What Parkers Have Joined Your Collection Lately?

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

So my Emerald Vacumatic arrived, and apparently it's a 1953 Canadian Parker Vacumatic Junior or Major (can't figure out which, but it's roughly 12.8 cm long, no BD clip but that was to be expected on both models given the date). Weirdly enough, it has a Parker USA nib.

It fills up nicely(phew), but the nib and feed are misaligned so I have to figure out how to fix that. Any hints?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Very nice.

If I was in the State's I'd have more than my red stripped Vac...@'36 with a '38 Canadian BB nib. 

[JotterAddict62]

On 7/11/2025 at 11:26 AM, PAKMAN said:

This lovely Parker 51 Flighter set with box and original sales receipt from 1952 joined my collection at the St Louis pen show.

I was glad to see the pen set go to a good home. My only problem was that I never took a photo of the set myself. Oh well.

[mitto]

5 hours ago, JotterAddict62 said:

I was glad to see the pen set go to a good home. My only problem was that I never took a photo of the set myself. Oh well.

Hi Ken. 

Not taking a photo of such a lovely set before selling it was a great sin on your part. 😊

How are you? And what is goijg on? 

[PAKMAN]

12 hours ago, JotterAddict62 said:

I was glad to see the pen set go to a good home. My only problem was that I never took a photo of the set myself. Oh well.

Enjoyed meeting you at St Louis and thanks for making me a deal I couldn't refuse!  I absolutely love the set and the story that goes with it!

[Runnin_Ute]

Just bought a 75 Cisele with a M stub (70) nib last night. Already on it's way and I should have it by Friday. 

[InkyProf]

I finished my first attempt at restoring a Vacumatic today: in this case, a modest 1948 "51" Demi in Cedar Blue, F or maybe EF; so I guess I can say it's now "joined the collection." Wow, those Demi Vacs are small -- a good 5mm shorter than my Demi Aero! -- which is why I was especially glad to discover that this had the proper length cap: a 62mm cap would look way out of proportion.

 

[donnweinberg]

The brand-new “Baby” Parker 51s that I just received today from Ariel Kullock’s team in Buenos Aires.  In the photo below, the Baby 51 is on the far left, followed by a Demi 51, a regular-size 51, and a 51 with a giant barrel:

 

  

 

See the thread, “Parker 51 Photo Thread,” for more photos I posted earlier today.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Thanks, I didn't know of the Demi-P-51. Will have to check my one and only P-51.

I don't chase nail nibs...semi-nail if I can help it, either.

A few months ago, I got a WKWN, Weak Kneed Wet Noodle is a term the English nib grinder, John Sorowka invented, and my '27 Parker Doufold is one.

It's off getting a new sac.

[donnweinberg]

WKWN sounds great.  Have you ever tried the Pineider quill nib?  It’s close to a wet noodle.

[Penguincollector]

20 hours ago, donnweinberg said:

The brand-new “Baby” Parker 51s that I just received today from Ariel Kullock’s team in Buenos Aires.  In the photo below, the Baby 51 is on the far left, followed by a Demi 51, a regular-size 51, and a 51 with a giant barrel:

 

  

 

See the thread, “Parker 51 Photo Thread,” for more photos I posted earlier today.

 

  I love it so much! That’s an adorable pen!

[Bo Bo Olson]

1 hour ago, donnweinberg said:

Pineider quill nib?  It’s close to a wet noodle.

No, I'd never heard of it before............. Do tell me about it.

......................

I have a '50's English Jr. Doufold, that is a real semi-flex, in both Parker and Shaffer had to make more flexible nibs in England and Australia, than in America/Canada because of the wide range of Swan flex.

....................................

That '27 Sr. Doufold is the oldest and by far the most flexible Parker I have. I read that Parker had had very flexible nibs before the '30's...mid '30's, but hadn't really expected a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.

I have 7 or so Wet Noodles, and a few less of the first stage Superflex, what I call, 'Easy Full Flex'.

 

In the last year and a half, I doubled my Wet Noodles with out going out of my way, at live auctions.

Weak Kneed Wet Noodle, a US made Morton, that had made Kaweco nibs from 1900-1914, when they sold machinery and the Morton family and other workers came over to Germany in April of 1914, then came August, so they had to leave. Kaweco made the same grand nib, until 1931 when enw management took over and stopped that labor intensive great nib, to fall down to secon class like MB and Soennecken.....The fall may have not been that far. When the Morton nibbed Osmia gets back I'll test it vs my MB Safety Pen's WKWN.

.............

One of the two Osmia's next to the Parker 1994 Sonnet Firedance has that Morton nib. The other, a '30's maxi-semi-flex 14c  Supra nib. The minor name maker (Germany had some 250 manufacturers or buy parts and make pens for local Department stores in the '20-30's), Cracked Ice is a semi-flex, and the grayed hard rubber Mercedes superflex, Easy Full Flex.

