I just purchased a Montblanc memo pad as well as .5mm lead from Vanness.
I just purchased a Montblanc memo pad as well as .5mm lead from Vanness.
IMG_0151.jpgI have just aded 4 pens ( two ball points and two roller ball pens ) for my MB collection.
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da vinci (October 9th, 2021)
Last week I added the Fyodor Dostoevsky to my collection on my quest to acquire all of the Writers Edition series.
Wow! Beautiful!
I really like my Dostoevsky too. It looks so classy. Sold my Verne ages ago though. Too heavy - never used it.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
This is an amazing collection.
This Fyodor Dostoevsky pen get me back to my child hood about reading his master piece ..."THE CRIME AND THE PUNISHMENT " He is a terrific writer.
This is why I like Mont Blanc writing tools. They are great in keeping the great history as living classic with their limited editions pens.
A pre'23 Simplo nibbed MB Safety Pen with a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle nib.
It's off getting repaired. New cork, snowflake, perhaps blackened a bit.
The only other Weak Kneed Wet Noodle I'd run into was on another but prettier MB Safety pen at a viewing for a live auction...with tipping broken off on one tine. It went for E-360.
My wife bought something and probably advised some guy with a table in front of his house in a street flea market. She asked him if he had any fountain pens or ink wells. He said he only had a broken one that he couldn't get the nib out of. My wife said she'd take it for spare parts. He gave it to her for free.
I had ...'experience'** with a Safety Pen so knew what to do....and it worked. Didn't waste ink in such and old pen, with a dead cork....100 year old cork is mummified.
**In I'd won a Fendomatic, a Safety Pen made in Milan....and was so !@#$%^ someone not only sole the nib, but the feed too....until the woman I'll never play poker with, twisted the back and the nib and feed appeared out of nothing.
My pen is the same except for slight chasing differences. Picture with permission of Penboard.de.
Francis fixed this one too, besides re-corking it. some one had superglued the spindle together so Francis made me a new spindle.
Picked up a late '80's -very early '90's W. Germany 149 in a live auction win.
""""1990 Meisterstuck 149 with a lovely 14k f nib with a bit of flex.""
German pens of that era had regular flex nibs....nice springy nibs....that if one is not familiar with regular flex, could be called a bit of flex....it does have as much 'flex' as Japanese pens but is not so mushy.
Regular flex use to be regular normal issue also in America. In the '50's some Sheaffer pens, their sub brand Crest, some Esterbrook nibs, & Wearever also. The '82-97 Pelikan nibs all had springy regular flex nibs.
Diplomat is the woodly looking one on top. The black ones are a W.Germany Pelikan 800, Waterman Mann 200, a 149. Across from the black pens is a green and silver Pelikan Hunter Toledo from '93...all of them have 18 k nice springy regular flex nibs.
The other two, the MB Nobiesse and C'dA have 18k nails.
"""""I have vintage flex nibs that flex a more or flex easier or have better snapback/responsiveness. All the same, i enjoy this pen quite a bit. Maybe it's the 149 form factor, or maybe it's because it's smoother than most flex nib pens.""""
I wasn't going to get that pen as is, but am glad to know my '50-60 MB's have better nibs.
Some 11-12 years ago, I went to a live auction going for a 400nn my second semi-flex pen, and there was this ugly MB in the lot. (Before I got Lambrou's book...I only knew the 146/9 not the 139 or such. The 234 1/2 Deluxe (52-54 only) did as I feared drive up the price of the lot. I was going to sell that ugly MB and the Pelikan BP&MP to get some money back.
Too lazy to sell...The nib was just fine. KOB semi-flex.
Some years later when I was a 20 pen noobie, I did a balance test. That standard sized slightly thick girthed and back weighted MB 234 1/2 came in 1st.
Second was a semi-flex Geha thin medium long 725, third was a silver P-75, and 4th was that 400nn maxi-semi-flex OF.
Lambrou said, it was a refined version of the 139...and a number of the Writer's editions have it as an ancestor.
I have a rolled gold standard sized heavy MB 742, with a nib half way between semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex....couldn't let a dealer get that nib at the live auction, could I?
Auction houses are not what they use to be...just me vs a single collector and or a couple dealers. Mostly me vs dealers, where I could get a good price in he had to sell it for 2/3's to 1/2 more..........now due to telephones and computers all the idiots from Ebay found out how to ruin my day.
I have the Good 146...the '50-60 medium large one...one half cm smaller in cap and body and a tad thinner than the Large 146....Great Balance.......and a maxi-semi-flex nib.
It was part of a live auction lot, and was missing the two gold plated cap bands and needed to be re-corked. Francis is taking care of it. Brass bands will do just fine. It's not a pen that will be sold by me....it's too great a pen. Great nib, fantastic balance.
I chase pens with balance....and that early 146 has it.
The latter Large 146 have adequate balance if compared to a Pelikan 800....IMO, not more.
I do have two Large 146's a 'late 70s? and or '90's. Close enough for government work in the nib is a 'normal' springy regular flex.
The great nibs were semi-flex or better were before '70.
