The Rare Ones

[Nurmister]

15 minutes ago, Offley said:

Could anyone tell me why this pair (84 and 87) has a different symbol?

I have never found out why.

 

Fascinating. I have seen triangle-shaped alternative "snowpeaks" on Montblancs intended for the Middle Eastern market. It seems these serve a similar purpose. 

 

If these are in your possession, take good care of them! They're very hard to find.

[Offley]

Yes. They are part of my collection. As soon as I have the info they are leaving.

[Nurmister]

12 minutes ago, Offley said:

Yes. They are part of my collection. As soon as I have the info they are leaving.

Here's a little more on the differently-topped MBs:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/136396-149-with-triangle-cap/

[KAC]

The "triangle" substitution for the standard MB star for distribution in some Middle Eastern countries years ago is very well known. I've not seen variants like these in any reference book. So, if they're legitimate, they must be quite rare and potentially confusing for whatever market supposedly targeted. I'm interested in expert judgement on these pens and for more background information on this particular set.

[Offley]

Thanks. The pens have everything of a MB. The nib, the interior etc. I bought them a long time ago. 

[agentdaffy007]

On 2/3/2020 at 9:57 PM, monsieurblanc said:

during the early 90's i spent many an afternoon at the cigar divan in the mandarin oriental hotel in hong kong. one day we were joined by the american statesman henry kissinger - who was in town to participate in a seminar and buy a few bespoke suits and shoes. when the credit card receipt arrived for the two boxes of havanas he had purchased, a british banker sitting nearby quickly offered him his vintage meisterstuck 149 to sign the slip. kissinger accepted the instrument nonchalantly, signed the receipt, and then - to our astonishment - placed the pen into his suit pocket and continued in deep conversation with his hosts. no one spoke. no one moved. the banker clearly unsure how to proceed to recover his pen. after an extraordinarily pregnant pause he leaned into the vip huddle and cleared his throat. kissinger pointedly ignored him. our banker waited, becoming visibly shaken, and then leaned in once again and began to tap kissinger on the shoulder. no sooner had he tapped him than the bodyguards in attendance tackled him and threw him to the ground. they then lifted him up and dragged him in a flurry out of the divan and into the hall. kissinger and his group were whisked away by security and we never saw him again.

our banker friend returned the next day bruised, without his pen, and with no way to retrieve it as kissinger had left town that morning. whatever became of that 149 no one but kissinger knows. and he is no longer here to tell us.

if a truly unique history can be considered rare then that pen certainly qualifies.

 

 

@monsieurblanc, good story and good lesson to be learn from this. Don't lend your fountain pen, and if you do, keep the cap so they have to give back the pen!

[como]

1 hour ago, agentdaffy007 said:

 

@monsieurblanc, good story and good lesson to be learn from this. Don't lend your fountain pen, and if you do, keep the cap so they have to give back the pen!

True. And why didn’t the banker just say “could I have my pen back please”? I also learned my lesson not to give the whole pen. It’s not that people intentionally want to keep the pen, most of the time they try to pull the cap open. 😱

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, agentdaffy007 said:

good story

 

Pull the other one.  It's got bells.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 11/11/2021 at 5:28 PM, agentdaffy007 said:

Don't lend your fountain pen, and if you do, keep the cap so they have to give back the pen!

A 149 is large enough to get away with that.

 

Helmut Schmidt Chancellor of Germany , liked Gerald Ford and said he had common sense.  Ford was among the 3-4 Statesmen Schmidt liked.

 

Kissinger got cornered somehow by a reporter who asked him if he thought Ford had common sense; and and he'd been backed into a corner and the reporter wouldn't give it up....the stolen pen was reflected in his mental altitude of appraising Ford. No balls to say no, and Ford may not have been as easy to manipulate by Kissinger as Nixon, so it took a twisted arm for Kissinger to open his mouth and give Ford any praise at all.

 

And IMO Kissinger knew he was stealing that pen. He was too bright not to have known, if not then later in the day.

