Fountain Pens

[bunnspecial]

So a bit of history...

First of all, compared to other German brands of the past, I appreciate how Montblanc consistently names their pens. The first number indicates the quality of the pen-1 is Meisterstück, or Masterpiece(some US market ones were labeled that) premium pens, 2 means quality but somewhat less ornamental pens, and 3 means a "Student" pen(still excellent quality, but often things like steel nibs or other low end features to keep the price down). The middle number means the filling system-1 was originally safety pens, 2 for button fillers, and 3 for piston fillers. The last number indicates the nib size(physical size of the nib, not the point size) in a somewhat arbitrary scale roughly based on the feed diameter in millimeters it fits(2-9 on pens made since the 1930s).

In the 1950s, Montblanc did introduce a new line of piston filling pens that had a tapered "cigar" shape, and designated these as 4 series pens. The 14x series pens are of course the classic designs most associated with the brand, and still their bread and butter product.

The 14x series pens were available in nib sizes 2, 4, 6, and 9, making the 142, 144, 146, and 149. Most of these numbers should be familiar to someone who has looked at a recent MB catalog.

The pens made in the 1950s were made of celluloid, a material that for a lot of reasons has fallen out of favor, but there are a lot of reasons to like it. In addition, the 1950s 14x pens(and the earlier 13x series pens) used a two-stage "telescopic" piston that allowed for a relatively huge ink capacity compared to other similar sized pens. A 149 with a telescopic piston holds about 2.5mL of ink, compared to a little over 1mL for a modern 149 or about .5mL for an international cartridge.

Ballpoints and everything else happened, and around 1960 Montblanc started making the 149 out of the now familiar resin, basically a type of acrylic that has some "magic sauce" to make it super scratch resistant and shiny, and dropped all the other models. All but the 142 came back eventually in resin, starting with the 146 around 1970, but all with some changes compared to their 1950s counterpart.

The celluloid pens have become quite expensive, and especially the 146 and 149.

I had hoped this year to find a reasonably priced user grade celluloid 146, but while keeping my eyes open a vendor I'd dealt with in the past offered me a really nice 149 at a price where I said "I think I can do that." As I was waiting for him to get it back from service...a really reasonably priced(sub-4-figures, which doesn't happen often now) 146 showed up. I made it happen and bought both.

Both have been a treat. One of the interesting properties of celluloid is how different it feels in hand compared to acrylic resin. It warms up in your hands very quickly, and is softer than acrylic, and both of these often make people describe it as feeling "warm." I'm no stranger to celluloid pens, both in Montblanc(I have a 144 and did have a 142) as well as Parker, Sheaffer, Pelikan, and others, and have noticed this.

In addition, for whatever reason, the celluloid 149s also had two silver cap bands(after that all three were gold, as on other 14x series pens even to this day barring special editions). These pens are sometimes called "silver ring" pens for this reason.

Here they are. BTW, both are fairly flexible EF nibs.

The 149 obviously has a lot of differences from its modern counterpart, but the overall dimensions have not changed that much. The resin ones are longer by a few millimeters, bit the diameter is the same

The 146 was a real surprise, though. The celluloid one is TINY-I'd say not much bigger than the modern 146(although obviously with a larger nib). Also, the section is hourglass shaped and not straighter like the modern one(which follows the 149 shape). Still, though, it's not an uncomfortable size for me to use.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

So a bit of history...

First of all, compared to other German brands of the past, I appreciate how Montblanc consistently names their pens. The first number indicates the quality of the pen-1 is Meisterstück, or Masterpiece(some US market ones were labeled that) premium pens, 2 means quality but somewhat less ornamental pens, and 3 means a "Student" pen(still excellent quality, but often things like steel nibs or other low end features to keep the price down). The middle number means the filling system-1 was originally safety pens, 2 for button fillers, and 3 for piston fillers. The last number indicates the nib size(physical size of the nib, not the point size) in a somewhat arbitrary scale roughly based on the feed diameter in millimeters it fits(2-9 on pens made since the 1930s).

In the 1950s, Montblanc did introduce a new line of piston filling pens that had a tapered "cigar" shape, and designated these as 4 series pens. The 14x series pens are of course the classic designs most associated with the brand, and still their bread and butter product.

The 14x series pens were available in nib sizes 2, 4, 6, and 9, making the 142, 144, 146, and 149. Most of these numbers should be familiar to someone who has looked at a recent MB catalog.

