Dating Montblanc 149s

[jar]

Thanks to all concerned for this chart - I was trying to date my used 149 that I bought off FPN and this has been most helpful. From the chart I now know that my pen is an early 1990's model. I do have a question though and that is when I sent my 149 for service, MB changed the feed even though it was not damaged and now I have the modern plastic feed as opposed to the old plastic feed. Is this common practice and will it devalue the pen? The pen however, is writing nicely now compared to when I first got it.

(PS I only realized that I had the modern feed after consulting this chart and now I clearly remember the old feed was the old plastic one after seeing photos of it here!)

 

Thanks,

Ron

 

The answer is a great big "Maybe someday it might matter."

 

Your pen is still pretty new and so would just be lumped in with modern pens for the next three or four decades. Maybe in 40 years or so some collector might knock off a couple points because all things don't match, but it's unlikely. For example, on my old celluloid era 146s I have different feeds on each one.

[musicnib]

Hi everyone,

Talking about old MB's, I recently acquired a 149 from 1989 - would love try and take it apart to clean, maintain etc, without having to send it to MB an get charged all the time. I was able to unscrew the nib section on my 146 by hand without a problem. Any ideas, suggestions before I attempt to do the same? Anyone have info on how to get a hold of that tool SBRE Brown shows on YouTube?

Thanks!

[constantious]

actually I am having a second thought about one detail of the chart, are all 149 made between 60s and 80s with plastic thread? somehow I remember some 149 made in W-Germany with brass piston members

[jar]

actually I am having a second thought about one detail of the chart, are all 149 made between 60s and 80s with plastic thread? somehow I remember some 149 made in W-Germany with brass piston members

 

The W-Germany stamp is much later. Most of my Montblancs all say just Germany. East Germany was not recognized as a state until sometime in the 1970s and even after that many products made in West Germany were still just stamped "Germany".

[donkeykong]

This is one amazing topic and thank you to all contributors.

I have noted that one of my cap imprint has a dash rather a dot.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ka7ujbu5ju7e7fm/Cap.jpg

 

I have tried to attach a jpg file but an error message states it is the wrong image extension. How do you guy attach an image?

Edited June 6, 2013 by donkeykong

[haroldvincent]

Excellent chart. It helps me date my recent purchase of a 149.

[fountainbel]

Greetings all you Montblanc fans !

First of all a huge " Thanks " to DKbRS and all off you who participated to get this fantastic chart completed , what an excellent help to determine the age of an 149 !

I wonder if it would be possible/practical to add another parameter to the list, being the piston diameter and stroke, and as a result of these figures the potential ink intake.

Below my "as measured" resume on these parameters, please correct me if I would be wrong

The early 149 with the ingenious telescopic filler had a barrel bore of 11,3 mm and stroke of 32mm, resulting in a huge 3.2 ml potential ink intake

The first "moderns version ( 1959/60) - featuring the press-fited filler unit- had a barrel bore of 10.7mm and piston stroke of 22 mm, resulting in a potential ink intake of 2.0ml

As from approximately 1968 Montblanc replaced the press-fit filler unit by the screw-in filler unit.

At this occasion MB went for a standardization , making an identical piston unit on the 149 and 146, hence reducing the 149 barrel bore to 9.3mm , piston stroke 22 mm, potential ink intake 1.5ml

And as far as I can measure this last figure still applies on the actual 149 pens.

My major question is : Was there- after the press fitted piston unit - an intermediate 149 "screw-in" piston design which allowed to keep the initial piston bore of 10.7mm?????

Also please confirm if the above mentioned figures and dates correspond with reality, and if you feel this figures could be add to the chart.

Thanks a lot for your valued help !

Francis

[fountainbel]

Anyone for helping me out please ?

Thanks in advance !

Francis

[penboard.de]

<<<<<My major question is : Was there- after the press fitted piston unit - an intermediate 149 "screw-in" piston design which allowed to keep the initial piston bore of 10.7mm?????<<<<<

 

Hi Francis,

 

regarding your major question - I have never seen any intermediate version = no screw in piston combined with the early 10.7 mm piston bore.

