Dating Montblanc 149s

[idazle]

  On 10/28/2015 at 4:28 PM, Incroyable said:

Hi all,

 

I have a silver ringed 149 where every component fits in with the 1950s vintage expect for the fact that it has a solid ebonite feed. The nib is a 14C tri-color. The pen also comes in the original grey clamshell box with a price tag of $33(!). Would this be a transitional piece?

 

Thanks.

 

Hi, I would expect that late or transitional MB 149 pens in the 1950s had an ebonite converter with grooves on face and shank. These feed were in fact common in most MB pens of the late 1950s early 1960s and not only in the 149 Meisterstück. I had a third tier MB 344 and own a "modern" 1962 MB149 with that kind of feed. The solid ebonite converter without any groove or split mark on it was introduced -I believe- by the early 1970s. I've got a MB149 with a 18C nib sporting one such feed. So it might be that your pen had a feed replacement in this period.

 

Best

 

Carlos

[Tanminhvu]

Hi, please help me to identify my 149, nib 18k bi-color, split ebonite, cab Germany, black plastic thread, two section barrel.

I belive it is a rare version of the year 90.

Many thanks

Best.

[Daniele]

Hello,

this pen hasn't the usual features for the version from 1990,but only the nib, IMHO. The barrel is "single unit"; i think that barrel, cap and feed are from late '70's / early '80's; the nib is from '90's.

Best regards

Daniele

Edited January 2, 2016 by Daniele

[Tanminhvu]

Dear Daniele,

Thank you very much for your answer (I just mean "unusual" instead of "rare", sorry for my mispelling)

Best regard,

M. Tan

[universal_imports]

As a newbie to the forum I would like to call upon your collective wisdom to help date an inheritance that was sat in a garage for many years and I have had for 5 years but didn’t get around to the research.

 

From the excellent information provided by DKbRS, I think it dates from the early 1960’s but do any of the features allow you to date it more precisely? Also, the pen appears to be new and unused as it still has a nib size sticker on it and there is no sign of dried ink – but how can you tell? Lastly, I found to pen in a large MontBlanc hard case – is this the correct case for the age of the pen?

 

It came from a family run Stationary shop that was closed in the early 1990's and was bundled up with all the other unsold stock (including some other MontBlancs), dealer items, consumables, spares etc, some dating back to the 1930's. Any help would be appreciated and an indication of its rarity. Sorry for the picture quality, I only have compact and it doesn’t like getting too close.

 

 

 

 

[Barry Gabay]

Wow! You have uncovered a celluloid model from very late 1950s. Congratulations! What a catch. You have a very valuable fountain pen. There are a few tips as to how it should be treated until you are certain that it's fully operable. Many folks are going to contribute to this thread. You are quite lucky universal imports. Congratulations again!!! Best wishes, Barry

[universal_imports]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:00 PM, Barry Gabay said:

Wow! You have uncovered a celluloid model from very late 1950s. Congratulations! What a catch. You have a very valuable fountain pen. There are a few tips as to how it should be treated until you are certain that it's fully operable. Many folks are going to contribute to this thread. You are quite lucky universal imports. Congratulations again!!! Best wishes, Barry

Thanks Barry. It did stand out as something special. Do you know if the case is right for the period? Ashley

[zaddick]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:26 PM, universal_imports said:

Thanks Barry. It did stand out as something special. Do you know if the case is right for the period? Ashley

Holly (bleep)! That looks like a new old stock pen based on the coloration of the ink window. Barry is, of course, right that it is late 1950s and probably has the plastic piston seal. The case is bakelite and period correct. even the sticker looks fairly correct, or maybe from the early 1960s.

[universal_imports]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:32 PM, zaddick said:

Holly (bleep)! That looks like a new old stock pen based on the coloration of the ink window. Barry is, of course, right that it is late 1950s and probably has the plastic piston seal. The case is bakelite and period correct. even the sticker looks fairly correct, or maybe from the early 1960s.

I actually found two cases but only one had a pen in it!

[zaddick]

The other gold pens look like an 82 and 88 plus the pencil. They should have the number on the cap band (in a ring around the bottom). I sold a set of those pens last year and they are nice if you like slimmer pens.

[universal_imports]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:40 PM, zaddick said:

The other gold pens look like an 82 and 88 plus the pencil. They should have the number on the cap band (in a ring around the bottom). I sold a set of those pens last year and they are nice if you like slimmer pens.