The pens made in the 1950s were made of celluloid, a material that for a lot of reasons has fallen out of favor, but there are a lot of reasons to like it. In addition, the 1950s 14x pens(and the earlier 13x series pens) used a two-stage "telescopic" piston that allowed for a relatively huge ink capacity compared to other similar sized pens. A 149 with a telescopic piston holds about 2.5mL of ink, compared to a little over 1mL for a modern 149 or about .5mL for an international cartridge.

Ballpoints and everything else happened, and around 1960 Montblanc started making the 149 out of the now familiar resin, basically a type of acrylic that has some "magic sauce" to make it super scratch resistant and shiny, and dropped all the other models. All but the 142 came back eventually in resin, starting with the 146 around 1970, but all with some changes compared to their 1950s counterpart.

The celluloid pens have become quite expensive, and especially the 146 and 149.

I had hoped this year to find a reasonably priced user grade celluloid 146, but while keeping my eyes open a vendor I'd dealt with in the past offered me a really nice 149 at a price where I said "I think I can do that." As I was waiting for him to get it back from service...a really reasonably priced(sub-4-figures, which doesn't happen often now) 146 showed up. I made it happen and bought both.

Both have been a treat. One of the interesting properties of celluloid is how different it feels in hand compared to acrylic resin. It warms up in your hands very quickly, and is softer than acrylic, and both of these often make people describe it as feeling "warm." I'm no stranger to celluloid pens, both in Montblanc(I have a 144 and did have a 142) as well as Parker, Sheaffer, Pelikan, and others, and have noticed this.

In addition, for whatever reason, the celluloid 149s also had two silver cap bands(after that all three were gold, as on other 14x series pens even to this day barring special editions). These pens are sometimes called "silver ring" pens for this reason.

Here they are. BTW, both are fairly flexible EF nibs.

View attachment 12612

The 149 obviously has a lot of differences from its modern counterpart, but the overall dimensions have not changed that much. The resin ones are longer by a few millimeters, bit the diameter is the same

View attachment 12613
View attachment 12614

The 146 was a real surprise, though. The celluloid one is TINY-I'd say not much bigger than the modern 146(although obviously with a larger nib). Also, the section is hourglass shaped and not straighter like the modern one(which follows the 149 shape). Still, though, it's not an uncomfortable size for me to use.

View attachment 12615

View attachment 12616

Terrific post, - really interesting - and thanks for sharing; I'd happily read about Mont Blanc Meisterstuck pens all day.

As you know, my own personal favourite is the 144 - I simply love the feel of it in my hand, the ergonomics are superb, and can write without (wrist or hand) fatigue for as long as I need to, or wish to.

However, I had never heard of the 142; what is that like in the hand? How does that pen feel when writing? Would love to see a shot of it.

Now, of course, I do realise that such an experience is - inevitably - quite subjective.

 

[bunnspecial]

Terrific post, - really interesting - and thanks for sharing; I'd happily read about Mont Blanc Meisterstuck pens all day.

As you know, my own personal favourite is the 144 - I simply love the feel of it in my hand, the ergonomics are superb, and can write without (wrist or hand) fatigue for as long as I need to, or wish to.

However, I had never heard of the 142; what is that like in the hand? How does that pen feel when writing? Would love to see a shot of it.

Now, of course, I do realise that such an experience is - inevitably - quite subjective.

Since I don't still have a 142, I can't really give a side-by-side, but it's tiny(from my perspective).

The closest size/shape comparison I can think of is probably the modern MB Mozart(114) although it's really more halfway between the 114 and the 144 in size. I know that's a lot of "not really an answer" but it's the best I can offer.

The 1950s 144 is also quite a different pen from the modern 144. It's a screw cap piston filler, not a slip cap C/C pen although I think they are about the same size. The 1950s one does have the hourglass shaped section and not the straighter section of the modern version, so even if they were otherwise identical they still feel different in hand. The piston in the vintage one does shift the balance quite a bit rearward relative to the modern C/C pen.

Size and hand-feel are very much subjective as you said, and as someone who uses 146s and, increasingly 149s, all the time I find my hand cramping if I spend very much time with one of the smaller pens. I end up gripping them too tightly for one, and also tend to hold them "high" where they are thicker, something that can really mess with the writing angle and make them even worse to use.

 

[bunnspecial]

Here's another project from a few weeks ago that I thought was worth sharing-

I was offered a 149 by its long-time original owner who had dropped it several years ago, hadn't fixed it, and despite liking the pen a lot decided he wouldn't have it fixed. He sent it to me and said "Either send me a check for what you think is a fair price or send it back." It's nice that there are still some trusting people around.

