A Thorough Report On Montblanc 12/14/22/24/32/34 Series

[jhsd1124013561]

  On 10/18/2021 at 9:09 PM, Zarus said:

Awesome posts! Thanks so much for sharing these. I love these series although I never really collected them as I focussed on the (slightly cheaper) school pens (Monte Rosa, Carrera, Caressa, Junior, Turbo, etc).

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All great pens, enjoy the journey, cheers!

[jhsd1124013561]

  On 10/30/2021 at 12:37 PM, The Mustard said:

I am so pleased this post has been re-born- great stuff, thanks!

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Thank you!

[max_hat]

As someone who recently discovered a family owned Meisterstuck 12, I found this tread highly informative.

 

My Montblanc 12 appears to be missing the outer ink window (which seems to be rather hard to find anywhere online). Does anyone know if the ink window of No. 22 or No. 22 (or any other) would fit into No. 12?

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

PS: Very recently I rediscovered my love for fountain pens, and this is my first post on the The Fountain Pen Network.

[SpecTP]

  On 4/25/2022 at 5:20 PM, max_hat said:

As someone who recently discovered a family owned Meisterstuck 12, I found this tread highly informative.

 

My Montblanc 12 appears to be missing the outer ink window (which seems to be rather hard to find anywhere online). Does anyone know if the ink window of No. 22 or No. 22 (or any other) would fit into No. 12?

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

PS: Very recently I rediscovered my love for fountain pens, and this is my first post on the The Fountain Pen Network.

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it should fit, but it'll be blue instead of the original amber.

[Floydly]

Howdy! How challenging is it to swap nibs on these guys? I’ve been failing to find a “tutorial” online. Saw a 22 for an excellent price locally, but I am not a fan of M nibs. It looks easy based on the photos… but they are simply photos.

[Karmachanic]

  On 2/1/2023 at 1:43 PM, Floydly said:

Howdy! How challenging is it to swap nibs on these guys?

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Very easy if one has a replacement nib.

[Floydly]

  On 2/1/2023 at 5:28 PM, Karmachanic said:

 

Very easy if one has a replacement nib.

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Excellent! Thank you.  I found a 22 with an M nib for a verrry low price, but I wanted it with an oblique, so I’ll just spend the difference on grabbing the appropriate nib!

 

Yaaaay, a girls gonna get her first Montblanc!

[beetlebug]

The original posts are a awesome source of information. Thanks for doing  them! This is my favorite range of MB pens, and I think underrated. Just picked up a 32s and this helped me to understand the models place in the big picture.

 

[beetlebug]

  On 2/1/2023 at 1:43 PM, Floydly said:

Howdy! How challenging is it to swap nibs on these guys? I’ve been failing to find a “tutorial” online. Saw a 22 for an excellent price locally, but I am not a fan of M nibs. It looks easy based on the photos… but they are simply photos.

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As was said not a big deal the replace the nib. These pens have lovely nibs and I can recommend the medium. These are stub like and wonderful to write with.

[Pentagramophone]

I have a line on a Montblanc 72, but I am confused by the fact that the piston knob lacks the gold accent ring. I have only seen one or two other examples of this in my Google image searching. Is this a normal variation of this pen (perhaps an earlier vs. later model)? Or could it be possible that the piston/knob has been replaced with a piston/knob from, say, a MB 22 or something? Thanks!

[SpecTP]

  On 7/4/2023 at 12:13 PM, Pentagramophone said:

I have a line on a Montblanc 72, but I am confused by the fact that the piston knob lacks the gold accent ring. I have only seen one or two other examples of this in my Google image searching. Is this a normal variation of this pen (perhaps an earlier vs. later model)? Or could it be possible that the piston/knob has been replaced with a piston/knob from, say, a MB 22 or something? Thanks!

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both of my 74 an 72 have the gold ring on the piston knob. I have a 224 that doesn't have the ring, but that is a different series and is matte finish.

 

from left to right, 74, 72, 224

[cougarking]

Hi

 

of the hooded 12/22/32 series pen would be the larger in terms of length and more importantly girth  for the nib section.

 

thks

[Bo Bo Olson]

Thanks ever so much for this thread. I was looking for the 14, and couldn't find anything, in somehow I never opened this thread....not having quite enough MB's...which I now have. I was give this link by a nice poster.

 

!@#$%%^^&*@# MB's always pushed up the price of a live auction lot, when I was chasing the other pens in the lot. That started on the very second auction where I bid on a 400nn, with some sort of weird looking MB pen...didn't look like a cigar/torpedo 146/9, drove up the price.........I was going to get rid of that 234 1/2 Deluxe, and the Pelikan 450&455 MP&BP. I still have all of them.

Has a single thick band instead of two regular 234 1/2 and has a Meisterstuck clip.

I had in my hand two weeks ago, a regular 234 1/2...semi-flex...very late '30's, early 40's start of war pen reduction of the metal.

March of '43 the pen companies were told to stop production on 1 May 1943. I have mid war pens, with no cap rings, just a mark of little rills pressed into the cap to prove it was supposed to be that way, not that the ring(s) were lost.

