Collecting Parker 100

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

sadly, mine sits, unused and in near perfect condition in a drawer 😕

 

[TheRedBeard]

24 minutes ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

sadly, mine sits, unused and in near perfect condition in a drawer 😕

 

Honey White, I guess?  

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

nope, that weird blue

and gold (ish) cap

(and all my Parker CC pens have to share one lonely old converter. so only ever one inked at a time. (unless I take the time to refill a cartridge, which I usually don't)

 

still, even in a colour I don't like, it's a good looking pen.

[langere]

I have the Honey Blue and the Smoked Bronze.   I wish I could have afforded the other colors as well after they went on sale when dealers were getting rid of their stock. I always felt that the 100s were seriously undervalued pens when they came out and I am happy to see that my instincts appear to have been correct, as nowadays they are highly valued.

 

Erick

[Dione]

11 hours ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

sadly, mine sits, unused and in near perfect condition in a drawer 😕

 

Why? It's a really nice pen to write with.  Converters are cheap enough to buy so that you have one in each pen. I have loads of spare converters should I ever need one.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

1 hour ago, Dione said:

Why? It's a really nice pen to write with.  Converters are cheap enough to buy so that you have one in each pen. I have loads of spare converters should I ever need one.

TLDR available at the bottom  

 

While converters might be relatively cheap individually, when you add them up, they add up quick.
A Parker converter at my usual store is $11CAD (plus 13% taxes). And now, I would either have to spend another $114 (to get free shipping), or pay for shipping... and suddenly, a converter isn't cheap anymore.

And a bottle of noodler's is only $18.75... so a converter sitting unused COULD have been half of a bottle of ink...   

 

If I bought one for each pen that needs one, I'd need 5 or 6... and that ads up to about what a snorkel in need of restoration costs...

So I buy the snorkel instead  

 

The only converter pens I own are some 45s, the 100, a Sheaffer or two (no converter, I just refill an old cartridge that I got in a lot of pens from eBay) and some safaris.

The safaris already each have their own converter because they were purchased with the pen, new.

Any new safaris from now on will likely NOT have a converter added on to the bill as I have more now than I would ever have inked all at once.

 

Other priorities, I mean, "pen budget" priorities, include a vac tool that I have put off buying for going on 3 years now...  (every time I think I'm gonna plunk down the $ for it, I get a snorkel or a "51" instead... ) and supplies I need to fix the 8 vacumatic parkers (mostly "51"s) and a couple of other pens that need sacs. And in a messed up turn of events, at least 3 of those vac pens can't be fixed until I DO get the vac tool... gaaahh!

 

Now, why does the 100 stay in a drawer and not get it's turn with the converter? Well, like I said earlier, I personally find it a little on the fat side, and a little on the heavy side. The nib is perfectly acceptable as a nib. Certainly not a world beater, but it's also not a bad nib.

It's just... "meh". And I have many pens I prefer over it.

 

I try and keep my inked pens to only 1 or 2. And right now (and for the last few months) I am/have been going through them 1 at a time, and cataloguing them, including how they write. So I ink a pen up, assign it a catalogue number and a tag, use it for a few days and write out it's entry in the book. Then I clean it, dry it and put it back in the drawer with it's friends. I have 46 or so pens done now. I have somewhere around that many left to go. Including the 100. So it will get its turn again. 

 

And at some point, I will likely sell it. Especially considering it's condition and colour, I'll likely use that money to fund either tools, or more pens.  you can get a reeeeaaaaalllllyy nice "51" or vacumatic for the price that 100s have been trading for lately... 

Or it could take a BIG chunk out of the cost of the lathe I want... But that's for the future, there are other real life priorities right now that are interfering heavily. (not complaining, it's just a plain fact)

 

TLDR:

- I really only need one converter at any given time, and I have other "pen budget" priorities that will likely always trump the need to have a converter sit unused in a drawer.

- the 100 just isn't very high on my list of "pens I like to have in rotation"

[Dione]

if you buy your converters at a store then I can understand the problem. However, I buy my converters either on ebay or Amazon. On ebay I can get the originals that have the metal around the input end and they are much better than the newer version.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

4 minutes ago, Dione said:

if you buy your converters at a store then I can understand the problem. However, I buy my converters either on ebay or Amazon. On ebay I can get the originals that have the metal around the input end and they are much better than the newer version.

All of the CC pens I've bought on eBay, 5 or 6 parkers... only one has come with a converter 😕

 

I won't give amazon money if I don't have to.

 

And frankly, a purchase (and associated shipping costs) on eBay for a converter, isn't worth it. If I was going to do that, I may as well just give my usual store the $11 and pay them for the shipping  

They are not local, nothing is actually "local" since I live a 45min drive from town... but my usual store (wonderpens.ca) is REALLY not local to the city I'm closest to.

 

 

[Dione]

ebay is clearly much cheaper where I buy and I like Amazon bargains. How about this one?

[TheRedBeard]

13 hours ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

nope, that weird blue

and gold (ish) cap

(and all my Parker CC pens have to share one lonely old converter. so only ever one inked at a time. (unless I take the time to refill a cartridge, which I usually don't)

 

still, even in a colour I don't like, it's a good looking pen.

That is great  

[TheRedBeard]

12 hours ago, langere said:

I have the Honey Blue and the Smoked Bronze.   I wish I could have afforded the other colors as well after they went on sale when dealers were getting rid of their stock. I always felt that the 100s were seriously undervalued pens when they came out and I am happy to see that my instincts appear to have been correct, as nowadays they are highly valued.

 

Erick

Erick, your instincts are perfect  

And you still have chances to buy P100 in Opal Silver and Cobalt Black.

In this particular case, I have no doubts that prices for P100 NOS are only about to grow even more in the future...

IMHO, after an original P51 (Mk I and Mk II Aeros only), P100 is the best modern Parker pen which is still available.

 

 

[Carguy]

If I could go back and buy all the pens I have either sold from my collection or that I passed up when they were “good deals”, I’d be a happy man!

 

I just went and priced the 100 on the bay and was shocked at the prices they were asking for them. Guess I won’t be getting a 100 any time soon!

[TheRedBeard]

14 minutes ago, Carguy said:

If I could go back and buy all the pens I have either sold from my collection or that I passed up when they were “good deals”, I’d be a happy man!

 

I just went and priced the 100 on the bay and was shocked at the prices they were asking for them. Guess I won’t be getting a 100 any time soon!

Never regret about the past and keep thinking positively,and  your lucky chance will come soon  

 

[agentbug]

I've got 2 or 3 parker 100 fountain pens, it's a so-so pen 😕

 

I'd say Parker has enough reason to discontinue 100 after 4-year-production.

[TheRedBeard]

1 hour ago, agentbug said:

I've got 2 or 3 parker 100 fountain pens, it's a so-so pen 😕

 

I'd say Parker has enough reason to discontinue 100 after 4-year-production.

Tastes differ... and YMMV  

 

[TheRedBeard]

According to famous Tony's site P100 was introduced in 2004.

 

But my P100 Cobalt Black is marked with date code "L" that means Q4 2003... 

 

Has someone found L code on his/her P100, too?..

 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

mine (blue and gold) is dated    FRANCE L

 

[Mr Gutsy]

My smoke bronze 100 is dated as France L.

[TheRedBeard]

Both above are the same as mine...

I will check my one in Opal Silver and see...

[agentbug]

it's normal that a pen was in production before the introduction date.

 

it's the same as the duofold