Parker 51 Empire Cap?

[STLCardsFan]

Does anyone have a link to the story behind the empire cap for the vintage Parker 51? I see they command a premium when they come up for auction and thus I assume they must be rare (supply low / demand high). I ordered the Parker 51 book to see if there is a reference to it in there. Thanks.

 

 

 

[Estycollector]

I just found a half dozen in my sock drawer.....LOL!! 

 

Seriously, thank you for posting. I had not previously heard of this cap design. 

[FarmBoy]

The Empire cap is one of the 14K solid gold Cap options offered on the 51 Vacumatic filled pens.  A correct pen will have a 14k clip and tassie as well. 
 

It is perhaps the best known solid gold 51 cap and is certainly among the most desired by collectors. It is by no means the rarest or most expensive cap. 
 

The 51 SE caps were modeled off the original. 

[STLCardsFan]

5 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

The Empire cap is one of the 14K solid gold Cap options offered on the 51 Vacumatic filled pens.  A correct pen will have a 14k clip and tassie as well. 
 

It is perhaps the best known solid gold 51 cap and is certainly among the most desired by collectors. It is by no means the rarest or most expensive cap. 

 

The 51 SE caps were modeled off the original. 

 

Thank you.

 

Do you have a reference that talks about the variety of caps with the rarity of them? It seems like there could be a drawer full of them somewhere without knowing how many were produced. 

 

What is the rarest out there? 

 

http://parkerpens.net/parker51.html

 

This site makes a reference that perhaps even rare is the fish scale cap in solid gold. 

[crescentfiller]

This site ought to answer most of your questions:

 

 

http://parker51.com/index.php/caps-home/caps/

 

[FarmBoy]

The 14K Barleycorn (Fishscale) caps are certainly less common than the Empire caps.   
 

There are a lot of cap designs of which known examples number well under 100 and a good number in the single digits. 
 

orobably the rarest known cap is a Watermelon in any of the variations known. 
 

There are a few mythical caps claimed to exist but have eluded the watchful eyes of the 51 guys. 

[oztech]

Like this

[FarmBoy]

Mythical...