Don't know what  metal was there. but I lost that auction....well 400 pens and 50BP/MP's  was a bit of greed,and 400 hours of work polishing some of them up, not counting repair costs...in the end I'm glad I lost.

 

Looked it up right after I won it, and it was a $200 used pen (And I was being very bold with a €50 Ebay bid, back in my bottom feeding days. (I got the whole lot for say €130-40 if I remember correctly from 15 years ago; I had figured the €30-40 for each of the Pelikan 450/455, and had hoped to salvage something for the MB...in €70 was then the worth of a 400nn, and all together I was under it..)

Then a couple years later some pirate wanted a Buy Now price of Only...$900 for the 234 1/2 Deluxe made in '52-54 only. Luckily Penboard.de brought me back to earth with a price of 'only' €500.

Not bad for a pen through my total ignorance I didn't want in the first place. Very nice KOB semi-flex nib. great balance....but I have fears my 32 will be the better.

 

Got to look more in Lambrou's book on Fountain pens....a no matter what, a must have book. My '89 edition is rated as better than a later edition....but that book is $$$.

 

The thicker girthed 234 1/2 despite of the brass guts making it a tad back heavy, shockingly won my noobie 20 pen balance test. The 400nn was 4th to a thin medium-long Geha 725 (still a half a hair better balanced than my MB's (probably), third was a silver Parker 75.

 

I won a rolled gold 742, I wanted because of the 1/2 way between a semi-flex and a maxi-semi-flex nib...the only one like that I have, with my mostly German 35 semi-flex and 16 maxi-semi-flex pens. I couldn't let a dealer get that nib.  Back in the day...no telephone bidding or computer bidding, just me against a dealer who had to sell for a profit, and me the only crazy collector in the room. 

Semi&maxi clump together; I don't find a whole lot of variation with in each flex rate.  The 742 is way too heavy.

 

There was a lonely mint 146 (perhaps 90's in it has a nice springy regular flex nib) in an empty pre-telephone and computer era dead of summer auction hall, I got for the opening bid, which would have been my only bid. I wasn't all that interested, in to me a 146 is a big pen, but it was mint....then another 146 (@'90) was sitting across the inkwell below. I was more into the inkwell but with the 146. I got it as cheap as the other. In other words the inkwell was free.

 

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of that beater 'save the maxi-semi-flex nib' I'd had vague hopes of running across, in medium-large 1948-59. Cap bent a bit, no cap bands, shot gasket. I did have a newer large 146 to put the nib on if the pen couldn't be saved...I'd not expected Francis's restructuring work.

I'd been satisfied with any cap bands...would have taken beater heaven; for the maxi-semi-flex nib. Francis restored it so, so well. A finely balanced pen.

 

The 149 also @ 1990 in all the 18K pens in that live auction lot were.....is to big for me.

 

Last year I got a couple MB's, one a 32...it was under appreciated, until I got a 264. I had checked the nib out at the Live Auction. I decided I'd not need a 144 I had been thinking about for the balance that I find missing in the  1970-now 146 , in the 264 was semi-flex and had great balance...posted of course.

 

Yesterday, at an auction house, I had not planned to be even interested, in they were MB's and would go for more than I was willing to pay. I had not even looked at them. The the bidding started too low to let it go that cheap....It reached prices that I thought as low medium Ebay prices, and I won.

 

I had never heard of a 14. A very nice EF, springy, real good tine bend, but not quite a 3 X tine spread of a semi-flex... almost. I defiantly didn't need a modern nibbed 144.

A pen in the mix for best balanced pen I have....of course it has to beat the light and nimble great balanced 32....semi-flex F/EF.

 

The 224 which has a frozen piston...had I checked out the pens before, I'd not bid. The 224 is the MB copy of a Lamy 2000.

It's ok I have a number of pens that need to be sent to Francis.

.......................................

I now have a nice problem. I got to take my MB 234 1/2, medium-large 146, this 14, a 264  and my now so liked 32 out for a balance war. 

That will be a MB only war, in I've not go the rest of the year to do another  balance testing of my well to better balanced pens.

And to me a large 146 much less a 149, lost the balance war before a shot was fired.

 

I have a feeling if the 32 don't win, it could be second. such a nice lively  pen.

Well I will have to bring out my Geha 725 into the war. That pen cost DM360 or $90, when a silver Parker 75 cost $22 in silver money in the BX when I bought it in '71. BX/PX was always a bit cheaper than civilian market, because US military was so ill paid in the draft era.

Back then the PX/BX/Commisarry was just supposed to break even. Don't think that is true any more.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I was checking out a couple lots of fountain pens at one of the live auction houses I 'buy' pens at.

 

A Lady from the old fogie's gymnastic class has an MB 250...boy did my eyes light up when I saw one of the MB's was that pen. Then having read about the cracked cap sickness of that model.....found the crack.

 

In the other lot was a Brouse 585 gold nib fountain pen....and I didn't know Brouse ever made fountain pens, much less semi-flex gold nibs.

And an MB 22 with the first part of the feed broken off. So much for plan A.

