Montblanc Patron Of The Arts - Francois I

[Lamb South]

This is my very first pen review and I hope you enjoy it.

 

INTRODUCTION: The Francois I Montblanc Patron of the Arts FP is a grail pen for me. I loved the Montblanc Alexandre Dumas WE pen, which has many similar details. Additionally, I have always wanted a Montblanc POA pen and this one by far was my favorite design. I found a good deal for it on Penboards.de (no affiliation) so made the purchase. It is a solid looking pen that evokes elegance. When I first opened the packaging, I could tell how much time and work went into this pen’s creation. The pen is incased in a green lacquered wooden box with gold detailing and embellishment. Green is not my favorite color but I can tell why they used it. The green color really sets off the gold, black and brown colors of the pen and makes it stand out. The packaging also included a coordinating outer cardboard box and instruction/warranty booklet.

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-s2T8r8n/0/XL/IMG_0414-XL.jpg

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-LNcqXzC/0/XL/IMG_0409-XL.jpg

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-SZPz8pv/0/XL/IMG_0411-XL.jpg

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-56MgBLS/0/XL/IMG_0412-XL.jpg

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-gMpBXvN/0/XL/IMG_0410-XL.jpg

• Appearance & Design (1-10) – 10 Francois I was the king of France from 1515 to 1547 and initiated the French Renaissance. He was one of the great patrons of the renaissance and was able to attract many great Italian artists to come to France, including Leonardo Da Vinci. The pen evokes that time period. The clip and metal bands are engraved with beautiful flower scroll work. Classic fleur de lis are engraved on the clip all well as the nib. The main part of the barrel is made up of tiger eye stone. The grain in the stone is beautiful and almost gives it a wood like quality. The cap and remaining barrel portions are made of black precious resin. This is truly a beautiful fountain pen.
• Construction & Quality (1-10) – 10 This is a very sturdy pen. The tiger eye barrel gives it a lot of weight and the resin cap is very thick. There is no evidence of any flaws on this pen. This is a pen that definitely feels like it would last many generations.
• Weight & Dimensions (1-10) – 8 The dimensions of this pen lend themselves to writers with medium to large size hands. Capped length 145 mm; Uncapped length 125 mm; Posted length 167 mm; Barrel diameter 13 mm; Cap diameter 15 mm. I have large hands and so this pen suits me very well. This is a heavy pen at about 62.4 grams. For many writers this might be too much weight to write for extended periods of time comfortably. As the cap on the Francois is heavy, it puts far too much weight toward the back of the pen in order write comfortably posted.
• Nib & Performance (1-10) – 10 The 18k solid gold monotone medium nib on this pen is truly gorgeous. It has three fleur de lis engraved on it as well as the standard Montblanc 4810. The nib writes extremely smooth and is a wet writer. It writes wonderfully and has one of the best feels amongst my Montblanc pens. This is a very expensive Montblanc nib and you should not try to service the nib yourself. Instead you should leave this work to the service center in Hamburg or use a Montblanc nibmeister.
• Filling System & Maintenance (1-10) – 10 This is a piston filler fountain pen. I initially flushed the pen out several times to make sure that there were no lingering chemicals. Then I filled it up with Montblanc Toffee Brown ink. The filling system works well and the piston twist action is very smooth. The Francois seems to hold a standard amount of ink for a piston filler pen. I have not experienced any leaks or messes?
• Cost & Value (1-10) – 7 This is not an inexpensive pen and to say this is a great value as an everyday writer would not be true. This Francois I is a limited edition of 4,810 pens. There is another edition that is limited to 888 pieces. I bought this pen NOS and compared to the prices offered on eBay, I got a much better deal from Penboard.de working with MaxPens. This is a great pen and it is currently the most beautiful pen in my collection. However, the purchase of this pen used up my pen budget for an entire year. If you want to amass a large pen collection in a year’s time, avoid Montblanc pens in general and the Patron of the Arts series in particular. However if you want a precious limited edition keepsake pen that is both beautiful to look at and writes like a dream, the POA series might just be for you.
• Conclusion (Final score, xx/6) – 9.17 The pen draws all sorts of “oohs and aahs” whenever people come into my office and see it at my desk. It is a great writer with a very smooth nib. I have not written extensively with it, so do not know if the weight will impact how long I can write comfortably with it or use as a daily writer. Due to the expense of the Francois I, it will be a pen that stays at my desk and will not be going out on the road for any trips. I love this pen and as I said before I have lusted after it as a grail pen for the longest time. It will be a part of my permanent collection and I doubt if I will ever sell it. It is a true masterpiece.

