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The Matador Thread

christof

By christof
in Other Brands - Europe

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  • 2 months later...
kawuska Rare

kawuska

Posted
Posted

Hello out there!To refresh the thread, here's my recent acquisition 924 Turbo.We all love these pens..The nib is not of era but try to get the early 5 or 7!

 

29286273698_602b302fbd_b.jpgTurbo 924

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Don Jr Near Mint

Don Jr

Posted
Posted (edited)
Over the past few months I acquired two 998's. Same dimensions, same sized caps, same sized blind caps (both marked 998) same sized barrels, etc. The difference is the nibs: one has the "typical 998" oversized Matador gold #8 nib, the other has a Matador #6 nib.
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I was only familiar with 998 pens carrying that huge oversized nib. At first, I suspected that the one w/ the #6 nib was actually a 996 which had lost its original blind cap somewhere along the way, and was eventually replaced line w/ a 998 blind cap that happened to fit. I happen to have 2 other 996 pens, so I tested this theory out, and guess what I observed? The 998 cap doesn't fit on either of my 996 pens... so I don't think that is the answer.
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The big #8 nib and it's big feed required a section with an especially large hole (compared to other Matador button & piston fillers)... so my next suspicion was that perhaps the pen once had the larger section/feed/nib combination, but for some reason a previous owner swapped/replaced the existing "large section" with a smaller 996 section (or perhaps even a 976 section?). While that's certainly possible, I don't think it's very probable... do you? We all know that removing sections from these old celluloid pens is a very tricky business... In my experience, I believe unscrewing a piston-filler's section from a barrel is more risky than removing the filling mechanisms from the other end of the barrel, but that's just my personal opinion.
At any rate, it continued to nag at me... how likely is it that this 998 was originally made with this existing section which fits a #6 nib?

...It finally occurred to me to review this Matador thread on FPN because I remembered some pics of 998s posted here. When I went back through the posts related to the 998, I saw Kawuska's post from the beginning of this year (29 January), where he shared some comparison photos.

--Kawuska -- in one of your photos, you show a big #8 nib next to a #6 nib, but I'm not sure if your #6 is in a 998 or not (maybe you simply photographed a 996 next to a 998 for size comparison?). If the #6 nib is in a 998, then it makes me wonder if it was an option for Matador 998 pens in the 1935-1938 time frame... but I'm curious to hear what the rest of you think about it.

 

--Don Jr

Edited by Don Jr
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kawuska Rare

kawuska

Posted
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Hello Don,

my old photo showed 998 and 996 side by side.All my Garants have nib sizes in conjunction with blindcap number so I don't think Matador would bother mixing nibs.I believe 998 was top of the line pen aimed to compete with MB 139 and i'ts unlikely that Siebert&Lowen could have give MB a field starting with smaller nib in bigger pen.996 and 998 have different feed sizes so maybe the grip section was replaced?

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Don Jr Near Mint

Don Jr

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Thanks Kuwuska for confirming that the picture included in your 29 Jan 18 post was actually a 996 next to a 998 (and not 2 998's with 2 different sized nibs). I concur w/ your sentiments about the 998 being Matador's attempt at competing w/ then-top-of-the-line MB pens. Personally, I think the #6 nib looks "better" (that is to say, more proportionally appropriate to my eyes in my personal opinion) given the size of the rest of the pen... and I've wondered if the potential customers at that time shared my opinion (huge nib looks too awkward in that pen), and ended up purchasing something else (?)

Well, unless one of the 'regulars' here chimes in and can show another 998 or two with #6 nibs, I'm going to assume that the section was most likely replaced - maybe even years ago - in that pen, so I'll need to try and find another 998 section & feed to make it correct. Oh boy, another "project"...

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Azuniga Vintage

Azuniga

Posted
Posted

This is a great advert. Thank you Ariel.

...and it seems to be a possible explanation for french Matador.

But I really would love to know Matadors secret.

C.

 

Soon or late we will know what we want to know about French Matador... we are many looking for the information...

Patience...

Regards, Ariel

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EdwardSouthgate Rare

EdwardSouthgate

Posted
Posted

Just bought this Matador Garant 994 . Would appreciate any info I can get , this is my first of this brand . It's an ebay pen and the seller says the filler is not working but not sure why . I am hoping the piston is just stuck from dried ink. Are these easy to work on ?

 

Eddie

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Don Jr Near Mint

Don Jr

Posted
Posted

Nice find, Eddie!

 

I suppose "easy to work on" is an opinion relative to your experience w/ similar piston filling pens from the 1930's-1940's... If you've replaced several cork seals on piston filling pens of this era, then I would say it's pretty easy. The mechanism unscrews from the barrel in typical fashion; nothing particularly tricky there. Cork seals for these are usually very thin, based on Matador's design of their cork seal's "seat" -- which normally screw into the piston shaft. That is, the diameter of the "bored hole" in your cork seal is larger than the hole in other cork seals, resulting in a cork seal with a thinner "wall" (if that makes sense). So for me, it usually takes me a little more time properly sanding down & fitting a Matador piston seal than some other German piston seals.

 

If you plan to do the work yourself, please update us here once you've had a chance to get it apart and troubleshoot why the filler isn't working, ok?

 

- Don

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EdwardSouthgate Rare

EdwardSouthgate

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks Don . I don't really intend to fix it myself unless getting a little water in the barrel ahead of the piston frees it up if dried ink is the issue . I am a fair mechanic and occasionally fix a gun but I have also been known to break the end off the barrel of a Montblanc 334 1/2 so this piston will need someone else to fit it if needed . Any idea what the size of this pen would be ? It was a buy it now out of Canada and I probably paid too much but I liked the looks so I took a chance .

 

Eddie

Edited by EdwardSouthgate
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EdwardSouthgate Rare

EdwardSouthgate

Posted
Posted

Finally heard from the seller and he says the filler knob turns but nothing but the knob seems to move so I have to assume something is gonna be broke . Who should I send it to that would be able to make parts if needed ? In the US would be good otherwise I would probably talk to Francis about it taking a trip to Belgium .

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