Are These 149 / Writers Edition Pens Genuine? If So, How Can I Repair Them?

[brunoibanes]

A few years ago, a friend of my father died, leaving him with 3 Montblanc pens (which do not even have a box or documentation), which were stored without any attention or care. Knowing my taste for fountain pens, today my father presented me with the 3 pens, which I immediately researched about, discovering that they are the following models:

 

 

- Meisterstück Gold-Coated 149 Fountain Pen - S/N: CP1027221 - Probably 1995

 

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MeFGnmCRX8neQrGy9

 

- Writers Edition EDGAR ALLAN POE - S/N: 0561/17000 - 1998

 

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HYJgCVYnpHcGHb2WA

 

- Writers Edition CERVANTES - S/N: 12385/17000 - 2005

 

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TsFDWbPPYEbP7f5W9

 

 

However, to my surprise all 3 pens are with the piston bolt broken (see photos), probably for misuse of the mechanisms. The Meisterstück has rust marks and the ink window is not visible (probably due to dry ink), but all the pens are in a good state of preservation and the feathers are intact.

 

My question is if anyone could confirm the authenticity of the pens and if the community could inform me how I should proceed to fix them (any idea how much it will cost?), since two of them are limited editions.

 

Thank you!

 

Bruno Ibanes.

[Uncial]

All genuine. Send them to Montblanc to have them repaired as the WE's are both quite desirable pens. It might be quite expensive. Outside of Europe the boutiques seem to have odd practices if the US reports are anything to go by.

[DrDebG]

Beautiful! All are beautiful! I would encourage you to send them to Montblanc to have them repaired.

[CS388]

Beautiful. What a gift!

 

Yes, absolutley, send to MB for repair. It's routine work for them, replacement parts.

Not sure of the cost, for these pens, but you can ask for a quote first - and these pens are definitely worth the work.

 

Good luck

And welcome to FPN

[Erik Dalton]

Say thank you for the wise advice 😃, and send them into Montblanc for service. Then you can sell them if you like and recover your costs many times over. A wonderful find, Good luck to you.

Come back to us and let us know how it all worked out.

[zaddick]

Say thank you for the wise advice 😃, and send them into Montblanc for service. Then you can sell them if you like and recover your costs many times over. A wonderful find, Good luck to you.

Come back to us and let us know how it all worked out.

+1

[brunoibanes]

Thank you all!

 

I'll send them to Montblanc as soon as possible. But my only fear is that the service in my country (Brazil) is not worth it, because a quick search in a national community indicated that repairs are practically the price of a new product. Maybe I need to send them to the United States or Europe (which will be expensive, a shame as I would not want to leave the pens in the state they are).

 

Last question: are these nibs in a good state? One of them seems misaligned (Writers Edition EDGAR ALLAN POE).

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/e33huMP8akaC1VJd9

[jchch1950]

If you are going to send them for repairs I may suggest to send them to Hamburg . In some countries MB special editions or limited editions are always send to the factory for service. Congratulations on your new pens.

[penparadise]

Send them directly to the Montblanc Service Department in Hamburg / Germany as the limited editions have to go there anyway and you'll save a lot of time and money.

[txomsy]

Do it by tracked/insured mail or by messenger. They could disappear anywhere in the middle.

[Uncial]

Nib looks ok. You can test it by dipping it in ink and writing a few words. The Poe nib is very smooth so any tooth or scratch would indicate a problem.

[brunoibanes]

Nib looks ok. You can test it by dipping it in ink and writing a few words. The Poe nib is very smooth so any tooth or scratch would indicate a problem.

Thanks for the tip, all the pens are extremely smooth!

 

Today I faced the first problem, the only Montblanc boutique in my state recently closed, although it still appears on the Montblanc website. Despite this, I have tried to call other boutiques located in other states, but the procedures are extremely bureaucratic (they require documentation -which have been lost over time, since the pens are more than 15 and 20 years old respectively- and receive the products only personally in place, which is extremely impractical, since I would have to catch a flight to another state). Does anyone have any idea how I can contact the Montblanc repair center in Germany, living in another country? I already wrote an email for service@..., but I got no response.

Anyway, my father gave me the idea of ​​offering one of the pens to someone in exchange for that person to pay for the repair of the three pens. I do not know if it's a good exchange or not, but it's a possibility, I would probably offer Writers Edition CERVANTES to that person. If someone is interested, send me a private message, but be aware that this would be a mutual trust agreement, since once the pens are in the repair center, the person must pay the price requested by Montblanc and then I will authorize Montblanc to send this specific pen to that person and the others must return to me, or if there is no possibility of the pens being delivered to different addresses, all must return to me and then I will send that specific pen to the person.

Edited April 23, 2019 by brunoibanes

[Lam1]

It seems to me that offering the Cervantes is way too much to fix these pens. From the looks of it, MB would charge a couple hundred dollars to fix all of them, and the Cervantes is worth way more than that.

 

I understand that things can be difficult in Brazil (I'm Brazilian), but keep trying to contact MB. They'll eventually respond, even if it takes a little time. If everything else fails, try to contact MB via facebook - my experience is that at Facebook, being a public platform, these companies tend to be much faster to respond. I also doubt that the requirement of documentation is something that comes from MB Germany - this has all the looks of the boutiques in Brazil trying to avoid to deal with repairs. So, if you contact MB Germany first, they may solve this for you.

 

There are also trusted pen mechanics in the US and Europe that would be able to repair the pens and I think it would cost significantly less than the Cervantes.

[penparadise]

There are also trusted pen mechanics in the US and Europe that would be able to repair the pens and I think it would cost significantly less than the Cervantes.

 

No questions, there are great pen mechanics in the US and Europe - for vintage pens. But for these "modern" pens the Montblanc Service Center in Hamburg is the best address!

[Paul80]

Looking at the photos, have they all suffered from the same failure, a broken piston helix.

 

If so that part is available from custompenparts.co.uk for £12 so any competent repairer should be able to fix them for you at a very reasonable cost.

 

I am sure you can find a competent person in America or Europe to fix these if Montblanc want to be silly over repairing their limited editions especially as they are just glamed up 149's and should cost no more than a standard 149 to fix. In the UK all repairs are sent to Germany and IIRC they charge about £120 to fix a broken piston helix.

 

One thing to note, the one made by custompenparts is said to be made from a better more resilient material as the MB one is known to be a weak link in their piston fillers.

 

Paul

[Michael R.]

When it comes to replacing body parts (caps, barrels, ...) on older limited models prices have gone up at Montblanc Service Center.

 

I hope this is not the case for internal parts.

 

I agree that it looks like the helix is broken only. This is a fairly easy repair and should not require any parts specific to limited editions.

 

Try Montblanc HQ in Germany first and ask fir a quote. In case repair for each pen is quoted a couple of hundred € you should be able to find more affordable private alternatives.

 

 

Good luck

 

Michael

 

PS: I‘ve paid 450 € for a NOS Cervantes w/o box & papers last fall