PARKER "51" RESCUED

[samba]

Hi All,

Almost twelve years ago, I rescued a Parker '51' aerometric (Made in England) fountain pen from a woman who had no idea about the importance of that writing instrument. The woman was actually my colleague who has now been transferred to another department. She knew I'd a little bit of experience with fountain pens. This particular pen belonged to his father-in-law, who was, by profession, an M.D. Unfortunately, neither my colleague nor his spouse were aware of the importance of this true gem. They thought about throwing this beauty away from their well-furnished abode. Fortunately, she showed me the pen (photo attached) and asked me if it had any value. I told her that it's a legendary fountain pen. But she had no idea about Parker '51' and asked me that, as she doesn't use a fountain pen, this pen had no value to her. I asked her not to throw it away. And if she wants, she can give me the pen. I will take care of this writing instrument. She gladly accepted my proposal. The pen has been rescued.

It is a teal (to be precise teal green) coloured Made in England MK1 P51 Aerometric.

Please check the photos.

Thank you!

[OCArt]

Lovely pen, I love those English nibs.

[inkstainedruth]

@samba -- Very interesting pen!  I knew that the UK production of "Burgundy" (which some people on FPN have referred to as "British Bloody Burgundy") is very different from the US production color, being brighter and more red-leaning.  But I didn't know that the UK production of "Teal" was so different from what I'm used to seeing (on my screen it definitely looks green).  

Thanks for posting the photos....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[samba]

17 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@samba -- Very interesting pen!  I knew that the UK production of "Burgundy" (which some people on FPN have referred to as "British Bloody Burgundy") is very different from the US production color, being brighter and more red-leaning.  But I didn't know that the UK production of "Teal" was so different from what I'm used to seeing (on my screen it definitely looks green).  

Thanks for posting the photos....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Thanks for your reaction.

Actually, I have 3 teal Parker '51' aerometric. I have attached photos for color comparison. The fun fact is that 2 of them are 'Made in England' and the other is 'Made in the USA'.

In the photo you can see the left pen is the teal (with a greenish overtone), the middle is also a teal (lighter blue overtone) and the pen on the extreme right is a USA teal (relatively darker bluish overtone). The pen in the middle actually has no 'Made in England' imprint either on the barrel or cap. But it has an 'R.GOLD' imprint on the cap and the aerometric sac protector has no country name mentioned, which led me to guess this pen is an English Parker '51'. Also, I got this pen from an old relative who never serviced it. So the parts are not mixed or merged. I purchased the USA Parker '51' teal (darker blue one in extremely right in the photos) as an NOS, spending approximately $140.

Please check the photos.

 

[hari317]

18 hours ago, samba said:

Hi All,

Almost twelve years ago, I rescued a Parker '51' aerometric (Made in England) fountain pen from a woman who had no idea about the importance of that writing instrument. The woman was actually my colleague who has now been transferred to another department. She knew I'd a little bit of experience with fountain pens. This particular pen belonged to his father-in-law, who was, by profession, an M.D. Unfortunately, neither my colleague nor his spouse were aware of the importance of this true gem. They thought about throwing this beauty away from their well-furnished abode. Fortunately, she showed me the pen (photo attached) and asked me if it had any value. I told her that it's a legendary fountain pen. But she had no idea about Parker '51' and asked me that, as she doesn't use a fountain pen, this pen had no value to her. I asked her not to throw it away. And if she wants, she can give me the pen. I will take care of this writing instrument. She gladly accepted my proposal. The pen has been rescued.

It is a teal (to be precise teal green) coloured Made in England MK1 P51 Aerometric.

Please check the photos.

Thank you!

That was indeed very kind of that colleague of yours to allow you to "rescue" the pen. congrats!

[Estycollector]

Very nice. Putting an old pen back into service is one of life's simple, but significant joys. 

[samba]

4 hours ago, hari317 said:

That was indeed very kind of that colleague of yours to allow you to "rescue" the pen. congrats!

Actually, she has no idea about the importance of Parker '51'. She doesn't use a fountain pen. She wanted to get rid of that beauty. My proposal was like a boon to her. 

[samba]

3 hours ago, Estycollector said:

Very nice. Putting an old pen back into service is one of life's simple, but significant joys. 

The pen was in excellent condition. I just flushed it with clean water. It started to work from the very first day of my acquisition.

[Glenn-SC]

58 minutes ago, samba said:

Actually, she has no idea about the importance of Parker '51'. She doesn't use a fountain pen. She wanted to get rid of that beauty. My proposal was like a boon to her. 

Did you tell her what the pen was worth?

[Estycollector]

52 minutes ago, Glenn-SC said:

Did you tell her what the pen was worth?

What’s the pen worth? 

