Vintage 149 With Possible Damage. Help/advice Appreciated!

[riotonthebay]

Hello friends! This is my first post on FPN, so please do offer suggestions/corrections if I misstep with regards to forum rules.

 

This Christmas I received a very wonderful gift, a Meisterstück 149 my grandfather bought in the 60's (for $33!). It was used a handful of times and has largely sat unused, though when we got it there was still some dried ink in the barrel. It looks to be in almost pristine condition, but unfortunately the ink chamber seems to be shattered (?) in some way.

 

We're afraid to ink it, which is a shame, because we'd love to use this pen for special occasions. I'd love any and all suggestions about what we should do to restore it. It seems that water and ink leaks out the back of the pen. Does this mean the piston needs to be lubricated or replaced?

 

Any information about the pen in general would also be much appreciated -- it appears to be a late 50's or early 60's model, though it's been a bit difficult to precisely date.

 

http://i.imgur.com/kBaNOzL.png

http://i.imgur.com/xG6myLI.png

http://i.imgur.com/YAtQ7mL.png

http://i.imgur.com/Da6OzXh.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/PYJepbF.png

http://i.imgur.com/SPj1qGx.png

http://i.imgur.com/49iEjlL.png

http://i.imgur.com/HBxQO2R.png

 

Thanks for looking!

Edited February 7, 2016 by riotonthebay

[piscov]

You have a great pen! In fact the inkwindow shows some micro cracking, but maybe it does not leak. most times those crackings are not all the way in the barrel wall. Test it with water, it should fill because the piston has a nylon seal that are usually life lasting.

 

After testing it with water to make sure it does not leak you should put it to use!

 

A replacement barrel is hard to find and MB does not have them.

 

Your pen is from the 60´s and is a fine pen indeed!

 

Hope to have helped

[KAC]

Looks like some "crazing" of the material to me. I'd venture a guess that it occurred due to prolonged storage without any sort of liquid in the ink chamber. As piscov's note above, you have nothing to lose by filling it with water and testing its integrity. If it leaks, the cost of repairing it may be more than you'd prefer to spend unless the pen has sentimental value that exceeds its resale worth.

[jmccarty3]

You have a great pen that should be put back in working order. It can be restored, but I certainly wouldn't send it to Montblanc--you would lose your valuable nib and feed. I have used Osman Sümer for several restorations of 149s and other MBs--I'm sure others can recommend additional competent repair people.

[ScienceChick]

You said that water and ink leak out of the back of the pen; just for clarification - you did try filling it with water and it leaked?

[macball]

It is hard to tell from the photos but it may be that the cracks may not be in the ink window at all. It looks like dried ink inside the barrel that has dried and cracked. In that case the pen was fully filled with ink and stored for a long time. I would try drawing a very small amount of water into the pen to start the cleaning process. Avoid drawing the piston across all of that dried ink or it will score the plastic seal. This will likely take days to dissolve. Repeat the process of flushing with a small amount of water until the ink window is clearer. During this process store the pen nib down in a glass of water. Ink is likely dried inside the feed as well.

[riotonthebay]

Thank you all for your replies and advice!

 

You have a great pen that should be put back in working order. It can be restored, but I certainly wouldn't send it to Montblanc--you would lose your valuable nib and feed. I have used Osman Sümer for several restorations of 149s and other MBs--I'm sure others can recommend additional competent repair people.

 

We'd love to get it back into working order. I'm going to try out macball's cleaning suggestion first, but assuming we can't fix the issue, I'll look into Osman Sümer or other repair people. We've used Mottishaw before to restore a 146, but it took ages.

 

You said that water and ink leak out of the back of the pen; just for clarification - you did try filling it with water and it leaked?

 

Yes; when we got the pen, there was dried ink inside that we cleaned by filling with water, some of which ended up leaking slightly out of the back of the pen.

 

It is hard to tell from the photos but it may be that the cracks may not be in the ink window at all. It looks like dried ink inside the barrel that has dried and cracked. In that case the pen was fully filled with ink and stored for a long time. I would try drawing a very small amount of water into the pen to start the cleaning process. Avoid drawing the piston across all of that dried ink or it will score the plastic seal. This will likely take days to dissolve. Repeat the process of flushing with a small amount of water until the ink window is clearer. During this process store the pen nib down in a glass of water. Ink is likely dried inside the feed as well.

 

Thank you for your suggestion! I'm doing this right now. I believe the comment above about "crazing" is more likely than hairlines of dried ink, but I am also sure that our cursory cleaning process before didn't get rid of all of it. Hopefully more thoroughly cleaning away any dried ink will give us a better idea of what -- if anything -- is wrong with the pen.

[zaddick]

The pen looks mid 1960s to me. The cracking you are seeing in the ink window is likely due to the manufacturing process. My understanding from talking to expert repair people is that the earlier resin barrels were created in a two stage process with essentially an outer and inner barrel. Often times an insufficient amount of cooling time was allowed and the inner layer with the clear resin would get micro-fractures. I have not seen any as bad as what you showed int eh photos, but all of my early-mid 1960s 149s have at least a few of these cracks in the resin. They are nothing to really worry about and should not cause any leaks.

 

If ink is making it past the piston seal though, you probably need to have the pen professionally repaired. the walls need to be polished and smoothed and the piston seal may need to be replaced or repaired. The are likely dried bits of ink or crud that are stuck to the surface of the barrel causing a poor seal and ink to slip right on by.

[riotonthebay]

Thanks for the info, zaddick! What you described about the manufacturing process makes sense and sounds very plausible. I'm cleaning the pen more thoroughly now as per another's suggestion. If it continues to leak, we'll have the piston repaired.

Edited February 8, 2016 by riotonthebay

[Chrissy]

You have a great pen that should be put back in working order. It can be restored, but I certainly wouldn't send it to Montblanc--you would lose your valuable nib and feed. I have used Osman Sümer for several restorations of 149s and other MBs--I'm sure others can recommend additional competent repair people.

 

If it was sent to Montblanc for repair, you might lose the original barrel and the feed in exchange for brand new modern replacements, but you would definitely not lose the nib. That would always be replaced in the new grip.

[Garageboy]

Either way, that is a damn cool set, I'd keep it as original as possible

[jmccarty3]

That Neiman-Marcus bill of sale is a great piece of memorabilia as well. Wish I had kept the sales slip from my first 149 in '67.

[meiers]

Please tell us what you decide and how it turns for you.

[zhuzhukare]

But it don't matter no