The Parker 51 is perhaps one of the best known of fountain pens, a groundbreaking design, and and one that proved profitable for Parker for almost forty years. Produced in several countries, and in a number of versions, the 51 is a popular pen among both new and experienced collectors. The reasons for it's popularity today are not very far removed form the reasons it was so popular when first introduced; the 51 is a great writing pen, and it comes in a large enough array of colors and cap styles to keep a collector dashing around after new additions.
The 51 was launched in 1941, but it initially came out of research and development in 1939, the 51st year of the Parker Pen company. The name was considered to be a good idea from a marketing standpoint, being short, simple, and easy to translate into other languages. The pens made during the first year of production are slightly different form later pens, which makes them considerable more valuable to collectors today.
The Parker 51 continued,
with some changes, through to the 1960s in the US, and in the
UK and South America, production carried on until as late as
the early 1980s. Not bad for a pen first conceived in the late
1930s!
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