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, samba said:

The pen was in excellent condition. I just flushed it with clean water. It started to work from the very first day of my acquisition.

That's the nice thing about the 51 Aeros -- quite often that all they need is a good flushing out.  The earlier 51 Vacs might need more work to get them up and running, such as replacing the diaphragm.  

OTOH, I have a 51 Vac that has a (now) nicely tuned EF nib on it, and that's the pen I ink up when I have to do research and take copious amounts of notes....  And a few months ago I found a Cordovan Brown 51 Vac in the box with the Parker 45 I went to check out at an estate sale in the next county (plus two extra press bar converters for the 45).  Total for everything?  $5 US (and the estate sale people didn't understand why I didn't want the skinny little -- supposedly -- Cross ballpoint, which didn't have a cap, in the box as well...).  So, depending on how you factor it, it's 2 bucks apiece for the pens (or $1 for the 45 and $3) for the 51 Vac, and 50¢ apiece for the two extra (spare) converters for the 45....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[VacNut]

A 51 Aerometric is affordable and a very dependable daily user.

[inkstainedruth]

Yup.  They certainly are.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[VacNut]

Another 1774 pens and you can match the collection of a well regarded enthusiast on this Forum.

[FarmBoy]

6 minutes ago, VacNut said:

Another 1774 pens and you can match the collection of a well regarded enthusiast on this Forum.

I think he pays more than a buck.  His budget is a bit more realistic.

[VacNut]

32 minutes ago, VacNut said:

Another 1774 pens and you can match the collection of a well regarded enthusiast on this Forum.

Samba,

You may just need to speak to another 1774 of your friends. They may have more pens! 

[hari317]

 

11 hours ago, samba said:

Actually, she has no idea about the importance of Parker '51'. She doesn't use a fountain pen. She wanted to get rid of that beauty. My proposal was like a boon to her. 

Her acceptance of your proposal was a boon for you actually. no? she could have disposed the pen anywhere with the same result for her.

 

[Estycollector]

When assessing value, someone within our community knows that if the pen needs attention, we have a level of expertise or experience that will allow us to render the pen usable. My mechanic says that when he purchases a used vehicle, he considers possible expense to make the car useable. This means he does not offer market value, or what most people would agree to pay. 

 

If a person as described, knows nothing or cares nothing for what they have, we are not obligated to pay them what most people would be willing to pay who do know. 

[Glenn-SC]

43 minutes ago, Estycollector said:

When assessing value, someone within our community knows that if the pen needs attention, we have a level of expertise or experience that will allow us to render the pen usable. My mechanic says that when he purchases a used vehicle, he considers possible expense to make the car useable. This means he does not offer market value, or what most people would agree to pay. 

 

If a person as described, knows nothing or cares nothing for what they have, we are not obligated to pay them what most people would be willing to pay who do know. 

Yes but …

If you told said person that in its current condition and that minus the cost of needed repair/refurbishment the pen was still worth $50, or $75, or $100, or $150 then they might feel differently about “gifting” the pen for free. Maybe that knowledge would not change their mind and make them appreciate your honestly. 
IMHO we do have a moral obligation to inform people to tell people what their possessions are worth if they don’t know and are about to loose money.  
 

I was at an antique store once and the owner had a box or FPs that just came in. In that box was a Sheaffer PFM.  He asked me if I was interested in it and what it was worth.  I told him estimated prices for NIB, restored, user, unrestored, and “parts” pen conditions. I told him that I estimated the pen as worth $75.  He replied, “So you’d be happy if I asked you for $40 for it?”  Yes, honestly is the best choice.  
 

[InkyProf]

There's value in use and there's value in exchange, the latter of which we also call "price." They have their own appropriate contexts, though these can overlap. Samba's original example involved a friend with a pen she intended to throw out; in that context, it makes sense to answer the question "does this have any value" by saying "it's a legendary fountain pen," and offering to keep, use, and care for the pen instead. This is a different situation from a store owner asking "what's this worth," because a conversation with a store owner is always already commercial in a way a conversation with a friend isn't: if you told the store owner "it's a legendary fountain pen," he'd probably say, "yeah, but what's it worth?" I agree with Glenn that it would have been unethical to intentionally underestimate the value of the PFM in response to the store owner in order to get a better deal, but I don't think that's the same as not answering your friend's question "does this have any value?" with a price estimate -- unless your intention, unlike Samba's, was to turn around and sell the pen on eBay (in which case you're exploiting your friendship for commercial purposes), or unless (also unlike in Samba's case!) your friend had fallen on hard times and was asking you to help them decide out which of their possessions they could sell to help pay their bills (in which case you're being a terrible friend). Just my $.02, for whatever that's worth. 🙂