Dating Montblanc 149s

[Seney724]

On 10/4/2010 at 11:57 PM, hari317 said:

Excellent chart David, once completed it will be an excellent resource. Under barrels you might want to add celluloid for the 50's decade. Early to mid 60's early plastic barrel's filling system was press fit filler with higher ink capacity.

This thread is such a great resource, especially the chart created by @DKbRS.

 

This information might be buried in here somewhere, but can someone tell me:

1.  What year the 149's made the transition from celluloid to resin?

2.  What year the 149's two thin cap rings transitioned from sterling silver to gold?

 

Thanks!

[Seney724]

On 10/4/2010 at 11:57 PM, hari317 said:

Excellent chart David, once completed it will be an excellent resource. Under barrels you might want to add celluloid for the 50's decade. Early to mid 60's early plastic barrel's filling system was press fit filler with higher ink capacity.

Duplicate post.  Sorry.

Mod, please delete this one.

[AcLondon]

57 minutes ago, Seney724 said:

This thread is such a great resource, especially the chart created by @DKbRS.

 

This information might be buried in here somewhere, but can someone tell me:

1.  What year the 149's made the transition from celluloid to resin?

2.  What year the 149's two thin cap rings transitioned from sterling silver to gold?

 

Thanks!

Think 1959 is considered the end of celluloid and silver rings era and beginning of resin and all gold rings era. 

[Seney724]

How about the piston turning knobs? 

Once the production of the celluloid 149s ended and MB moved into the era of the resin 149 have those resin piston turning knobs changed at all in terms of shape, size, etc?

Or, are they all interchangeable?  To mean, for example, can any resin piston turning knob from 1960 (+/-) to 1990 (+/-) be interchanged with any other regardless of decade of production?

[stoen]

I believe the answers to the recent questions are clear from the chart and other posts in this thread. To put it short:

 

The first plastic (resin, rolled gold cap rings, friction fit mechanism) is considered 1962-1966(?). In 1967 already appeared the second generation plastic model (screw-in mechanism) and stayed there all the way through the seventies.

The celluloid pens had a wholly different metal “telescopic” piston mechanism. No knob or any other part except for the nib, feed and collar are interchangeable between celluloid and plastic (1962-1981) models of 149.

 

For resin piston knob-and-spiral assemblies I know that they’re interchangeable for 149s made between 1962 and 1990s. For later I’m not certain, but it can be found out within this thread.

Here’s a photo of the knob and the piston driving helix spiral assembly, in resin 149 models. In some later models the spiral is black, but is functionally the same.

 

I don’t know if there has been a year or so production gap between celluloid and plastic (resin) 149.

 

Hope this can help.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by stoen
photo added

[Seney724]

4 minutes ago, stoen said:

I believe the answers to the recent questions are clear from the chart and other posts in this thread. To put it short:

 

The first plastic (resin, rolled gold cap rings, friction fit mechanism) is considered 1962-1966. In 1967 already appeared the second generation plastic model (screw-in mechanism).

The celluloid pens had a wholly different metal “telescopic” piston mechanism. No knob or any other part except the nib, feed and collar are interchangeable between celluloid and (1962-1981) models of 149.

 

For resin piston knobs and spiral assemblies I know that are interchangeable for 149s made between 1962 and 1990s. For later I’m not certain, but can be easily found out.

 

I don’t know if there has been a year or so production gap between celluloid and plastic (resin) 149.

 

Hope this can help.

Thank you!  Yes, it helps!

 

[Barry Gabay]

9 minutes ago, stoen said:

I believe the answers to the recent questions are clear from the chart and other posts in this thread. To put it short:

 

The first plastic (resin, rolled gold cap rings, friction fit mechanism) is considered 1962-1966. In 1967 already appeared the second generation plastic model (screw-in mechanism).

The celluloid pens had a wholly different metal “telescopic” piston mechanism. No knob or any other part except the nib, feed and collar are interchangeable between celluloid and (1962-1981) models of 149.

 

For resin piston knob-and-spiral assemblies I know that they’re interchangeable for 149s made between 1962 and 1990s. For later I’m not certain, but it can be found out within this thread.

 

I don’t know if there has been a year or so production gap between celluloid and plastic (resin) 149.

 

Hope this can help.

You, sir, are a living encyclopedia. Although I have owned and used 149s for more than 40 years, and have done a fair amount of research on this great model, I believe you have forgotten more than I ever knew. We all learn something new and important with each of your contributions. Thank you, stoen. Be well.  Best wishes, Barry

[stoen]

2 hours ago, Seney724 said:

Thank you!  Yes, it helps!

I also don’t know if the manufacturing and marketing dates of “friction fit”(1962+) and “screw in”(1967+) models possibly overlapped. I had some conflicting information on this, so they possibly did…

I wrote everything to the best of my knowledge.