[ivyman]

• 
• Member - Gold
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Posted December 6 (edited)

 

I was lucky enough to find a L139 pen with a long green ink window in good condition. I bought it right away.

It is a joy and a lot of pride holding this iconic pen and writing it with Montblanc Irish Green ink.

 

Here are photos

[Tom Kellie]

~ @ivyman: Thank you for posting the beuatiful photographs.

 

The color and detail are outstanding.

 

Happy writing with your lovely pen in 2022 and beyond!

 

      Tom K.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Similar Meisterstuck clip on a MB 234 1/2 KOB Deluxe ('52-54 only) it is descended from your pen. A standard sized pen, a bit thick girthed  for standard, brass back weighting telescopic piston.

In spite of the back weighting my best balanced pen.

Has a wider single cap band; the regular 234 1/2 has two ring cap band.

 

Yours is the prettier pen. Some 12 years ago, it was in a live auction with a 400nn that I wanted. This was my very first MB and being totally ignorant knowing only the 146/9 thought it ugly. Was going to sell it, thankfully was too lazy to to so.

I was shocked at it was valued $200 as more than what I paid in that auction lot with the 400nn, 450&455 and that ugly pen. Later at $500. @ E-500 on penborad.de

Some Idiot Caller wanted only $900 for one a couple years ago....on his Buy Now Idiot Ebay add.

 

 

Then a year of so later I read about it in Lambrous' book, and found out about the 139 and that era MB pens. It wasn't so ugly any more.

After my noobie 20 pen balance test, where it finished first to my shock, with that semi-flex KOB nib........it was no longer 'ugly'.

The sleek refined pre-war design.

 

[CS388]

Don't think I've ever seen a long green ink window, before.

It's very striking. What a beautiful pen.

Congratulations.

And thanks for sharing.

[myinkrunsblack]

The individual who has (publicly) listed this Montblanc for sale says it is a model '65'.. I have never heard of this model number before, nor did I find any results searching on FPN or on Google. I am not an expert whatsoever, could anyone comment on whether this pen is likely a 'frankenpen', or something to that effect?

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

A quick look through Lambrou's book found neither the cap with the single band nor the clip....but that is not a MB book.

My first impression is after the war before '1950, because of the short finial.

The nib seems old.

 

I just have a few MB' but am not in any way and form an expert.

[kawuska]

That is one of two first MB pens made after WW2 in Hamburg.1946-49 made for British army stationed in Berlin.This particular model 44.

[Bo Bo Olson]

You have made the owner happy.

I'm glad to learn myself.

 

Tid bit.....

In the Germans bombed out the British pen industry. German Tropen (basically an export company) up in the English sector right after the war, was tasked with supplying some 50,000 pens (I think it was) in the Brits had no pen industry and the Labor Government didn't allocate any resources for fountain pens. The British  Army needed fountain pens.

I do have a Tropen, a nail nib.

[Bo Bo Olson]

In the mean while, I gave Francis a '48-60 medium-large 146 with a maxi-semi-flex nib. IMO that size 146 is much better balanced than the large 146 '70-now. I have two.

I wish I had taken a before picture so show the great work Francis did.

The cap was a bit cocked and didn't fit well. The cab bands were missing....and it was dull. Francis said it was a lot of work to get rid of the dullness.

I never expected such grand work.

 

Same for the pre'24 Safety pen....which one exactly it is I don't know. But it has a Weak Kneed Wet Noodle Simplo # 6 nib.

My wife was a street flea market (buying)  and she gave some seller before his house some advice to his pricing. He had no inkwells and brought out one beater pen after my wife asked, he coudn't get the nib out. My wife got ti for free for 'spare' parts.

As soon as I saw it I knew it was a Safety pen, I'd seen one a decade before at a live auction and have a Fenomatic (Milan made) Safety Pen. The original owner didn't know about twisting the knob...the nib came right out. I sent it directly to Francis.

Before

 

After.

[kawuska]

That's a rare and early one!Congrats on such a gift!

[ak47]

Does Someone has seen at boutique the new montblanc gift set 2023?