Starting My Vintage Mb Collection

[idazle]

Montblanc 149 -- 1969-1975

 

It comes with the solid ebonite feed, plastic threads, single unit barrel and 18c nib, which means that the pen is a 1969-75 MB 149.

The nib has no flex, gives some paper feedback and has an excellent inkflow, as it is said can be expected from ebonite feeds.

I've upload a few pics, including one of an advertisement published in The New Yorker in 1975 where a similar pen, with a 18c nib, appears.

 

 

 

 

[idazle]

Montblanc 146, celluloid, sky-slope nib, 14c BB nib -- 1950-55

 

I bought this MB in the 2013 Madrid Pen Show. It's a celluloid 146 from the early 1950s with the flat sky-slope feed. The pen is not in excellent condition but writes smoothly with a BB stubish nib and the price was really low.

 

What really impressed me about this pen was how wonderfully that broad nib wrote. See the writing example in blue in the pics bellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bmwboris]

Thanks Georges, although I am not yet there . But your guess is right, I was talking about Mr. Lehrer. Like some of you I have also spent some money with him and had the pleasure to meet him in the Madrid Pen Show last year, when I bought from him a beautilful Wahl-Eversharp Doric pen and pencil.

 

 

 

Thanks once again for your extremely useful insights Pavoni. I am actually giving very serious consideration to the pen. About the reasons why I'd buy the pen, or perhaps easier, what I want the pen for, I should say that in general I do not buy pens to place them untouched behind a glass. I intend to use this pen and expect that it writes smoothly and nicely. I like fine points and the kind of smoothness and slight flexibility of the 332 and the 242 which I already own and have shown above in this thread. Having said that, as an economist I cannot help thinking as an "investor" too, and even though I plan to use my pen, I also want to make a sensible investment ... just in case I have to part with it one day.

 

Now, Mr. Lehrer has come back to me today saying that he's got a "250" nib in broad, and an "L139" nib in fine, perhaps medium/fine (3-tone 14C) but that he would not call either of them "flexible". So, I have a very nice L139 FP with a fine nib, as I wished, but the nib is not a "250" and has no flex either. A tied vote I think.

 

So, the questions I ask to myself and, above all, to the smart experts on vintage MBs like you are:

 

1.- Can I expect that an "L139" nib (what's that?) writes smoothly and nicely even though it has no flex? or will I end up with a nail?

2.- Why the "250" mark is that important? I haven't found any hint in Rösler's Montblanc Diary & Collector Guide. In Penboard they suggest that "250" nibs were the earlier 139 nibs, but say little more.

 

Any help?

 

Best

 

Carlos

 

 

Hi Carlos,

 

Point 2 of your question i think relates to the size of the nib- but I may be wrong.

 

Hopefully one of the more knowledgeable members respond

 

Con

[idazle]

Thanks for your reply Con. As far as the nib is concerned I'm still dubious as to what to look at when examining a 139 pen!

[Pelikan Vera]

what a stunning collection. Congratulations. I particularly like your pen drawings.

[idazle]

Thanks Pelikan Vera

[fountainbel]

Hi Carlos !

Boy you're going fast…. congratulations !

Love your early 2341/2 featuring the telescopic filler.

In a later stage MB stopped using the telescopic filler on the 2341/2 pens for cost reasons.

In fact having the 134 cap op the pen, the only difference is the fact the 2341/2 ink window does not have the lengthwise lines, the nib is different and the filler knob has the 2341/2marking in the filler knob.

Very nice !

Francis

[idazle]

Hi Carlos !

Boy you're going fast…. congratulations !

Love your early 2341/2 featuring the telescopic filler.

In a later stage MB stopped using the telescopic filler on the 2341/2 pens for cost reasons.

In fact having the 134 cap op the pen, the only difference is the fact the 2341/2 ink window does not have the lengthwise lines, the nib is different and the filler knob has the 2341/2marking in the filler knob.

Very nice !

Francis

 

Hi Francis, I'm really glad that an expert like you likes my "heterodox" 234 1/2. I love it, mainly because that stubish steel nib writes nicely ... and bevause I paid little for the pen :-)

 

Very useful your information about the telescopic filler. I had read here in FPN that early 234 1/2 pens had better and more costly piston filler mechanisms than later models, but didn't know they sported telescopic fillers as those of the Meisterstück series. Thanks for the information.

