An Enthusiast’s Collection – Part 2

[zzbr76]

This post always manages to impress me. Incredible!

[Christopher Godfrey]

Just found this thread -- coming very late to it! Amazing collection, Pavani, and your knowledge is overwhelming. Bravo! And a big thank you, too.

 

Why is it that second-tier MBs do not get much press, compared with the top-line models, I wonder? I have a 246G and it is quite a lovely pen, overall.

[FredRydr]

Thank you for posing all those pens for your photographs. I enjoy the comparisons!

 

Now, for the task of returning them to their correct places in your trays.

 

Fred

[pavoni]

Thank you most kindly zzbr76, Christopher, and Fred, I really appreciate you generous comments.

 

Quite right on the 2nd tier MB pens Christopher, under-appreciated except by those in the know. Whilst the MB 234 1/2 grabs most of the headlines, I have two of the MB 236 pen and find it almost perfect in proportion and it's relative scarcity makes for a very special pen.

 

I thought I was finished with collecting Montblanc pens but I seem to have had my interest reignited recently (please don't tell Mrs Pavoni). I had considered starting a new collection of Danish Montblanc pens (don't you just love those coral coloured pens!) but there are some wonderful FPNers here who have already beaten me to it. As I already have 5 or 6 of the MB 234 1/2, I like the idea of establishing a sub-collection of these popular pens, of which there are many versions.

 

My first task is to crack on and finish my next Montblanc-centric topic for this forum, now that I have at long last secured the long-term use of a camera. Trouble is that it is turning into something of a blog, when I want it to remain within my favourite forum. Fingers crossed the Mods won't bounce it.

 

Catch you soon

 

Pavoni.

[r2sje]

Fab-u-lous! 💕 I am a montblanc girl in training and was amazed at your beautiful collection and knowledge, many thanks for sharing 😊

[CS388]

Always a joy to see this thread come round.

 

I read it from start to finish, again!

 

Thank you, Pavoni, it's wonderful - and what a fantastic collection.

[txsheepdog]

Very nice collection!

[FredRydr]

This thread has to be a candidate for sticky!

 

Fred

[KaraSinek]

this post helps me alot thanks all the contributors. especially thread starter @pavoni.

i couldn't identify one of my latest mb, it looks 236 to me. it might has multiple donors form other pens. ineed help to identify correctly

piston safety cap doesnt have any labeling. is it possible? or is it replacement cap?

nib has 244 marking. feed is not a montblanc part?

it has 3rd tier clip?

http://i.imgur.com/D9OAZwL.jpg

[Behike54]

Wow, just wow.

Agreed regarding sticky. Knowledge, committment, and passion will always be a part of any foundation, no matter what the subject or avocation!

@Pavoni, this is MONUMENTALLY impressive.

[penmanila]

Dear Pavoni,

 

Like all the others, let me congratulate and thank you first of all for this wonderful and seemingly inexhaustible resource. I'm coming to your thread years late, but I saw it because I just picked up (thankfully for not too much), this 234 1/2G "set" on eBay, but I seriously wonder if it was indeed a set because the clip on the pencil is clearly different. Based on the nibs you've shown in this thread, my pen should date from 1948-49, but can you tell me just from the picture where the pencil dates from? Thanks in advance.

 

Jose

 

 

[pavoni]

Dear Jose,

 

Thank you for your kind and generous comments about my old post, which serves to remind me how long I have been away from my pens.

 

Congratulations on your purchase. A lovely MB 234.5 (Luxury) model complete with case, which I think would be about right (model number 150/2).

 

I really appreciate the MB 234.5 and have about five of them. I was going to start a collection just of this model :)When the MB 234.5 first came out, it was very much positioned as a second tier pen and was dressed with a papyrus clip (until circa 1942) and the cap had double cap bands. The pencil accompanying that pen, when sold in a set, was the Pix 72, which had the same papyrus clip and it had double barrel bands. However, I am sure that it was entirely possible for one to have a thicker or longer pencil than the Pix 72 and as such, perhaps it isn't possible to be so definite about the accompanying pencil!

 

Your version of the MB 234.5 was the last version and pitched as a luxury model or at least was upgraded somewhat to extend the production life of this model until 1953-4. It is quite beautiful dressed with its Meisterstuck clip and solid cap band, isn't it!

 

From the picture, your pencil looks to me like a Pix 82 or Pix 72 for which in either case the papyrus clip is typical and correct. These pencils were in production from around 1934. I am not an expert but I suspect that the 82 was eventually replaced in the 1950s by the model 282, which interestingly came with the papyrus clip (for the beginning at least).

 

In summary, I suspect your pencil is slightly earlier than your MB 234.5, the luxury version being so much later, and as such I suspect that this particular pen-pencil set may not be entirely accurate. That said, given the way that MB pencils were sold and the way in which the production life of the MB 234.5 was extended, it is entirely possible that yours was a set and you have got yourself a wonderful piece of Montblanc history. If I were still collecting, I would have bought it

 

I am sorry I couldn't be more helpful but I hope the above helps a little. Thanks for sharing.

 

Pavoni.

[penmanila]

Hi, Pavoni, many thanks again for your generously thorough response. The breadth of your knowledge of early Montblancs is a delight to witness.

[DrDebG]

Wow! This is one of the most amazing, informative and interesting posts I have seen on FPN. I am just stunned at the knowledge and passion of many collectors and most particularly pavoni. I am humbled when I think of how little I know of my "collection". Thank you so much for sharing this!

[LUWAN]

I can't believe the original post was 6 years ago! Not only I finally get to know which Soennecken pen to looking for beside highly demanding 111&222, but also start to understand why most pen collectors' soul are with Montblanc and only

 

Salute to Pavoni

[Manofadventure]

Pavoni,

Once again, my compliments on a superlative post. I find myself returning to it, again and again.

Have you considered doing a side by side comparison of the MB138, MB139, Soennecken 510s and Soennecken 111 Extra?

For me, that would be a face off the holy grails.

[max_hat]

This post is an amazing source of information for collectors. 

 

I haven't used my 234.5 luxury version for a few years and the cap cracked (on its own). I am looking to source a new cap and I was wandering if any other MB cap is compatible with 234.5. As I remember, 333.5 had the same cap as the standard 234.5, but I am not sure since I no longer have 333.5.

 

Could someone tell me if 333.5 is compatible with 234.5 barrel? Or any other MB cap that can fit 234.5?

 

Thank you! 

[Seney724]

This thread is now almost 10 years old.  It's great to see that it keeps going on & on....as it should.  It is, as @max_hat says, an amazing resource.

 

I have become a bit confused about the distinction between the "standard" 234 1/2 and the "luxury" version of it.  I understand that the distinction can be made on the basis of the cap ring (standard with two thin rings / luxury with one thicker, raised ring) but I am unclear as to the production dates.  The post war 234 1/2, a slightly shorter pen, has such a cap ring configuration.   Is that the so called luxury version?  Or, were luxury versions (single, thick cap ring) also included in the pre-war, longer length, production runs of the 234 1/2?  

 

Given that there are luxury versions with telescopic filling systems and the post war version has only (I believe) a single stage piston filling system, I'm inclined to think that the true luxury version was a part of the pre-war production run but I'm having trouble verifying it.  

 

There seem to be several 234 1/2 experts who are on this thread.  I hope one or more of them can provide some information and insights.  Thanks in advance.

[max_hat]

Thank you, @Seney724! I do somewhat frivolously use term "luxury" version. By "luxury" I was referring to the version with a single thick band.

To make things even more confusing, I have recently encountered a Spanish MB marked as 34, which is identical to the post-war 234.5 with a single wide ring.