I bought this pen from Richard Binder and while the box says Broad, I had Richard grind the nib to a western XF. In my earlier posts I wrote how excited I am with the pen and how much I love it!!! Well, after a night of writing, nothing has changed. I filled it with OMAS Black and it is just superb. Kudos to Richard for delivering an outstanding job on the nib..... Can you tell my excitement

I also included my new MB with the rest of its cousins.

Enjoy....
















Left to right (all fountain pens):

Marquis de Pompadour
146 (circa 1986)
146 Silver Doue
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wm Faulkner
Proust
Dostoevsky
Verne
Czar Nikolai

Andy,
You have a really nice assortment of sizes, shapes, and materials. Thanks for posting the group.
Congratulations on the Fitz and happy writing!
Jeen

P.S. Does the Marquise porcelain cap have the Meissen crossed blue swords?

Jeen

It sure does, see below. Andy W

Nice collection! I like your Czar and Proust the most. Do you use every single one of them?

You have a beautiful collection. I hadn't realised the Fitz was longer than the Proust. The Faulkner is also surprisingly short. I do have a particular interest for short pens.

How do you find the Fitz looks in person compared to the pictures? How securely does it post? I had to send mine to Montblanc twice before they made it post safely. Also, would you happen to have a writing sample of that nice EF nib by Richard Binder?

PS watch out, the cap lip on the Fitz is particularly thin and brittle, more so than on the Dostoevsky. Mine broke twice falling on a wooden floor because it didn't post securely. Some design flaw.

Y'know, I think the Fitz is a lovely pen -- but I don't get the connection with Scott Fitzgerald. The pen's design is high Art Deco and very well executed at that, but Fitzgerald has always been identified with the Jazz Age, which ended with the rise of Art Deco. What gives, Montblanc?

I guess they were 10 years off or too late. The same with the Faulkner. XXth century is tricky.

The Fitz is a nice Art Deco design nonetheless.

Thanks for a great photo essay, Andy. Speaking as one who is woefully photo impaired, I love such essays.

I also love textured pens. That Dostoevsky is cause for pen lust.

Like Richard, I have also wondered about the apparent design disconnect between the pens and Fitzgerald and Faulkner. But, I agree they are lovely pens.

Thank you very much. In my regular rotation are the Proust and the Faulkner, and I will use the Fitz even more regularly. The others all work well, I just find the Verne and the Pompadour too heavy for daily use. The Czar Nikolai is a medium nib and I like a finer line. However, every once in a while I dip each of the pens and use them.

Andy W.

RedRob - I will post a writing sample a little later. Let's just say Richard worked wonders on this nib. The only MB's I have that flow perfectly are the 146 from 1986 and the Proust and this Fitz. Why the Proust and Fitz, they have been worked on by NibMeisters.

Knock on wood I have not had a problem posting the cap. In fact, when I read your note I looked at that more carefully and it actually has a pretty snug fit. I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything stays okay.

In terms of reality compared to the pictures - looks wise I like it more. The off white resin has the small imperfections that make it interesting to look at. I am a bit surprised to see how small it is. Since I like a decent sized pen, the posting is a must for me on this one - like I said above, though, no problems. I will say that I saw a lot of pictures of this pen and had a pretty good idea what I was getting. My eye is always drawn to contrast. Just about everything I own has a contrasting colour scheme. So, the black and off white suits my style and my sense of what looks good.

I really, really like the way this pen looks. With Richard's magic on the nib, I am one happy camper. I have close to 60 fountain pens and this and the Proust rank way up in my favs. (along with my David Oscarson, Parker OS Vac, Nakaya and Sheaffer OS Balance) (I also just picked up today a mint condition Parker Duofold in lapis/blue circa 1929 - absolutley stunning!!!)

Andy W.

Richard - I can't say enough about the grinding and work you did on this nib. I know I have been gushing, but it really just suits me perfectly. I wish I could duplicate the writing characteristics on all my pens.

Just a big, huge thank you from Maryland. I hope to see you in Raleigh and thank you in person.

Andy W.

3 out of 9 write well and out of these 2 were attended by nibmeisters?! Wow, talk about low figures. I expected MB to have QC issues, but this lowers my expectations a litlle further, I'm afraid. No wonder Richard has a queue over 5 months long and let's not talk about John Mottishaw's.

Out of my MBs (pictured below in with far poorer photography skills and instruments than yours):



4 out of 8 fountain pens performed flawlessly with their stock nibs. These are
Proust M nib.
Charlemagne M nib.
Dumas M nib.
Poe B nib (they should market it as stub).

The other 4 were another story altogether.
The skippy M Fitz ended up writing heavenly after a OB nib exchange
The scratchy overflowing M Woolf turned out well after a OM nib exchange
The M Dostoevsky was a disaster (albeit only $450 on Ebay) that Greg Minuskin worked into a wonderful stub.
The M Christie was a boring Sheaffer Nononsense kind of M, which was changed into a starved OBB by MB. A second trip to MB did not improve the ink flow, at which point I realised their 146 feed is probably unable to provide ink for a OBB, so I've sent it to John Mottishaw which has grinded it into a masterpiece sharp and smooth OM. I will post a writing sample if I get a chance later.