 

Cheers

 

Carlos

[camoandconcrete]

Nice 146 and 149, Carlos! Love the nib on the 146, looks like its an amazing writer.

[idazle]

Nice 146 and 149, Carlos! Love the nib on the 146, looks like its an amazing writer.

 

Thanks Kevin, apparently all those MB BB nibs of the 50s are of a class of its own, quite stubbish. I didn't find the appearance of 149 pens in general very appealing at first, but once I felt one in my hand I think I got the bug ;-) Now I'm searching one of the sixties like yours.

[idazle]

Montblanc 146 -- 1975-1980

 

My last acquisition from e-Bay: a MB 146 which I believe is from the 1970s. It's got plastic threads, ebonite feeder, monotone 14K nib and gray visulated body. It also has "Germany" in the clip ring, as I believe was the case with pre-1980 pens. However, I confess that in spite of having read quite a few posts in FPN about the clip and the cap ring engraving I am still unable to use those characteristics to narrow down the date of production. The case looks like 1970s cases too, but again I cannot be sure and there's no way to know if it's original to the pen.

 

I've filled it up with Aurora black and am really glad at the way it writes. It's not flex but is not a nail either, as most contemporary MBs I've tried so far. This one produces some line variation and gives some paper feedback. It'll be a daily writer and will come with me tomorrow that I've got to fly to Brussels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bernardo]

Montblanc 146, celluloid, sky-slope nib, 14c BB nib -- 1950-55

 

I bought this MB in the 2013 Madrid Pen Show. It's a celluloid 146 from the early 1950s with the flat sky-slope feed. The pen is not in excellent condition but writes smoothly with a BB stubish nib and the price was really low.

 

What really impressed me about this pen was how wonderfully that broad nib wrote. See the writing example in blue in the pics bellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! That's a telescopic piston, right?

[idazle]

 

Wow! That's a telescopic piston, right?

 

Certainly, like all celluloid Meisterstücks of the fifties.

[idazle]

Montblanc 149 -- X-mas 1962

 

The seller of this early 1960s MB149 told me he had acquired this pen from the heir of a distiguished Notary from Turin, Italy. The pen, NOS and in mint condition, was accompanied with a X-mas card dated 1962, so we can safely say that it is from 1962 or earlier.

 

 

 

The inkwindows is completely transparent. I don't think it ever has seen ink.

 

 

 

 

The round ebonite feed shows grooves in face and shank, as was typical with late 1950s and early 1960s MB nibs. My MB 344 from the late 1950s also sports this type of nib.

 

 

As can be expected from a MB149 of this period, the filler threads are made of plastic and the filler ring is rounded and not flat.

 

 

The nib is a three tone 18c EF nib. I haven't tested its flexibility yet.

 

[Sblakers]

Montblanc 149 -- X-mas 1962

 

The seller of this early 1960s MB149 told me he had acquired this pen from the heir of a distiguished Notary from Turin, Italy. The pen, NOS and in mint condition, was accompanied with a X-mas card dated 1962, so we can safely say that it is from 1962 or earlier.

 

 

 

The inkwindows is completely transparent. I don't think it ever has seen ink.

 

 

 

 

 

The round ebonite feed shows grooves in face and shank, as was typical with late 1950s and early 1960s MB nibs. My MB 344 from the late 1950s also sports this type of nib.

 

 

As can be expected from a MB149 of this period, the filler threads are made of plastic and the filler ring is rounded and not flat.

 

 

The nib is a three tone 18c EF nib. I haven't tested its flexibility yet.

 

 

Wow. That is a gorgeous specimen.

[BMG]

Lovely pens!!!

[idazle]

Thanks!

[idazle]

Montblanc 1466 Solitaire in Barleycorn pattern -- 1990-91

 

My last MB fountain pen, a 1991's 146 in the Barleycorn pattern, is not exactly vintage, but as it has been discontinued for a number of years and has a vintage air about it I will post pics here anyway. I bought it NOS from Fivestar Pens on an eBay auction last December.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2015 by idazle

[CS388]

Montblanc 146, celluloid, sky-slope nib, 14c BB nib -- 1950-55

 

 

Fantastic!

 

1950's 146 with BB nib is a grail pen for me. Congratulations, it's beautiful!

 

Enjoy!

[idazle]

 

Fantastic!

 

1950's 146 with BB nib is a grail pen for me. Congratulations, it's beautiful!

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks, I'm really happy at the way it writes.

 

Cheers

 

Carlos