Unlike any gift in this world - or another! That was the slogan for the Parker advertising campaign launched in September 1956. The pen advertised for the Christmas Season was the new Parker 61.

Although Parker's "51" was and remained a great success until the 1970s, the 61 was a higher priced and slightly more fashionable model, trying to catch onto this success.

According to the company, it took years of work by a 50-person research team to develop the 61's completely new, revolutionary filling system. The filling mechanism had no moving parts, filling itself by capillary action. To fill the pen, the user unscrewed the barrel to reveal the filling unit and then immersed the filling end of the pen into a bottle of ink. The capillary filling system was first used on the Parker 71 prototypes, of which only a few were produced for testing only.

A Parker advertisement described the system this way:

The remarkable Parker 61 fills itself by the magic of capillary action. You dip the filling end into a bottle of ink, and in just 10 seconds it drinks enough ink to write for hours. Exclusive with the Parker 61.

The nib assembly was similar to that of the "51", featuring a tubular 14K gold nib ("Plathenium" tipped) with a Lucite feed inside and a collector around, inside the gripping section shell. Parker offered seven different "Electro-Polished" point styles:

• Accountant
• Extra Fine
• Fine
• Medium
• Broad
• Stub
• Medium Oblique

Fitted to the shell was the filling unit, with an outer cylindrical metal container coated with DuPont Teflon® to repel ink, making it almost unnecessary to wipe off any remaining ink when the pen was removed from the bottle. Inside was a perforated, tightly wrapped polyethylene sheet about 2" x 5.5" (5 x 14 cm) in size, which sucked ink into the filling unit through an opening in the filling end by capillary action and also held the ink in the form of little drops, making the pen almost leakproof even at high altitudes.

The Parker 61 also was sold as "The pen that makes its own ink." A more or less self-explanatory Parker advertisement from 1961 states:

If you travel a lot, you'll appreciate Parker's new Instant Ink capsule.It enables a Parker 61 to make its own ink from plain water.

The Instant Ink capsule is actually a little container of ink concentrate. Just slip the capsule on the filling end of the 61, dip the pen in a glass of ordinary tab water and in half a minute the pen is filled with Super Quink ink.

Capsules are 3 for 29¢. and each is good for about 5,000 medium-sized words. Remarkable? You can carry around a year's supply of ink in your vest pocket.

The 61's appearance was also similar to that of the "51", but with a slimmer, trimmer profile. The first 61s had plastic pearl jewels at the ends of the cap and barrel. The most striking difference, a typical styling feature of the late 1950s, was the addition of a small metal arrow, embedded into the shell above the hooded nib.

o-ring before 1962

The first models had a plastic barrel with a metal cap in the famous "Rainbow" design, which was achieved by alternating differently colored metals. Parker offered three different models, starting at $20.00:

• Legacy - plastic barrel with nickel and silver rainbow cap, 1957-1959
• Heritage - plastic barrel with silver and yellow gold filled rainbow cap, 1956-1959
• Heirloom - plastic barrel with green and pink gold filled rainbow cap, 1956-1967

Models made in the United States had a blank silver shield, while Canadian models were marked "NI" or "SF".

Other models (including less-expensive variations) were:

• Standard - plastic barrel with bright lustraloy cap
• Classic - plastic barrel with satin lustraloy cap, 1964-1975
• De Luxe - plastic barrel with steel cap with rolled gold trim, 1961-1964
• Custom - plastic barrel with gold filled cap, 1961-1977

From 1956 to 1959, the 61 was offered in these colors:

61 Colors 1956 to 1959
Color	Name
	Surf Green (light turquoise green)
	Vista Blue (turquoise blue)
	Rage Red (bright red)
	Charcoal (gray)
	Black

A 1960s catalogue lists retail prices like these:

• Presidential - Fountain Pen in 14 K Gold, $150.00
• Insignia - Fountain Pen, $30.00
• Heirloom - Fountain Pen, $27.50; Pencil, $12.50
• Custom - Fountain Pen, $22.50
• Jet Flighter - Fountain Pen, $17.50; Pencil, $10.00
• Classic - Fountain Pen, $15.00; Pencil, $7.50

In 1959, Parker introduced two all-metal versions of the 61 in the United States:

• Jet Flighter (rolled gold or stainless steel) (1959-72)
• Presidential (14K, Waterdrop, Fune Barley or Plane chased pattern)

Those models accompanied an advertisement campaign that called the 61 fountain pen flightproof, "tested" at the lofty altitude of 40,000 feet.

