchrome MTF on that...)

That makes the bottle in question at least 72 years old.

Here's the patent for "51" quick drying writing fluid, and the recipe for Tunis Blue is included!

https://patents.google.com/patent/US1932248A/

For any chemists who decide to try and replicate this ink:

1) this is a BAD idea!

2) I very much would like some please!

Now then, in Monty Python fashion: GET ON WITH IT!

Obligatory "artsy" glamour shot (yeah... it's no where near PenHero's level, I know. #photographygoals)

(pictured with a Cedar Blue "51")

There was some sedimentation... Well, sedimentation is not the right word... a crust about 1/4 of an inch thick had built up on the bottom of the bottle.

So I did what any (un)reasonable person would do; I used a dental pick to scrape as much of it off the bottom of the bottle and back into suspension (not solution!) as possible!

OK, OK, but what does it LOOK like!?

Well, when I hear the words Tunis Blue, I think of something like those crazy bright blue doors in Tunisia

see more here: https://www.authentictraveling.org/doors-of-tunisia/

Something akin to the colour of the box

but when you GOOGLE "Tunis Blue Paint" you get stuff like this:

https://encycolorpedia.com/1a223b

https://encycolorpedia.com/4b6983

https://encycolorpedia.com/486271

Seems Chrysler and GM (twice!) have different ideas than the rest of the internet WRT what exactly Tunis Blue is...

Another thing to consider is: The Parker "51" Ink line had only 4 colours

India Black;

China Red;

Pan American Green; and

Tunis Blue.

Only one blue.

Alright, enough, here's what it looks like!:

It's BLUE BLACK!!!

Wait... It's BLUE BLACK???

Actually it's a kind of really dark purple that dries slightly bluer than it is when wet

So... uhm, this is awkward... I was expecting a bright blue turquoise...

Was it ALWAYS this colour? I have No idea!

I know at least SOME of the liquid MUST have evaporated over 70 odd years, and at least SOME colour degradation is likely to have happened.

But to go from (the expected) turquoise to purple-ish blue black seems a little extreme...

I think it may always have been a dark blue or blue black.

This is an ink aimed at Business people, busy business people, the kind of people who don't have time to wait for ink to dry!

And not poor ones either! The pen was expensive!

So a darker more subdued blue (or blue black) actually makes sense for that clientele.

But your guess is as good as mine. Unless of course someone has a CONFIRMED writing sample with Tunis Blue from the 1940s (and if you do, PLEASE post it to this thread!)

And now the writing... My handwriting is bad enough that I may as well have just written out the first 6 pages of Lorem Ipsum... legible text typed out below the page

Clairefontaine Notebook (bright white paper)

Parker "51" Tunis Blue

Twsbi Eco Medium Nib

Wing Sung 601 eBay replacement

nib

The quick brown fox jumps

over the lazy dog!

1234567890

"Dries Almost Instantly -

Completely Permanently"

(But not really) (smear test)

"For the Parker "51" Pen Only"

Rhodia Notebook (this is a cream coloured paper)

Parker "51" Tunis Blue

3oz bottle bought on

eBay April 2020

Made from 1941-1948.

Designed to "Dry Almost

Instantlly" by soaking

into the paper. So

destructively Alkaline

it forced the creation of

the "51" pen. I expected

this to be a Turquoise,

but it's a purple-ish

Blue Black. Dry time of

this bottle is unremarkable

May be over-saturated due to

evaporation

[Dry Times Testing]

Would Buy Again?

Not Applicable

Parker "51"

Tunis Blue

Twsbi Eco (M)

Wing Sung 601

Shading: Low

Saturation: High

Feathering: Low/Nil

Spread: Low/Nil

Bleed: Low Nil

Cleaning: Very Easy!

[Water Test] dripped, let sit and padded dry

(bleep) Q-Tip (with apologies to SBREBrown)

Note: Hard Starts after

putting the pen down

[see "Cleaning" comment for an example. The pen had been capped and put on a desk while I cleaned the other pen in the sink]

Runs Very wet, tries

to escape the pen once

flowing!

Notes:

I put this ink in a Wing Sun 601 and a TWSBI Eco.

Both pens had similar results: hard starts after putting the pen down (CAPPED) for even only 5 minutes, but then VERY good flow once flowing again.

Since it was hard starting after only 5 minutes, I did not want to leave it in a pen overnight.

It did wash out of both pens VERY VERY easily. Even more easily than Waterman Mysterious Blue

Conclusion:

So there it is. The Colour of Parker "51" Tunis Blue.

It's like a purple-ish blue black that will kill your pen in the long run and cost you a ton of money (and hard starting aggravation) for the privilege!

My curiosity is satisfied... for now...

(The bottle of Superchome Jade Green is already on it's way ... )

[PAKMAN]

Wow, never heard of this particular color.

[pajaro]

I think that I might try one of these inks in a cannon fodder Parker 51. The Tunis blue does look nice.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Wow, never heard of this particular color.

I've wanted to see what it looks like for several years now, ever since i first heard about this "evil" ink.

