Enjoying Montblanc Pens — Broad, Oblique, Extra Fine, Le & Bespoke

[Uncial]

Sumgai!

I hope so. I kept running my nail over the celluloid looking for cracks and I must have turned the pen a hundred times under a lamp looking for a problem. I'll probably go downstairs tomorrow morning and discover that it's melted during the night or something. I genuinely don't have a lot of luck with vintage pens and if I'd known this was a vintage 146 I would have steered clear. Has a nice weight to it. The telescopic piston is very odd. It feels a bit over designed in comparison to what they are now.

[Remedial penmanship]

Fall down this slippery slope, friend.

[Ghost Plane]

If you deliberately tried for a celluloid, it would have arrived in pieces. It’s the fact you wanted something completely different that fooled the pen gremlins. Murphy’s Law, 3rd corollary

[Tom Kellie]

Metasequoia Pollen Cones

[Matlock]

 

Metasequoia Pollen Cones

 

 

Great picture Tom. I looked up Metasequoia as the cones looked familiar. I then found my cone that I plucked from a tree in Buckingham Palace Garden when my wife and I attended as quests at a royal garden party.

[Tom Kellie]

Great picture Tom. I looked up Metasequoia as the cones looked familiar. I then found my cone that I plucked from a tree in Buckingham Palace Garden when my wife and I attended as quests at a royal garden party.

 

~ Matlock:

 

Thank you!

Having a Metasequoia cone grown in the grounds of Buckingham Palace is a wonderful keepsake.

A friend studying in the U.K. recently told me about seeing Metasequoia growing in Windsor Great Park.

Sure enough, here's a link describing that:

http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/windsor2.htm

As Metasequoia thrive when provided ample water, the U.K. offers favorable growing conditions.

They're endemic to the area of Central China where I'm employed. This week new foliage is appearing, as the pollen cones are dropped.

I'm glad that you noticed a cone when a guest at a Royal garden party. That sounds like a fine experience.

Tom K.

[Matlock]

 

~ Matlock:

 

Thank you!

I'm glad that you noticed a cone when a guest at a Royal garden party. That sounds like a fine experience.

Tom K.

 

We were invited as my wife is a vicar and our Diocese nominated us for the visit. It was a great day and the cucumber sandwiches are as good as they are reputed to be. The Gardens are fantastic and are a wonderful oasis in the middle of London. Visits are available and I would recommend anyone visiting London to enquire.

[Ghost Plane]

Oooooh! Another tidbit to hoard against future trips.

[Tom Kellie]

~ Several unrelated comments in various threads caused me to wonder what materials have been used for Montblanc pen barrels and caps, as opposed to nibs, other than precious resin.

Until the present, all of the Montblanc fountain pens on my desk have all been black precious resin.

From FPN fountain pen reviews as well as other sources I’ve understood that a number of quality materials have been crafted for use by Montblanc pen designers.

There are far more that have been used than I’ve ever seen in Montblanc boutiques. Following are many of those I’ve read about and enjoyed seeing in photographs.

Perhaps others might add other materials which have been used on fountain pen barrels and caps, but not for the Montblanc snow stars.

As I’ve never held a Skeleton pen, I hesitated to include ‘glass’ below, as I’m uncertain what the material is, likewise what’s used in ink windows.

Tom K.

• Amber

• Anthracite

• Brass

• Carbon Fiber

• Celluloid

• Ceramics

• Cowhide Leather

• Damask Steel

• 750 Gold

• Granite

• Grenadilla Wood

• Lacquer

• Lapis Lazuli

• Malachite

• Marble

• Mother-of-pearl

• Platinum

• Porcelain

• Red Gold

• Rose Gold

• Rosewood

• Rubber

• Ruthenium

• Shark Leather

• Stainless Steel

• 925 Sterling Silver

• Tiger-eye

• Titanium

• Vermeil/Silver-gilt

[Ghost Plane]

I’m inclined to think my translucent bits are whatever clear resin usually gets used for demonstrators.

[Tom Kellie]

I’m inclined to think my translucent bits are whatever clear resin usually gets used for demonstrators.

 

~ Ghost Plane:

 

Dare I ask this?

Have you ever used the back of one of your fingernails to tap the clear parts of your stunning Skeletons?

If so, was there a bell-like ring, as from glass, or a different sort of sound?

I'd never thought of clear resin, but that makes sense.

The Montblanc Antonio Gaudi Skeleton has what appears to be stained glass in the cap, but I was unable to find confirmation of the material.