[da vinci]

Nice review thanks

[Davros]

Interesting! It is a striking pen, though not to my taste. How is the balance unposted?

[pavoni]

Congratulations on both your fabulous pen and your excellent review Lamb South. Max is brilliant to deal with so you can be assured that you have got what you paid for

 

Do you have a particular pen case for it when transporting to your office or are you relying on that lovely presentation box?

 

Thank you for sharing so generously.

 

Pavoni.

[Lamb South]

Interesting! It is a striking pen, though not to my taste. How is the balance unposted?

The balance of the Francois unposted is very good. I know for a lot of folks "not posting" is a deal breaker. In this case, posting makes the pen way too long and unbalanced to write. Unposted, this pen still offers plenty of length and without the cap the pen feels good in the hand. I am still getting used to the feel of the pen while writing. One suggestion for change I might have made was to have the tiger eye section of the barrel shortened with more resin toward the back. This would have positioned the balance point more toward the nib of the pen and at that point the balance would have been perfect.

[Lamb South]

Congratulations on both your fabulous pen and your excellent review Lamb South. Max is brilliant to deal with so you can be assured that you have got what you paid for

 

Do you have a particular pen case for it when transporting to your office or are you relying on that lovely presentation box?

 

Thank you for sharing so generously.

 

Pavoni.

Pavoni,

 

Thanks for your kind words. I am searching for a suitable pen case to transport my Francois. I have several Franklin-Christoff two pen holders and two pen Penvelopes, which I use because I normally carry a ballpoint and fountain pen version of all my MB pens. This presents a bit of a dilemma since there is no BP versions of the Patron of the Arts pens. For now it remains in its presentation box. I am open to suggestions for an appropriate case for this wonderful keepsake. If anyone has some thoughts, please share.

[Intellidepth]

Thank you for sharing. It's all lovely (pen, engravings, that shiny green lacquer, and your thoughts).

[Lamb South]

Intellidepth,

 

Thank you.

[Lamb South]

Just to give you an idea of how large this pen is, below is a picture of the Francois I next to a Montblanc 149.

 

http://lamsouth.smugmug.com/Montblanc-POA-Francois-I/i-vnGnt3R/0/XL/IMG_0418-XL.jpg

[europen]

Lamb South,

 

Beautiful pen, fine review.

 

I've been fnt-pen collecting for 30 years and never once has an MB pen of any kind been of visual interest to me -- so I have none in my collection -- but this is the first exception. Truly a beautiful pen.

 

Congratulations on owning it and also for an excellent and thorough review, and great images.

 

The design reminds me of my Visconti OS 'Renaissance' line, some pictures of which you can find in a thread called Visconti--A View to a Pen under the Italian pens section of the FPN forum, if you're curious. (Won't post it here as this is under fnt pen reviews.)

[jamesgibby]

excellent review! i didn't realise the pen was so large compared to the 149!

 

this will be going on the Review Index in the MB Forum on my next update

[Lamb South]

excellent review! i didn't realise the pen was so large compared to the 149!

 

this will be going on the Review Index in the MB Forum on my next update

Thank you. I was surprised as well by it's size. I thought the POA series were all 146 sized. The nib is matched in size to other 146 type pens but the barrel and cap are extremely large.

[torstar]

[jealous]

[Lamb South]

Lamb South,

 

Beautiful pen, fine review.

 

I've been fnt-pen collecting for 30 years and never once has an MB pen of any kind been of visual interest to me -- so I have none in my collection -- but this is the first exception. Truly a beautiful pen.

 

Congratulations on owning it and also for an excellent and thorough review, and great images.

 

The design reminds me of my Visconti OS 'Renaissance' line, some pictures of which you can find in a thread called Visconti--A View to a Pen under the Italian pens section of the FPN forum, if you're curious. (Won't post it here as this is under fnt pen reviews.)

I will take a look at the post. Thanks for the heads up. So many pens, so little money.

[Tom Kellie]

~ Lamb South:

 

A lovely pen in an outstanding review.

The photographs are exceptional.

Thank you for the information and for the comparison photo with a 149.

Tom K.