Where To Look For A 51 Vacumatic

[Estycollector]

I am picky about colors. I would never pay much for a buckskin aka Werthers color 51. I prefer blue and doveish. Thats the same as with the Esterbrooks. The pens I give away are black and sometimes blue. I keep the grey and black. I don't even bid on the others. However, I could make as exception if it were a Falcon nib.

[WLSpec]

I am picky about colors. I would never pay much for a buckskin aka Werthers color 51. I prefer blue and doveish. Thats the same as with the Esterbrooks. The pens I give away are black and sometimes blue. I keep the grey and black. I don't even bid on the others. However, I could make as exception if it were a Falcon nib.

I'm somewhat picky too (not super picky, but a bit). I like the darker colors, nothing too bright. The cedar and midnight blue along with the burgundy and plum appeal to me most (although I'm not going for a plum for my first 51). I am currently watching some burgundies on Ebay, as it isn't a rare color and it looks quite nice (trying to find restored ones)

 

Might put up a WTB at some point

Edited March 17, 2020 by WLSpec

[inkstainedruth]

I'm also picky about colors. While I do have a Navy Gray Aero, the only reason I bid on it was because of the OB nib (frankly, it's ugly). I didn't want Plum because it was a "rare" color -- I wanted one because it was PURPLE. Honestly, I paid more for a Midnight Blue than I did for the Plummer , and that was one of the colors I really wanted -- but it took me several years to find one that was remotely affordable (is Midnight Blue a rarer color? I would have said "no" until I started looking for one and saw the prices on eBay....

Some of the other ones (Black, Burgundy, Forest Green)? It's because they were good/great deals. Even the two Cedar Blue 51 Vacs were "in the wild" finds -- the first one had the cap for some third or fourth tier band, but a friend of mine had said that even those could have good nibs on them (and the fact that it didn't have a price tag on it and was in with a couple of junkers -- coupled with the guy who opened the case wasn't the booth holder, who gave me a price based on what the other two pens were marked at), just made it even better. I had pulled the cap and then was going "Oh... a HOODED NIB! Let me look at this more closely...."

Of course the advantage to being picky about colors is that I don't go into the Pokemon "Gotta get'em all mindset" (a tendency that is even worse for the Vacumatic collectors, because it's "every size, every color, every version"). I get the colors I like. Yes, okay, maybe a Mustard (Yellowstone?) 51 Vac someday if the price isn't through the roof (because I am a notorious cheapskate). But I'm not going crazy looking for one either. Buckskin? Blech. Nassau? Blech. Cocoa? Blech.... Cordovan? Ehhhh. Dunno at this point. But thinking maybe not.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

I'm also picky about colors. While I do have a Navy Gray Aero, the only reason I bid on it was because of the OB nib (frankly, it's ugly). I didn't want Plum because it was a "rare" color -- I wanted one because it was PURPLE. Honestly, I paid more for a Midnight Blue than I did for the Plummer , and that was one of the colors I really wanted -- but it took me several years to find one that was remotely affordable (is Midnight Blue a rarer color? I would have said "no" until I started looking for one and saw the prices on eBay....

Some of the other ones (Black, Burgundy, Forest Green)? It's because they were good/great deals. Even the two Cedar Blue 51 Vacs were "in the wild" finds -- the first one had the cap for some third or fourth tier band, but a friend of mine had said that even those could have good nibs on them (and the fact that it didn't have a price tag on it and was in with a couple of junkers -- coupled with the guy who opened the case wasn't the booth holder, who gave me a price based on what the other two pens were marked at), just made it even better. I had pulled the cap and then was going "Oh... a HOODED NIB! Let me look at this more closely...."

Of course the advantage to being picky about colors is that I don't go into the Pokemon "Gotta get'em all mindset" (a tendency that is even worse for the Vacumatic collectors, because it's "every size, every color, every version"). I get the colors I like. Yes, okay, maybe a Mustard (Yellowstone?) 51 Vac someday if the price isn't through the roof (because I am a notorious cheapskate). But I'm not going crazy looking for one either. Buckskin? Blech. Nassau? Blech. Cocoa? Blech.... Cordovan? Ehhhh. Dunno at this point. But thinking maybe not.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I am getting the picture that, before you will buy a 51 it will have to be a pretty stupendous bargain. I get that. I used to like to find deals that seemed reasonable.

[Beechwood]

There are a few of us who, after building a good collection including the Grail pen, will now only buy an ordinary pen if the price is right and they they can improve the pen at little or no cost. This does not feel good but I am not entirely sure just why.

 

I would still buy any colour 51 Vac though as long as it worked and the nib was good, I dont think I have ever sold a 51 for less than I paid for it and they now sell at three times the price I paid in 2005, I would not be surprised if they dont triple in value again by 2030.

 

I am in England and we dont see many of the 51 Vac in lighter colours