Anyone know anything about this old pen...?

[cotedupy]

Also beware. Inks can be far more addicting than fountain pens themselves.

I can attest to this fact!

I have never knowingly failed to fall down this kind of a rabbit hole. So I'm sure a niche ink obsession will be wending its way over the horizon very soon. Q. for when it does...

When changing inks on a pen do you clean and flush it with water first? Or just start using the new ink and let it blend through?

 

[cotedupy]

That's a beautiful Parker hooded nib! Congrats on the find!

Cheers Phil. That's the same grandfather that had those nice pipes I found a few months back, and that very lovely gold Dunhill lighter.

Funny how I'm only finding these things 25 years after he died... the rest of my family clearly didn't inherit his good taste!

 

[jar_]

I have never knowingly failed to fall down this kind of a rabbit hole. So I'm sure a niche ink obsession will be wending its way over the horizon very soon. Q. for when it does...

When changing inks on a pen do you clean and flush it with water first? Or just start using the new ink and let it blend through?

Kinda/sorta both.

First, you are going to find that the collector (what the nib sits on and controls ink flow) holds far more ink that your thumb can fully flush out. So you do as good a flush as your thumb allows and refill.

But understand, back when fountain pens were the norm, nobody flushed. More, if you ran out of ink in a store you simply asked if you could refill and you just refilled with whatever ink they were using so colors definitely covered a spectrum rather than a single wave length.

Many years ago I found a "51" similar to yours in the wild. I took it home and filled it with water and wrote for a week or three with what had dried up in the sucker.

Here is the 1941 "51" my dad gave my mom when they got engaged. It's a first year, first quarter "51". The cap is Sterling silver and both I and my younger brother used it as a teeth pacifier.

 

[blethenstrom]

I have never knowingly failed to fall down this kind of a rabbit hole. So I'm sure a niche ink obsession will be wending its way over the horizon very soon. Q. for when it does...

When changing inks on a pen do you clean and flush it with water first? Or just start using the new ink and let it blend through?

I flush the pen in between, but if you refill the same ink or you are switching to an ink that does not react badly to the one you had in the pen you can always just fill

 

[cotedupy]

Another Parker I found in the very same drawer last week. At first I thought I thought it was a slightly fancy, metal case version of the Vectors I remember from my schooldays, but a little research has told me it's actually a Parker 88. The nib is a medium and again writes very well, a little finer than the 51, I assume because it's less worn in...

 

[cotedupy]

Also found in there a load of British Crown coins:

Winston Churchill, issued on his death in 1965:

Marriage of Charles and Diana 1981, QE2 Silver Jubilee 1997, QE2 Golden Jubilee 2002:

 

[nemo]

Another Parker I found in the very same drawer last week. At first I thought I thought it was a slightly fancy, metal case version of the Vectors I remember from my schooldays, but a little research has told me it's actually a Parker 88. The nib is a medium and again writes very well, a little finer than the 51, I assume because it's less worn in...

Rialto?

 

[cotedupy]

Rialto?

As far as I understand from what I've read... the Rialto was basically an evolution or re-naming of the 88, but had some fancy swirly engraving on the nib, whereas the 88 was plainer like this. Basically the same though, yep.

(I could be completely wrong about that, so please correct me if so! It's just come from a quick bit of google research).

 

[Legion]

Also found in there a load of British Crown coins:

View attachment 1666605




Winston Churchill, issued on his death in 1965:
View attachment 1666608
View attachment 1666606


Marriage of Charles and Diana 1981, QE2 Silver Jubilee 1997, QE2 Golden Jubilee 2002:
View attachment 1666607

Ha. I remember having one of those Churchill crowns in my coin collection as a kid. I liked it because it was really big.

 

[Borderboss]

Another Parker I found in the very same drawer last week. At first I thought I thought it was a slightly fancy, metal case version of the Vectors I remember from my schooldays, but a little research has told me it's actually a Parker 88. The nib is a medium and again writes very well, a little finer than the 51, I assume because it's less worn in...

View attachment 1666587

View attachment 1666588

View attachment 1666586

View attachment 1666590

This pen is indeed a Parker 88. It was the first fountain pen I bought back around 1990. They were sold in sets with a ballpoint under the model name "Place Vendome" after the location in France. The steel nib was a smooth writer for me.

 

[beginish]

I love drawers like this. When cleaning out a house once, I found a PFM I, a Sheaffer Student and a Sheaffer Triumph. All needed a little work, but they came out great.

 

[cotedupy]

This pen is indeed a Parker 88. It was the first fountain pen I bought back around 1990. They were sold in sets with a ballpoint under the model name "Place Vendome" after the location in France. The steel nib was a smooth writer for me.

Cheers for the confirmation! I thought that looked the most likely option from what I could find online.

This one is certainly very smooth too, though I think I slightly prefer the kinda 'softer' writing feel of the 51. Possibly explained by if the 88 is a steel nib (I didn't know that), and the 51 is 14k gold...?

And the general sleekness and design of the 88 I'm certainly very keen on.

 

[jar_]

Cheers for the confirmation! I thought that looked the most likely option from what I could find online.

This one is certainly very smooth too, though I think I slightly prefer the kinda 'softer' writing feel of the 51. Possibly explained by if the 88 is a steel nib (I didn't know that), and the 51 is 14k gold...?

And the general sleekness and design of the 88 I'm certainly very keen on.

What the nib is made from actually has very little effect on how it writes. Better quality nibs, steel or gold or alloy will be tipped with an even harder metal, iridium or similar. It's the tip that is all that touches the paper.

Indirectly though, gold nib pens are usually more expensive and at least in the past, were tested by hand for line and flex so often do feel better. If the steel nib pens are given the same consideration before sale they too will feel great.

 

[cotedupy]

What the nib is made from actually has very little effect on how it writes. Better quality nibs, steel or gold or alloy will be tipped with an even harder metal, iridium or similar. It's the tip that is all that touches the paper.

Indirectly though, gold nib pens are usually more expensive and at least in the past, were tested by hand for line and flex so often do feel better. If the steel nib pens are given the same consideration before sale they too will feel great.

Ah interesting, that’s a load more stuff I didn’t know. Ta!

I also guess that the reason my 51 feels slightly ‘softer’ might also be to do with it having a lot more wear? The 88 doesn’t look like it’s been used much, whereas my grandfather’s old 51 has clearly done a lot of writing in it’s time...

 

[jar_]

Ah interesting, that’s a load more stuff I didn’t know. Ta!

I also guess that the reason my 51 feels slightly ‘softer’ might also be to do with it having a lot more wear? The 88 doesn’t look like it’s been used much, whereas my grandfather’s old 51 has clearly done a lot of writing in it’s time...

More likely simply different era.

The "51" was still from a period when there was lots of hands on work by very skilled craftsmen and women. The "88" is from the later built by machine to a standard template rather than hand finished and adjusted.

The "51" was Parker's flagship while the "88" was a profit center.

AbE:

The slim pencil cylinder pens were an ubiquitous trend started IIRC by the Italian firm Aurora with the introduction of the "Hastil". It absolutely dominated the market and within a year just about every maker was introducing slim, cylindrical flat ended pens.