I started with the fountain pen hobby with 3 old and inexpensive firm nib pens, progressed to having a few LE ST. Dupont Chinese lacquer firm nib pens, both medium and fine nibs and then progressed to vintage flex pens, using a couple of Waterman pink nibs (one is a wet noodle) and a vintage Mabie Todd pen with flex nib. I never thought I would ever venture into owning and writing with any Montblanc pens, modern or vintage/ But when I discovered the post war Montblanc celluloid pens with flex nibs, I got myself 3 of them and I love the feel using them to write. I just wish I had discovered them earlier and in my opinion, the vintage Montblanc pens made between 1930's and 1950's that come with flexible nibs are simply marvelous daily writers.
My latest acquisition is a vintage Montblanc 144 green striated pen with a hard to find vintage OBB nib. I had some reservations before buying it, but after doing some research on FPN and other boards, I decided to give it a try. And to my surprise, I really, really like writing with this vintage Montblanc OBB nib. It has a certain feel to it and this pen has quickly become one of my favourites and I write with it daily, inking it with Montblanc Irish Green ink (to match the green striated pen body). The nib is a two tone OBB nib and it writes like a dream, with some line variation and even some shading out of the Montblanc Irish Green ink.
All in all, I am really, really glad I bought my vintage Montblanc 144 green striated pen with the two tone OBB nib. The nib itself is well worth the price, not to mention the beautiful green striated celluloid pen body. I feel like I am in heaven every time I write with it. No other pen in my collection gives me that feeling, not even my Waterman 7 with a wet noodle pink nib.
Unfortunately no one or no company are able to make such high quality writing instruments any more. The art and science and quality of the hand-made vintage Montblanc pens and nibs have disappeared.
Another one of my newly acquired Monblanc 44 pen was made in Spain in the late 1940's - early 1950's and it has a lovely wet noodle nib.
Manufacturer/Model: Montblanc /44 /Spain
Year of production: Late 1940's - Early 50's
Filling system: Piston filler, (with it's original cork - fully functional).
Nib: Solid 14K 585 gold; Ultra flexible wet noodle nib. Size EF extra fine, will write all bigger sizes, F, M, B, BB and BBB!
Material: Tortoise brown striped cellulose, gold filled clip and ring
Length (pen closed): 132mm, Posted 154mm
Condition and information:
One of the most special pens in my collection, a wonderful rare version of the Spanish Montblanc factory, the model 44, in absolute mint condition, simply mint condition, perfectly preserved. The pen was made in the early 50's, by the small Montblanc factory in Barcelona Spain. After the WWII, Spain did not allow any import of German made goods, so in order to resurrect Montblanc in this market, a German family Wiese opened a small factory which produced original Montblanc pens with rights on all Montblanc patents from Germany. This model is based on the 50's Montblanc pens such as 342, 344 and similar models. The pen is slightly larger then the 342 and slightly smaller then the 344 model. The mechanism and build quality are identical, though the materials and design are different, these Spanish models were the only brown stripped Montblanc pens at the time, and thus are one of the rare and collectible Montblanc pens. Only a handful of these are known to exist. The pen is simply astonishing design, perfectly shiny and reflective due to the tortoise pearl design. Very beautiful long yellow ink window, perfectly clean and with a special feature; (the cap does not cover the entire ink window, so one can read the ink window even when the pen is closed.) The piston is in flawless condition, fills very smoothly, and takes great amount of ink, and it still has its original cork. The piston like the 342 and 344 has 8 edged star shape with brass inlay and brass spiral, which makes for one extremely tough piston meant to last. The best part about this pen is the nib; 14K 585 solid gold EF extra fine, smooth on the paper writing without scratching and fully flexible nib which simply melts on the paper. The tines split apart as soon as it starts writing, so if held gently it will write EF, but the lightest pressure will produce all sized writing up to triple broad BBB. This results in some of the best writing one could ever hope to achieve with a fountain pen, feels like writing with a paint brush. The feed is ebonite with great ink-flow which allows for such an extremely wet nib. The old Montblanc Mountain Range logo located on the side of the cap and the Mountain star logo on top of the cap. A unique vintage masterpiece, one of the rare Montblanc pens.
Overall, my vintage Montblanc 144 green striated celluloid pen with the 2 tone OBB nib gives me as much writing pleasure as this vintage Montblanc 44 wet noodle pen. I write with them daily and I am so happy writing with them.
Edited by iveyman, 01 September 2016 - 02:12.
