The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[fpupulin]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:26 AM, a student said:

@fpupulin remarkable piece of writing, as always. Incidentally did you form an opinion on the MB 149 Calligraphy Curved Nib", or indeed do much writing with it?

[a student]

5 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

Thank you. And excellent thoughts there

[Frank C]

I was at my local boutique at the Forum Shoppes at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, last week. The manager told me that representatives from Montblanc would be there the second week in September. They will have examples of the bespoke nibs for use. At that time, one can order any of the bespoke or custom nibs. He wasn't sure of the prices.

 

@fpupulin, if you tell me your desired characteristics for a formal italic nib, I can ask them for a price. I am sure that it will be more than a standard 149. 

[fpupulin]

It's been a while since I inked my Omas Gentlemen with its extraordinary Omas Extra  (not Lucens) nib, which I consider the most "calligraphic" of all my nibs. I use this pen less than I would like and should, because the piston is very hard and requires a real effort to fill and, even worse, to clean the pen. Already once, in the past, due to the effort I inadvertently deformed the metal ring that separates the body from the filling cone, and I was only able to repair it thanks to the kindness of Paolo Mijno, of Zona900, who replaced it.

 

Anyway, I loaded my Omas with Graf von Faber Castell’s Carbon Black ink (a dark, dense black) and wrote one of the maxims I've been enjoying lately: Nil satis nisi optimum. What a nib! Very thin and smooth on fine strokes, generous on thickened lines, obedient and precise! A joy to use...

 

I have another Omas Extra extra-fine, two Extra Lucens extra-fine and one Extra in fine grade. None of the others achieve the splendid performance of the one that arrived mounted on my Gentlemen (which for those circumstances in life I bought new in an online marketplace). The best nib, after this, is in my opinion the fine that I have mounted on a Milord Grigioperla, also an Extra nib but with a less subtle starting stroke. The two Extra Lucens (one on a 1940s Omas Extra, the other on a 1960s Gentlemen Grigioperla) are both fantastic and fun, but slightly more rigid: they make excellent calligraphy, but with more effort.

 

Now, as perhaps some of you will remember, on various occasions in the past I have compared this outstanding nib with another nib that I consider particularly extraordinary, being a contemporary nib, the flexible nib of the Montblanc 149 Calligraphy. I hadn't tried this comparison again after the accident with my Calligraphy, but having the fantastic Omas Gentlemen in my hands it seemed right to give the “fixed” Calligraphy an opportunity to see how it performed in the duel.

 

The following photo shows the result of this head-to-head. 149 Calligraphy is loaded with Graf von Faber Castell Garnet Red, and always on the same paper I wrote two versions of the maxim, one thicker and the other (in the foreground) lighter.

 

 

 

"Ai posteri l'ardua sentenza" (To posterity the arduous sentence)…. (Alessandro Manzoni). In my opinion, the "phoenix" nib continues to hold its head high in the face of the very exceptional Omas. Slightly softer, with slightly less snapback and a less fine "fineness" than that of the OMAS nib, it is still very pleasant to use and gives results that seem calligraphically very compatible with those of the the outstanding Omas. In short, the test is passed, as far as I'm concerned.

 

And now, for those like me who, in addition to their passion for pens, also have a passion for photography, allow me a brief photographic digression.

 

The image above was taken with a Hasselblad 501CM and 80mm Planar lens, handheld, while I was perched precariously balanced on an aluminum ladder, in the natural morning light coming from a window screened with a light curtain. The f/8 aperture explains why the foreground is not entirely in focus. But to use an aperture of f/8 and a speed just compatible with the 80 mm (1/60") lens, I had to set a sensitivity of 1600 ISO on the digital sensor of my camera (Hasselblad CFV 50 II)! The resulting image, in terms of "grain" and cleanliness, seems extraordinary to me, something completely unthinkable for my Hasselblad H5D. The latter is equipped with a sensor (also 50MP) of the CCD type, while the digital back that I use with the my Hasselblads V has a CMOS sensor. The CCD sensor is, in my opinion, unbeatable for the sweetness of the contrasts and the fidelity of the colors, when used at 50 and 100 ISO. Already at 200 ISO, however, the image has a notoriously inferior quality and at ISO 400 I consider it unusable.

