What Parkers Have Joined Your Collection Lately?

[Beechwood]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

  I’m super chuffed to have a green Parker 25 join the collection! 

 

Very nice, they were almost always blue.

 

The 25 is becoming increasingly popular with people wanting to buy again those 25s that took them through their schooldays hand writing homework and in my case punishment lines for talking in class.

[Penguincollector]

8 hours ago, Beechwood said:

 

Very nice, they were almost always blue.

 

The 25 is becoming increasingly popular with people wanting to buy again those 25s that took them through their schooldays hand writing homework and in my case punishment lines for talking in class.

  Thank you! It does have a blue sibling. My school pens were varied, but the first was a blue Vector. I think I missed the 25 heyday.

[PAKMAN]

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

[Mechanical]

17 minutes ago, 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.

 

Wow, what a beautiful set, @PAKMAN!  The way those shine, you'd think they were brand new.  

[Bo Bo Olson]

Not yet used; under way for a new sac, a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle @1927 Parker Doufold cracked ice.

Still can't get the auction house picture to load here or in Imgur. Sitting on my screen.

By the time it gets back, I should learn how to take pictures with my brand-new Handy , and get it into Imgur. 

Old dogs can learn new tricks, one just has to beat them over the head with the T-Rex thigh bone.

Over the last 4-6 months, I ended up with at least 5 Parker pens. 

[FarmBoy]

5 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Not yet used; under way for a new sac, a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle @1927 Parker Doufold cracked ice.

 

Still can't get the auction house picture to load here or in Imgur. Sitting on my screen.

By the time it gets back, I should learn how to take pictures with my brand-new Handy , and get it into Imgur. 

Old dogs can learn new tricks, one just has to beat them over the head with the T-Rex thigh bone.

Over the last 4-6 months, I ended up with at least 5 Parker pens. 

I’m not sure I understand this. 
 

how is the flex on the Bo Bo scale?

[Penguincollector]

 

 

I couldn’t resist this small True Blue.

[TheRedBeard]

On 7/10/2025 at 3:54 PM, Penguincollector said:

  I’m super chuffed to have a green Parker 25 join the collection! 

Nice one  

[Sheptonian]

19 hours ago, 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.

What a beautiful set! 

 

The variety of cases available in the USA was more extensive than in the UK. Some of the Janesville cases were also more impressive. Yours is a great example of that. 

 

Royal Air Force Sculthorpe was a USAF base in 1952 so presumably that is a PX receipt for a Janesville pen bought in Norfolk, UK.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I use a system of halves. 

 

Nail, no tine spread. 1X

Semi-nail, when well mashed,  2X tine spread, like a P-75. Modern Pelikan 400/600. 1/2 the pressure less = Regular Flex. 

Three X tine spread.

Regular flex, like an '82-97 Pelikan 400, or an '85-now 200. When well mashed, the tines will go 3 X. One can not write maxed.............it helps to have such a nib, to rate other more flexible ratings. Also, good for shading inks.

I call this flex regular flex as it was the flex I had on my school boy time Esterbrooks and Wearevers. And I do have a few Wearevers,  but my two Esterbook have Osimiroid calligraphy nibs on them. The other Esterbrook nib I have is a nail. 

 

I am at a well for semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex here in Germany. I've had an English Wyvern; swapped for an Osmia, and a Jr. Doufold also a semi-flex. I gave a  factory stubbed Australian made Snorkel BB to someone wanting a wide stub.

 

Semi-flex (a flair nib, not a calligraphy nib) needs half the pressure of a regular flex to reach max. (max going more than 3X can lead to a sprung nib, sooner than later. Many German pens of the '40-65 for Pelkan '70 for MB and 72 for Geha were semi-flex, many stubbed.) One can write with a semi-flex maxed to 3 X if one is as ham fisted as I was when I ran in a 140 Pelikan. The nib is sturdy enough that one can learn to write slowly with a lighter hand.

 

Maxi-semi-flex, takes half as much pressure to reach 3X as a semi-flex. 1/4th the pressure needed to max a regular flex.

I have some @40 Semi-flex. & 16-18 maxi-semi-flex pens.

 

My theory to why there are maxi-semi-flex pens is Dugussa made the gold ribbon wheels for nibs, selling them to the other pen makers, like Pelikan or MB, Geha and towards the end Sonnecken. 