I was ever so happy to get that MB maxi-semi-flex nib, in I'd chased at Basset Hound pace looking for one in an affordable MB with such a nib.
And I was so happy with that medium-large 146's balance.
I have some 35 semi-flex and 15 maxi-semi-flex pens, living in Germany at the lip of the well.
I had been a bit stubborn...at least in persisting in looking, wanting an MB to join my Pelikan, Geha, and Omsia's maxi-semi-flex nibs.
I had heard of them, knew they existed.
One can not be sure of getting a maxi-semi-flex, even with Osmia.
Deguassa made the gold nib wheels....and made semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex gold wheels for Osmia/Osmia-Faber-Castel.
Osmia has mostly semi-flex with the small diamond nibs and mostly maxi-semi-flex nib with the large diamond or the Supra nibs.
I think, that when the other companies ordered a gold ribbon wheel from Degussa they took which ever wheel was closest be it semi or maxi.
Which is why no other company that Degussa who took Osmia's nib factory for debt in '32, differentiated between semi & maxi. Only Osmia....mostly. A couple with more of them than me...told me it was only mostly.
The only explanation why IMO 1 nib out of five semi-flex is a maxi.
Any way, it gives you something else to look for on your '50-60 MB 146 or '50-70 149.
Last edited by BoBo Olson; October 13th, 2021 at 06:27 PM.
I much prefer the 146 in any version to the m800 in any version. The 146 has better balance and better nibs in a greater variety. Whats more, the 146 has a cleaner, more sensible design with no stupid section bling ring.
However, when it comes to 1950s MB pens, i prefer either the 144 or the 149 over the 146. The 149 distributes its greater weight over a fatter & longer pen and that feels better in my hand. The 146 seems heavier even if it isnt. The 144 is almost the same length as the 146, just thinner, and lighter in the hand.
Latest MB:
The 146 is a pen I like better than any Pelikan. Latest purchase is another 144, in black and extra fine. I find it stingy with ink, which should be expected. My only black 144.
I don't have a 144, nor am I much interested in cartridge pens.
I do like the modern 600's with a vintage nib on it. I ran mine with a semi-flex B on it for a while until I had that fat and blobby modern nib stubbed by Francis.
I like many standard sized pens and their vintage semi-flex nibs.
My second best balanced pen, back when I did a test of my 20 pens was a Geha 725, a thin sleek medium-long pen. Also right up there for best looking of my 90 pens. Rolled Gold Trim, the Pen Geha beat MB with.
Cost then DM 360 or $90, when my silver P-75 cost $22 silver backed dollars in '71. @ 1965-72. Deutche Mark was set then at 4 to 1 $.
Picture of the nib with permission of Penboard.de
The couple of slightly curved lines on the clip give it such class.
Well with 90 pens I'm sure I have 15 top five balanced pens, 35 top 10.
Cyril (April 9th, 2022)
I don't have any of those either, thanks for your comment about the 144.
That Safety pen after Francis built a new snowflake...bit smaller than original, but that's ok and polished and a O ring.
A before picture.
Francis did one hell of a job. He liked the nib too.
junglejim (October 26th, 2021)
Montblanc 149 Calligraphy!
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This pen needs a good overall cleaning !!!
"""""How does work like affect the value? Improve it? """""
More than likely ... but that wasn't the real reason I had it repaired. In the top is no longer original, I don't think of having a pen worth thousands; I have seen of similar Safety Pens in good to better condition....they too were restored.
Sale is down the road; before the old folks prison or after daisy time.
I didn't expect a snowflake, even if not the original. Was willing to take a beheaded top of the top, as long as it wasn't red, in I didn't want to confuse anyone...green, blue, but Francis was able to make a new top for the top.
What I needed was a new gasket.....so I could write with it.
I'd heard that the old browned black hard rubber could be re-newed, and that took a lot of work. As you can see from the original condition.
I'm happy it looks good now. That it was a perfect fitting O ring surprised me, in normally he re-corks my pens.
It's in the mail back to me (along with the other three pens..all needing at least new gaskets, two with more problems), and now I have to find the best ink for a weak kneed wet noodle..............some sort of non-dip pen ink, that does well with dip pens, in that nib flexes to the middle of dip pen range.
Francis was impressed by that nib too.
Bo Bo Olson, welcome to fpgeeks! May I suggest an ink that was used during the era your Montblanc was built and tested at the factory with, such as Pelikan 4001 series or perhaps Montblanc Mystery Black? Francis did a beautiful job on the restoration of your pen.
All the Best.
I just got this Vintage Montblanc CLUTCH BALL POINT PEN.
I am not sure how to find the Refill cartridges as the one with the pen seems a generic type cartridge and no name.
at the same time it is a short size one for a particular pen brand. Anyone have any idea or knowledge of this pen????
Anyone know any "ball point refill adapter's" for particular cartridges?? I have heard something similar for refills and if this can be used for this pen and what refill and adapter I must use???
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Thank you for your advice and knowledge in advance !!!
Last edited by Cyril; November 14th, 2022 at 05:35 AM.
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