Mont Blanc, "king Of The Hill?"

[Charles Skinner]

MAN, --- GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!----- Let us all just get back to talking about, ---- and politely judging ------ and comparing really "high dollar pens!" ---- Please!!!!!

 

C. S.

[Bo Bo Olson]

High class or high Dollar?

Not the same thing.

Go Krone for a High Dollar pen that is not talked about here.

 

I still prefer vintage in one gets the then well balanced once High Dollar flagship at Low dollar....but low dollar ain't status is it.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Bo Bo Olson

[welch]

I've heard that a MB white star poking out of your pocket is part of the corporate management uniform in some circles, particularly in Europe. But on closer inspection many of those will turn out to be MB ballpoints!

 

I also recall one notorious incident from Japan in which a Montblanc failed in public.

 

→

 

 

The striking thing to me was both of them using ultra-stodgy German pens. Japan has Pilot! Japan has Sailor! They produce ultra-stodgy pens that can stand up next to anyone's.

 

In the 1990's, the Montblanc ballpoint was almost a requirement for executives, at least in the US financial industry. (I was a computer programmer, and we used ballpoints because we sribbled on source listings, but a Montblanc was much too expensive) Someone wrote that Serious People recognized each other because each had the Financial Times and a Montblanc ballpoint in a leather box-shaped brief case. It was rare to see anyone use a fountain pen, though.

[Honeybadgers]

High class or high Dollar?

Not the same thing.

Go Krone for a High Dollar pen that is not talked about here.

 

I still prefer vintage in one gets the then well balanced once High Dollar flagship at Low dollar....but low dollar ain't status is it.

 

Krone isn't necessarily high dollar.

 

most sure are. But they do have a few reasonable ones. I have a couple that I paid 125-250 for with celluloid bodies, 18k nibs and solid sterling silver clips/furniture

[Pensei]

Analogies are often perilous, but comparing a MB 149 to a Rolex Submariner is almost unavoidable. It makes the exact same statement, with all the good and bad implied in that, whether in the boardroom, or any other environment. They are both very fine instruments, reliable, and tasteful. But they definitely make a certain statement, and you have to decide whether you want to make that statement or not. If you bought your MB or your Rolex forty years ago, you may protest that it was just a straightforward quality choice, and I agree, but too bad, now the "statement" is unavoidable. You can buy a much more expensive pen or watch, but it's funny how brilliantly Rolex and MB have elevated their brand. You could use a pen and watch that each cost ten or more times as much, and (almost) no one would know. You choose whether that is better or worse. I personally would be very happy to have a 149 and an Air King, but I'm on a pension, so it ain't happening. Meanwhile, I'm happy with my 823 and a couple of Sailors.

[silverlifter]

I stopped carrying my MB 147 at work in the '90's because when I took it out of my pocket in meetings, someone would inevitably see the white star and say, "Ooh, you've got a Montblanc!" After a while, I just found it embarrassing.

[inkstainedruth]

Reading this thread with some amusement. And thinking "Well, I've got a Plum Demi Parker 51...."

I do like piston fillers, but it's because they tend to hold a lot of ink -- good if I have to do a lot of writing; of course, so do my Parker Vacumatics, and my Parker 61s, and my Noodler's Charlie eyedroppers....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Uncial]

I stopped carrying my MB 147 at work in the '90's because when I took it out of my pocket in meetings, someone would inevitably see the white star and say, "Ooh, you've got a Montblanc!" After a while, I just found it embarrassing.

 

I suspect this is an North American thing? I've used them in the wild for years and never had so much as a single comment. Bright acrylic custom made pens and Visconti's seem to garner attention though.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pensei...........I find my Pelikan 1000 to be a real big pen, and the 149 is a slight tad longer.

 

A 146 even the modern....post 1970 is a fairly nimble large pen. Look only for used.....I'm retired too, and find the inflation that 'officially' ain't happening, is.

 

But if you have your head set on a 149....and have will power, vintage ones '50-70 with semi-flex nibs can be found for some E150 perhaps....or other used 149's from a later date......used.

Try German Ebay, The seller has to take Paypal and ship out of Germany.....there are many that don't.

 

Liking standard and medium-long pens find the '50-70 medium-large 146 to have great balance and a better nib than my Large 146. Better balance than the bigger 146.

