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The Solitaires - Part Two


Uncial

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When listing a pen on an auction site or when selling pens on other platforms, words such as ‘not working’ and ‘broken’ have a tendency to make buyers deeply hesitant. Sometimes though, it is worth the risk. The flip side of course is that it isn’t worth the risk at all and you end up crying over a steaming pile of junk and the money you wasted on it. Luckily the Carbon Fibre Solitaire that came to me from southern Spain was worth the risk even though the seller was honest enough to let me know that the piston mechanism was broken and the pen was not working. It had been well used by its previous owners but one owner had put some rather peculiar ink in it and then allowed it to dry out. Much soaking, flushing and meticulous cleaning (over about three months) got the piston moving and the pen into a working state again. As I said, it had been well used and came with plenty of war wounds. How or when these were acquired I do not know so I can’t really speak for the robustness of the finish on the barrel. Be warned, it's a finger-print magnet as can be seen in these pictures.

 

fpn_1601035266__solcb3.jpg

 

The Carbon Fibre looks and feels like the sort of workhorse fountain pen that should sit in with the tools in the toolbox – maybe that is the life this one had at one point. Its broad nib is as smooth as butter, wet and has a nice yet subtle stub aspect. It has a screw cap and is a piston filler (now clean of ink and working nicely). The pen posts securely and the inner, almost waxy cap liner stops any possibility of marking the barrel. The tactile barrel is a high polished steel and although I can’t be certain, from the marks and scratches on this one, I’d presume that it might mark easily if you don’t in some respects baby your pen. The marks aren’t that severe, but you notice them more when it’s in strong sunlight. The cap is steel, layered over with a carbon fibre weave and a clear acrylic. The snow peak is in a black domed top at the tip of the cap. The carbon fibre weave is rather difficult to photograph. My phone camera couldn’t decide if it should focus on the surface of the clear acrylic or on the depth of the fibre weave. In many pictures it appears black, or at least a charcoal grey, but it is actually a somewhat peculiar colour – a sort of deep teal-leaning green. For something so industrial it’s actually very attractive with quite a strong sense of depth.

 

fpn_1601035405__solcb2.jpg

 

 

Posted, the pen has a surprisingly good balance and doesn’t feel overly back weighted. Unposted it still has a good weight and length and I found the pen to be lighter than I thought it would be. The cap weighs 16g, the pen uncapped weighs 26g and capped it weighs 42g. Unposted the pen is 130mm and posted the pen is 158mm and capped the pen is 145mm. It takes two turns to screw and unscrew the cap.

When I picked this up I was looking for a Montblanc with a broad nib that I didn’t have to worry about war wounds with. This pen already having lived seemed like a suitable punt. I wasn’t expecting much of it but it did surprise me in how much I liked it once it was up and running again. It’s a bit of a sober offering from Montblanc despite that high polish; the sort of pen that wouldn’t be out of place in an engineers office. The black plastic grip (with striped ink window) makes it easy to use without the worry of a slippery steel section. To buy one new and have it scratch up easily would be disappointing and I didn’t personally want to go down that route or have such a significant spend. Maybe others who own this can add their own experience of how robust the finish is. It could well be that the previous owners of this one were simply careless. Nevertheless, I think it’s a very attractive pen and if you like the more restrained and sleek look it is a good handling and pleasing writer.

 

fpn_1601035477__solcb1.jpg

Edited by Uncial
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Very nice! So glad things worked out great for you with this pen!

PAKMAN

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  • 5 months later...

I was looking for a full Stainless Steel version of this pen. Could not find one with a Broad nib and new. With pure luck, I found my grail pen which is the MB JP Morgan brand new in sealed box at a very attractive price. I sent it to a nibmeister in the USA and regrinded the Medium nib to a CI nib.

 

Love the carbon fiber look. The cap is like 3D. I never expected the cap to shine that way.

 

Glad you got this pen working without the need of MBSC. Show us some writing sample of that B nib!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought a Carbon Fiber steel solitaire right here on FPN in used but near-mint condition. It came with a lovely OB nib. I owned the regular black resin 146 long ago and found it very boring so I sold it. I have generally found the cartridge filling MBs more interesting than the piston-fillers but now I see that I should have been looking at the solitaires instead of the resin piston-fillers. 

S.T. Dupont Ellipsis 18kt M nib

Opus 88 Flow steel M nib

Waterman Man 100 Patrician Coral Red 18kt factory stub nib

Franklin-Christoph Model 19 with Masuyama 0.7mm steel cursive italic nib

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On 3/30/2021 at 8:46 PM, ParkerBeta said:

I bought a Carbon Fiber steel solitaire right here on FPN in used but near-mint condition. It came with a lovely OB nib. I owned the regular black resin 146 long ago and found it very boring so I sold it. I have generally found the cartridge filling MBs more interesting than the piston-fillers but now I see that I should have been looking at the solitaires instead of the resin piston-fillers. 

 

So how does the MB 146 Solitaire Carbon writes? Writing sample?

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4 hours ago, agentdaffy007 said:

 

So how does the MB 146 Solitaire Carbon writes? Writing sample?

See picture 3 written with Diamine Eau de Nil ink....

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20 hours ago, agentdaffy007 said:

 

So how does the MB 146 Solitaire Carbon writes? Writing sample?

1062C30F-DAF7-4EE0-B0E7-EE42153ED941.thumb.jpeg.5fc25f6168edd7313fbbe4b87117d78b.jpeg

 

Here’s a sample of the MB OB nib compared with the OB nib on my Lamy Imporium (with Sailor Nano Black).

S.T. Dupont Ellipsis 18kt M nib

Opus 88 Flow steel M nib

Waterman Man 100 Patrician Coral Red 18kt factory stub nib

Franklin-Christoph Model 19 with Masuyama 0.7mm steel cursive italic nib

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Very nice writing sample. very much appreciate the second OB writing sample from the LAMY.

“Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do it today and like it, you can do again tomorrow!”

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18 hours ago, ParkerBeta said:

1062C30F-DAF7-4EE0-B0E7-EE42153ED941.thumb.jpeg.5fc25f6168edd7313fbbe4b87117d78b.jpeg

 

Here’s a sample of the MB OB nib compared with the OB nib on my Lamy Imporium (with Sailor Nano Black).

Hi,

 

Nice handwriting! Glad you purchased the MB 146 Solitaire Carbon Steel. I too saw the ad and was going to purchase it. Then I froze, lol. I just had purchased a brand new MB JP Morgan and there was no reason whatsoever for me to get this pen. I find OB nib hard to write with because I prefer Stub.

 

Glad it went to a good home. Congrats.

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Thanks for the kind words, @Gloucestermanand @agentdaffy007!  I am indeed enjoying this nib. The “problem” is that having tasted of Montblanc’s non-“standard” (EF, F, M, B ) nibs, I am now eager to acquire a pen with an OBB nib next!

S.T. Dupont Ellipsis 18kt M nib

Opus 88 Flow steel M nib

Waterman Man 100 Patrician Coral Red 18kt factory stub nib

Franklin-Christoph Model 19 with Masuyama 0.7mm steel cursive italic nib

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