Excellent 1948 production American Parker 51 in teal blue with steel classic cap with gold clip. This is fitted with a medium 14k gold nib
This is an interesting pen as the date code on the barrel (see photo) shows that it was made in 1948 - the first year that the 'new Parker 51 Aero-metric' was manufactured in the USA. As such it has some some features which are unique to pens made in this early period including: the aluminium sac protector with imprinted instructions to press 6 times (rather than the later 4) and to use Superchrome Ink; this sac protector is also threaded rather than friction fit and screws onto the transparent lucite connector thread unit; threading on the section goes all the way up to the clutch ring and internally there is a silver metal breather tube (see photo); the cap is fitted with the transitional clip which is longer than the normal 'long' early 51 clip and also has longer flight feathers (a similar configuration of this clip on a steel cap is shown on p45 of David Shepherd's book on the Parker 51). The nib is dated 1947, so it's likely Parker front loaded nib production into 1947 in preparation for the launch of the Aerometric in 1948.
So for those interested in the design development of the 51, this pen has a number of early features which had really disappeared by about 1951
This fills from an ink bottle and does not take cartridges
Condition B/1m - (Ref 12652)
See our Condition Grading Scale
We have fully serviced this pen which includes disassembling the pen, ultrasonically cleaning all the parts and fitting a new pliglass ink sac. We then reassemble the pen, check ink flow and the smoothness of the nib. We also check and adjust the tightness and positioning of the clip.
This pen comes with our normal 12 month warranty. We keep a detailed record of each customer's purchases so if you need to call us, we will have all the information here to answer any query