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Found A Parker T1 For .25 Cents! Dried Ink On Nib Tip Though...


Lifeguard

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I recently came across a number of vintage fountain pens and associated items over the past 2 weeks from different sources and I am invested into all of it for less than $20. After a few days of searching I discovered my best find was a rare Parker T1 Titanium pen from 1970 that I spent a full quarter for! I also have been able to acquire a Parker 21 & 51, an Osmiroid 65, a Lady Sheaffer VI Paisley pen and a Lady Sheaffer XVII Brocade pen and a few others that didn't make the picture cut. I also brought home a vintage Sheaffer Skrip Ink Bottle with ink well and a Sheaffer's dual pen desk set holder. I'm still trying to figure out the in's and outs of all of these pens and hope to get them all working soon. I didn't pick them up knowing the value but they just caught my eye. Enjoy the photos!

 

I've been soaking the nib section of the T1 in water for a few days now and everything is clean except for what looks like some dried ink on the very tip of the writing nib. I can see it is dark with my eye and under magnification it just looks like solidified blue ink. Doing some web research I've discovered these are easily damaged so before I do something wrong I thought I should ask a few questions on how to clean that tip. With no separate nib options I gotta get it right the first time.

 

Any suggestions would help. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area without a local Pen shop to go to for guidance so I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thanks!

 

Lifeguard

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Edited by Lifeguard

Pens - Parker T1

Bikes - Eisentraut

Cameras - Polaroid SX-70 & 680

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I wish I had your luck! A definite sumgai! Congrats on your new pens. (I wish we still had the clapping emoticon...)

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

 

—Oscar Wilde

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After a few days of searching I discovered my best find was a rare Parker T1 Titanium pen from 1970 that I spent a full quarter for!

 

You are definitely a Sumgai :notworthy1:

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

--William Makepeace Thackeray

 

Visit my blog to see the pens I have for sale

 

Paul's Pens

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Congrats on some great finds! A little ammonia 1 part to 10 parts water in a cup and let the tip sit in it over night will probably be enough to get the last of the ink off your Parker.

PAKMAN

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If it does not soak off, I would leave it.

For valuables, the rule that I read is "do no damage."

 

If you want to try an ultrasonic cleaner, I have a small ultrasonic cleaner that you can come over and try.

I live in San Mateo, so you are somewhat close to me.

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

www.SFPenShow.com

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For those in the San Francisco Bay Area there are actually a lot of pen repair option. Most just don't advertise. If you want, you can come to Peter's Cafe in Millbrae on Sunday. Around 1PM there is at least one person that will be there that can help you. No reservations are needed, you just tell the person at the counter you are with the pen people and the will direct you to the correct table. Rumor has it they have done almost everything from resacing an Esterbrook to grinding nibs at the back table. There is even a kid that shows up that can and will take apart almost any pen known for a milkshake.

 

Do show up if you can.

 

FarmBoy

 

Oh the black may not be ink.

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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FarmBoy

 

Is that the Pen Posse?

 

If I can make it, I will go also.

It will be nice to meet others and expand my limited knowledge of pens.

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

www.SFPenShow.com

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If it does not soak off, I would leave it.

For valuables, the rule that I read is "do no damage."

 

If you want to try an ultrasonic cleaner, I have a small ultrasonic cleaner that you can come over and try.

I live in San Mateo, so you are somewhat close to me.

 

ac12,

 

Thanks for the offer! I'll try the soak with ammonia option first and see where that leaves me. San Mateo is not too far from where I'm at in El Cerrito.

Pens - Parker T1

Bikes - Eisentraut

Cameras - Polaroid SX-70 & 680

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For those in the San Francisco Bay Area there are actually a lot of pen repair option. Most just don't advertise. If you want, you can come to Peter's Cafe in Millbrae on Sunday. Around 1PM there is at least one person that will be there that can help you. No reservations are needed, you just tell the person at the counter you are with the pen people and the will direct you to the correct table. Rumor has it they have done almost everything from resacing an Esterbrook to grinding nibs at the back table. There is even a kid that shows up that can and will take apart almost any pen known for a milkshake.

 

Do show up if you can.

 

FarmBoy

 

Oh the black may not be ink.

 

Hi FarmBoy,

 

The remaining marks on the tip really looks like blue ink. It wraps around the tip top and bottom and is irregular in shape. At first I thought it might be the brazed on tip point residue mark but it doesn't look that way. It looks like a blob of dried on ink.

