Product Description
Type fountain pen and mechanical pencil set
Product Name Parker 61, Mark II
Manufacturer and Year Parker -- USA -- 1959-62
Length Pen 5-1/4", pencil 5-1/16"
Filling System The fountain pen has the capillary filling system which is unique to this model. See further details below the photos. Pencil takes .9 mm leads.
Color 1/10 12k gold filled cap with a pattern of 6 grouped lines. The body is a intense aqua/turquoise which Parker called Vista Blue. (Please note that our photos make this color look darker than it really is .... it is not as dark as teal.) Double pearlescent jewels on either end.
Nib The gold nib is a Fine. The nib is in great shape and not worn at all, lots of tipping material. These Parker 61 nibs are exceptionally smooth, better than Parker 51s in our opinion.
Condition Near mint condition in box. We cleaned and tested the filling system, and got good flow of liquid. You might need to be patient when you fill it the first time, as it can take 15-30 minutes for the capillary system to suck in enough ink to get started.
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.