The Parker 61 Heirloom was introduced, in England, in 1966 and the capillary filler, this pen, was replaced with a cartridge/converter filler for 1969. The Heirloom version, however, ceased production in 1967.
The spectacular Custom Heirloom cap, constructed in yellow and rose rolled gold had proved difficult and expensive to make so did not feature in the later 61 line up. It carries a 'shield' imprint which indicates that the cap is 1/10 th, by weight, 12ct. rolled gold.
This pen is one of a small collection of recently acquired new old stock parker 61 and 65 pens. It is totally immaculate and uninked. The mesh core of the capillary cell is unstained, the original red colour is clearly visible. as is often the case with new old stock pens, it came to me unboxed as the pens were only matched up with a box at the point of sale, so I have provided a new box for transportation, protection, and display.
I have not inked the pen but the 'writing end' of the 61 is virtually identical to the Parker 51 and is renowned as an excellent writer.
An uninked, 'as new' Parker 61 Heirloom is extremely difficult to find and is highly collectable but, perhaps, it is time that such an attractive high quality pen could be used and shown off!