I got the pen, saw that it had been pretty heavily used in the past, but that the drop damage wasn't as big of an issue as I was afraid. I contacted him with a summary of what I saw, the parts I'd need to put it right(that anyone he'd send it to would bill him for), what I thought the repaired pen would be worth, and an offer based on all of that. We agreed on a price, I mailed him a check, and then proceeded to order parts and start the repair process.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the disassembly, but didn't unfortunately. Here it is going back together, though. This is a typical mid-80s to early 2010s 2 piece barrel pen(this one dates to the early 90s-more on that...)

First of all, here's the pen in pieces. The nib needed a small amount of straightening, but wasn't too bad and mostly just needed to be reseated correctly. I actually show the major replacement part-and original part-here. Basically the drop damage had cracked the collar that holds the nib. It broke completely when I knocked the nib out, but fortunately replacements are easily sourced(just not inexpensive).

Also shown here are the tools needed to disassemble the pen-the tweezers are used to remove the nib unit, and the flat bar to remove the piston.

One last thing-shown at the front left is a ball of pink "goo." This particular design requires a thread sealant where the nib unit screws into the body, and will leak otherwise. The pink was used for this purpose by the factory and service centers, and is very effective. It is also proprietary so serves to indicate if an unauthorized repairer has worked on the pen. There is a seller on Ebay who sells this sealant, but it's also a pain(it's a two-part mixture) so I opt for a more traditional/conventional sealant. If MB serviced this pen, they would take a "replace everything but the nib and cap" approach including the current design, so future service isn't a concern.

The first step, which again I should have photographed but didn't, was to reseat the nib and feed into the collar.

It went right in, and a little bit of tweaking had the bench alignment as good as I could get it(I ink test to get the nib writing the way I like, and this is too early for that).

Next, this piston assembly needs a bit of grease. I noticed this one was stiff when I first received the pen, but even if it wasn't I'd have done this anyway. Grease is an endless topic of debate, but I use Dow Corning 100% Silicone High Vacuum grease. A small amount gets smeared around the edge of the seal(which both helps smooth operation and also helps it seal) and an even smaller amount gets put on the spindle.

Now, the piston gets reinstalled. This is done(properly) with a proprietary piston wrench. The piston assembly has two diametrically opposite holes, and the wrench is put in these, held into place with the turning knob, and the whole assembly screwed in/out of the body.

Now it's time to seal and reinstall the nib.

The section gets slipped over the barrel(note the crack-I need to source a replacement, but they are harder to find and the pen is useable with the crack as the ink seal is at the threads internal to the barrel)

Now, for the fun in getting this to seal.

From one of the repair guys out there, I buy a "Sheaffer proprietary non-hardening synthetic rosin thread sealant." As indicated, this is what the Sheaffer factory used for sealing threads. The most common and most available thread sealant is shellac, but I prefer this stuff as it's easier to remove than shellac.

In any case, at room temperature this is a very viscous liquid. Leave a jar upside down for a week or two and it will all end up in the cap, but it's close enough to solid to work as a sealant(and the threads it seals can easily be loosened with only minimal heat-the big reason I prefer it over shellac).

Applying hot is key, though.

I scoop some out on a dental pick

Then, use a heat gun to gently heat until it will readily coat the threads(around 120ºF)

While still heating everything up, I screw the nib unit in by hand, then give it a final turn home with the wrench.

At that point, after any excess adhesive is cleaned up, the pen is ready to be ink tested

I did tweak the nib gap a bit, but otherwise it was ready to go. The ink here is Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue, which is the same as Diamine Majectic Blue packed in the really interesting and functional Akkerman bottle.

A couple of other notes-

This is the second 149 pen I have with the exact feature set, so it can't be an anomoly, but this one does have a small and interesting combination of markings.

First of all, the clip is marked W. Germany. That marking was used from roughly the early 1980s up until the wall fell, or realistically we usually give 1990 as the cut-off. The two piece barrel and the fact that it has a serial number points to very late W. Germany production.

The pen has an additional interesting feature, though. Up until 1992, MB used ebonite(hard rubber) feeds on the 146 and 149. In 1992, the 149 switched to plastic. This one has a first generation plastic feed, sometimes called a "Hemingway" feed(as it first was used on the Hemingway limited edition), which was used 92-96.

The W. Germany marked clips appear decently often on pens otherwise dated to the early 90s(including at least one other 149 I have as well as my favorite 146), which leads to a likely and widely accepted explanation that there were just a lot of W. Germany clips made and they continued to trickle out until used up. This is probably about as late of a pen as you will find with one.

