Design History of the 146

[James P]

I don't get a lot of exposure to Montblanc pens, so am behind the curve in my knowledge of them. In addition the Montblanc 220 I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently received a consignment lot that includes a Montblanc 146 and I'd like to learn a bit more about it (I also received a MB Oscar Wilde mechanical pencil in the same lot. A good deal more pens and pencils are on their way, too). It's got a monotone 14c nib and a gray-ish transparent ink window that completely encircles the pen barrel. I was under the impression that the contemporary 146 pens had striped ink windows and 18K two-tone nibs. The pen appears to be in excellent shape otherwise. Can anyone point me in the direction of a resource that will help tell me the approximate age of this pen?

 

Thanks!

 

James

[niksch]

James--

 

According to a Stylus article written by Tom Westerich, Montblanc ceased production of the 142, 144, and 146 models ca. 1960, (altough the 149 remained in production). When Montblanc reintroduced the 146 in ca. 1974, 146s had the clear ink window that is about 3/16 of an inch wide, and these pens also had a mono-color gold nib. At some point in the late 80s or very early 90s they began to make 146s with the striped ink windows. I believe while Montblanc was updating/transitioning this model you could get 146s with the mono-color gold nib and striped ink windows, but they eventually put bi-color nibs on all 146s.

 

Regards, Eric