The 9K (1961-1983) or 14K (1964-1983) solid gold models were called the "Presidential"; this name originates from the first solid gold models, which were made for and given to the President of the United States.

In 1962 Parker made minor changes to the design, using a wider O-ring between shell and barrel and shortening the cap to a length of 6 cm from 6.2 cm (measured without jewel and clip).

All models were available as rotary pencils, and some were also available as Liquid Lead pencils (1957-1962) and ballpoints (the Jotter).

o-ring after 1962

Changes in 1969 were more radical; it was at this time that Parker eliminated the capillary filling system, about whose reliability there seem to have been too many complaints. Apparently, the filling system required more care than people were willing to take, and the pen frequently clogged or experienced a sudden decrease in ink flow. Cleaning the pen or changing ink color also required extra effort or the use of a special tool.

The special tool that Parker used for maintenance, called the "Parker 61 ink ejector," was a small rubber bulb syringe with an end exactly fitting the filler unit. With this tool, the user or repairman could pump water through the capillary unit to rinse the pen.

61s from 1969 onward had the more convenient cartridge/converter filling system, using either cartridges or an aerometric converter similar to the filling system of the aerometric "51". Parker also converted some capillary-filling 61s to convertible fillers on customers' requests.

The year 1969 also saw a new selection of colors:

61 Colors 1969
Color	Name
	Turquoise Blue
	Maroon
	Grey
	Black

The inner cap design was also changed for the worse at this time; the new "four fingered" inner cap could wear the gold from the shell's arrow insertion or even knock the arrow entirely out.

The last change, a switch from plastic pearl jewels to metal ones, occurred in 1975. The clip was also changed to a new design with a smaller ring between jewel and cap, and the names of the available models were changed to Classic, Custom, Cirrus, Stratus, and Cumulus.

Matching Ballpoints and Pencils were available for the newer models.

The 61 in Europe

Parker UK introduced the 61 series in 1964, offering ballpoints and pencils as well as fountain pens. In the first year, the UK line consisted only of the Heirloom model (green and pink or yellow and brown gold filled Rainbow cap with plastic barrel). In 1965, the was line expanded with the introduction of these models:

• Legacy
• Heritage
• Classic
• Custom

In 1966, the following models were added:

• Insignia
• Custom Insignia (all gold plated with vertical lines and plane stripes)
• Flighter (all stainless steel with gold trim)
• Presidential

The Heirloom series with rainbow caps was discontinued in 1967 while most other models remained in the UK catalogue until 1982. The Custom Insignia fountain pen was also discontinued in 1969, but Custom Insignia ballpoints and pencils remained until 1975.

A desk set was also introduced in 1966 and discontinued in 1977.

Pre-1969 colors were the same as those on US models except that Surf Green was not offered in the UK.

In 1967 the Consort (gold plated with horizontal and vertical lines) was added to the line, to survive only two years. In 1968 the Consort Insignia (retired in 1972) was added; and in 1969 the Presidential joined the line in 9K or 18K gold, with either a "Flamme" or a "Chevron" pattern. The Presidential was the only model that retained the pearl jewels until the end of the 61 series in 1982.

1975 saw two new models:

• Cirrus - rolled gold, 1975-1982
• Flighter De Luxe - with metal ends, 1975-1982

These models were available as fountain pens, felt tips (1976-1979), ballpoints and pencils.

The last new versions appeared in 1976:

• Stratus (1976-1982)
• Cumulus (1976-1982)

These models were only available as fountain pens and ballpoints.

Parker France offered additional unusual lined chased 18K models in "Basketwave" and "Chevron" patterns.