 

A milkshake seems like a high price to pay but that would be a fair enough exchange if I need my .25 cent pen looked at and serviced I guess. This Sunday might not work due to a prior commitment but I'll see if the ammonia soak options helps out for starters.

 

Thanks for all of the offers to help so far from everyone!

Pens - Parker T1

Bikes - Eisentraut

Cameras - Polaroid SX-70 & 680

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If you do show up with that pen, we will hate you in the most friendly way while we admire your pen!

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ac12,

 

Thanks for the offer! I'll try the soak with ammonia option first and see where that leaves me. San Mateo is not too far from where I'm at in El Cerrito.

 

Just send me a message if you want to meet and use the USC on your pen.

Might as well bring any other pens you wan to clean at the same time.

The USC is great for cleaning out dry ink from old pens.

Edited by ac12

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

www.SFPenShow.com

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T1s have issues. The tipping was welded onto the Ti body in a way that caused the junction interface to become brittle. I'm not sure the exact metallurgy that is going on is well studied but the tipping is easily damaged.

 

I'd be inclined to avoid the ammonia and the ultrasonic in this instance and live with the stain. If you have access to a high power microscope you should peek at the nib, often the are not pretty at the junction.

 

See you all at Peters.

Edited by FarmBoy

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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The historically-minded reader of this thread may wonder why FarmBoy's recap of what is done at Pen Posse gatherings has unaccountably omitted feeding luxury pens to let us say a dead pig.

 

Two things should be borne in mind by newcomers. First, we don't think of that as a repair technique everyone should learn; we think of it as a photo op for AltecGreen. Second, the quintessential candidate for insertion in a pig's mouth would be perhaps a Montblanc pen that cost a whole lot more than $0.25. Willingness to put a 25-cent pen in a pig's mouth wouldn't make the point very strongly.

 

On the third hand, and on the Web nobody has to know I'm a dog: I endorse FarmBoy's suggestion about taking it very easy with the nib of a T1. The tipping material is sort of a disaster waiting to happen, and might reward taking a rather careful look before doing much of anything that might detach it.

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Just send me a message if you want to meet and use the USC on your pen.

Might as well bring any other pens you wan to clean at the same time.

The USC is great for cleaning out dry ink from old pens.

 

I would not suggest the USC on a T1... that pen is notorious for the tipping coming off if you look at it the wrong way and there is no one I know of retipping the pen

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I agree with Jerome, this is not a pen I would trifle with, and there is no way (that I'm aware of ) to make it usable daily. Since it appears to be fully intact at this point I, personally, would have a serious discussion with myself about keeping it or putting it up for sale to someone who wants it for a collection.

 

If I remember correctly, titanium can discolor where it's been welded, so that may not be ink, and removing it could be disastrous!

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FWIW, remembering I have no horse in this race.

 

If the tipping is stlll good, I would think it is more of a trade good targeted toward Parker Collectors. Depending on condition, maybe $300 to $500 range of value, depending on market conditions (which are not forcastable).

 

If the tipping goes, it would be parts. Still having trade value, but probably less.

 

(Personally, if I ran across a MINT T1, I would squeeze every interested Parker Collector in the States for the best deal I could get.)

YMMV

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Thanks to everyone for all of the suggestions on what to do and not to do with the Parker T-1 nib. I was away over the weekend fishing and haven't tried anything yet. With so many of you warning about not risking an ammonia soak on this fragile tip I think I'll hold off on that. From what I can see with the high power magnifier I am using it definitely shows black parts where the tip is welded and blue from dried ink.

 

I'm just going to leave it in water for now and see if the ink eventually loosens up until I can have a more knowledgeable pen person look at it. Maybe I'll try soaking the tip itself in a bit of ink as well to see if it dissolves the trouble spot. My fountain pen knowledge only goes back a little over 2 weeks so I am definitely a rookie at this. I'll try to meet up with the Pen Posse group over the next few weeks as my schedule allows to get some opinions on what course of action to take if any. I definitely don't want to damage the pen and go from Sumgai to DumbGuy status with my first quality find on my first FPN thread topic post.

 

Thanks!

 

John

Pens - Parker T1

Bikes - Eisentraut

Cameras - Polaroid SX-70 & 680

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John,

 

Good call.

Always err on the side of caution.

Once it is damaged...it is damaged FOREVER.

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

www.SFPenShow.com

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  • 1 year later...

Anything updated for that T1 nib?

I just got a T1 and there is also some black thing at the nib as yours.

Wondering whether it is possible to remove that without any damage to my T1.

Thank you

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