re: Please some help end this search

[jbradley324]

Hello, My name is Jason Bradley and I’ve been search for a pen cap for almost 7 months. I own a Mont Blanc LeGrande Platinum 7571. This was a gift my grandfather gave when I was promoted back in 2014. He has since passed away and this pen is one of my most treasured things. 7 months go some stole the cap off of my desk and I have yet to be able to replace it. I have scoured ebay and amazon, I have even been ripped off by a few “Chinese knock-off companies whose products never arrive). I don’t mind paying for the cap, but Mont blanc wants me to give them my pen to send out so that it can return “repaired” with a new cap and I am just not comfortable sending my pen out.

I was directed to your site by a friend who is a jeweler in Boston. I have been trying to figure out how to post in one of your classifieds/forums but I do not believe I am allowed. Is there any way you could post something for me asking your community if someone out there would have that part to sell? I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide- my contact info is as follows

Address: Boston, MA 02127
Cell;’ 978-809-7442
Office- 617-720-2000
And email: this one or jbradley324@gmail.com

Thank you so much for again, ANYTHING you can do.

[Jon Szanto]

You ought to at least take a trip down to the Montblanc shop (I see one in Copley Place) and talk it over with them. Possibly having the pen with you will show the need for cap only, and if not, I would expect the MB people to be able to handle transport of the pen safely. Otherwise, it is still going to be hit-or-miss on finding a part like this. You might try putting a similar post on the "For Sale" sub-forum with the 'prefix' of WTB so that people know you are looking to purchase a part. While they tend to traffic in lower end pens, the pen_swap reddit also might be a place to start a WTB thread. I'd also suggest going to a pen show near you - the Philadelphia Pen Show is coming up in just a couple of weeks and it might be worth it to attend and ask a bunch of the vendors if they have a cap or might know a source. Most of the vintage sellers will be helpful in a case like this. Good luck!

[FredRydr]

Finding a used 146 platinum cap is going to be nigh on impossible. Your only viable source is Montblanc. I agree that you should take your pen to the boutique and let Montblanc replace the cap. They will send it to the Texas service center.

[jar]

Yup. If you want mochi go to the mochi maker.

[Chrissy]

You will search forever fruitlessly unless you return the pen to Montblanc and request a replacement cap. They have to have the pen because Meisterstück 146 caps can be different sizes, as they have changed quite a few times over the years. Montblanc is the only place that can help you.

You will be fully insured if you take it to the boutique and let them send it. Otherwise, send it fully insured to your Montblanc Service Centre. There is no other option that will get you the right cap for your pen.

[dfo]

You can also let them know that you do not want the whole pen replaced: just the cap.

[Jon Szanto]

You can also let them know that you do not want the whole pen replaced: just the cap.

From what I've heard, that would be a very important thing to specify. The one hesitancy I've had about MB service is the many times I've read of people receiving very different (i.e. new) pens on return from service.

[Chrissy]

The pen is already new. It's a 2014 model with platinised trim. It hasn't been produced for that long. Nothing vintage about it at all. So they will just replace the cap. No chance of them sending out a new nib unless they break it.

[Jon Szanto]

The pen is already new. It's a 2014 model with platinised trim. It hasn't been produced for that long. Nothing vintage about it at all. So they will just replace the cap. No chance of them sending out a new nib unless they break it.

Yeah, I (sort of) knew that. But especially in light of it being relatively new, I would hope they wouldn't just plop an entirely new pen in a box and send it back, if only for the sentimental value attached to the precise pen that was sent in for a new cap (only). Just something I would make clear at the outset of the transaction.

[Wile E Coyote]

Here's another option: Buy another identical pen, used is fine as it will be the "repair" pen. Send the repair pen in for repair (without a cap), take the cap it comes back with for your pen, then put the repair pen's original cap back on and sell the donor pen.

[Chrissy]

The pen is already new. It's a 2014 model with platinised trim. It hasn't been produced for that long. Nothing vintage about it at all. So they will just replace the cap. No chance of them sending out a new nib unless they break it.

Yeah, I (sort of) knew that. But especially in light of it being relatively new, I would hope they wouldn't just plop an entirely new pen in a box and send it back, if only for the sentimental value attached to the precise pen that was sent in for a new cap (only). Just something I would make clear at the outset of the transaction.

On the other hand, it's so new that no-one will be able to tell the difference if a completely brand new one is sent back.

[Jon Szanto]

On the other hand, it's so new that no-one will be able to tell the difference if a completely brand new one is sent back.

Oh, you are probably right on that. But being that there is emotional stuff tied up in the pen (the provenance), it would be awfully nice to not even think if the original had been replaced by something else. I mean, I'm not working in the realm of the pragmatic and rational, but of the heart.

[FredRydr]

Here's another option: Buy another identical pen, used is fine as it will be the "repair" pen. Send the repair pen in for repair (without a cap), take the cap it comes back with for your pen, then put the repair pen's original cap back on and sell the donor pen.

Or just buy another platinum 146 with a different nib, and swap the cap to whichever pen is inked. (I have two very nice Conklin 4NL crescent-fillers, but only one cap between them pending my tedious search!)

[pajaro]

If you tell Montblanc that the pen is sentimental, they won't just replace the pen.

[Chrissy]

I'm sentimental about some of my pens too, but not to the point where I wouldn't send one to Montblanc for 7 months if it needed a new cap.

Whatever sentimental value a pen has, or had, once you've "left it on your desk and someone has stolen the cap" then you now only have half of a once sentimental pen left. And to be absolutely painfully honest, it wasn't sentimental enough to not be left on a desk unattended where it or it's cap could be stolen was it?

No-one could ever steal a cap off of any of my Montblanc pens because I never leave them anywhere. In fact most of them have never been taken out of the house.

I expect that Montblanc will just add a new cap to the original pen without much hassle. It must be the current model after all. Then they will be able to charge the level 2 service charge.

Here is a post from FPN that the OP ought to read