 

I have a vintage '50's 234 1/2 that is standard length, a tad wider girth than most standard sized pens.....and in spite of being slightly back heavy with brass piston guts...........has perfect balance *** and I have a real nice semi-flex KOB nib on it.

The Deluxe that I have costs because of being made only 2 years, much more than the longer made regular 234 1/2..........That was a pen made from the late 30's I believe, through the '40s into the early '50's so there should be many on hand.

 

*** When I was a 20 pen 'noobie' I checked for balance and all three of my 'perfect' balanced pens were different. The fatter girthed 234 1/2, the thin medium-long Geha 725, the lighter than expected standard sized P-75......4th was a Pelikan 400NN.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Bo Bo Olson

[silverlifter]

 

I suspect this is an North American thing? I've used them in the wild for years and never had so much as a single comment. Bright acrylic custom made pens and Visconti's seem to garner attention though.

 

Antipodean. In both Australia and New Zealand.

[pajaro]

I don't think it's polite for people to comment on my pens, and I do not expect it.

[Tom Kellie]

I don't think it's polite for people to comment on my pens, and I do not expect it.

 

~ pajaro:

 

That's similar to my inner feeling.

Where I work and live indifference is the norm, when it comes to the writing tools of others.

In several decades of public use of fountain pens, almost no one has ever commented on them.

Likewise there's been no comment on my wristwatch, my eyeglasses, my neckties or my pencil case.

Everyone more or less leaves everyone else to their own preferences, but without public comment.

Tom K.

[wspohn]

There are many products that have cultivated a following and as a result can charge higher prices than competing products. Montblanc is just one of those. Like Rolex, they get higher prices than other products (say, Omega, in the case of watches) that perform as well or even better.

 

There is only one thing wrong with Montblanc pens from my point of view (and I own several of them) - they cost too much. But that is just the normal result of great advertising. Does Ch. Petrus always taste better than Ch. Pichon Lalande? No, but it will still bring up to 10 times what the Pichon does.

 

The question for the buyer is whether he wants to get quality for his money, or whether he is content to take half the value of what he spends in reputation and recognition value of the pen he buys.

[Charles Rice]

It may or may not be king of the hill to FPN members, but to the public at large, it is. Me? My 149 would be the last pen I'd ever get rid of. (but you'd see me fight for my Man 100 and Pelikan 800, too)

[pajaro]

I think that, if you bought your Montblanc pens thirty to forty years ago, as I did, you probably got your money's worth. Would I do it again at current prices? Not likely.

[JulioPB]

Pelikan, Aurora and Sailor, IMHO

When I was new to the fountain pen hobby, --- back when "the world was young," ---- I believe that Mont Blanc was "King of the Hill." --- Today, I believe that Pilot and Pelikan have "unseated the King! --- Just my "uneducated thought." ----- What do you think? ---- Chas. Skinner

[txomsy]

I think that, if you bought your Montblanc pens thirty to forty years ago, as I did, you probably got your money's worth. Would I do it again at current prices? Not likely.

I find myself fully agreeing with you on this.

 

(Sorry, hate posts with '+1')

[wspohn]

Forty years ago, MB made quality pens without the attitude and not the same high price levels as today, although higher than the usual competitors.

 

Somewhere they lost their way - a combination of jacking prices and (for the first time for them) dubious quality control. I never saw anything but almost perfect nibs on the old pens but later on you'd get nibs that wouldn't write properly without being returned to the Fatherland.

 

I got my 149 for bonus points on Visa account and it had a lovely XF nib that writes smoothly and perfectly to this day. Maybe 20% of the MBs I've owned since had issues.

 

Not as bad as Conway Stewart, mind you.....

[WLSpec]

My personal opinion is that the "king of the hill" is whichever pen I am using the most and like best in the very moment. Pen companies are all so different, and though some get more respect than others from fountain pen enthusiasts and collectors, I don't think there is a given "king of the hill". I think companies do things differently and different people like those different types of things that companies are doing.

 

If a pen is good looking and writes well, I think it is my king of the hill

[Tadeo]

Without well defined parameters it is not possible to give an answer.

 

One way of looking at it is from an ecological standpoint: if a brand is producing pens and such pens are being sold, then the brand can survive. Any brand that is growing in business and producing new models is a success. There are extinct brands that once were successful. Any brand that is capable of thriving is a king of a (even if a tiny) hill.

Saludos

Tadeo