 

Data - I never found out when they did the change from friction fit to screw in piston.

Strange enough, the picture below shows a 146 - in many aspects similar to the first versions of the friction fit 149ers,

but this one did feature a screw in piston.

the 146, described in penboard´s database,

was made around 1960 to 1964, still featuring a 50ies feed and nib.

so they must have copied the modernized 149 piston from the already produced 146 resin pen´s design.

when? no idea. 1968 might be a good guess.

 

Regards

Tom

 

 

http://www.penboard.de/shop/pb/3/3329g.jpg

Edited August 28, 2013 by penboard.de

[fountainbel]

Thanks a lot for you valued input Tom, much appreciated !

Best regards, Francis

Francis

[pdbissett]

Well, this is going to be risky............. but here goes anyway...................

 

When trying to get my mind around the various permutations, I constructed the chart below. The information is based on info from Barry Gabay's article and the posts of niksch and others, but of course, the errors are all mine. And I'm certain there are errors and inaccuracies. So let me know what they are and I'll adjust the chart accordingly.

 

http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss171/DKbRS/Pens/MB149Dating.jpg

 

This is wonderful. However, my pen seems to be exactly at the 1985 transition -- 18C bicolor nib, but a 2-part barrel (the photo someone else posted was exactly like my pen.

 

Will keep watch on this thread. MANY thanks.

db

[Opooh]

Great stuff, a treasure of information.

[geronimo72]

Hallo,

 

is there a way to find out the production year or another information using the serial numbers which is on the cap ring? I think, that mine 149 was produced after the 1994: Cap ring says Germany and has serial number, threads on the filling knob are brass, ink window is clear, umlaut is with two dots over the U and nib is tri color 18K 750 BB. But I would like to know how old exactly it is.

 

Thank you

[jar]

Hallo,

 

is there a way to find out the production year or another information using the serial numbers which is on the cap ring? I think, that mine 149 was produced after the 1994: Cap ring says Germany and has serial number, threads on the filling knob are brass, ink window is clear, umlaut is with two dots over the U and nib is tri color 18K 750 BB. But I would like to know how old exactly it is.

 

Thank you

 

 

Can't hurt to ask at a Boutique and if it is really new they just might have some information.

[geronimo72]

I did. They were able to tell me, that it was produced after the 1990, but that is all...

[GardenCity-NY]

Just weighing in... my 1984/85 14C has 2 dots over it's "U".

[carlosviet]

As far as I know, I have just acquired one of the French 18c MB-149s from the 70s, in an Antiques Shop... I have been inspecting it for days being unable to see any flaw. I wonder if it was even inked. Now it is

 

Solid barrel, plastic feed, 3 color 18c nib... Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

http://s12.postimg.org/moz2whx19/MB_NIB.jpg

 

Oh, I had to bargain a lot, but in the end I got it for 275 dollars... I wonder if I overpaid

[Opooh]

Congrats on your nice pen. Certainly not overpaid.

[georges zaslavsky]

As far as I know, I have just acquired one of the French 18c MB-149s from the 70s, in an Antiques Shop... I have been inspecting it for days being unable to see any flaw. I wonder if it was even inked. Now it is

 

Solid barrel, plastic feed, 3 color 18c nib... Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

http://s12.postimg.org/moz2whx19/MB_NIB.jpg

 

Oh, I had to bargain a lot, but in the end I got it for 275 dollars... I wonder if I overpaid

No, you didn't overpay because such a pen is worth twice

[Daniele]

As far as I know, I have just acquired one of the French 18c MB-149s from the 70s, in an Antiques Shop... I have been inspecting it for days being unable to see any flaw. I wonder if it was even inked. Now it is

 

Solid barrel, plastic feed, 3 color 18c nib... Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

http://s12.postimg.org/moz2whx19/MB_NIB.jpg

 

Oh, I had to bargain a lot, but in the end I got it for 275 dollars... I wonder if I overpaid

 

Plastic feed? From the '70 only ebonite...