Is This Price For A Parker Sonnet Too Good To Refuse?

[The Blue Knight]

I found at a local retailer a matte Black Parker Sonnet with a gold plated Medium nib on sale for £38 which is roughly $60 USD from £70.

 

This is the finish i really like however I've spent the money I had put to aside to spend on pens this year. So I would rather put off buying it for 6-12 months so I don't feel so guilty.

 

This pen is near the top end of my budget and I wouldn't like to be spending much more than this on a single pen for the next few years .

 

So my question is, is this deal really that good and a one off or will a similarly priced Sonnet of the the same finish be available in 6 months to a years time.

Edited August 2, 2013 by top pen

[blefevre]

Top Pen

 

You should be able to find a Sonnet for this price or slightly less from numerous vendors. I would wait until your budget is secure and then start looking in earnest

 

Byron.

[pajaro]

I have recently bought 4 black lacque pens with 18K nibs and gold plated nibs, all in the $40 to $48 range on ebay. Three of the four were really nice, virtually perfect and all were genuine. The fourth pen has a split in the lacquer finish. Three of the four pens had 18K nibs. I did buy a fifth pen, matte black and gold plated fine nib with the name of a Parker employee with his name and Gillette on it, for $55, but this was an aberration.

[Ron Z]

**WARNING** Blatant opinion alert!

 

IMHO, no price for a Sonnet is too good to refuse. They are one of my least favorite pens to use or to work on. The guys who designed the Sonnet left Parker and went to Sheaffer, and designed the Prelude. Got the story from one of the Sheaffer engineers that we met when in the service center a number of years ago. I think that they did a better job the second time around. I think it's the Sonnet nib. It's too soft, and there are few that I've handled that really wrote well. Of course the fact that the plating came off of the clip when I waved a polishing cloth in front (or so it seemed) of mine didn't help.

[Tom Aquinas]

 

**WARNING** Blatant opinion alert!

 

IMHO, no price for a Sonnet is too good to refuse. They are one of my least favorite pens to use or to work on. The guys who designed the Sonnet left Parker and went to Sheaffer, and designed the Prelude. Got the story from one of the Sheaffer engineers that we met when in the service center a number of years ago. I think that they did a better job the second time around. I think it's the Sonnet nib. It's too soft, and there are few that I've handled that really wrote well. Of course the fact that the plating came off of the clip when I waved a polishing cloth in front (or so it seemed) of mine didn't help.

 

 

 

**WARNING** Blatant opinion alert!

 

 

 

 

**WARNING** Alternate blatant opinion alert !!

I respect your experience but I have found in my experience that the higher end Sonnets ie .985 silver models and plated models are better than the lower end. I will only buy those, now with the 18ct nib. I agree with you on the lower end and have seen some lacque etc models start to lose their coats quickly and the nibs on the cheaper ones , I won't pass a comment except to say they are not my cup of tea. My job is one of the few left that entails a lot of fast writing and I need reliable pens, Sonnets have never let me down and I can get cartridges in secluded country towns. I have found the 18ct nibs as good as the Parker 75 nibs. Anyway that's my two shillings worth.

 

 

 

Edit : The keyboard monster somehow hit two posts from Ron

Edited August 2, 2013 by Tom Aquinas

[pajaro]

I have fifteen or sixteen sonnets from the base stainless to some of the better ones. The newest models seem to keep the nib moist the longest. The nibs on all suck wind. I agree with Ron Z about that. The nib material seems flimsy enough to require great care in writing. I have bought some used ones very cheaply and found the nibs, steel, plated or 18K bent, and I mean creased so as to make repair hard to impossible. It seems that Parker was shaving the gold off of the brick and using gold films for the nibs. If you get one still in good shape and use it with respect as you should any fine object, you might be OK, but if you are careless or bear down on these nibs, you are hosed.

 

I like the Sonnet italics in stainless or 18K, have both, and use them carefully. Some of the fines write medium and wet lines. Some of the mediums write a fine dry line, and thankfully I have a few of those. I have bought a few of the Sonnets just for the nib and section, to replace too wet mediums. They were cheaper than a nib and section bought separately. The nibs I have bought from Amazon's Penseller in France have been excellent, 18K rhodium plated, stainless, and 18K yellow gold. I think the Sonnet Refresh stuff is better than earlier stuff, and I have some of both.

 

The earlier Sonnets are a crapshoot. I have had one almost completely come apart, inner and outer barrel, section into four parts, lacque split on the cap and nib bent beyond repair and creased hard. On the other hand, some of these earlier pens, mainly firedance and moonbeam (snot marbling, hate moonbeam) have been used carefully and are great pens. I think my first sonnet was a firedance with a nib I thought looked nice and wide, and turned out to be the medium italic. I should have stopped there, it is a fantastic writer.

 

Sonnet Refresh, buddy, Sonnet Refresh, if you want a decent pen. Treat it with care and respect. I don't understand people who say it's just stuff, and proceed to abuse every posession of theirs and others. Your posessions are the stuff you have to live your life with, and it's all worthy of care and respect, delicate as these pens can be or rugged as a 51.