 

2 hours ago, Barry Gabay said:

Thank you, stoen. Be well.  Best wishes, Barry

 

Thanks for your kind words. You are the one to be thanked to @Barry Gabay, for your serious recearchers spirit, supportive, positive attitude and quality of your thought in this Forum. Best wishes, 

@stoen

🙂

[jayKellner]

The pen for the desert island???

[lampwater]

I have what may be a pre-1990 pen, but it's hard to tell. Made a separate thread with detailed photos:

 

[J-tec]

Only came here to say how helpful this thread has been - I've used it as a guide every step of the way when trying to identify these beautiful pens. Thank you!

[Karmachanic]

Pinned at the beginning of the Montblanc sub-forum page:

Updated Montblanc 149 Trends Table

[JCC123]

On 4/13/2022 at 6:06 PM, Keyless Works said:

I

 

Hmm, according to this chart, a tri-color 18C nib can't exist on a solid ebonite feed. I'm interested in a 70's 149 that has that combo.  Can anyone confirm if that's accurate?  Also, does the tip of this nib look like it's been ground down? I'm not sure of what the older nibs are like but I do know that typical Montblanc nibs have a teardrop shape profile that's missing here.

[Karmachanic]

I try again. This time directly to the  link.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/whitestar_ftl/%E9%83%A8%E4%BD%8D%E6%8E%A8%E7%A7%BB%E5%B9%B4%E8%A1%A8201708.08_001.jpg

[Barry Gabay]

12 hours ago, JCC123 said:

Hmm, according to this chart, a tri-color 18C nib can't exist on a solid ebonite feed. I'm interested in a 70's 149 that has that combo.  Can anyone confirm if that's accurate?  Also, does the tip of this nib look like it's been ground down? I'm not sure of what the older nibs are like but I do know that typical Montblanc nibs have a teardrop shape profile that's missing here.

Hello JCC123,   Nice pen. I have seen several 149s with your nib and feed. Have also seen your nib with the two ebonite feeds which preceded it. The solid-ebonite feed appeared sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s, the same general time frame when your nib disappeared and was replaced by the two-tone 14C in most places and the two-tone 18C, said to be manufactured for the French market. Your nib, with its elongated profile, is most often (though not always) found paired with the earlier full-grove and half-groove feed.  In the more than 20 years since I wrote the two-piece 149 story for Pen World, I have learned additional information regarding dates and components for the 149.  Thanks for post ing these beautiful photos. Enjoy your weekend. 

Edited September 6, 2024 by Barry Gabay
additional information-spelling error

[JCC123]

26 minutes ago, Barry Gabay said:

Hello JCC123,   Nice pen. I have seen several 149s with your nib and feed. Have also seen your nib with the two ebonite feeds which preceded it. The solid-ebonite feed appeared sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s, the same general time frame when your nib disappeared and was replaced by the two-tone 14C in most places and the two-tone 18C, said to be manufactured for the French market. Your nib, with its elongated profile, is most often (though not always) found paired with the earlier full-grove and half-groove feed.  In the more than 20 years since I wrote the two-piece 149 story for Pen World, I have learned additional information regarding dates and components for the 149.  Thanks for post ing these beautiful photos. Enjoy your weekend. 

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply Barry. Would you also know if the tip of the nib looks correct without the current teardrop profile? or does it look like it's been grounded?

[Barry Gabay]

6 hours ago, JCC123 said:

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply Barry. Would you also know if the tip of the nib looks correct without the current teardrop profile? or does it look like it's been grounded?

Hello JCC123,   To my eye, your nib's tipping looks like typical 149 & 146 EF nibs from that era. Without seeing the nib in person it's very difficult to determine whether it's been ground. That said, yours looks like others I have seen & owned. 

[JCC123]

4 hours ago, Barry Gabay said:

Hello JCC123,   To my eye, your nib's tipping looks like typical 149 & 146 EF nibs from that era. Without seeing the nib in person it's very difficult to determine whether it's been ground. That said, yours looks like others I have seen & owned. 

Great to hear, thanks again Barry.

[JCC123]

I just bought a 60's 149 with very narrow small cap band rings. I've never seen that before. Does anyone know if those are earlier 60's models? Not sure where or when these originated. It's the pen on the left, compared to the regular 60's model cap bands on the right.

[georges zaslavsky]

On 1/30/2025 at 4:32 AM, JCC123 said:

I just bought a 60's 149 with very narrow small cap band rings. I've never seen that before. Does anyone know if those are earlier 60's models? Not sure where or when these originated. It's the pen on the left, compared to the regular 60's model cap bands on the right.

They are fore sure late 60's early 70's Do you have a picture of the front section with the nib ?