Obviously you are right, the pen doesn't have a number on it though and the finish is slightly different to the others. The other pen is a 234 1/2 from the 40's I think. If you like Parker Pens you would be staggered what else I found, probably not valuable but incredibly historic - dealer tool kit, manual, price labels and a huge amount of spares - I'll put that on the Parker thread.

[Barry Gabay]

Ashley, Quite a garage you have there! Wonder what other treasures await. Zaddick knows cases as well as pens inside out. I have seen that case, but also understand that on your side of the pond, there may have been different cones from those in North America You are a very, very luck garage prowler.

 

As concerns the Parker stash: a period tool kit is quite valuable. I hate to say this, but be careful of sharks who may want to tell you it has little value. Do you know David Sheppherd, a Parker authority, who lives in England? He's a very friendly and approachable guy who could tell you much about the dealer tool kit.

 

Look forward to hearing about more of your adventures.

[idazle]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:32 PM, zaddick said:

Holly (bleep)! That looks like a new old stock pen based on the coloration of the ink window. Barry is, of course, right that it is late 1950s and probably has the plastic piston seal. The case is bakelite and period correct. even the sticker looks fairly correct, or maybe from the early 1960s.

 

The sticker certainly looks like that on my 1962 MB 149, and the feed is the same, the fully grooved ebonite version.

 

[farmdogfan]

  On 1/7/2016 at 11:32 PM, zaddick said:

Holly (bleep)! That looks like a new old stock pen based on the coloration of the ink window. Barry is, of course, right that it is late 1950s and probably has the plastic piston seal. The case is bakelite and period correct. even the sticker looks fairly correct, or maybe from the early 1960s.

 

I thought that a celluloid 149 would have a cork seal.

[zaddick]

  On 2/7/2016 at 6:03 PM, farmdogfan said:

 

I thought that a celluloid 149 would have a cork seal.

Starting in the mid to late 1950s they switched to a nylon (or whatever the type of synthetic) seal. My pen with the ski slope feed has one. I am not sure when they switched or if cork and the polymer were run concurrently.

[talkinghead]

  On 2/8/2016 at 9:47 AM, zaddick said:

Starting in the mid to late 1950s they switched to a nylon (or whatever the type of synthetic) seal. My pen with the ski slope feed has one. I am not sure when they switched or if cork and the polymer were run concurrently.

 

Source?

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

[zaddick]

Hi Rick - my pen and lots of conversations with Brad Torelli. Other later silver ring 149s have these polymer seals too.

 

Here is a photo to show what I mean.

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by zaddick

[Jopen]

Really useful thread!!! love it.

 

The more I read through, the more interesting and sometimes confusing it may get when we go into repairs and anomalies ... tat makes it sometimes more challenging and interesting :-)

 

Got a used but nice 149 recently with the following data (from chart):

 

Feed ...... early plastic

Nib ..........bicolor 14K

Barrel.......2 section

Threads....Plastic threaded, plastic threads

Clip .........only "Germany"

 

From the schema I would guess 90-91 except for the plastic threads .... would that be correct? Perhaps the plastic threads filler is a result of a repair or a customization as stated earlier quite a few times?

 

Cheers

Jose

 

[iancorben]

I posted this separately but this is such a useful reference thread thought I would add the pictures here of my recent purchase.

 

An early 1960s Montbalnc 149 sold by Huber & Lerner on 17th November 1962. Obviously have no idea how long it was on the shelf but looks new and was part of the original Dr's. estate sale - having been in his desk for many years.

 

I don't know if it was ever used, the nib has some marks but it seems so clean and having written today it writes like new, beautiful, really smooth but a little tight, almost waiting to be worked.

 

So as other have shown:

 

Early 60s -

 

Box - metallic brown with cream interior - pen held by single elastic ring

Paperwork - green MB branded instructions showing how to draw in ink ( in German - for what was an Austrian market pen)

Nib - semi-flex 14C

Feed - rounded ebonite, grooves face and shank

Single unit construction barrel

Plastic piston

[johnkim424]

That is one beautiful NOS celluloid 149! I also have a celluloid 149 with polymer piston seal. I believe they were manufactured near the end of celluloid 149 production run. These polymer seals are better than cork but if you have a slightly warped or out of round barrel, corks do better job of sealing.