Is this a Nassau Green Parker 51?

[FarmBoy]

On 4/13/2022 at 12:31 PM, Emver said:

FarmBoy, I'm curious about some of your statements.  I'm not disputing them, just curious about your reasoning.

 

Pen 1.  (in my original photos) is an Aerometric, made in England. What makes you think it's 1948 or 1949?  The cap or clip? It has a date code 1 which I take to be 1951.

 

Pen 2. Aerometric, but no date code.

 

Pen 3. Vacumatic with the inscription   PARKER "51"

                                                                 REGD TM 640214

                                                                 MADE IN ENGLAND

                                                                             9.

           Why do you think the cap is definitely wrong? It appears to be the same cap as Pen 4, apart from the dents               and the different clip.  Actually I thought it might be wrong at first, esp since the jewel is missing. but it does             seem identical to pen 4's cap.

           And I've just been looking at this page https://www.parker51.co.uk/the-history  The 6th cap from the top                   looks like mine, and calls it a "transition cap" usually fitted to Vacumatic 51s dated 1947-1948 and early                     Aerometrics dated 1948-1949. To add to the confusion, my Vacumatic seems to be dated 1949. Also the                   clip does seem a bit shorter than the one in that photo, more like a later clip.

 

Pen 4. Vacumatic with the inscription   PARKER "51"

                                                                  MADE IN USA   T.6

            So an American P51 made in 1946, presumably from the Toronto factory.

 

Pen 5. Vacumatic. I can't find any inscriptions on this apart from Ben's name, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

           But at least we can all agree that it's a grey one!

 

Pen 1- The clip is a long arrow.  Only around on the transition caps for Vacs and the first run of Aerometric pens.  So 1948 or 1949.  Caps move around, easy fix.

 Pen 2 no date code means later pen.  Barrel probably has the hole in the side.

Pen 3  Being English is a curve ball.  The dent in the cap indicates that the clip was a long style and was changed.  The shell will (or should be the same) but on an English pen it would have a tapered arrow clip and probably be marked as made in England.

Pen 4  There was no Toronto Factory in the US.  The old 'T is for Toronto' was (and I'm being nice to an old friend) speculation.  The T indicates the pen was assembled at the Townsend Tractor plant and not the main plant.

Pen 5 just looks like a 1944 or 45 pen.

 

General notes, no Nassau, Mustard, or Buckskin pens were made in England or if they were no one has seen one that I know.

Transition caps will have PARKER stamped in usually an odd spot as previously the clip said Parker.  

[Carguy]

9 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

Yep. I once bought one that was supposed to be Nassau Green that was actually Navy Grey. Oh well, lived and learned. 

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never own a Nassau Green in my lifetime. I think they are pretty, but the prices are just crazy. At the moment, I’d settle for a Cedar Blue DJ in good condition. Probably not gonna find that reasonably priced either….

[Paul-in-SF]

Saw a listing on eBay today claiming to be a Nassau Green P51. Only problem was it was an Aerometric, and it was Forest Green. I dropped them a friendly note about it, for which they thanked me. 

 

Is it possible on eBay to change the contents of the headline or the listing, once it's published? i.e. to change the word Nassau to Forest? I thought I might check later to see if they change it, or if they are willing to perpetuate the mistake. 

[Carguy]

It absolutely is possible to revise a listing, I have done it quite recently.

[Paul-in-SF]

I just checked and they haven't changed it yet, 3 hours later. The auction finishes on Saturday, so there's plenty of time. I'm putting on my watch list just for grins. 

[donnweinberg]

I just "bit the bullet" and purchased Nassau Green Parker 51 Vacumatics from two different sellers on Ebay.  They definitely are Nassau Green, and both are fully restored (new diaphragms) with gold-filled caps.  Once they arrive, I will have completed my collection of the P51 vacumatic colors.  The prices are high, for sure, but this is the rarest color of the vacs, and the values will go higher over time.  Earlier, I purchased some NOS P51 nibs (14K) in wider nib widths, so my plan over time is to substitute the wider-width nibs for the fine nibs in some of my Parker 51s, but I'll use a professional restorer to do that.

 

The best photo on the internet that I have found that fairly represents the colors of the Parker 51 vacumatics in a more natural light is below.  From left to right: Cordovan Brown (2), India Black, Cedar Blue, Dove Grey, Yellowstone (Mustard), Buckskin Beige, and Nassau Green (2):

 

[Paul-in-SF]

That is a gorgeous and calendar-worthy collection. 

 

4 hours ago, donnweinberg said:

this is the rarest color of the vacs

 

This surprises me. I thought the Buckskin Beige and Yellowstone/Mustard were the rarer colors. Oh well, they're all beyond my budget. Anyway, congratulations. 

[Carguy]

Lucky you! I want one but have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never have one. Congrats!

[FarmBoy]

In my experience Buckskin has been the most difficult to find with Nassau and Mustard of similar difficulty but much easier to find. I also find that Buckskin pens often have damage where as Mustard less so and Nassau even less. I see more names on Nassau pens than the other two. 
 

Just to toss sone random bits into the gears…Vac filled 51s do exist in the Aero-only colors Navy Grey and in Burgundy as a result of Parker substituting those colors when repairing Dove and Cordovan pens. 

[VacNut]

“Rare” and expensive are subjective.  I like the Yellowstone/Mustard color the best, especially paired with an Empire Cap. I am not sure if Parker actually made a Nassau Pen with a sterling cap and tassie, or if it was created by a collector, but that would be my second favorite pen.

The different cap styles are of greater interest than the pen color.

 

 

[FarmBoy]

1 hour ago, VacNut said:

“Rare” and expensive are subjective.  I like the Yellowstone/Mustard color the best, especially paired with an Empire Cap. I am not sure if Parker actually made a Nassau Pen with a sterling cap and tassie, or if it was created by a collector, but that would be my second favorite pen.

The different cap styles are of greater interest than the pen color.

 

 

There are no Stirling tassies.

Parker would put any cap on any pen color that you wanted.