Mont Blanc but which one and is it real

[Skymaster]

Hello, I just came across this Mont Blanc.

In the internet, i just found something about a NO. 235 but the end cap maybe is a replacement. Also the Fountain looks diffrent, not like one from a Mont Blanc.

I love to write with fountain pen thats why i want to use it. For that i rinsed it out with water. Unknown as i was, i think i washed the color of the back of the pen and the front cap away. Before washing it it looked more like black,, now its more brownish. 😰 The condition is not realy great but it writes quit nice.

I hope someone can tell me a littlebit more about this. 😊

Edited January 8, 2025 by Skymaster
Uploaded two more pictures.

[Paul-in-SF]

It looks like it's made of ebonite, which can react that way to a water bath, and restoration techniques are, I believe, controversial. On the other hand, it only affects appearance, not performance. 

 

I agree that the blind cap/end cap is probably from another pen, I've never seen one before that is wider than the barrel.

 

I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions as to which model it is. It's hard to see much detail about the nib in that photo. Are there any other engravings on the barrel or cap besides "Markerstahl?"

[lamarax]

I think you'll have better chances posting your query in the den of Montblanc aficionados 🙂

 

Looks like put together though to my untrained eye... maybe a wartime effort by someone to salvage parts into a working pen? As such, that'd be a unique piece of history!

[Skymaster]

Thank you, i love to keep it in original conditions but i never thought that they are so "fragile in one way". Hopefully the mechanism inside is fine. I just saw that directly behind the thread for the cap, the plastic is barely "transparent".

 

And would be awesome if there would be such a story behind. But i think we will never know.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Degusa nib, ill-fitting blind cap, incomplete picture identifying the markings around the barrel base.  As shown I see a parts pen. 

[Armo]

Unless your the type who adopts blind three legged cats I'd leave well alone. Should look like this

http://www.fountainpen.de/sini-235-30.htm

or

https://pencluster.com/pen/montbranc/montbranc_gallery/montblanc-235-black-2/

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pre-war..... Seems like the hard rubber is starting to turn brown....something that often happens.

It is possible to return it to it's black color. You can try yourself or send it to a good repair man.

Look here for that; what to use to re-blacken, or someone a bit better at real pre-war vintage pens can help you out on that. Do not be an idiot at home alone, using black shoe polish.

 

Degussa replacement nib....which is good. Degussa made Osmai nibs, so a Degussa nib is at least as good as a MB nib. It is a very well-made, good nib....... If not gold, but gold-plated Degussa made steel nibs as good as anyone's gold nibs. Osmia had both as grand nibs and from 1932 Degussa made those grand nibs. Degussa like Osmia before them made nibs for anyone, like the 1936 started and still making Bock nibs. 

I would suspect semi-flex nib...if not a maxi-semi-flex nib....so worth having fun writing with it.

 

I think you will need a new gasket, be that cork or Plastic Gasket 1.0. It is of that age.

If 1.0, (made from @ 1938/9 to 1955) replace it with plastic gasket 2.0 which came in and after 1955. Still in use.

Cork, properly boiled in mineral oil and bee's wax...and slathered with silicon grease, is the smoothest gasket of all.

 

You don't say where you are from, so we can't recommend a 'local' repairman.

It's too old to do any beginner's surgery with your Bowie knife on the pen. And it is worth repairing, no matter the cost of obtaining it.

[Skymaster]

Didn't got that with the cats. But at least i don't have one😂

Thank you for the links. Looks really similar, but mine is missing the "grip" i think.

 

Pre war sounds quite mind blowing. I would not try to do something else with it except writing. Would be to scared to damage it. 

 

The nib has the number 2 engraved. I already wrote two full papers with it. Makes so much fun.

 

I agree with the gasket. After filling the tank with water, it was leaking at a small hole at the end of it. Should be like an air ventilation during refilling.

Also you can barely see with strong light through ink tank. But its really blacked out. I didnt want to try to open it to clean it.

I will check out if there are any repair shops in my vicinity. But maybe i should just keep it as it is. Except for the endcap. Would love to Replace it for a better fitting one.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Fountainble...on the com, Francis Goossens, in Belgium does all my pen repairs....some 15 or 20.

I will be sending him two lots of 5 to him, in this and next month.

 

Belgium is rather local.

 

Francis is a skilled, rather well known repair and restorer. He was a co-developer of the Conid bulk fountain pen.

A beaten to death beater, pre-23 MB safety pen, and have some other bad pictures.

After repair and restroation.

He did say it was a long problem polishing up that pen. The snowflake was remade.

This is the lot I sent to him for repair.

The green stripped one is one of my prettiest pen, a 1948-52 italian made Columbus, piston pen. Just needing a gasket....supurb..maxi-smei-flex no name nib.

The great balanced, '48-59 medium-large 146  (1970-now 146 is a Large pen, with at best only fair balance) was in even worst shape, but had such a maxi-semi-flex grand nib. I neglected to take a picture of how beaten to crud that pen was.

I expected to have to send off one of my two 146's to Francis was how bad that pen was to have the nib put on....the pen was lacking cap rings and had a crooked cap besides being army maneuver's dull.

The rolled gold 'no name' had to have a new end made...60-70 yer old plastic can be fragile.

He rebuilt the spindle of another 1930's rolled gold overlay Safety Pen, that someone had tried to repair the spindle with superglue.

 

Most of my repairs were less complicated.

You can back channel me for his email, if you can't locate him on the com...Fountainble.

 

[jchch1950]

The incredible restorations are a good endorsement for the restorer.