The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[fpupulin]

I understand that everyone prefers perhaps to make their own "eights" for their own pen. For those who do not want to try their hand at it, I am attaching here the high resolution files with the series of 3 eights and 4 eights. Boutiques will need this file to be able to engrave the calligraphic eights design.

 

 

 

Finally, I agree with most of your suggestions, to use the "improved" 3 eights. I have decided to have them engraved on my pen with a height of 1 cm. As soon as I have done it (but I don't know when it will be possible), I will post a photo of the result. I also attach two files with the eights at a height of 1 cm.

 

 

 

 

[rvur]

14 hours ago, fpupulin said:

In a few days I hope to be in Italy. The first flight attempt, yesterday, failed: I did not understand the Covid measures of the three countries that I have to touch with my flight, and they did not let me board ....

Anyway, I finally decided to take my 149 Calligraphy with me. Not because I can't go without it, no, it's just that in Italy I would have the opportunity to have the cap engraved at a Boutique, something that I thought for some time in order to be able to distinguish this pen, even when closed, from my other Meisterstücks 149.

At first I had thought of having the cap engraved with the word "Calligraphy", but then someone suggested that I engrave some calligraphic eights.

 

Here I have made some tests. The second sketch, from above, is the shape of the eights as it appears on the nib of the Calligraphy. The third is the same model, but "improved" to be a little bolder. In the last one at the bottom I added another eight, to make the possible engraving more rounded.

 

Which one do you prefer? Written or eights? And if the eights, which ones?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

 

A bit late, I also would go for the option no.3, the most balanced.

[como]

10 hours ago, como said:

@fpupulinI prefer the first and middle one. They are both nice. The last one is too much, I think.

I just realised that my answer was confusing. I meant the first and the second of the "eights", with a slight preference of the second "sights". Goldilocks... 😀

[Frank C]

1 hour ago, fpupulin said:

I understand that everyone prefers perhaps to make their own "eights" for their own pen. For those who do not want to try their hand at it, I am attaching here the high resolution files with the series of 3 eights and 4 eights. Boutiques will need this file to be able to engrave the calligraphic eights design.

 

 

 

Finally, I agree with most of your suggestions, to use the "improved" 3 eights. I have decided to have them engraved on my pen with a height of 1 cm. As soon as I have done it (but I don't know when it will be possible), I will post a photo of the result. I also attach two files with the eights at a height of 1 cm.

 

 

 

 

I will try to go by local boutique today. The engraver, José, has always been very helpful. I wiil ask him about the possibility of engraving this design. I will post my results later today. 

[Frank C]

I just got off the phone with my local MB Boutique. I called to see if José is in today, but he's off. The manager answered the phone, so I went ahead and asked him my questions. 

 

He said: They can't engrave 149s in the store; their engraving jig only accommodates pens up to the Legrand size;

 

They send 149s to the Repair Center in Fort Worth, Texas, for engraving;

 

There is one man there who does all the engraving;

 

He will contact the engraver in Ft. Worth to inquire about the feasibility of this project; 

 

Montblanc will probably consider this to be a "Signature Engraving, Personalization" request;

 

There is a set-up fee for $67 for the first engraving of a signature, $20 for each subsequent engraving—I got these prices from the MB Service Prices* Writing Instruments document online, dated 10/2020*;

 

I told him that I would be happy to pay the $67 fee for the set-up, he said that he would check to see if others could use my set-up for $20;

 

He told me that it usually takes a few days for MB to get back to him;

 

He will check in with me in a few days, one way or the other;

 

He told me that MB has some interesting pens and special edition ink coming out soon—he always tells me that. 