Also, I'll point out that the nib is two tone but also 18K. It is generally accepted that two-tone 149 nibs are 14K, and when MB switch back to tri-tone nibs in the early 90s they also switched back to 18K(50s 149 nibs were 18K tri-tone and 60s were tri-tone in either 14K or 18K). Again, the Hemingway seems to have piloted this change. Why does this one have an 18K two-tone nib? Some will speculate that it was a French market pen, where 14K can't be legally sold as gold. This pen was bought new in the US, though. Could it also be that, again, around 92 MB had started punching blanks out of 18K but were still doing two-tone plating on all but the Hemingway?

Who knows...but I do know that I have another 18K two-tone nib on a W. Germany marked pen that has a 1st gen plastic feed. Both it and this one are Medium points....

 

[bunnspecial]

A few months ago, I picked up a nice little pen case second-hand. It's cherry with a hinged glass top and holds 10 pens. Asking a bit more, it had originally come from Levenger.

I liked it and wanted more, so went shopping and decided that between coupons and free shipping, I wasn't going to do much better than buying new directly from them. They also, though, sell a similar one with a second level "drawer". I bought two more of the single-stack ones and two double-layer ones.

At this point I haven't even unboxed the additional single-height ones, but am using both of the double height ones and have things somewhat organized. I have a bunch more pens either in random cases/boxes or in coffee cups, but this will do for now. I just wish I had more space on my desk!

Here's the basic organization:

Left case top-Montblancs. Most of those are 149s but there are two 146s, an SE, a 14, and a 24. I'll have to make room as I have another 149 on the way plus my celluloid 146 and 144 are off for repair now.

Left case drawer-Parker Vacumatics. These are some of my favorite pens and I want them actually displayed.

Center-a sort of random assortment of pens that I've generally grouped together as flat tops and wild celluloid. Left to right(not in a slot) is a little sterling silver ringtop Wahl-Eversharp Personal Point(signature nib), then a Parker Parkette, tulip clip personal point Wahl-Eversharp(fine flex), Personal Point Wahl-Eversharp(fine flex) in Rosewood Ebonite, a parts bin Hunt fitted with a Wahl Flex nib, a Wahl Eversharp Gold Seal Oversize Decoband(Manifold nib), a Sheaffer Oversize Balance(special pen for me), a Parker Duofold Senior("Big Red") in Permanite(celluloid), three modern Duofolds, then at the far right a 30s Duofold.

Right top-the two leftmost pens are Eversharp Skylines. Next to those are a pair of Parker 75s. The rest in the top are Parker 75s.

Right Bottom-The left 4 pens look kind of boring as all are black hard rubber, but they're some of the most fun and IMO interesting pens I have. Left to right is a Waterman 24 eyedropper, then a no-name eyedropper with a tiny little 14K wet noodle nib, a Waterman 52V and a Waterman 52. These four all have fairly flex nibs. As I mentioned, the no-name is extremely flexible, while the others to varying degrees. The 24 is a superflex nib(will open up to about 4B from its unflexed fine) although only with intentional pressure. I can write with the no-name pen unflexed most of the time, but it needs conscious effort to keep from flexing it even a bit. The others in this drawer are some additional Parker 51s along with a Parker VP and a 50s English-made Duofold.

I've also been buying a lot of vintage ink lately, and someone I've traded with a lot on Reddit offered me his entire collection of "big bottles." These 32 oz. bottles would likely have been bought by businesses and schools to keep everyone supplied with ink. They're decently common in "boring" colors(blue, black, and blue-black) but can border on rare in other colors. The Quink bottle is blue black, while one of the Sheaffers is blue-black and the other is black. The very old Sheaffer bottle is red, and I have another yellow/blue box 32oz in red not shown here. Red is probably the most commonly found non blue/black/blue-black color, as I suspect accounting firms and schools both bought it. One of these is purple, a color I almost never see even in the 2 oz. Sheaffer bottles. This is the first 32 oz. purple I've seen. Also, the small bottle of Waterman Aztec Brown was a difficult one to track down. The only vintage Waterman color I'm now missing is Patrician Purple, which is also nearly impossible.

 

[DT]

Wow, I think I knew you had quite a few pens, but not that many! That's a heck of a collection.

Not to change topics, but a guy on one my audio forums is a tube collector, and mentioning "Having a few", then he posted a pic and it was kind of along the same quantity as your pens, I was like holy smokes (his weren't nearly as nicely presented, plus a lot of original boxes that were in various states of wear, tear and disintegration )