Thank you for noting that clear resin is the likely material in Skeletons. I'm chalking that up as something learned today.

Tom K.

[Ghost Plane]

Do girl cats have claws? It makes the same whack whack whack as acrylic nails hitting a keyboard. Which is probably no more enlightening to the men of the board, but every woman on here will know exactly what I mean.

[Tom Kellie]

Do girl cats have claws? It makes the same whack whack whack as acrylic nails hitting a keyboard. Which is probably no more enlightening to the men of the board, but every woman on here will know exactly what I mean.

 

~ Ghost Plane:

 

Aha! Sounds like it may well be resin as opposed to glass.

I'm still uncertain as to whether or not glass was used in the Gaudi cap.

After going to bed last night several more materials came to mind.

• Coral

• Hematite

• Jade

• Pine

There are surely a number of others...

Tom K.

[Uncial]

I always thought the Paul Klee was glass. Not sure if I read that somewhere or just imagined it. Either way, if money was no object....

[blottingpaperforlife]

 

Banns

 

Mont Blanc is one of the few brands manufacturing "in-house" nibs. Perhaps the company is exceptional in that the nibs are handmade. I am curious if the group could share their thoughts on nib engravings. Are the engravings, particularly, in the limited editions, created by hand? I wonder how such a detailed and laborious task is given perfection (Dumas nib comes to my mind).

[zaddick]

I think we need to add ebonite to the materials list.

 

What about jewel encrusted surfaces? We counting the stones?

 

Did I miss aluminum? I think that is what the Leonardo pen is made of.

[Tom Kellie]

I think we need to add ebonite to the materials list.

 

What about jewel encrusted surfaces? We counting the stones?

 

Did I miss aluminum? I think that is what the Leonardo pen is made of.

 

 

~ zaddick:

 

Thank you so much for adding two more.

I didn't know about any ebonite pens, but after reading your post found them.

I'd struggled with the Leonardo (I read every Montblanc description) as it was referred to as being “anodized” but never added a noun.

Thanks to you I now know that it's anodized aluminum.

I'd avoided the jewels where they cover the barrel, thinking of the models where they're added as accents, but there's no sound reason not to include them.

Not including accent stones or eyes in clips, I've found diamonds and sapphires, including “pink sapphires” in the LE Monte Celio.

First that I ever heard about “pink sapphires”. Shows that I need to get around to more jewelry stores.

There may well be other gemstones which have been used to encrust pen barrels.

I appreciate your expanding the list. Are there a few more which have been overlooked?

Tom K.

• Anodized Aluminum

• Diamond

• Ebonite

• Sapphire

[Tom Kellie]

I always thought the Paul Klee was glass. Not sure if I read that somewhere or just imagined it. Either way, if money was no object....

 

~ Uncial:

 

Thank you for mentioning the lovely Paul Klee.

As it happens, from childhood Klee has been one of my favorite artists.

When preparing a tentative materials list I read as many official Montblanc press releases and catalogue descriptions as possible.

The LE Skeletons gave me much trouble, as the written descriptions often mention selected features without noting others.

Both the Paul Klee and the Diego Rivera seemed to have glass, and a friend in Japan felt certain that they were indeed glass.

I hesitated to add glass as I never encountered anything explicitly describing them as being glass, rather than the clear precious resin mentioned by Ghost Plane.

Were I visiting the Montblanc offices in Hamburg, this is a question that I'd pose, concerning Skeletons.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Mont Blanc is one of the few brands manufacturing "in-house" nibs. Perhaps the company is exceptional in that the nibs are handmade. I am curious if the group could share their thoughts on nib engravings. Are the engravings, particularly, in the limited editions, created by hand? I wonder how such a detailed and laborious task is given perfection (Dumas nib comes to my mind).

 

~ blottingpaperforlife:

 

When preparing the nib sketch above several enlarged photographs of the 2001 PoA Marquise de Pompadour nib were used.

As there's not currently a Marquise de Pompadour nib on my desk, the Internet was a source of images showing engraving details.

The sketching required a moderately systematic observation of patterns.

It was noticeable at higher magnification that the Rococo decorations had been engraved by a moving tool as opposed to being stamped by a die.

Each showed evidence of swirled patterning within the grooves, no two photographs being the same.

That impressed me with the high level of precision artistry involved in crafted a Montblanc nib.

Tom K.

[Matlock]

Mont Blanc is one of the few brands manufacturing "in-house" nibs.

 

Along with Pelikan, Parker, Waterman, Sailor, Pilot/Namiki, Platinum, Lamy, etc.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Matlock