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What Is "classic" Really?


maxgroebel

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Hi,

I'm a bit puzzled by the use of the word "Classic" in relation to Montblanc pens.

It is often used for all sorts of pens, and many of them are, in a sense.

But there apparently also has been a model called "Classic", However, I'm uncertain of which one it is.

Some pens that appear on ebay look very much like a 221, or rather 221P. But the 221 seems to have a gold nib, and I wonder if the "Classic" one does.

My favorite pen, which has been with me since at least the early 80's also looks like the 221P, but does not have a gold nib. Could it be a "Classic" of some description, or some other kind of animal, or a fake?

Max

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Do you mean classique? If you do, it refers to the size of then pens, which are smaller than the Le Grand (146).

My Collection: Montblanc Writers Edition: Hemingway, Christie, Wilde, Voltaire, Dumas, Dostoevsky, Poe, Proust, Schiller, Dickens, Fitzgerald (set), Verne, Kafka, Cervantes, Woolf, Faulkner, Shaw, Mann, Twain, Collodi, Swift, Balzac, Defoe, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Saint-Exupery, Homer & Kipling. Montblanc Einstein (3,000) FP. Montblanc Heritage 1912 Resin FP. Montblanc Starwalker Resin: FP/BP/MP. Montblanc Traveller FP.

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I would regard something as being classic if it's timeless, the 149, for instance.

 

However, the classique range is the 145. (It's not a piston filler!)

 

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Edited by Nick_Green
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The Classique is the small Meisterstück (144 or later 145 Chopin).

The Classic is the predecessor of the Generation pen; those are roughly based on the second series 220, 221, 121 pens :-)

 

The Classic is a cartridge/converter filler only. Yes, it came with a gold nib.

Cheers

 

Michael

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The Classique is the small Meisterstück (144 or later 145 Chopin).

 

The Classic is the predecessor of the Generation pen; those are roughly based on the second series 220, 221, 121 pens :-)

 

The Classic is a cartridge/converter filler only. Yes, it came with a gold nib.

Cheers

 

Michael

 

Not from the 121, just from the 220 and 221 because of the two cap rings. ;)

Axel

Montblanc collector since 1968. Former owner of the Montblanc Boutique Bremen, retired 2007 and sold it.
Collecting Montblanc safeties, eyedroppers, lever fillers, button fillers, compressors - all from 1908 - 1929,
Montblanc ephemera and paraphernalia from 1908 to 1929,
Montblanc Meisterstück from 1924 up to the 50s,
Montblanc special and limited editions from 1991 to 2006
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The Classic was a result of Montblanc streamlining their range in the eighties and re-focusing on high-end pens. What had been a mid-tier pen was slowly downgraded until by the early nineties it was re-styled slightly and as the Generation became MB's bottom-of-the-range pen. As the Classic it should have the name on the cap ring to identify it.

 

Here's the 1987 Catalogue and pricelist so you can compare it's price with the Noblesse and Meisterstück ranges (Only the SL is cheaper):

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqnxq31pchdg5ml/MB%201987-88.pdf?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ieahdmy6wzdl8h/MB%201987%20Pricelist.pdf?dl=0

Edited by soapytwist

"Truth can never be told, so as to be understood, and not be believ'd." (Wiiliam Blake)

 

Visit my review: Thirty Pens in Thirty Days

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Thank you Soapytwist.

 

One may remember that the first digit on Montblanc's numbers indicates the line:

1xx indicates the Meisterstück line

2xx indicates the second line and

3xx indicates the third line.

 

 

The Classic 221 had a 14 ct gold nib and two cap rings, the Classic 310 had a gold plated steel nib and one cap ring.

Edited by penparadise
Axel

Montblanc collector since 1968. Former owner of the Montblanc Boutique Bremen, retired 2007 and sold it.
Collecting Montblanc safeties, eyedroppers, lever fillers, button fillers, compressors - all from 1908 - 1929,
Montblanc ephemera and paraphernalia from 1908 to 1929,
Montblanc Meisterstück from 1924 up to the 50s,
Montblanc special and limited editions from 1991 to 2006
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I think for a while in the US market at the end of the 1970s, the 149 was marketed as the Diplomat and the 146 as the Classic as well as being marketed by their model numbers.

-- Joel -- "I collect expensive and time-consuming hobbies."

 

INK (noun): A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic and water,

chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote intellectual crime.

(from The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce)

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Thank you Soapytwist.

 

One may remember that the first digit on Montblanc's numbers indicates the line:

1xx indicates the Meisterstück line

2xx indicates the second line and

3xx indicates the third line.

 

 

The Classic 221 had a 14 ct gold nib and two cap rings, the Classic 310 had a gold plated steel nib and one cap ring.

 

Thanks a lot, all of you. But it still does not answer my question.

The pen I am talking about is a very simple one, but it has served me faithfully for many years. (The only incident was when an overly ambitious airport control thought I could use it to hi-jack the plane). I must have bought it in 1985 at the latest. It looks exactly like my 221 with two little tongues protruding over the nib, is cartridge/converter only, has two cap rings (probably W-Germany on the lower, hard to see) and by the look of it not a gold nib (no mention of karat on the nib; just the same snowflake as on 310P), but it could be gold plated steel.

So, what kind of an animal is it?

Max

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As soapytwist quoted here on posting #6:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqnxq31pchdg5ml/MB%201987-88.pdf?dl=0

You have a Montblanc Classic

Just open the link and scroll down to page 7/10 and read the bottom text.

Edited by penparadise
Axel

Montblanc collector since 1968. Former owner of the Montblanc Boutique Bremen, retired 2007 and sold it.
Collecting Montblanc safeties, eyedroppers, lever fillers, button fillers, compressors - all from 1908 - 1929,
Montblanc ephemera and paraphernalia from 1908 to 1929,
Montblanc Meisterstück from 1924 up to the 50s,
Montblanc special and limited editions from 1991 to 2006
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And if it doesn't look like the one in the catalogue, then maybe posting an image or two of your pen would help us greatly!

"Truth can never be told, so as to be understood, and not be believ'd." (Wiiliam Blake)

 

Visit my review: Thirty Pens in Thirty Days

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