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

[silverlifter]

Replaced from a 24 perhaps?

[jhsd1124013561]

Since the 12/14 and 22/24 caps are interchangable, I recommend you to check if your pen's body is a 14 or 24. You can check if the piston turning knob, if it is a 12/14, there should be a gold ring.

 

You can also disassemble the nib, and there should be a clear serial number on the nib to indicate.

 

I personally have never seen a 12/14 with a blur ink window, your case might be a 24 body in 14 cap.

 

I have a Meisterstuck 14 with blue ink window. It looks correct rather than a result of staining. Is there clear information that it should not be so?

 

This recent photo shows it.

 

 

 

The apparent mark above the 14 is a bit of dust, and the section reflects my shadow, or me.

[praxim]

Replaced from a 24 perhaps?

It is possible that the ink window was replaced. It is as purchased of course. However, do you have the reference to show it should be clear please?

 

Since the 12/14 and 22/24 caps are interchangable, I recommend you to check if your pen's body is a 14 or 24. You can check if the piston turning knob, if it is a 12/14, there should be a gold ring.

 

You can also disassemble the nib, and there should be a clear serial number on the nib to indicate.

 

I personally have never seen a 12/14 with a blur ink window, your case might be a 24 body in 14 cap.

Thank you for this. I have a 121 as well. It has the gold ring on the turning knob, the "14" does not. The caps are not swapped between those two because they do not fit on the other pen. The 14 is fatter.

 

Do you have a reference please? I would like to get these identified correctly because I mean to sell the 14 / 24 (EF nibs do not suit me) so must know exactly what it is first.

 

Later, I will remove the 14's nib to check it. Should the 121 have a serial?

 

edit: added "24"

Edited August 29, 2019 by praxim

[jhsd1124013561]

If your turning knob don't have the gold ring, then the pen body is not a 12/14.

 

Your pen body should be a 24, and since the 24 body can use the 14 cap, it proves that the caps of 12/14 and 22/24 series are interchangable, isn't it?

[jhsd1124013561]

Probably I should also notify that 121 is not part of the 12/14 series, it is a new series.

[praxim]

This link and other posts in the thread show that the 121 is identified correctly but it does appear that the other may be a 24 with 14 cap. That missing ring on the turning knob is the critical feature. I already knew about 14 and 12x sequence and production periods, that is no problem.

 

Thank you for the answers, although I am still interested in a full source for these identifications.

[praxim]

Now this gets interesting. I removed the nib as suggested. Here it is:

 

 

The text in the centre is difficult to see in the photo but clear close up. It says 14, as well as 18c 750 more clearly visible in the photo.

 

So, a plausible set of events might have been that someone broke their 14 barrel or piston, took the good section, nib unit and cap, and put them together with a 24 barrel and piston knob. However, there is an issue with that story.

 

As it happens I am also the proud [?] owner of a spare 24 nib and feed, where on investigation the nib is marked 14c 585 with 24 in between. The feed case is also slightly different.

 

I tried screwing this 24 section to my 14. It does not fit. However, all known 14 parts fit.

 

Anybody got a drawing board somewhere? I may need to go back to it.

 

[txomsy]

18C nibs were typically made for some European countries like France if I remember well. You could not sell anything as 'gold' in France unless it was at least 18C. So there were typically special versions made for France to accommodate.

 

Also, there were Montblanc factories outside Germany (at least, I think, in Spain, Italy and possibly, France).

 

So, that the nib is higher in gold suggests to me that the pen it belonged to was made for the French (or similar) market, and it could possibly have been made outside Germany, may be with a slightly, locally customised design.

 

I recently saw in eBay a MB that had one such butterfly nib, but it is not hooded as in this series, it is a piston filler, grey, and with a snap-on cap. By all characteristics it seems to be one of these series... except for the fully exposed nib. Since it was from Italy, I would assume it was local variation.

 

Maybe yours was similarly a local variation for the French market (higher gold content and different gauge).

[Ryanlim]

Not a problem, let me know if you are interested. I have all of them available for sale

Thank you for an informative and extensive post on vintage MB. I have no MB in my collection, and am considering starting with a vintage MB, instead of the overpriced modern MBs....I am intrigued by the vintage MB nibs... ;-)

[Yrusew]

Hi, very interesting thread. If it is still active I would like to ask a question. 

 

I bought a MB in the early 70’s that I have not seen referenced. It was a students pen I think. It was yellow or butterscotch and black. It had a MB logo that uncharacteristically screwed on (white on black). 
 

I sent it to MB for repair many years ago. Recently I came across the sleeve that MB returned it in and the original ink in a plastic MB container. 
 

The pen was discarded long ago. On finding the remnants I was compelled to buy a 149. 
 

My question: what was my original pen, can I still find one?

 

Hg

[SpecTP]

On 3/2/2021 at 4:32 AM, Yrusew said:

Hi, very interesting thread. If it is still active I would like to ask a question. 

 

I bought a MB in the early 70’s that I have not seen referenced. It was a students pen I think. It was yellow or butterscotch and black. It had a MB logo that uncharacteristically screwed on (white on black). 
 

I sent it to MB for repair many years ago. Recently I came across the sleeve that MB returned it in and the original ink in a plastic MB container. 
 

The pen was discarded long ago. On finding the remnants I was compelled to buy a 149. 
 

My question: what was my original pen, can I still find one?

 

Hg

 

perhaps a Montblanc Carrera? see thread

 

[NumberSix]

Is the No. 72, with an amber ink window, part of this series? 

 

Going by the number and shape, I assumed it was basically a No 12, with a gold cap. But I have seen some indication that it might actually date to the 1950s, which would put it before the x2/x4 series if I understand correctly. 

 

 

[gyasko]

7 hours ago, NumberSix said:

Is the No. 72, with an amber ink window, part of this series? 

 

Yes, it is. 

[DrWabbit]

jhsd1124013561, many thanks for posting this wonderfully detailed report! It has inspired me to seek out these amazing pens, which deserve more attention and should not be overlooked.

 

I thought I’d post a side-by-side comparison of the “Intarsia” and “Butterfly” nibbed 32s, which are a convenient size for every day carry and are reliable writers.

 

 

 

 

[txomsy]

Nice to see them both side by side. Thanks.

[nampad]

Does anyone know if the gold rings from the ink window are interchangeable between the 14 and 22?

 

Thank you.

[jhsd1124013561]

On 7/13/2021 at 11:25 PM, nampad said:

Does anyone know if the gold rings from the ink window are interchangeable between the 14 and 22?

 

Thank you.

 

Hi nampad, 14 and 22 are two different size pens, thus I am afraid the ink windows are not interchangable.

 

However, you can try to interchange the inkwindow between 14 and 24 (or 12 and 22) since they are same size pens. 

[lshines]

19Sep21 - I asked about the MB 14, other two digit and three digit pens on the FPGeeks forum (I'm new to all of this), and someone gave me the link to this info/page!  WOW, extensive and well explained - thank you!  What started me on this path was seeing a GREEN MB 14 on ebay (the devil ebay), and now I'm going crazy to get one.  jhsd1124013561 and others, if you have one for sale, please let me know.

[Zarus]

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).

[The Mustard]

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