 

I think that I might try one of these inks in a cannon fodder Parker 51. The Tunis blue does look nice.

Good luck. Finding a bottle of Tunis Blue that still has liquid in it is not easy.

 

Pan American Green is easier, since there is a seller on the bay that has several NOS bottles/Boxes But it's not cheap. And probably not actually worth it in the long run. I'm weird, and have a crazy need to know / do things i'm not supposed to.

Edited June 8, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[LizEF]

That was a really fun read! Thanks for sharing your curiosity. I think mine has been satisfied vicariously, and my pens thank you for it.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

That was a really fun read! Thanks for sharing your curiosity. I think mine has been satisfied vicariously, and my pens thank you for it.

you and your pens are welcome! I'm glad you had fun. Since no one is realistically going to actually USE these inks, i figured there wasn't

a great need to get too technical or in depth in the testing, so it may as well be fun.

 

Then again, the pages from the Rhodia book are the same things i do for all of my inks...

 

I feel like maybe i should also make videos, that way the images are stored on youtube FOR-EVAR!...

(yeah... because Google has never killed off a successful product before right?...)

 

As far as i can tell, so far my Pan American Green and Tunis Blue are the only "reviews" (if you can really call them that...) of those inks and the only pictures of what the colours actually look like! The boxes are nice and all... but what does the INK look like!?

 

If i can save someone the frustration i had with just NEEDING to know what they look like and how they behaved, then i have done what i set out to do.

[LizEF]

...

I feel like maybe i should also make videos, that way the images are stored on youtube FOR-EVAR!...

(yeah... because Google has never killed off a successful product before right?...)

...

(Couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Make you wonder just how well you'd do if you controlled the world, right?)

 

...

If i can save someone the frustration i had with just NEEDING to know what they look like and how they behaved, then i have done what i set out to do.

Consider yourself successful! And keep being curious - it's the thing that makes life interesting!

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

IF i controlled the world, i tell ya, there would be some serious changes in what powers large corporations have, and a LOT more truth in advertising.

(Couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Make you wonder just how well you'd do if you controlled the world, right?)

 

Consider yourself successful! And keep being curious - it's the thing that makes life interesting!

done and done!

keep and eye out for the Superchrome Jade Green review

[welch]

I think "Tunis Blue" became "Superchrome Turqoise". My bottle had little color left, so I did not bother to photograph it for a review. A couple of conclusions:

 

- These inks dried instantly. "Writes dry with wet ink" was an advertising slogan, yes, but an honest one. The ink seems to sink into papeker.

 

- Superchrome, for one, is waterproof. I tried washing it off some paper, and then off of a paper towel I had used to soak up some spillage. The Superchromoe was still on the paper towel as the paper towel disintegrated.

 

Mentioned elsewhere: I wonder if Nathan Tardiff had Superchrome ink in mind, or at least the advertised properties, when he started making various quick dry and waterproof Noodlers inks. "Three to ten times the dye of any other ink", "dries as soon as you lift the nib from paper", and "waterproof".

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I will say that Q-E'ternity (the only quick drying ink i have)

Definitely soaks into the paper, the way superchrome and "51" were supposed to. As do many of the Bulletproof inks, my bottle of General of The Armies for example... which feathers and spreads unacceptably...

 

Personally, i think Tunis Blue was the pre-cursor to Superchrome Blue Black, since many of the bottles of Superchrome Turquoise seem to still be turquoise. While the few pictures I've seen of Superchrome BB have the same purple-ish tinge that Tunis Blue has.

 

Only way to REALLY know would be to have someone who wrote with both, and REMEMBERS it. Backed by writing samples.

 

Or if someone takes the patents and perfectly duplicates Tunis Blue and the Superchrome Blues.

Edited July 31, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[Estycollector]

Thank you for posting and I enjoy your enthusiasim.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

glad you liked it!

[Parker51]

I have a bottle of China Red, but I have never tried to use it, or written a review.

I will put this on my long term to do list.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Parker51

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I look forward to it

[Arkanabar]

 

On 6/8/2020 at 10:50 AM, LizEF said:

(Couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Make you wonder just how well you'd do if you controlled the world, right?)

 

Consider yourself successful! And keep being curious - it's the thing that makes life interesting!

"That which governs least, governs best" -- at least, presuming a people taught from early youth not to lie, cheat, or steal, or injure others.

On 6/8/2020 at 1:26 PM, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

IF i controlled the world, i tell ya, there would be some serious changes in what powers large corporations have, and a LOT more truth in advertising.

 

Large corporations are an adaptation to regulatory overreach, and they are as powerful as they are because they use government (including regulatory power) to suppress their competition.  Absent government's power to do so, there would be a lot fewer of them.

[LizEF]

18 minutes ago, Arkanabar said:

"That which governs least, governs best" -- at least, presuming a people taught from early youth not to lie, cheat, or steal, or injure others.

Amen to that!

19 minutes ago, Arkanabar said:

Large corporations are an adaptation to regulatory overreach, and they are as powerful as they are because they use government (including regulatory power) to suppress their competition.  Absent government's power to do so, there would be a lot fewer of them.

...and that.