Product Description
Type fountain pen
Product Name Parker 61, Mark 2
Manufacturer and Year Parker, made in USA – 1959-61
Length 5-1/4"
Filling System The fountain pen has the capillary filling system which is unique to this model. Tested and working well. See further details below.
Color Dark grey body with a satin Lustraloy cap and gold clip. There are pearlescent jewels on either end.
Nib FINE gold nib.
Condition Excellent + condition, with no cracks, chips, dents or dings. The section has some scratching, likely from replacing the cap. The barrel has light scratching, as well some scratches from posting toward the end. The cap is shiny and beautiful with micro-scratching. Both jewels look fantastic. The clip has some brassing on the left side, as well as near the tip. The imprints are clear.
A word or two about the Parker 61 Capillary Filling System. If you are not familiar with this unique design, you should read this.
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 teflonon 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 thingey which covers the open end of the capillary tube, but still allows it to vent.
