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Having Fun With 1X And 2X Series Pens


bunnspecial

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Several years ago, my first MB was a 22. It was offered to me by a friend at what I though was a fair price(maybe $100 or $125) even though I didn't REALLY know what it was when I bought it. I fixed a leaky piston with a quick dab of silicon grease, and was on my way with a nice expressive fine nib. It got shuffled to the side when I got my 146, and I hadn't really even thought about it until I moved a few months ago. Unfortunately, it got packed up in a box with several other pens and ink that I can't easily access now(I should have left it out), but not too long ago I came across several things I'd written with it and was thinking of how much I miss that pen.

 

After reading up a bunch on those models here, I of course headed over to Ebay and got to work. The first was another 22 with what I think is another F nib. It was inexpensive and in kind of sorry shape-I realized after it got here that I needed a spindle, so I'm waiting on one to get here from Japan.

 

The shipping on the Japanese one was expensive and the seller had a bunch of both complete pens and parts, so I searched through ~300 listings and found a really nice and reasonably priced 14 that I tacked onto the order. The close-up of the nib seems to show an almost perfectly spherical tip from up top, which I'm taking as a medium based on other photos, but I'll see when it gets here.

 

Finally, a third came along that I got into a bit of a bidding war and bought. This was an apparently nearly unused one that still had an EF sticker on the barrel. The photos I see seem to show what looks to my eye like an architect grind-it's a bit stubby and the tipping looks about twice as long as it is wide. That one's coming from Serbia.

 

Since these are inexpensive and easy to work on, despite being old, I'm kind of excited to maybe build up a bigger rotation of them. At this point I don't have the 24 or 14 in hand, but I'm anxious to compare them to the smaller 22 I've written with quite a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to write up and report on them in good time. In particular, the seemingly common specialty grinds like obliques is appealing, especially for ~$100-200 each, and there again they're somewhat springier and different feeling from current models.

 

The only real downside I see from a US standpoint is that I seem to see very few on Ebay come up overseas. So far, I've bought out of South America, Eastern Europe, and Japan. I'm wondering if these didn't sell as well in the US due to the fact that good items from American makers were still readily available(the semi-hooded nib seems aimed at Parker 51 buyers to me, but I don't know if that's true) or if it's just that they were not really marketed here. Still, they seem a great way to acquire a variety of MBs without breaking the bank.

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I'm sure you've seen the pinned topic in the MB forum which give a thorough discussion of these pens.

 

I've had 2 14's. The first had a broad nib I had modified to a stub. Still miss that pen.

 

The 14 I have now is an EF. It's truly a quality pen. It's slim, with a pull off cap wearing the "mitre" capband. Were a broad nib it would be carried regularly. As it is, I pull it out only when I need an EF nib for annotations.

 

Good luck on your hunt.

Edited by gary
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I sold my 146 and 147 a while back. I also sold a 24 because the 18k nib was too soft and wide for my hand. But my 14 and 34 will be handed down to my heirs. :)

 

In case you haven't already seen this, it gives you a good idea of the range of nibs that were available:

 

montblanc_doubledigit_flyer.jpg

Edited by silverlifter

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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Thanks, yes I had read through the pinned topics up top and had come across the excellent chart posted above in reading up on these.

 

I'm anxious in particular to get the 14 in hand. I've seen a few comments about it being somewhat better built than the 22/24, although I don't know how true that is(I'll see when I have it). The "miter" cap band is distinctive also.

 

I should add too that I've found myself in more work meeting than I've cared to be(albeit over Zoom for now) over the past couple of months. My VP is kind of the king note taker, other than that I'm sort of regretting buying it with a scratchy and uncomfortable EF. Semi-hooded slip cap pens, including the Lamy 2000 and these MBs, rank highly up there too since they seem to tolerate being uncapped longer and also are also faster to cap/uncap than a screw cap. I've spent plenty of time taking notes with a 146 or other screw cap pens(and also dealing with hard starting if I got distracted and left it uncapped for a minute or two). I'm excited to get back into these and regularly using them again, especially with more variety than I have in the past.

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14 in hand! I wish there were a certain way to ID the nib size...from a photo of 146/149 nibs posted here I thought this might be an M, but it seems to write like an F. Oh welll-it's still a great writer regardless of the size. I can hopefully compare it side-by side with a couple of known EFs I should have soon.

 

IMG_1588.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Well, things have gone a bit nuts in the time the forum was down...

 

I bought another 14 in EF from a member here, plus a 24 EF. I retrieved one from storage which I thought was a 22 but is actually a 24. I resurrected a 22 from the dead.

 

The current "prizes"-I just had a 12 OBB arrive the other day, and have a 24 OB in the way.

 

I'm still sorting out the nib sizes on these. The OBB is pretty obvious, as is my 24 EF since it has its sticker and the tipping has an interesting and distinctive shape(looks like an architect, but doesn't write like one that I can see). The 14 sold to me as EF looks virtually identical.

 

My others where I don't know a nib size write kind of all over the place. Some are definitely fine, while some are narrower than a more modern medium like my 145/146/149 series pens but also wider than some of the others. So, I'm not sure.

 

At this point, here's what I have:

 

12 OBB

14-unknown, suspected M

14-EF

22-think F

24-Think F

24-marked EF

 

I need to sit down and really compare like widths on these...

 

They certainly are fun, though.

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On 10/30/2020 at 5:53 AM, silverlifter said:

That looks very similar to my <f>.

 

Seems the new boards ate my nib size, thinking it was HTML...

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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Is this sort of architect-like writing typical of newer OB/OBB nibs on say a 146? This is very much a stub when looking at it from the side as the tipping is very narrow, and I'm wondering if this is even typical of a BB/OBB on these models. (please pardon my messy handwriting that doesn't do it justice).