Now If I pause and take into account other MBs in my family, hey you know what, the "performing-well-out-of-box" figure goes down closer to 33%. Have you had a chance to try the Fitz and Proust before you sent them to the nibmeisters? I would also have another question and I can't seem to phrase it less harshly right now, so my apologies in advance, but what in the world is preventing you from having those beeeeeeeeautiful pens tweaked or fixed, so that they write as well as they look?

PS I wouldn't want to start here an off-topic flame campaign against MB (we know the others are no better). I was a just bit startled by your ink flow issues and I can't help but think that we really must be nuts about these pens to be able to enjoy them regardless of their (initial) shortcomings.

PPS I'm glad your Fitz posts securely.

Darn it. Then I thought LE/special MBs would write better out-of-the-box than the "ordinary ones".

I'm afraid not. No, the secret is to send them in for a nib exchange.

Richard,

Permit me some color.

The Art Deco era in the US is generally considered to have spanned the period of about 1925-40. The earlier, British- and American-inspired Arts & Crafts decorative arts movement (1910-25), segued into Deco.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in Great Neck, NY (western Nassau County, LI) in 1922; it was there that he created "The Great Gatsby," first published in 1925. (Fitzgerald's former period house, quite charming, still stands.)

The Jazz Age might be characterized as a permissive cultural era; it began at the end of WWI, ushered in the Roaring Twenties, and pretty much shut down with the 1929 market crash; thus, figure about 1918-29. Aesthetically, it's largely characterized by Modernism ("tech"), Art Deco and, well, jazz! While very much embedded in the Jazz Age, these creative waves weren't wholly contained within it.

Thus, we can certainly grant MB poetic license and authenticity for the Fitz pen's Art Deco motif. (Not that it sought or seeks our approval, lol.)

Incidentally, during much of the American Art Deco era, the Germans were divining and refining their seminal Bauhaus movement (say, 1919-33) in arts and architecture.

Indeed, all wonderful triumphs of human sensibility and expression.

--BAM

andy w and redrob, I must say that you have both stunning MB collections

No flame war at all as you raise a really valid point - I also think I mispoke and wasn't really accurate in my note. So, let me try again.....

I happen to like a pretty fine line. Not quite needlepoint, but I print and it ends up a pretty small font size. I have a lot of trouble writing with much above a Western Fine. I also travel quite a bit, so while I like a pen with heft, I do not take the really heavy pens in my collection with me. As a result, they tend not to be in my rotation. That being said -

1. The Pompadour actually flows very, very well and the nib is as fine as any I have used. It is a medium, though. Also, the pen is very, very heavy. As a result, it is just eye candy for me right now. I love it, but I have gotten a lot of snide comments (in another forum I was chastised for buying a "femine" pen). If you ever see it in person you will appreciate the craftmanship.
2. The Verne also works pretty well. Occassionally it does skip, but nothing terrible, just not perfect. It is also a very heavy pen.
3. The Dostoevsky was bought "pre-owned" and actually works quite well. I don't have a good reason why I do not use it more. I have close to 60 pens and just for some reason haven't used it in a while. I bought it from Bert Heiserman at Pen Haven and one of the perks is that he tweaks nibs to just the way you want them. So, this one too has been under the influence of a NibMester.
4. The Proust I also bought "pre-owned" and it had been worked on by John Mottishaw before I bought it.
5. The Czar Nikolai is a medium and just too fat a line for me. I haven't used it much because of this so I can't really speak to it much.
6. I was mistaken when I forgot to state the Faulkner writes flawlessly right out of the box and I do use it quite a bit. It's looks were a bit controversial when it came out, but it has grown on me and I actually really like it quite a bit.
7. I have had the 146 and the Doue a long time and just haven't worked them back into my rotation. Nothing really wrong with them though.

As for why I haven't had the pens reground - well you raise a sore point with me. I actually sent them all to Greg Minuskin to have this done and I won't say anything about Greg. Just that the transaction didn't go as planned. Nothing bad, we just didn't see eye to eye and we parted ways. With Richard and John I would send the pens to them, it's just that I don't really want to wait as long as they take. I have had good luck with both of them, I just have been shy to pull the trigger.

I consider myself a big MB fan. I love the way they look and largely I have been satisfied. To me FP's all have quirks and idiosyncracies. Putting up with them is part of collecting. I will say this, what flaws are perceived with the MB's is nothing like the problems I have had with the Italian pens.I have 3 Omas pens and only 1 works properly. My 360 was worked on by a nibmeister and it still doesn't work right. Don't get me started on my cartridge ogivia - that's the worst pen I have ever, ever owned.

Lately I have been on a vintage kick and picked up a number of Parkers and Sheaffers. In terms of performance the vintage ones are workig flawlessly and write with much more character than the newer ones (IMHO).

However, I also am starting to believe that the best performing pens right out of the box are the Japanese. My Namiki's, Nakaya and Sailors all work flawlessly. I have never, ever had a single issue with any of these. They are all gems. In fact, yesterday I ordered another Sailor that will be part of my regular rotation. I am sure it will be just as perfect as the green mosaic I have been using.

Don't give up on MB, though. They are stunning pens and I wouldn't sell or trade any of them.

Andy W.