 

 

* https://www.montblanc.com/ytos/resources/MONTBLANC/pdf/us/Preislisten-Online-Chart-2020-WI-US.pdf 

[como]

@Frank CThe poor Texan is going to get 2,000 requests of engravings of “eights” all of a sudden!! 😂

[Frank C]

24 minutes ago, como said:

@Frank CThe poor Texan is going to get 2,000 requests of engravings of “eights” all of a sudden!! 😂

Once he has set it up, he just pushes a button and the CNC does the rest. We'll see how this works out. As I told the manager, I think that most people who have a 149 Calligraphy Pen have more than one 149. Most of us would appreciate having a way to distinguish among them. I ordered several Nakayas, of different colors and nib sizes, several years ago. I paid extra to have the nib size, in kanji, painted on some of the pens. The problem is that there is so little contrast between the kanji and the rest of the pen, it is easier to take the cap off than search for the kanji. 

 

With the gold on black color scheme, these should be easier to tell apart. If one only has to pay $20 USD for it, I do agree that many people will opt for this. As a rule, engraving one's name on a pen decreases its value; I don't think that will be the case with the serial eights. 

[fpupulin]

9 hours ago, como said:

@Frank CThe poor Texan is going to get 2,000 requests of engravings of “eights” all of a sudden!! 😂

 

Ha ha ha!!!

[fpupulin]

9 hours ago, Frank C said:

I just got off the phone with my local MB Boutique. I called to see if José is in today, but he's off. The manager answered the phone, so I went ahead and asked him my questions.

[...]

 

Dearest Franck C, thank you so much for the research you did and for giving us a full report. I realize now that my approach was really too simplistic: I just imagined walking into a boutique, waiting a few minutes for them to do the engraving work, and walking away with my engraved pen thanking for the free service ... Now, with your information, it seems a bit more uphill to me ...

 

Firstly, considering that I will have to remain in quarantine for ten days, I am not sure I will find the time to carry out a project that, it seems, requires several days to be completed. Moreover, I'm not very sure I want to spend what in Italy will easily become at least 70 Euros to have my Calligraphy engraved.

 

As for the engraving, though, I agree with you that the motif of the eight, being a sort of "functional embellishment", will not detract from our pens. I say this for what it counts, because in any case I do not imagine that anyone wants to get rid of their Calligraphy, or at least not me for sure!
 

Tomorrow I will write to the Montenapoleone Boutique in Milan and begin asking a few questions to evaluate the effective feasibility of the "operation".

[como]

My sincere gratitude to @fpupulinFranco for creating this thread and inspiring me to try calligraphy. I feel like a primary school kid again but it's so much fun! Franco, your calligraphy not only influenced me to acquire this pen, which I have been enjoying so much, but also motivated me to take out my vintage pens to try the same thing! Thank you for your generous knowledge sharing and contagious passion!

[a student]

4 minutes ago, como said:

My sincere gratitude to @fpupulinFranco for creating this thread and inspiring me to try calligraphy. I feel like a primary school kid again but it's so much fun! Franco, your calligraphy not only influenced me to acquire this pen, which I have been enjoying so much, but also motivated me to take out my vintage pens to try the same thing! Thank you for your generous knowledge sharing and contagious passion!

That is very good indeed!

[invisuu]

That's really good, como. Good job.

[Frank C]

15 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

Dearest Franck C, thank you so much for the research you did and for giving us a full report. I realize now that my approach was really too simplistic: I just imagined walking into a boutique, waiting a few minutes for them to do the engraving work, and walking away with my engraved pen thanking for the free service ... Now, with your information, it seems a bit more uphill to me ...

 

We'll see what the manager says. It could turn out that one could just send one's pen cap to Fort Worth, Texas, they would engrave it, and then send it back. I keep my Calligraphy pen inked at all times. I would be reluctant to part with it for two weeks to get the cap engraved. I have checked and 149 caps are not necessarily interchangeable. They must have changed the threads at some point. I have several un-inked 149s; only one of the caps fits the Calligraphy 149. 

 

The set-up only needs to be done once. As I said, I would be happy to pay for it. Then others could just pay the single price for engraving. 

 

Montblanc is an international company. One would think that the CNC file could be shared throughout the world. I have a few more ideas, but first, let's see what the manager says. 

 

Of course this engraving would only serve to help the Montblanc brand. They should provide it as a free service. 