 

IMG_1727.thumb.jpg.25d831ee465bca6f694e92bd450c9226.jpg

 

It took me a minute to get use to writing with this one, but once I did I was hooked. As much as I like it, though, I almost feel like it's too big for general writing and I'm looking forward to the 24 OB that's on the slow boat from Germany to me.

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2 hours ago, bunnspecial said:

Is this sort of architect-like writing typical of newer OB/OBB nibs on say a 146? This is very much a stub when looking at it from the side as the tipping is very narrow, and I'm wondering if this is even typical of a BB/OBB on these models. (please pardon my messy handwriting that doesn't do it justice).

 

IMG_1727.thumb.jpg.25d831ee465bca6f694e92bd450c9226.jpg

 

It took me a minute to get use to writing with this one, but once I did I was hooked. As much as I like it, though, I almost feel like it's too big for general writing and I'm looking forward to the 24 OB that's on the slow boat from Germany to me.

 

I was fortunate enough to acquire an MB 12 in an OB nib and an MB 22 in an OF (yep!) nib, the 12,  I overpaid for as I was a relative beginner at that time, the 22 was a steal as it was missing a ring band and was leaking, but it was fixed by a kind member of this forum, I personally love both pens but I don't use them as much for fear that I may eventually break them, or the seal on the cap eventually gives way. For now I am content with using my newer pens, but the nibs on those 12, 14, 22 are really something else.

"Storyteller, unfold thy words untold!"

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I admit I hadn't thought much about the MB 14 or related pens until this thread. Is there a easier way of searching for vintage MB pens with No 12, 14, and 22 on ebay? I keep getting too many results with modern MB pens which are too expensive and not relevant. 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

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5 hours ago, Ambien said:

I admit I hadn't thought much about the MB 14 or related pens until this thread. Is there a easier way of searching for vintage MB pens with No 12, 14, and 22 on ebay? I keep getting too many results with modern MB pens which are too expensive and not relevant. 

 

This won't necessarily find you a "diamond in the rough" so to speak, but there are a handful of Ebay sellers with really nice stock, if not subjectively a bit overpriced, of these pens. I've bought from Japan, Greece, and Germany with good luck. The only thing is now that shipping time is ages.

 

I share your frustration, though. 14s can be particularly difficult to hunt out on Ebay since searching for 14 returns every 142/144/145/146/147/149 listed. It's extra frustrating, too, since IMO the 14 is the best of the bunch.

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6 hours ago, Ambien said:

I admit I hadn't thought much about the MB 14 or related pens until this thread. Is there a easier way of searching for vintage MB pens with No 12, 14, and 22 on ebay? I keep getting too many results with modern MB pens which are too expensive and not relevant. 

 

You have to search for Montblanc No 14

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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Interesting thread and lovely pens. What are your thoughts now on how the build quality of the 14 compares with the 22? I love my 22 but, snowcap aside, it doesn't feel in the hand like a particularly solid or robust piece of engineering....

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The 14 is a large, but light pen. They weren't built to feel hefty, like modern MBs. Mine doesn't feel flimsy, or cheap. Just light, which makes it very comfortable to write with for longer sessions.

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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I just did a bit of a blind experiment. I put a 14 and a 24 on the table, uncapped them, "rolled" both around so as to mix them up with my eyes closed, and still with my eyes closed picked up each in turn. I could ID the 14 by feeling the gold band around the piston knob, but just holding them in the "writing position" they were indistinguishable. I did the same with the 12 and 22 and had the same result.

 

Comparing like point sizes, the 12/14 nibs nibs feel a bit "bouncier" than the 22/24 nibs, but it's a slight difference and the 22/24 nibs at least in larger sizes are still a bit springy. I feel no give in the EF nibs of either size.

 

The pen proper(not counting the cap) contains no metal outside the nib and the trim rings. The piston, etc, are all plastic. I've found that the pistons can get stiff and occasionally leaky, but at the same time these are incredibly easy to take apart-the section unscrews by hand without any tools. Every stiff or leaky one I've had, I've been able to fix with a tiny blob of silicon grease on a Q-tip with the piston fully retracted. Work the piston once or twice and it will move smooth as can be and be perfectly ink-tight.

 

And yes, I don't find that they feel cheap either. I don't notice this so much on the big MBs, but I find that on something like a Pelikan M800, the brass piston up to high gives the pen a bit of a weird balance.

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32 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

 I find that on something like a Pelikan M800, the brass piston up to high gives the pen a bit of a weird balance.

 

Completely agree!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I managed to pick up a nice MB no 12 with just a regular F nib and it's fun.

 

I'm now searching for a OB let me know how it works out it anyone has one already. I already have a OM so I don't think it'll be too unique but still I'm curious. 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

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36 minutes ago, Ambien said:

 

I'm now searching for a OB let me know how it works out it anyone has one already. I already have a OM so I don't think it'll be too unique but still I'm curious. 

 

Once it gets out of customs, I should have a 24 OB.

 

The OBB I have on a 12 is very distinctive. MB B/BBs are already a bit stubby, and combining that with an oblique grind means that, in my hands, an OBB writes very much like an architect nib with narrow verticals and wide horizontals.

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16 hours ago, Ambien said:

I managed to pick up a nice MB no 12 with just a regular F nib and it's fun.

 

I'm now searching for a OB let me know how it works out it anyone has one already. I already have a OM so I don't think it'll be too unique but still I'm curious. 

 

They're my favorite nibs to use. You won't regret having one.

"Storyteller, unfold thy words untold!"

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