Today's finds and a question

[PFP_Dad]

Today I had the good fortune of finding 2 '51's and one Parker Vacumatic.

One '51 is gold capped with a turquoise? barrel. Unfortunately the cap is pretty dinged up. This feels similar to a fine nib I have.

The other is silver capped with a black barrel. Both are vacumatic fill devices. This nib seems much finer, did they make an EF?

The Vacumatic is black with a gold band. Either a fine or medium nib, leaning towards medium.

My lovely bride claimed the gold capped '51 and I soaked both nibs to clean them up. The second '51 and Vacumatic do not appear to be taking in ink. Any suggestions before I send them in to a restorer? If not, what can I expect to pay to have them restored to working order?

Thanks for the help, I only wish I had better pictures for y'all.

 

[airmech]

Missed you and Sam at the Get together. Looks like you had a productive day!!! The vacumatic probably has the the diaphragm shot. The "51" may have a breathing tube problem. You may want to try fixing them yourself. Vintagepens.com and Ron Zorns web site. I have never shipped a pen to a restorer so I can't give you a price for a restore. Have a great day!!!

Tom

PS see y'all at the next meet up!!!

 

[Vlad]

Danny Fudge (The Write Pen) is my main pen fixer guy. His repairs are typically about $20 I think, but Vacs may be more.

 

[PFP_Dad]

Thanks guys, I'll check out the sites you sent. I've been really fortunate with my antique store finds thus far and only have one other in the "to fix" pile.

 

[Blue-EyedSon]

Nice finds! I think Danny Fudge is probably still the cheapest and has the quickest turn around time. He fixed a vac for me before I learned how to do it myself.

Especially as you've got at least two that need restoring (and it might not be a bad idea to get the third one done as well to be safe), you might consider getting the tools to do it yourself. With the right tools, fixing these up isn't too challenging. When I started getting interested in picking up some vacumatics (and they have a way of multiplying), I invested in the tools and they paid for themselves very quickly by saving on repair costs. Here's a thread I made showing the process. It is a very similar process for the "51" Vac fillers.

 

[PFP_Dad]

Wow, that seems a bit more advanced than I am comfortable with at the moment, but I may give it a wack on one junk fountain pen that I got in the same bag. Worst that could happen is I end up breaking a semi-broken pen

 

[drathgeb]

Danny Fudge (The Write Pen) is my main pen fixer guy. His repairs are typically about $20 I think, but Vacs may be more.

+1 I just sent Danny my 51 and it was $20 plus shipping