MB made Mercedes's nib IMO because of the MB heard shaped breathing hole. He (forgot his name) had worked for MB before coming to the Fountain Pen Capitol of the World, Heidelberg, to start his pen company.  

That tastefully small, engraved name pen, belonged to the grandfather of my B&M owner. As soon as a pen I ordered through him comes in, I'll tell him about it. 

 

Oh, my Sonnet works just fine... I hadn't expected it to, from all the horror stories on this com. ...... I also have a silver P-75 (my first bought real adult pen in 1970-71)** and a Thuya.

 

**That's what happens to ya, when ya walk around with money in your pocket. I'd gone over to the BX to buy the then top stylish Cross thin matt black BP, for a whopping $8.00, when a Jotter had gone up to $3.50.

I drooled over a Black and Gold Snorkel, I'd promised my self when I became an adult and had a job,  and got mugged by the silver P-75 brothers BP&FP. The BP had an MP cartridge in it. The BP was then called a P-75, Classic was a later name. The BX/PX were cheaper than civilian market. I paid $22 and not $25 or more for the pen on the civilian market.

 

This was in silver money days...all dollars had a blue stamp on it, meaning I could go to any bank and get that bill made into a silver dollar(s). A vintage one oz silver dollar is now $33.79, X 22 = $743.38. 18 X silver dollar price for the silver ball point =$608.22... Nope, cant see a soldier walking around with $1,350 in his pocket on his way to buy a $270 ball point. (An Aurora BP in that lot is over $160 and isn't silver.

 

That Parker silver ball point was at $18 much more expensive than the Cross and was just as thin.

The far gray pen is Sterling silver, out in use. 5005 AW Faber Castell.

That huge MB display nib, has no tipping or slit.

 

 

A long time ago, I was looking for what later became, thanks to Mauricio, a superflex nib. I had spent half a year chasing Swan pens on English Ebay, so slow, I didn't catch any. The filling systems were intricate and small. I'd finally decided on a post war torpedo shaped sac pen.

Back then they were all, even the good guys, Marshal and or Oldfield were using 'flexi' and I didn't know if that was semi-flex which I had, or not. Then at a junk store I ran into a no name War pen (no cap rings), that had a nib much more flexible than a semi-flex. A Predo, ... now that I finally got a Handie at my age, I'll have to take a picture of it. 

I had also stocked up on dip pen nibs and cheap wooden dip pens.

...............................

@ the same time I swapped a few Degussa Easy Full Flex nibs with Mauricio, for a bit worn Waterman 52, and lucked into a Wet Noodle Sonnecken nib on a Frankie pen. Better than either of my two Waterman 52 nibs. I had gotten a second '52 from Mauricio. The first had a two stage nib, the second only went to 6X....

I don't have in mind any of the other of my Wet Noodles being 7X outside that first two stage 52 and the Soennecken, so were not the normal 5-6X.

 

IMO, the wide 7X and more one sees as 'normal' showing off a nib in Ebay to sell a sprung nib, or a man on Youtube springing a nib before your eyes, for your convenience.

....................

I have a lot of semi-flex and half that in maxi-semi-flex, and had always wondered for near 15 years, why anyone would have to write slow in semi-flex. I just scribbled along at normal pace.

 

A fine poster sent me a couple pictures of a semi-flex nibbed Pelikan he was thinking of buying. NIB ABUSE!!! I told him no.

 

No wonder they had to write slow. A semi-flex nib is a Flair nib, not a calligraphy nib.

Nail = 1X, semi-nail = well mashed out to 2X.

A well mashed, Springy regular flex, semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex = 3x tine spread. Spreading them wider will lead to a sprung nib; sooner than later.

The first half of the picture is ok...the second half degrades into Ham Fisted NIB ABUSE.

 

With Superflex you can get away with that............and in modern times when superflex pens are modern and cheap, there is no excuse for stressing a vintage nib **. I don't have any of the modern cheap superflex nibs, in I have vintage...and am somewhat cheap. 

 

Richard Binder wrote a real good article on metal fatigue. 

Since then, I strive to stay one width under max. I have a Superflex Pelikan 100 that goes 5X in the first stage of superflex, Easy Full Flex. I strive to stay at 4X.

If I had cheap modern, I could max as much as I want, in replacement nibs are very affordable. 

 

** I have some steel nibs that are Easy Full Flex, and one of my Wet Noodles is that in steel. A nib replaced with to my thought, a semi-flex steel Phfortzheim nib. Buy the pen, get the picture. I had thought it 'just' semi-flex, but Francis set the nib and feed perfectly, and it became a Wet Noodle. 

 That was my first BCHR...Black Chased Hard Rubber pen. I had jumped from sweating spending €30 for a pen to €70 for this one. I never thought I'd be able to afford a BCHR. Now well more than a Decade later I have some 9 or so of them.

 

 

Mauricio, whose blog should be read, said, it takes a lot of fiddly work to set a nib and feed perfectly in superflex pens. This proved him So Right!!. ............ I was so totally shocked.