The CMOS sensor allowed me, at 1600 ISO, an otherwise impossible photograph, and with a quality that I consider more than acceptable.

 

Thank you for your patience in reading this off-topic excursus.

[a student]

25 minutes ago, fpupulin said:

The image above was taken with a Hasselblad 501CM and 80mm Planar lens, handheld, while I was perched precariously balanced on an aluminum ladder, in the natural morning light coming from a window screened with a light curtain. The f/8 aperture explains why the foreground is not entirely in focus. But to use an aperture of f/8 and a speed just compatible with the 80 mm (1/60") lens, I had to set a sensitivity of 1600 ISO on the digital sensor of my camera (Hasselblad CFV 50 II)! The resulting image, in terms of "grain" and cleanliness, seems extraordinary to me, something completely unthinkable for my Hasselblad H5D. The latter is equipped with a sensor (also 50MP) of the CCD type, while the digital back that I use with the my Hasselblads V has a CMOS sensor. The CCD sensor is, in my opinion, unbeatable for the sweetness of the contrasts and the fidelity of the colors, when used at 50 and 100 ISO. Already at 200 ISO, however, the image has a notoriously inferior quality and at ISO 400 I consider it unusable.

The CMOS sensor allowed me, at 1600 ISO, an otherwise impossible photograph, and with a quality that I consider more than acceptable.

 

Thank you for your patience in reading this off-topic excursus.

Thank you for the post, examples of fine calligraphy and excellent, crisp photographs. To me both the fountain pens are doing equally nicely, thanks chiefly to your skill in using them.

For a hand-held camera, the images are remarkably crisp. If I may ask, what was the shutter speed?

[fpupulin]

The ink is Graf von Faber Castell Cognac, a color rich in shadows that I appreciate for by light and "watery" but still perfectly legible. Most of the GvFC inks I have tried today perform ver well with the 149 Calligraphy, being a bit on the dry side of the spectrum and helping with the finest strokes.

 

It remember me of the Diamine Tobacco Sunburst, a fine ink of which I had a bottle that used intensively. I should certainly buy it again.

 

Here I used it on Fabriano paper, a recent "discovery" made through a gift from my wife. It is a "not too smooth" paper in 160 gr, 30x30 cm, of a neutral off-white. I found it formidable with the fountain pen.

 

 

 

[ak47]

3 hours ago, fpupulin said:

The ink is Graf von Faber Castell Cognac, a color rich in shadows that I appreciate for by light and "watery" but still perfectly legible. Most of the GvFC inks I have tried today perform ver well with the 149 Calligraphy, being a bit on the dry side of the spectrum and helping with the finest strokes.

 

It remember me of the Diamine Tobacco Sunburst, a fine ink of which I had a bottle that used intensively. I should certainly buy it again.

 

Here I used it on Fabriano paper, a recent "discovery" made through a gift from my wife. It is a "not too smooth" paper in 160 gr, 30x30 cm, of a neutral off-white. I found it formidable with the fountain pen.

 

 

 

It is always a pleasure to see your performance.

[Uncial]

That's a lovely ink

[como]

@fpupulin Thank you, Franco, for showing us once again how to make this pen hobby/passion long-lasting and meaningful.  And that it doesn't have to cost much. 🙏

[fpupulin]

Thank you, @como! You are right, and the purpose of a thread like this one, devoted to one single pen model, is exactly that, to remember us the continuous joy that a pen can give us through time. Too often, we take pride of a new possession and devoted it time and care to show it through a couple of photographs to our pals here on the forum, and then our attention moves to something else: no more photos, no more sharing our love with others, no more interest if not for a new coming...

 

So, dear friend @como, an appreciation thread is to come back again and again to a pen that we chose and we loved and we own: and this, as you said, "doesn't have to cost much".

 

The 149 Calligraphy flexible is a fantasy of a pen, it is pure fun. I really hope that Montblanc will make something so much funny for the next anniversary of their Meisterstück line, next year.

 

 

[dftr]

I really enjoy the MB Black Permanent ink in this pen.  It has given me the best performance without hesitating/skips with sadly one exception.

