Parker 51 Aerometric Founatin Pen Review

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The Parker 51 (P51 for short) is one of the most famous and most revered fountain pens ever made.  The P51 was produced for 30+ years starting in the 1941 and as a result there are all sorts of variations (you can even buy these pens with new bespoke bodies for $400+).  I am not going to get into the history and different types of Parker 51s I am only going to talk about my Parker 51 which has been my favorite fountain pen for several years now.

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My P51 is an “Aerometric” version and therefor produced in 1949 or later.  “Aerometric” refers to the pens filling system which uses a clear sack impervious to the chemical effects of ink.  The pen is filled by depressing the pressure bar four times.  An aerometric P51 holds more ink than many larger piston filled fountain pens thanks to the efficiency of the filling system.

Aerometric filling system
Aerometric filling system

I purchased my P51 on a famous auction site for around $40 in original condition.  The pen was thoroughly cleaned and when filled with ink wrote beautifully.  The body is a nice dark green and the cap has a pinstripe design and is 12ct gold filed; I am not sure the cap is original to this pen.  The nice thing about the standard size P51 is that most of the caps are interchangeable.  I bought a nice silver cap as an extra for my P51.

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Thanks to the hooded nib the pen can be left uncapped for a very long time and write straight away without missing a beat.  I am not certain what width my nib is but I suspect its a medium.  I have also dropped mine a couple of times on hard surfaces without any damage to report.  The gold nib puts down a nice wet line with just the right amount of feedback, no flex to speak of.

Hooded nib (top)
Hooded nib (top)
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Hooded nib (bottom)

The styling of this pen is very clean and streamlined.  It doesn’t scream “fountain pen” which is nice when you are in a meeting and don’t want to draw attention to yourself.  This pen is 6″ posted, 5.5″ capped and 0.5″ at its widest point.  The weight of my P51 is 20.4 grams which is light weight for a fountain pen but not so light as to feel cheap.

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For durability, every day usability, and writing quality nothing in my collection beats the Parker 51 fountain pen.  This is a great pen and every fountain pen collector should have at least one.  At some point I am going to want to buy one with a custom body from Torelli Pen (no affiliation).

Here is another Parker 51 fountain pen review:

(I have no affiliation to the site linked below)

Parker P51 Review – Inked Up and Happy