Product Description
Type Fountain pen
Product Name Parker 61 Classic - Mark I "Deluxe" refers to the cap type. The Mark I has the thin clutch ring version and the Mark II the thicker clutch ring version. (The Mark III would be the cartridge/converter version. The clutch ring is the band between the section and barrel.)
Manufacturer and Year Parker, USA -- 1956-61
Length 5-7/16"
Filling System The fountain pen has the capillary filling system which is unique to this model. See further details below.
Color Satin finished lustraloy, brushed steel, cap with gold trim. The body is red rage colored. It seems bright enough not to be the maroon color. The pen has two pearlescent jewels.
Nib Medium gold nib is smooth with nice round tipping.
Condition Superior condition, in box. The pen looks shiny and new. It is very pretty and the red rage is a great color. No cracks, chips, dings, or dents. There is microscratching on the barrel and section. The cap and trim are perfect, with some shiny marks on the cap. The imprint is clear.
Here is how you fill a Parker 61, and an insight into how the pen actually works. Unscrew the barrel and stick the back end of the pen (aka the capillary cell) into a bottle of ink. Wait a few minutes (probably more like a half hour when you first start one of these older used ones), and let the ink wick up into the capillary cell. The cell contains a sheet of perforated plastic that has been given a 3-D pattern resembling tire tread, and rolled up. The perforations allow ink to seep between the rolled-up layers, and the tread pattern maintains space between the layers. In the middle of this tube, which runs the entire length of the capillary cell, is the feed. To keep things clean, the capillary cell has on a coating of teflon on the outside that is intended to shed ink as the user withdraws the pen from the ink bottle, leaving very little ink to be wiped off. The end of the barrel contains a spring-loaded thingy which covers the open end of the capillary tube, but still allows it to vent.