On a cold I morning, I went w/ this pen to sign a receipt at the cafeteria.  For people who have seen Seinfeld or Scrubs, I'd say I have a friendly contested

relationship w/ the cafeteria lady.  Sometimes I'll get away with signing w/ a bright sheening ink when her back is turned, sometimes she'll insist I use a ballpoint

b/c the ink is too bright or bleeding through the other side.  Anyway, figuring that I had a "normal" black, I popped out the pen to sign while she was starting to protest,

and the pen didn't write...  Cue the Seinfeld reference about being cold, first thing in the morning etc.

She was very smug about handing me the ballpoint, "That's a nice pen, too bad it doesn't write..."

Well we lost that one... but there's always next week.  

 

In my sample, the pen may have skipped on the 'L' of "informal" but I think it was related to the book being slightly closed so it was writing on angle.  

 

 

[fpupulin]

Calligraphy

is good

for Mood and also

for Love.

 

When I finish a day of work, to relax and find the right mood to end the day and go to bed peacefully, I often (very often) dedicate myself a little to calligraphy. My papers, my pens, the color of the inks, always put me in a good mood.

 

And since in order to calligraph you have to write something, I often write down an affectionate phrase for my wife and leave the paper on her pillow, or I write something to a grandchild and send the photograph by email. Writing is good for the person who writes and for whom receives the message.

 

Writing carefully is good for your mood and good for your affections.

[Inkyways]

Very nice writing samples with a beautiful paper to go with matching colour of the ink .

[txomsy]

... and great application of your calligraphic skills. A magisterial lesson of life for the rest of us.

[fpupulin]

On 11/4/2023 at 7:53 PM, dftr said:

I really enjoy the MB Black Permanent ink in this pen.  It has given me the best performance without hesitating/skips with sadly one exception.

On a cold I morning, I went w/ this pen to sign a receipt at the cafeteria.  For people who have seen Seinfeld or Scrubs, I'd say I have a friendly contested

relationship w/ the cafeteria lady.  Sometimes I'll get away with signing w/ a bright sheening ink when her back is turned, sometimes she'll insist I use a ballpoint

b/c the ink is too bright or bleeding through the other side.  Anyway, figuring that I had a "normal" black, I popped out the pen to sign while she was starting to protest,

and the pen didn't write...  Cue the Seinfeld reference about being cold, first thing in the morning etc.

She was very smug about handing me the ballpoint, "That's a nice pen, too bad it doesn't write..."

Well we lost that one... but there's always next week.  

 

In my sample, the pen may have skipped on the 'L' of "informal" but I think it was related to the book being slightly closed so it was writing on angle.  

 

 

 

Dear @dftr, it took me some time to respond to this exemplary post of yours, but finally a small event gave me the opportunity to do so.

 

First of all, I would like to explain why your post seemed exemplary to me. In the space that this forum has dedicated to the 149 Calligraphy, many of the interventions, I would say the majority of the interventions, have focused on the more exquisitely calligraphic aspects of which this special pen is capable. Your post, however, focuses rather on the expressive character of this nib, on its qualities in enhancing daily writing and current calligraphy. In your case, the examples provided of the pen at work in a duty that is not strictly calligraphic, are particularly beautiful and successful. They reminded me of similar examples, similarly spontaneous and enticing, from @max dog and @como, among others.

 

And now we come to the opportunity. Last Sunday I wanted to compare the writing of the nib of my 149, a nib that I personally repaired after a disastrous fall, with that of my spare 149 Calligraphy, a pen that had been bought precisely fearing that one day, due to continuous use, the Number One could suffer some type of accident. I'll anticipate here, but I'll talk about it more fully in another post, that the comparison had, in my opinion, no winners or losers. The repaired nib still writes beautifully, and that's a great compliment to the durability of this nib and the improvisational skills of the nibmeister who fixed it.

 

The point, however, is that, when I opened the box of my spare 149, I found the leaflet that accompanied the pen with the new nib back in my hands. Curiously, Montblanc does not make any specific reference to calligraphy, but rather insists on the expressive character that the new nib can give to everyday writing. I imagine, because it seems logical to me, that Montblanc turned to a calligrapher to prepare the few lines of text written with the 149 Calligraphy that accompany the 149 in the small "guide to using the pen", and that for this reason those few lines look so "expressive".

