RARE Parker \'61\' 14K Gold-Filled Rainbow Cap Turquoise Fountain Pen \"as is\"
![RARE Parker \'61\' 14K Gold-Filled Rainbow Cap Turquoise Fountain Pen \](img-large/g/PpQAAOSwmRFaWWQC/s-l1600/RARE-Parker-61-14K-Gold-Filled-Rainbow-Cap-Turquoi.jpg "RARE Parker \'61\' 14K Gold-Filled Rainbow Cap Turquoise Fountain Pen \")
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RARE Parker \'61\' 14K Gold-Filled Rainbow Cap Turquoise Fountain Pen \"as is\":
$50.00
We have not repaired or restored this pen, and are selling it as found, as is.
You don\'t find these very often! PARKER \"61\" with 14K Gold-filled Rainbow Cap.
In very nice cosmetic condition. We note two hairline cracks in the grip just above the band, as shown in the last two frames of our gallery. Otherwise, complete and well-preserved, with the arrow directional for the nib end. Jewels on both ends.
We\'ll ship this for $2.95 and we combine shipping, with the savings going to the buyer.
From ParkerPen dot comike most other pen companies Parker had been working for decades to find the perfect filling system and when the Parker \"61\" was finally introduced in 1956 it was really like a pen from another world, as it was initially advertised. It had many features in common with the predominant Parker \"51\" of the day, but it was slimmer, cooler and, most of all, it filled itself. Nobody really knew how it worked, but it did. All pens up until the Parker \"61\" had had some sort of mechanical filling system or had to be filled with an eyedropper or syringe. Most had levers, plungers or filling buttons to be pressed. The Parker \"61\" had non of that, just a mysterious black cylinder with some small holes in it at the end. You just unscrewed the back and put the pen in the bottle for thirty seconds and ... voilá ... the pen was filled.
There were three downsides to the fountain pens of the 1950\'s. The ball pen had arrived and the public was enchanted by this new pen that didn\'t need to be filled from a bottle and didn\'t cause ink stains. There had been many different solutions for keeping hands clean. The most successful up to then was the Sheaffer Snorkel, introduced in 1952. It utilised a sort of syringe under the ink feed that could be inserted into the ink and then screwed into the pen again after filling. No need to wipe a stained nib.
Don Doman had an easy and attractive solution to the problem. He proposed an inlaid arrow on the gripping section, just above the nib.
Initially there were plans to glue the arrow to the body but Doman argued that the arrow then would too easily fall off. He wanted the arrow to be insert moulded flush with the section surface. Engineers in turn argued that a moulding process would prove too expensive and difficult, but Doman persisted.
Of course all latter day Parker \"61\" collectors are well aware of the arrows constantly falling off, even with the arrows moulded. Had Doman not had his way I suspect few arrowed Parker \"61\" would have survived at all.
Even though the pen eventually consisted of few parts the manufacturing costs was still high in reelation to the benefits. While the filling system had no moving parts it still required the user to sometimes wipe down the teflon tube after filling, and furthermore, since most users didn\'t want to bother with keeping their wrtiting instrument clean, they seldom had it washed or flushed clean of ink. Hence it eventually clogged.
RARE Parker \'61\' 14K Gold-Filled Rainbow Cap Turquoise Fountain Pen \"as is\":
$50.00