 

Osmia had mostly semi-flex with the small diamond nib. The big Diamond or Supra marked nibs were mostly maxi-semi-flex. (I only have 12 Osmia's....a couple posters with 30 & 50 Osmia's, said sometimes, the Supra is only semi-flex and the small Diamond is occasionally maxi-semi-flex. I had supposed a cleaner break between Osmia's semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex nibs. They have enough Osmia's to know better than me.

 

1932 Degussa Germany's gold and silver producer took over Osmia's nib factory for debt. Degussa had been making gold nib wheels for Osmia....a first class pen, with no office supply department to carry the pen like, Soennecken, MB, Pelikan, Geha and perhaps Kaweco. So Osmia was always broke. 

 

I don't know if it was a Degussa bookkeeper's penny saving, of selling cheaper gold first to other pen makers, or lazy warehouse workers grabbing the first gold ribbon wheel. Some ended up with maxi-semi-flex alloy. 

Add advertising cost money, and someone would have to keep track of the different alloyed wheels and nibs when stamped, so the tax more flex was ignored. 

 

Off the top of my head, I have two Pelikans; a 400nn and a 500 with a maxi nib. A '48-59 medium large MB 146, a few Osmia's (gold & steel), a Geha 790 with a maxi. The other ten I don't have exactly in mind.

 

I 'discovered' the maxi-semi-flex rating with a Rupp nib.(1922-1970 Heidelberg nib maker; Lion Head nib marking.) The other two times I tried to win a Rupp nibbed pen, I finished second.

 

 It was on a black cracked ice, that is now, after years, getting a new gasket put on it. I screwed the nib on to another pen I have a few of. Clipper ...probably Mutchler made. A third tier German pen maker.  Could be Eros if that is not the same.

I had a couple superflex nibs....and the Rupp nib was not superflex. So I wandered around in tiny circles muttering that certainly is a Maxi-semi-flex. It had that feeling of 3 X being the comfortable max, that semi-flex nibs have.

 

The Rupp nib was then and still is the most flexible of my maxi nibs. 

 

Shortly thereafter, as a twenty pen noobie, I was doing a balance test. And I found 5 of my pens were maxi, including a 400nn, that I had not noticed, in it was middle of the pack of that flex. That Rupp nib had opened my eyes to there being that flex rate.  (Later, I noticed at least one other poster talking of a more springy than normal semi-flex 140. He had a maxi.)

I find there is not as much variation within semi-flex or maxi-semi-flex as there is in Superflex. Semi&Maxi clump together in each's flex rate.  

 

Superflex. I divide into three flex rates.

Mauricio says my system is too simple. And he is right. The more superflex nibbed pens you have, the more the borders blur.

But my system is horseshoe close and helpful to folks new to superflex....if they have semi-flex they can adjust, if they have a maxi...it fits my system just fine. 

It's not just tine spread, it's also ease of tine spread.

 

I have one superflex that only goes 4 X. Most of my Easy Full Flex 5-6 X. Most of my Wet Noodles only do 6X, then only two that went 7X, with over stressing the nib. I have a couple more now than the two I use to have that will go 7X.

IMO much of what you see on Youtube or someone selling a Wet Noodle nib that might well be sprung, or soon will be. 

One should read Richard Binder's fine article on metal fatigue. Therefor I strive to say one X, under that nib's max. I have an Easy Full Flex pre-war Pelikan 100 that goes 5X

Easy Full Flex.

Half the pressure needed to max a maxi, 1/4th to max a semi, and 1/8th the pressure needed to max a regular flex. I have 4-5. My first was a no name steel nibbed war pen, a Predo. 

Weak Noodle, half the pressure needed to reach max than an Easy Full Flex, 1/4th a maxi, 1/8th a semi and 1/16th a regular flex.  (I've not kept track of how many I have, in lately I've added three or four more.) So close to seven. One of my best ones is a Soennecken. 

Weak Kneed Wet Noodle, a term invented by the English nib grinder John Sorowka. They are not mythical nibs. My first was a pre-23 MB Saftey Pen a year and a half ago. Then a few months ago, a Waterman Gothic, 1918-30's, That Parker '27 Doufold two months ago, and an Osmia pen with a Morton nib on it, a month ago.

I have that Mb as 1/2 as much pressure needed to max it as a Wet Noodle, and so on down to 1/32 or 1/64th the pressure needed to max a regular flex. When the three of them come back, I can test them against each other. 

That Morton nib may be the most flexible that I have. I missed out on a grand Kaweco in an auction  with that type of nib on it. They had bought up Morton's machinery, and Morton folks came to Germany to teach how to make fantastic nibs. When the company was taken over after the owner went bankrupt because of the market crash of '29, the first thing the new manager did was stop that high labor nib making, so Kaweco fell back down to Soennecken and MB level. 

