It’s time again to do another fountain pen swap. It’s always nice to say ‘hello’ to a new pen and this time the expectations for the new kid in town are high. Downside is that I have to clean and store another one, just to keep my maximum total of inked fountain pens at eight. Let’s get into replacing the Parker 51 with the Opus 88 Jazz blue.
About my Parker 51, relaunch edition
Let’s go back in time for a moment. More than 80 years ago, Parker introduced the 51 fountain pen. A pen that has made history, literally and figuratively. I can hardly imagine a fountain pen lover who doesn’t have them or for whom they are not high on their wish list. This fountain pen exudes a certain class, is charming and belongs to the greats of the earth as far as fountain pens are concerned. And then in 2021, Parker decides to do a relaunch of the pen. Strange, no?
I also joined the relaunch story. I bought the pen with the idea of owning a Parker 51, but somehow it gnaws at me. I’m not talking about the intrinsic quality of the pen, but about the feeling this pen gives me. Every time I take the pen in my hand, my brain tells me ‘this is not a real 51’. Of course, this can also say something about my brain 🙂
But I think you, as a fountain pen lover, know what I mean by this. So the lucky ones who own a ‘real’ 51, enjoy it, it’s a fabulous fountain pen. And yes, the 51 is somewhere at the top of my wish list.
The Parker 51 I own is the next generation edition released in 2021. I bought it for 90 Euro. Now the price is around 115 Euro. The next generation is also available in a premium edition with gold nib. For the premium edition, you pay about 245 Euro. I’m a fan of pens with a vintage look. The hooded nib of this pen is what attracted me, very nice. Do you know why the Parker 51 has a hooded nib? Well, it turns out that the Parker ink dried very quickly at the time and to prevent the ink from almost drying out when leaving the nib, Parker covered the nib.
The modern 51 is a cartridge/converter pen with a screw cap. I like fountain pens with a screw cap, and for this one you need just a bit more then one turn to remove the cap. The pen is very light, only 10,4 gr. without cap. Cap included the weight is about 21 gr. When I write, I almost never use a pen in a posted way, but for this 51 I could recommend it. The pen looks better and feels better in the hand.
Before storing the pen, it is of course cleaned first. Nothing special here. I remove the cartridge, put the pen in a bath of water and let it dry on paper. Then I flush the feeder/nib a few times with a bulb syringe. I do not attempt to remove the nib from the feeder.
I can safely conclude that the next generation Parker 51 is a good fountain pen, but in my own opinion it is not a successor or replacement for the real 51.
Knowing what I just explained, would I buy the pen again? Yes, without a doubt. It is a nice addition to my collection.
Opus 88 Jazz blue
The Opus 88 is a well-known fountain pen amongst fountain pen collectors. I bought this pen at the Dutch Pen Show in 2021 from Appelboom pennen. As speaking of a big pen, well this is a beast. The pen is larger than the Montblanc 149 and has an immense ink reservoir. I had actually forgotten hat the pen was an eyedropper pen. I filled the pen with Cross black/blue ink. My first experiences are good. But I’ll come back to this when I’ve been able to fully test the pen.
Swapping fountain pen posts
I started with posting my fountain swaps because I don’t want to do in-depth fountain pen reviews (anymore). I do want to share some experiences with you when I change fountain pens. What are my experiences, what is good and what is not good. Not extensive, but to the point. I leave the real fountain pen reviews to fellow fountain pen enthusiasts, there’s no point in reinventing hot water, right?
I hope you liked this swap. If you have any comments or recommendations, please leave a comment below. What are your latest fountain pen swaps? I really would like to know 🙂
Peacock pens 
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