Always on the the lookout for 60's and 70's #149's...was following this auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=010

Just sold for $660.00!!!

Ok I think its late 1960's based on the feed (vertical lines running half way down), tricolored nib, thin flat ring at piston filler, black resin piston threads. Its a nice pen, looks a little scratchy on the body, the nib will clean up well I think....but $660!!! wow. The only thing I can think of is the nib...it looks like a B or maybe a BB. Do you all think that's what drove this pen up in price? I have three of this vintage, probably in better condition (no B nibs), and mine were at least half that cost. Or are the prices just rising with the current economic conditions...Is it a sellers market now?

Interested in what my fellow MB afficiandos think about this.

Rick

$660 for a vintage 149 is cheap, I think. I'm not very familiar with MBs, but I have seen the 149s from the 50s routinely exceed $1000.

Cheers,

absent_minded

Yes the 1950's celluloid telescoping piston fillers, with the silver/gold/silver cap bands typically exceed $1000, and are usually $1500+. They are harder to find also...
The pen in question is a later 60's, maybe even early 70's lineage, with not quite the cachet' of the 1950's model.

Rick

Rick-I think you can attribute that auction to a couple of buyers in a frenzy, or possibly because the winner thought it was a 1950s pen (even though it's obviously not) because the smaller cap rings do look silverish in the photos. It went $350-360 too high in my opinion. It has the friction fit piston mechanism that so many of your and my 149s have, but as you stated, it's a late 60s/early 70s pen.

Gotta like that nib though.

Eric

Eric is correct- I purchased a dead mint 1969 MB 149 last year for $300.00. I think someone in a buying frenzy,and with more money than sense is driving prices up. Just wait a month or two,and normal prices will return. BTW, th e guy I purchased my pen, had purchased it on Ebay for $200.00

Eric and wolverine,

Thats what I was thinking...300+/-...maybe more on the + side because of that broad nib..yeah and looking at the bidding, it was a frenzy..those two guys were duking it out second by second as the auction ticked down....glad I don't get caught up in auctions like that!

Rick

I've paid more for 146s or 149s because of a unique nib. Still looking for a factory 149 OM or OB from the 60s or 70s. Rick--What did I pay for the early 60s B-nib a few months ago? It wasn't more than $275? I think you are correct in your initial post, though. 149s on eBay are selling for much higher prices than a year ago. As bad as I hate to think about it, I may need to thin out some of my 149s at those prices.

Eric