Parker 45 Variations (Photo)

[Dan Carmell]

I’ve been buying and obsessing over some new pens coming out of the vast Chinese market, fueling my long interest in Hero pens, especially those that resemble Parkers, as well as pen makers formerly unknown to me. In taking some other photos today, I pulled out the remains of my 45 collection (I kept my most prized 45s and most of the specialty nibs) and took a quick shot. Here is that photo below, with two ‘ringers’ included. One is a Parker, but not a US-made pen, and the other is a Hero. Can you spot them?

[bsenn]

I believe the blue one on the left is a Parker from Argentina.  Flighter on the right is not a Parker.

 

Brian 

[Number99]

The rightmost flighter has a different length.

 This is consistent with the hero's designer changing the length of the cap and barrel in the first minor change.

correct?

 

The bright color is also a feature of Hero 800.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Number99

[alexwi]

Talking about length, I noticed a while ago, while trying to fix a P45, that for those that have a finial on the barrel, the barrel and the cap are exactly the same length. I have a feeling that the two start as the same piece, which would make production of this pen considerably easier than others, since there's one less different part to machine.

 

Alex

[kernando]

Is the 61 from England? Does it have a less common nib too?

[Number99]

I would like to know the answer whether it is 61 or Argentina P45.

 If it is an Argentine P45, I would like to know in detail why the barrel is thin.

 

[Dan Carmell]

3 hours ago, kernando said:

Is the 61 from England? Does it have a less common nib too?

No 61s shown, all are 45s. I’ll take a photo shortly of the nibs, just for fun. I think the 45 was the last American non-luxury fountain pen with a wide variety of nibs. Even Susan Wirth continued to find different nib sizes, and of course they came in steel and 14K, 12K, and 10K gold. I love the 45. 

[Dan Carmell]

2 hours ago, Number99 said:

I would like to know the answer whether it is 61 or Argentina P45.

 If it is an Argentine P45, I would like to know in detail why the barrel is thin.

 

No 61s, my friend, and I think the thin barrel is perhaps an optical illusion, but I’m not sure which pen you meant. Tell me and I will post a separate photo with it and another 45 for better comparison. 

[Dan Carmell]

Here’s the answer to my question:

 

The Flighter on the far right is a Hero 800. The blue 45 is one of the 2 or 3 colors (blue & black at least) offered as the 45 TX (not in the market perhaps but at least internally at Parker) and made in England (marked England not UK), which I’d forgotten, so there are actually two foreign 45s here. The other foreign 45 is the flighter without a barrel tassie, second flighter from the right, made by Industria Argentina under license. All of the Argentinian made Parkers with gold plated caps and/or barrels that have a slightly brassy tone to them, unlike the more familiar US and UK gold plating and filing. Industria Argentina made Coronets in colors other than the US 5 colors & black and perhaps also did the same for the TX.

[Number99]

1 hour ago, Dan Carmell said:

No 61s, my friend, and I think the thin barrel is perhaps an optical illusion, but I’m not sure which pen you meant. Tell me and I will post a separate photo with it and another 45 for better comparison. 

Yes, it's a P45 non-end tassie flighter, probably Argentine or Brazilian, with 61 types of clips, the third from the right.

 The size of the barrel looks the same as the standard 45.

 Launched in 1981, the P45flighter non-end tassie barrel is the same size as Harlequin and slightly thicker.

 I said it was thinner than that.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Number99
Second and third

[Dan Carmell]

44 minutes ago, Number99 said:

Yes, it's a P45 non-end tassie flighter, probably Argentine or Brazilian, with 61 types of clips, the third from the right.

 

I’m embarrassed, I am hardly a serious collector anymore, if I can simply overlook a 61 clip!  I bought that pen from a young Argentinian man at a San Francisco pen show many years ago. 
 

it is made by Industria Argentina (IA), shown below with an IA Signet 51 to the left and a IA 61 Mark II (double dots rather than the arrow and is a cartridge converter filler, not a capillary filler. 
 

The second photo shows the color difference between US/UK gold fill and the AI models which I believe to be plated, not filled. The AI pens are darker and have a ‘brassy’ tone the gold filled pens do not. The Argentinian pens are the #1 and #4 from the right. 
 

Thank you for pointing that out and my apologies for the confusion!

[Number99]

1 hour ago, Dan Carmell said:

I’m embarrassed, I am hardly a serious collector anymore, if I can simply overlook a 61 clip!  I bought that pen from a young Argentinian man at a San Francisco pen show many years ago. 
 

it is made by Industria Argentina (IA), shown below with an IA Signet 51 to the left and a IA 61 Mark II (double dots rather than the arrow and is a cartridge converter filler, not a capillary filler. 
 

The second photo shows the color difference between US/UK gold fill and the AI models which I believe to be plated, not filled. The AI pens are darker and have a ‘brassy’ tone the gold filled pens do not. The Argentinian pens are the #1 and #4 from the right. 
 

Thank you for pointing that out and my apologies for the confusion!

I thought the Argentine flighter was a prepared entertainment.

 That's why I used a metaphorical expression.

 The source of the confusion is me.

 

 I'm sorry for this.

 

 By the way, I'm interested in the thickness of the barrel of the Argentine flightre.

 I found a non-end tassie flighter with a serial number on the cap, which has a barrel as thick as the standard 45, in Japan.

 Except for the clip, it's just like your Argentine flighter.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Number99