Designed as one of the higher end Parker 45’s the Coronet has an aluminum body anodized to create a coloured finish on the surface of the pen. Being aluminum the Coronet is noticeably lighter then the steel Flighters from the same time period, weighing in at around 13.5g empty (without cartridge or converter) compared to the Flighter which weighs in at around 17.0g empty.
Colors include Green, Grey, Blue, Black, Red and Brown all in a satin metallic finish anodized to an aluminum body.
Parker 45 Coronet Colours
Manufactured at the Parker factory in the USA it would appear that the earliest pens date back to 1967 and were available in metallic red, green or grey as well as metallic blue, brown (orange) and black. Production appears to have ended in the mid 1970’s.
Coronets are often found in boxed sets consisting of a Fountain Pen and a Mechanical Pencil
Red Coronet Set
Being less common then the standard steel Flighter they tend to command much higher prices for good examples and it it common to see ordinary or customised Flighter pens being described as Coronets.
Having said that it has also been known for Coronets (particularly the Grey ones) to be unknowingly put up for sale as ordinary Parker 45 Flighters.
Luckily the Coronet has a unique marking – the Parker Arrow and Halo symbol which on the Coronet is enclosed within a rounded rectangular box and is engraved on the base of the cap in line with the pen clip. This appears to be unique to the Coronet among the Parker 45 family of pens. They also have a slightly wider Clutch Ring although often the pens measure approximately 0.5mm less then a standard Flighter.
Parker 45 Coronet Cap showing the unique placement of the Parker Halo directly under the arrow clip as well as the wider clutch ring associated with the Coronet
Trim is nearly always in gold although there are examples with black plastic tail ends like the Flighters from the same time period. Nibs seem to be fairly evenly distributed between Gold and Steel