Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 28

A few weeks ago, Christopher sent in a photo of his new vintage fountain pen for our virtual "show & tell", along with his research into the previous owner, as well as some speculation as to its provenance. It's a long story, but an interesting one...

In Christopher's words:
"I acquired another nice pen for my own personal collection but this time was able to trace its history back to the original owner. The pen in question is a Parker 51 Aerometric in Navy Grey, with a Lustraloy finished cap sporting a long arrow 1st generation chrome clip. It is date coded, first quarter of 1950, so a late comer just at the end of the first generation aerometric run. You know I haven’t had a navy Grey 51 to date, so this pen is welcome."

(photo by Christopher ~ click on image to enlarge)

Christopher continues:"But that is just the tip of the iceberg regarding this fine contender. Imprinted very clearly on the barrel (with 90% of the original text colouring {silver} is the name of the original owner, Judge Fred B. Cramer. I am a great one for trying to source the original owners of any pen I come across and in this case, I was able to find quite a bit on this Judge. He served for many years on the court of common pleas, in Butler County, Ohio and went on to serve on the court of appeals in Dayton, but stepped down into retirement in 1979."

"We have a good number of Judges in the Robertson family, so judges in general are always of interest to me. He was appointed in 1939, so his acquisition of this pen came eleven years later. Still, my educated guess was that the pen probably was gifted to him for his good service by the Ohio Law Society, which is often the case with such judges at a certain point of their career."

"Now being the responsible character I am, I felt in all fairness that if I could find a living relative, I should offer to give the pen back to the Cramer family. Personally, family pens go far beyond any monetary value. Well, I did manage to locate his grandson, Levi Cramer who was running for city council. In turn I touched base with him regarding his grandfather’s pen but there was absolutely no interest whatsoever. So this fine 51, in its just remarkable condition, will remain with me."

"In cleaning the pen, it is quite evident that it was well taken care of. Most vintage 51s I come across, have old dried up ink in them and are, overall rather grubby. With 51s it usually can be found in the collector, when I take the pen apart to service it. But this pen was well used but extremely clean and in near mint condition. Oh sure, there is a bit of wear on the tipping of the nib but considering the age quite minimal. As for a good writer, please check out the photo. Needless to say, I am very pleased with this Parker point."

I love knowing whose hands a vintage writing instrument passed through, so many thanks to Christopher for sharing his wonderful new find with us!