Re: Fountain Pens and XY

["'A. Joseph Ross'" lawyer@xxxxxxxx]

On Mon, 7 Sep 1998, Thomas J Hawley wrote:

> The 51 was a big seller in the 40's and 50's; Parker used to run full page ads
> for it in Life Magazine. You could still buy it for about $25 in the 70's; by
> the early 80's, it was no longer on the market but pen shops would make one up
> for you out of their supply of spare parts. I got the one I still use in 1980
> for, I recall, about $35. The Art Brown pen shop in New York assembled it from
> parts.

Come to think of it, I think I have one. It belonged to my father. It
just says "Parker" on it, not "51," but I think that's what it is. It's a
good pen, but my one complaint is that it doesn't take cartridges, having
pre-dated cartridge fountain pens. So I don't like to take it around with
me in my jacket pocket. I have a Waterman cartridge pen for that purpose.
But I use the Parker pen at my desk at home, and it works quite well.

However, I must say, I have had reasonably good luck with other fountain
pens over the years. I have a desk stand in my office with a fountain
pen, but I'm home right now, and I don't remember what brand it is. I
think it's a Parker. It can take cartridges, but I have it set up to use
bottled ink.

There's a later Parker, called a 61, I think, which my mother once gave me
and which I've never liked and no longer use.

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