[fpupulin]

6 hours ago, como said:

My sincere gratitude to @fpupulinFranco for creating this thread and inspiring me to try calligraphy. I feel like a primary school kid again but it's so much fun! Franco, your calligraphy not only influenced me to acquire this pen, which I have been enjoying so much, but also motivated me to take out my vintage pens to try the same thing! Thank you for your generous knowledge sharing and contagious passion!

My dear friend como, this is truly spectacular! Your control of the Calligraphy nib on the simple paper of the Moleskine Cahier is superlative, even writing at the height of a single 6 mm row. Bravo!!!

[Fawate]

5 hours ago, Frank C said:

[...] I have checked and 149 caps are not necessarily interchangeable. They must have changed the threads at some point. I have several un-inked 149s; only one of the caps fits the Calligraphy 149. [...]

 

I may be wrong but I read somewhere that Montblanc changed the threads around 2013. I have a 90th Anniversary 149 that will not accept the cap of a 1990s model, but will accept the cap of my Calligraphy. It seems that MB also changed the nib collar and no longer use the rose sealant on the nib unit. 

[Frank C]

1 hour ago, Fawate said:

I may be wrong but I read somewhere that Montblanc changed the threads around 2013. I have a 90th Anniversary 149 that will not accept the cap of a 1990s model, but will accept the cap of my Calligraphy. It seems that MB also changed the nib collar and no longer use the rose sealant on the nib unit. 

That's what I noticed; the pink gold 90th anniversary cap fit, the older ones didn't. I was planning to send just the cap in so I could keep on practicing with my pen. 

[Frank C]

9 hours ago, como said:

My sincere gratitude to @fpupulinFranco for creating this thread and inspiring me to try calligraphy. I feel like a primary school kid again but it's so much fun! Franco, your calligraphy not only influenced me to acquire this pen, which I have been enjoying so much, but also motivated me to take out my vintage pens to try the same thing! Thank you for your generous knowledge sharing and contagious passion!

Thanks for posting this. I was planning to print it out to use as a template for my own practice. I keep an old Moleskine Cahier on my computer desk for practice when I get a chance. 

[como]

@newstudent @invisuu @fpupulin Thank you for your encouragement!! I promise that I won't post too much, as this kind of exercises from a beginner can look boring to some people 😀.

 

@Frank C Two of the three calligraphy books recommended by Franco arrived, so I can start to look more closely how the letters are really written (the ductus). Also Franco made an excellent suggestion of using this Moleskine Cahier A5 size ruled journal (sold in set of 3, 80 pages/40 sheets). Thank you, Franco! I had abandoned using the Moleskine notebooks because the paper is not best suited for fountain pen inks. But as Franco pointed out they are actually very convenient for practicing calligraphy. You can write really big or small, whatever suits you. This size (40 sheets) can be laid on the table very flat throughout. Later I will learn how to draw proper lines on nicer paper (Ames Lettering Guide also arrived), but for now this is very convenient and economical! I just found out that with letter f and q, I can go shorter or longer on the line to make the letters more proportionately beautiful (sticking to the base lines make it look weird). Well, you probably already know it. I am just a beginner, sorry!

[a student]

22 hours ago, como said:

@newstudent @invisuu @fpupulin Thank you for your encouragement!! I promise that I won't post too much, as this kind of exercises from a beginner can look boring to some people 😀.

As far as I am concerned you needn't worry about posting such exercises. In fact I have downloaded the image to serve as a guide/example of how the task of calligraphy might be approached.

[como]

On 6/24/2021 at 8:38 AM, newstudent said:

As far as I am concerned you needn't worry about posting such exercises. In fact I have downloaded the image to serve as a guide/example of how the task of calligraphy might be approached.

@newstudentThank you! You are too kind! This week I started working on the Majuscules. It’s so much more difficult! At the moment I use Tomoe River 52gsm paper to trace the examples in the Jane Sullivan book, just to get a feeling how they should be written. The Majuscules written on my own are ugly as hell for now. I just start to have a real appreciation what it takes for people like Franco to be able to write the way they do. I am totally humbled.