 

Last night, by candlelight - there was no electricity in the house for almost nine hours - I badly copied the writing of the little "guide", even the only line on the inside where it is insisted on the ability of the calligraphy pen to make one's writing more personal and expressive. I had a lot of fun writing In a free imitation of a free handwriting...  and obviously 149 Calligraphy had no problems making these copies...

 

 

 

I end here to thank @dftr, @max dog, @como and the many other owners of this fantastic pen for sharing here, on these pages, the extraordinary "expressive" qualities of Montblanc's calligraphic nib.

[dftr]

very nice post.  I had forgotten about the exciting misadventure to restore the expressive nib.  How does it seem now compared to your reserve fountain pen?

[fpupulin]

On 11/11/2023 at 6:14 AM, dftr said:

very nice post.  I had forgotten about the exciting misadventure to restore the expressive nib.  How does it seem now compared to your reserve fountain pen?

 

Thanks for asking, @dftr.

 

Last year I had let myself be tempted by a "spare" 149 Calligraphy, to be left on the bench in the event that, by chance, if ever, the Number One had suffered damage... I tried the two pens, just dipping them in the ink, and they seemed to me in every way the same: the new one was just a little stiffer (if you really wanted to look for the difference), I suppose due to less use.

 

I had never dropped a pen before, and the chances that Number Two would have to leave the bench seemed really small numbers, but as we know, destiny has its ways, and in taking yet another photograph of her beautiful nib under the microscope, the Number One slipped down from the fingers, and the beautiful nib crumpled on the wooden floor in a sight that I would describe as painful.

 

Once the shock wore off, I took hold of the poor crooked nib and with a lot of patience and courage, little by little, over a couple of days I straightened it. I'm not saying that he looked perfect again, because the fall left him a couple of marks and gentle curves that weren't there before, but honestly it seems to me that he wrote well again. The miracle of the Phoenix, reborn from her ashes. The pen previously had no name. Now, I call it Phoenix.

 

So, Phoenix still writes well, but... as good as before? Who knows. It's difficult to compare something with a memory.

So, I decided to remove my doubts. I removed the still virgin 149 Calligraphy from its box, washed Phoenix, prepared a sheet of paper and Diamine's Ancient Copper ink. Same pen, same paper, same ink, same light intinction, a "restored" nib and a new nib: here is Phoenix's match against Virgo.

 

To make things very boring, I prepared two texts of comparable length, to be written with the two samples. To make them really boring, I write the texts in Latin.

 

And here is the result:

 

 

The upper text is written with Phoenix. It says, in a literal translation:

 

Here's the pen,
fell out of the hands
to a new life like
the Phoenix reborn.

 

Below, I wrote with Virgo:

 

This one, preserved like a gem
of the years to come
it's the untouched pen
for tranquility.

 

Well, so here's the final sentence. They both write well, really well. Phoenix is a little more angular in the hand, Virgo more rounded and slightly more pleasant. Virgo has a slightly slower snapback , while Phoenix is very fast.

 

I suppose if they handed me one of the two pens (without the sticker on the new one), I wouldn't be able to tell which is which. The something is a great compliment for the repaired nib, and a small satisfaction for the improvised nibmeister!

 

[max dog]

Another character of the 149 Calligraphy flex nib I've come to appreciate is that it makes all my handwriting look like I did it with an antique quill pen because of it's ability to produce line widths down to hairline.  Even my 146C nib, while close, can't match the 149C in the responsiveness down to a hairline.  I don't have great penmanship, but love how some of my script can pass for something from a century ago written with a quill or dip pen.  Makes my had script look interesting and elegant in an antiquated way.  

 

Franco, hope you are doing well, always enjoy coming back here to admire your remarkable calligraphy.  Thank you. 

[fpupulin]

 

A simple alphabet in grey ink (Lamy Agate) on Fabriano Ingres 90 gm2 laid paper. X-height is 6 mm. 

[fpupulin]

Time for a holidays message to the many friends and contributors of this old thread...