An MB  3  42, disremember if it was semi-flex or springy regular flex, but it wasn't a nail. There was more space between the 3 and 42 than I'd expected.

 

In both lots were '60's Lamy's that had springy regular flex nibs, to my surprise.

I am not going to start collecting Lamy's this late in the game. Nice thin pens, not the 27 or 99.

 

So my wife can spend more money on the things she likes. One can't win all the time, and as one can read, out of nowhere I picked up a lot of semi-flex MB's lately.

I now have money to repair pens; basically new gaskets.

Should pack five of them up today or tomorrow.

 

[cougarking]

Of the range listed which would be the largest pen?

 

I am interested in vintage mb, but need a large length and girth for my hand size.

thks

[Bo Bo Olson]

The modern 146 is a Large pen, the 149 is an ovesized pen, much too big for me and my 9 & 1/2 inch spread hands. Have one 149 part of a live auction lot, that I'll never use.

I find the 146 stately, and fair balanced, posted.

I prefer medium-large pens like a 600 Pelikan, or a P-51.

I have a '1948-59 medium-large 146 with a semi-flex nib that I much prefer to the Large 1970-now 146 springy regular flex nib. The vintage, somewhat smaller 146 has much better balance and a more lively nib.

............

I have found the medium large vintage MB 14 to have quite good balance and a nice semi-flex nib. Semi-flex is a flair nib, adding natural flair to your writing, not a calligraphy do Olympic splits with nib....superflex nib. Semi=almost...slight tine spread up to 3X vs a light downstroke when pressed medium hard.

I had thoughts of buying am MB144, a cartridge pen...medium-large (my guess) in I found my large 146's a bit big for me, but lucked into this vintage medium-large 14 piston pen, so don't have to buy a cartridge/converter pen.

...............

I am quite happy with my MB32, but it is light and lively standard pen, which seems too small for you, even posted.

 

 

What pens do you have?

Do you post?

 

[cougarking]

Thanks for the reply.

I don’t now post.

 

parker 61- love the smooth section, too thin and light

lamy 2000 -nice nib, needs to be larger in length and barrel width

lamy studio -good nib selection would prefer long and heavier

dipomat areo-good weigh,great gold nib. Needs to be longer

waterman carene- very smooth gold nib, if slightly longer and thicker great pen

parker sonnet- too small and thin

leonardo mzg2 - good length, hate ink window needs to be slightly heavier

mb - Jonathan swift good nibbroad but would like stub, needs longer section, weight ok

Nib wise I use stub style 1.1 size if poss.

prefer longer smooth section and happy with inlaid nibs

[Bo Bo Olson]

IMO is you don't post pens designed to be posted, so call them too small.

 

I don't have a MB Swift, just the ink, but do have a MB Virginia Woolf, which can't be posted or it scratches the gold piston cap.

 

I use the forefinger up method of grasping a fountain pen and find un-posted large pens to be too short.

Except for the Snorkel, which you would find too thin....or even the P-45...for me two of the large pens with some balance.

 

In you don't post then a 149 could be good enough, it is a thick fat pen barrel.

 

That is often a problem for those who grew up when large pens became the standard size, thy have problems with pens that were designed to be posted. Like your P-61, 2000.

 

Suggest you try your too short pens, posted. Could save you a lot of money.

[Mercian]

@cougarking, I agree with BoBo.
 

I don't post my M800 and M805, but I do (usually) post my Lamy 2000.

I can just about get away with not posting my Parker Sonnet, but if I don't post my Pelikan M205, 400, and M400 (which are all the same size) they are all too small in my hand. Whereas with the caps posted on them they are perfect.
The same is definitely true for my Pilot Preras, and Parker Vectors, and 25.
My Parker 75s also feel better in my hand when they are posted. As does my vintage Parker (UK) Junior Duofold. I am confident that all of those pens were designed/intended to be used with their caps posted.

 

Now, I don't post my (first series) Parker Urbans. Doing so makes them back-heavy (they are made of brass) but another, major, reason for my decision is the fact that always posting the cap of my first one wore off a small area of its lacquer

 

If you have come to the (perfectly reasonable) decision that you don't want to post your pens, you will of course need to allow for that decision by restricting yourself to buying larger pens.

E.g. if you like the size of the Montblanc 149 but don't like its price, you could instead buy a Wing Sung/JunLai 630 piston-filler with a gold nib for about £150, or one with a steel nib for about £38, or a range of Jinhao 159 c/c pens with steel nibs for about £10 each (although the Jinhaos might feel too light for you).

 

I wish you the best of luck in your search

Slàinte,
M.

 

Edit to add:

Although there are several listings for the Wing Sung 630 (and/or the Jun Lai Wing Sung 630) on eBay.com, no listings are shown when I look for them on eBay.co.uk.

I wonder why that might be....

[bcat5]

Am I correct in assuming that the only source for a replacement piston would be another 24 or possibly a 34, but not a 22 or 32?

I used Capt. Tolley's to patch a crack in the piston on a beautiful OB 24 I got recently, but I'd really like to replace the piston if possible.