I wouldn't Nightmare fiddling with the two 52's I have from Mauricio, or any other Wet Noodles I have.

I really lucked out twice that I took the nib out of that Franki-Soennecken, in it remained Wet Noodle.

 

 

[FarmBoy]

I don’t know where to start but I thought this was about Parker pens. 
 

[Bo Bo Olson]

There were lots of Parker pens in my post. The Firedance Sonnet that actually works, in the glass topped box, the Doufold (which has one of my three WKWN**'s. That had to be covered in many don't have a WKWN.), and the two P-75's mentioned.

 

**The term, Weak Kneed Wet Noodle was invented by the English nib grinder John Sorowka. 

 

 

[InkyProf]

My second Vac restoration was another Cedar Blue "51," this one full sized, from 1946. Curiously, this arrived in worse condition than the Demi overall (dirtier, more heavily scratched, with a fine or maybe EF nib that wouldn't write, and a shallow divot out of the cap jewel), but seemed to have had the diaphragm replaced much more recently, which was a pleasant surprise. I kept the original cap jewel but polished the chip to integrate it with the rest of the pearlescent material, and wound up cleaning, flossing, and adjusting the nib, and then nudging it in the direction of a stub. As educational exercises go, I think this worked out well.

 

 

 

[Targa]

I did a separate post about Kullock "magnum" oversize 51s a short while ago, so there are some pics there.  Of course some folks don't accept these hybrids as "true" Parkers, but, dang they are nice pens.  

That said, I have seen a small rush of 1980s-90s Duofolds appearing.  I am ancient and should be unloading pens , not getting more that none of my offspring will want, but I coild not resist at least a couple of them.  If I were a decade or 2 younger, I'd have bought a dozen.  The "Collector's Edition" Centennial, date stamped 1987, was too special to turn down.  Note that the "18K" and "750" are on the sides of the nib, not at the base, on this version. BTW, I have the click-cap, short flat clip ballpoint that goes with the Centennial 1987 - made pen too.  But I am a barbarian when it comes to ball points, and almost only ever use Retro 51s.

My wife bought me a 1987-dated blue marbled Duofold for Christmas 1987, with the short-lived 14K nib.  Still have it of course.  I opted to buy (as was easily done in those days) an additional italic nib, so I substitute the italic nib at Christmas to write cards in Diamine "Magic Forest" green shimmer ink.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Real Pretty pens!!!

 

I've had this '27 Sr. Doufold a bit, but it is just got back Friday from getting a sack 'spike'  made and put on it by Francis, in it was broken/missing. New sac of course.

Quite a long pen.

 

It is a push button filler, and takes ever so little button movement to compress the sack. I loaded it with Lamy Crystal ink, Betitoite, a grayed blue ink.

I even went and looked up if I was doing something wrong on Youtube, but there was a man showed how little the button had to move to fill the sac. 

This is a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle. A term invented by the English nib grinder John Sorowka. It makes a Wet Noodle look dry and uncooked.

 

This was a single pen live auction lot. (by telephone) It was just before the 10 pen lot I had to have, and I thought it being such an old Parker it would go for much more money than I could spend and get the next 10 pen lot. So I didn't listen in on that pen by telephone.

When the auction was over, it hadn't sold, so I reserved it by email immediately, and picked it up for start bid on the following Tuesday.

 

 

This is a late-mid '30's Osmia 222 with a longer button push stroke....the reason I thought the Parker wasn't working. Different angle of dangle. 

 

The ten pen lot. It had a 1994 Parker Sonnet Firedance, that works well. 

The gray pen is 925 sterling silver. Three Osmia pens, and an Aurora Optima, and BP. One of the Osmia's has a 1900-1920 US Morton WKWN on it. Weak Kneed Wet Noodle.

(German Kaweco used USA made Morton nibs from 1900-1914 when they bought up machinery and had the family give them training until WW1 started. They continued with that nib marked Kaweco until 1931.) 

Some blasted Frenchman on his national Holiday instead of getting  Frog Drunk, out bid me from a grand fancy '20's Kaweco, with one of those Kaweco/Morton nibs on it.)

 

Two WKWN on the same day pick up. 

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  @Targa, those are gorgeous! Duofold Centennials are still the most beautiful pens to me. What a lovely set, a blue and a green one, with the ink and everything! 🥰 

[Targa]

2 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  @Targa, those are gorgeous! Duofold Centennials are still the most beautiful pens to me. What a lovely set, a blue and a green one, with the ink and everything! 🥰 

There have been some very pretty pens over time, but I agree the Centennial Duofolds (Mk 1 - 1987 - early 90s) were among the best of the best.  The sophisticated feed/collector within the section was genius and avant-garde.  The Mk II ("streamline") ones had nice colours, but I still like the plain arrow nib just like the Vacumatics.  I grew up with real pens (I still maintain that BOs are a passing fad and will never catch on), and the 1987/ 1988 Centennial was to me a "renaissance".  

[Targa]

BPs not BOs.