Parker 50 'Falcon' and Parker 51

      It was a relatively busy holiday season for me; I picked up a couple Vacumatic filling pens, a pen that looks like it belongs in a wind tunnel, and a tortoise that crossed the ocean to be part of my collection. The challenge now will be deciding what pens I will take out of my drawer to make room, which pens would you remove? Let me know in the comments below.

     The first Vacumatic filler I picked up is a Parker 51. I purchased it from an antique vendor with a few other old pens. The filling system needed repair, something that at the time I knew nothing about. The barrel featured an engraving of "E. M. Watson", not sure who that was though. I called it my "elementary, my dear Watson" pen. I enjoy the Parker 51 currently in my collection and couldn't let this one pass me by.

Parker Vacumatic Jr.

     The more I learned about the Vacumatic filling system the more I came to appreciate it. The Parker Vacumatic fountain pen was introduced to me by a friend who collected Vacumatics exclusively. Martin showed me how to repair the filling system and also had the parts I needed to do just that. He owns and operates a business called Woodbin for those of you looking for repairs supplies and tools. I found this Parker Vacumatic in 'Golden Pearl' online and ordered it off from someone in Alberta on eBay. The pen came and the body was in horrible shape and I was not able to tell from the listing's photos, (almost as though someone dragged it behind a truck for 3 km) the only thing that kept me from sending it back was the nib. It had spring, a shape that I could appreciate, and was a good fine line. I kept it with hopes to find a transplant, also what better pen to learn the Vacumatic repair upon.
  
     It was the Parker 51 that had me interested in unique pen design and when I saw the integral nib of the Parker 50 'Falcon' I was inspired. It had me searching for some time to find one that I could afford. The design captured the spirit of it's time, the space program and aeronautics were top of mind then and clearly influenced the approach to the fountain pen. The pen was found through eBay and came from a seller in the United Arab Emerats.

Pelikan 400NN

     Lastly, I had been looking at the Pelikan 200 amber demonstrator but when trying the pen in store I found the threads too sharp for my liking and that was were I kept gripping the pen. The popular Pelikan models 400+ are either blue or green which didn't fit in my collection but the vintage tortoise shell barrels I found to be quite stunning. I connected with a member of the fountain pen network to purchase this Pelikan 400NN tortoise shell. The owner is a university professor in England was very pleasant to deal with, and the pen arrived in excellent condition.

   Which 4 pens would you take out of the drawer to make space?