[Tom Aquinas]

I have fifteen or sixteen sonnets from the base stainless to some of the better ones. The newest models seem to keep the nib moist the longest. The nibs on all suck wind. I agree with Ron Z about that. The nib material seems flimsy enough to require great care in writing. I have bought some used ones very cheaply and found the nibs, steel, plated or 18K bent, and I mean creased so as to make repair hard to impossible. It seems that Parker was shaving the gold off of the brick and using gold films for the nibs. If you get one still in good shape and use it with respect as you should any fine object, you might be OK, but if you are careless or bear down on these nibs, you are hosed.

 

I like the Sonnet italics in stainless or 18K, have both, and use them carefully. Some of the fines write medium and wet lines. Some of the mediums write a fine dry line, and thankfully I have a few of those. I have bought a few of the Sonnets just for the nib and section, to replace too wet mediums. They were cheaper than a nib and section bought separately. The nibs I have bought from Amazon's Penseller in France have been excellent, 18K rhodium plated, stainless, and 18K yellow gold. I think the Sonnet Refresh stuff is better than earlier stuff, and I have some of both.

 

The earlier Sonnets are a crapshoot. I have had one almost completely come apart, inner and outer barrel, section into four parts, lacque split on the cap and nib bent beyond repair and creased hard. On the other hand, some of these earlier pens, mainly firedance and moonbeam (snot marbling, hate moonbeam) have been used carefully and are great pens. I think my first sonnet was a firedance with a nib I thought looked nice and wide, and turned out to be the medium italic. I should have stopped there, it is a fantastic writer.

 

Sonnet Refresh, buddy, Sonnet Refresh, if you want a decent pen. Treat it with care and respect. I don't understand people who say it's just stuff, and proceed to abuse every posession of theirs and others. Your posessions are the stuff you have to live your life with, and it's all worthy of care and respect, delicate as these pens can be or rugged as a 51.

I will concede that of the 8 or 9 Sonnets I've had, I paid the premium by going to a B&M store and they adjusted the nibs for me before I accepted the pens. I agree with most of Pajaro, and I agree they can be as rugged as my 51's and 75s.

[northlodge]

Top Pen

 

You should be able to find a Sonnet for this price or slightly less from numerous vendors. I would wait until your budget is secure and then start looking in earnest

 

Byron.

 

Unfortunately Top Pen appears to be based in the UK, the land of the over-priced and over-taxed. So finding anything getting 'slightly less' is hard to imagine.

 

However the above advice would seem sound; Sonnet's are not hard to come by, so it the budget is really tight then hang back until a bargain shows up at a flea market or on ebay.

Edited August 2, 2013 by northlodge

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

I have four sonnets.All seem to work well for me.

[Sasha Royale]

I don't have a Parker Sonnet. I cannot take this opportunity to boast of my great victories on Ebay. If the retailer is one who stands by its sales, this is a good price, even if there is no converter I assume it to be new and in the box. (Yes ?) Ask if he will allow you to "dip" the pen and try the nib.

 

I carry a 20X loupe in my pocket. If it passes inspection, I would purchase a genuine Parker Sonnet at this price, from a retail store. (two, if there are two)

 

Good hunting.

[pajaro]

I have been upgrading the nibs of some of the Sonnets I have with mainly 18K nibs from Amazon's French penseller, and sometimes by swapping choice 18K nibs from nice pens, probably estate pens. When I get a nice nib into a Sonnet I like, the pens serve as well as any others, whether Montblanc, Parker or Sheaffer. You have to get a pen with a nice nib, no bends, creases or misalignments. Then, if you take care of it as you would any other quality pen, you have something pleasureable to write with. If you don't treat Sonnets like beaters, they won't be beaters. I think the average person causes their own luck.

 

I don't think Sonnets are quite as rugged as a Parker 51 or Sheaffer Imperial, but I treat those pens as respectfully as I can, and they last forever or as long as a Touchdown sac and seals will last.

 

Two-tone fine and oblique 18K nibs look very nice in a Sonnet.

[Florida Blue]

I only have one Sonnet (although I have been thinking about buying the dark gray laque version for a while), and it is one of my best writing pens.

 

I get the impression that many who enjoy writing with Duofolds, Vacs, 51s, 75s etc. are not impressed with Parker's more recent offerings, but I have a good number of modern Parkers and vintage Parkers (if you look at my signature) and I would say my Sonnet compares favorably with my vintage models.

 

My Sonnet nib is quite springy and very smooth. It is a flighter (stainless steel with gold trim) so it is quite sturdy.

 

My only advice is to watch out when buying a Sonnet on eBay. The Sonnet is one of the most faked pens out there so you might want to buy only from a reputable Parker/Waterman dealer like Pen Seller From France.

 

You could also look at American websites. Shipping might be high, but the Pound will go a lot further in the US than it does in the UK and many US dealers sell Parker at 20% off MSRP as their everyday price. Although, it is also great to support your local merchants.

 

To me, the Sonnet is a great everyday writer, somewhat under-appreciated and a good introduction into better quality pens.

[WriteAway]

I own several Sonnet BPs I've accumulated during my professional work career. I have had no problems with mine, but was curious if the reliability pattern is the same as the FP model, with the earlier pens being less reliable than the newer ones.

 

Has anyone had experience with the thin band or later BP versions failing for them? In what ways?

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback...

 

WriteAway

Hubert