As many of you will know, I’m not usually a fan of hooded nib pens with the exception of the glorious Mentmore 46.  I like to see and enjoy a polished gold nib and I find them easier to write with because I’m not constantly checking to see that I’m approaching the paper at the correct angle.  However, I know that others like them, so I keep adding a few Parker 51s and 61s to the sales site.

Of the two pens I prefer the 61.  It has a better shape than the 51 to my mind and the arrow on the hood is both stylish and helpful (remember that thing about approaching the paper with the pen at the correct angle?).  The capillary filling system is, I think, the last major advance in fountain pen technology and like many great inventions,  it’s wonderful in its simplicity.  Inverting the pen over the ink bottle must have seemed very unintuitive to the pen’s first buyers.

Of course flushing a capillary 61 is a bit of a chore, so it isn’t for the writer who is constantly changing inks.  However, if you just use it with one favourite ink and keep it in use there’s no need to flush it.

This 61 looks like nothing special at first glance, just a black pen with a rolled-gold cap, but look at this nib:

Isn’t that a beauty?