I now have a nib on that level.

Help to learn how to write.

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

IMO a Wet Noodle is in the stiffer third of dip pens, and the Weak Kneed Wet Noodles are in the middle of dip pen nibs for flex. I have a Hunt 99-100-101 as my most flexible dip pen nibs. 

 

 

 

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, TheRedBeard said:

Nice one  

 Thanks!

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

Just bought my first "real" Parker fountain pen, a 3rd generation Vacumatic in Emerald Pearl. Probably a debutante.

[Bo Bo Olson]

IM gunmetal 1994 FP/BP set with etui, and box. Instructions, but no sale card. 

 

My wife got it at an estate clearance some months ago. The only picture of it I could show was just a bit bigger than a postage stamp. I couldn't load it into Imgur and had to make the picture dead small to beat the 3,031kb size limit on the com without a picture hosting site. I believe I checked it to see if it was mint, and it was. The cartridge is half dehydrated. This was loaded in Flickr, and one can at least see what it was.

In I have been having troubles with Imgur I am not sure if I showed a Parker 1927 Sr. Doufold I won after the auction was over in no one bid on it. I had saved my money for a later item, which I won. It has a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle, a term invented by John Sorowka, the English nib grinder. 

I had won another WKWN in the auction I won. It was a Morton nib on a Frankie Osmia pen. Kaweco used Morton nibs to be the best nibbed fountain pen company in Germany from 1900- until April 1914 when Kaweco bought up some/much of Morton's machinery. Family members and other trained US workers came to Germany to teach the Germans how to make a great nib. Then came August 1914 and the Americans went home.

 

Kaweco kept making that grand nib until 1930-31. The factory owner went bankrupt, from being out on the margin, not the company. The first thing the new manager did was get rid of having the best nib in Germany. Letting quality fall down to the run-of-the-mill Sonnecken & MB level. 

 

Morton closed down in 1920, from my reading.

 

My other WKWN is my pre-23 MB Safety Pen with a #6 Simplo weak kneed wet noodle nib. 

When those two WKWN's get back from repair and a new sac, I'll test all three against each other. 

The Great Rooster Scratch, face off. 

[Penguincollector]

I had two Parkers join my collection recently. Here are some pictures:

 

Parker “Three-Fifty” in Modernistic Blue- I think it’s a Jr. Streamline, but I don’t always get the model sizes and names right.

 

 

Today, my T-1 F/M arrived: 

 

 

 

[PAKMAN]

2 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

I had two Parkers join my collection recently. Here are some pictures:

 

Parker “Three-Fifty” in Modernistic Blue- I think it’s a Jr. Streamline, but I don’t always get the model sizes and names right.

 

 

Today, my T-1 F/M arrived: 

 

 

 

I once had a modernistic blue but sold it. I've always wanted a T1!  Congrats on both!

[TheRedBeard]

On 7/24/2025 at 2:05 AM, Penguincollector said:

I had two Parkers join my collection recently. Here are some pictures:

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

 

Today, my T-1 F/M arrived: 

 

 

 

 

It is just gorgeous! Congratulations!  

[Penguincollector]

On 7/23/2025 at 8:50 PM, PAKMAN said:

I once had a modernistic blue but sold it. I've always wanted a T1!  Congrats on both!

 

3 hours ago, TheRedBeard said:

 

It is just gorgeous! Congratulations!  

  Thank you both! I’m over the moon with both pens. Parker introduced me to this little world of ours, and despite branching out into other manufacturers- they remain my favorites. 

[Penguincollector]

On 7/11/2025 at 9:26 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 want the pen that B. Wilson wrote out the receipt with. That nib writes so nicely! 

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 7/24/2025 at 3:05 AM, Penguincollector said:

T-1

I thought that was a P-50,,, took me a while to find out what it was,,, or is that a titanium P-50?

It had needed a bit of tine adjustment, which because of the odd nib, had me on my seat edge more than for normal nibs. 

[Penguincollector]

26 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I thought that was a P-50,,, took me a while to find out what it was,,, or is that a titanium P-50?

It had needed a bit of tine adjustment, which because of the odd nib, had me on my seat edge more than for normal nibs. 

  It’s a T-1; this titanium pen had a very short production period in 1970, I believe. It was replaced by the steel Parker 50 “Falcon.” A tine adjustment on either would definitely make me nervous!