Montblanc Vintage 1930–1939 Twist pencils and OB push pencils of the 1930s

Twist pencils were part of Montblanc’s range from 1924. In the 1930s it extended from black hard-rubber pencils and pencils in gold, silver and rolled gold to coloured pencils with a round, flat or streamlined top. Alongside them, from 1924, there was the OB push pencil, which sold only moderately.

Beginnings and mechanism

Montblanc launched its first twist pencils in 1924 — this is the date given by the text of “Collectible Stars” I, the chronology of volume II and the Diary. The mechanism is simple: a pin as thick as the lead is bent at a right angle at its rear end and passes through a spiral into a tube slit lengthwise.

Turning the spiral moves the pin forwards or backwards, depending on the direction. According to an identification chart on the endpaper of the Diary, on the hard-rubber pencils of 1928 this is done by turning the cap clockwise.

The mechanism works reliably but is not protected against overwinding. If the guide of the pin shears off, the pencil is usually no longer usable, because the mechanism can hardly be removed and replacements are no longer made. Mechanisms seized by oxidation, on the other hand, can often be freed in an oil bath.

Advertising and leads

In advertising the pencil was called “Füllbleistift” (advertisement of 1928) or “Füll-Bleistift” (advertisement of 1929, there also as the imprint on the pencil shown). The advertisement of 1928 mentions 32 kinds and 160 hours of writing with the leads of one refill, and an advertisement of 1929 promotes the “Montblanc Füll-Bleistift” for pocket and desk.

Montblanc sold the leads itself, in boxes marked “MONTBLANC FÜLLBLEISTIFT MINEN”. According to the illustrated book “Meisterstücke for the art of writing” it did so even before the company began to sell ink under its own name around the mid-1920s. According to the illustrated book, Montblanc also advised its salespeople to offer children a twist pencil.

Black hard-rubber pencils

The basic range consisted of twist pencils in black hard rubber, round or eight-sided. Until 1932 the black ones were also available in red ripple or coral red, and one carries the imprint “HERGESTELLT AUS DEM ERSTKLASSIGEN MATERIAL DER NEW-YORK HAMBURGER GUMMI-WAAREN COMPAGNIE HAMBURG” (made from the first-class material of the New-York Hamburger Gummi-Waaren Compagnie, Hamburg).

According to the collectiblestars.com database they are of hard rubber, the number is on the barrel end, and the barrel carries “MONT” and “BLANC” with the mountain symbol in between. The identification chart in the Diary shows the same for the barrels of fountain pens and pencils from 1924.

The numbers denote size and shape, not the year; a k after the number stands for the short version (4 k, 5 k, 10 k, 26 k). The sizes at a glance:

• the slim OO1 to OO4, 6 to 12.3 cm long and 0.7 cm thick (in the tables of volume I “001” to “004”, in the number index “OO1” to “OO4”)
• O1 to O4 (“01” to “04”), 8 to 11.2 cm, the O2 and O4 with a cap
• 1 to 5 and 10 to 12 at 10.6 to 15.7 cm; the eight-sided 14 measures 16.5 cm at 1.5 cm in diameter
• the 24 to 27 and the short, thick 44 to 47 (8.2 to 9.5 cm, Ø 1.2 cm)

The 24 to 27 and 44 to 47 took 1.18 or 2.45 mm leads, and many of these pencils were available with a coloured front in blue, violet, yellow, red or green. As probable prototypes volume I lists a round malachite green pencil and 10 k pencils in malachite green and lapis blue (1929–1930). A round black-and-pearl prototype is dated in the book with the misprint “192791930”, probably meaning 1927–1930.

Precious-metal pencils 1926–1936

From 1926 to 1936 there were also twist pencils in 585 gold, silver and rolled gold — OO2, O1, O3, 1 to 5, 4 k, 5 k, 10, 10 k, 11 and 12, round or eight-sided, plain or decorated. As decorations volume I records:

• barleycorn with lines, fields or waves
• wave, rhomboid, net, arrow and meander patterns
• ivy leaves and a three-sided shamrock
• an Egyptian pattern with birds
• damascening in the Toledo manner and individual hand engraving

According to the collectiblestars.com database these pencils have an enamelled star and the 585 stamp or a silver stamp and could carry a riveted clip; an OO2 in gold existed with a ring for a necklace, a 1 in rolled gold with overlay work and the engraving “18Kr” for Italy.

Coloured pencils with round, flat and streamlined tops

In the 1930s coloured pencils with shapes of their own were added. From 1930 to 1935 there were the 52 and 53 with a round top and a white star, at first without, later with rings and clip. They came in black, malachite green, azurite and lapis blue, burgundy, pink, red ripple and coral red, plus the L52 and L53 in black and pearl.

The 22 and 23 (1932–1935) also had a round top, but with an engraved star, a clip and no rings; they could also carry the imprint “III MONTBLANC III” of the third series. The same shape was used for the 50½, which Montblanc sold only in Denmark (1930–1933).

Streamlined from 1932 to 1936 were the 53 L and the short 53 LK, the 54 L, the 55 L and the small 57 and 58, 9.6 to 14.4 cm long. They came in black, coral red, black and pearl, green-gold-brown and in shades of azurite, malachite and lapis; the book regards the 53 LK in black-and-silver, brown and grey-green as prototypes.

The captions write L53, L53k, L54 and L55, the table 53L, 53LK, 54L and 55L. What the L means on these pencils is not explained in the book; the K stands for short as elsewhere.

From 1935 the 22, 23, 52 and 53 had a flat top — the 22 and 23 with engraved star and clip but without rings, the 52 and 53 with clip and rings.

Volume I lists the black 22 until 1950, the others until 1936, 1937 or 1938. According to the collectiblestars.com database the coloured 22, 23 and 52 and the streamlined pencils are of celluloid, the black 22, 23 and 52 and the 53, even in red, of hard rubber; it counts the 22 and 23 as part of the third series.

For the Danish market there were pencils with a papyrus-shaped top. The 53 with clip was mostly sold there (1930–1933 without, 1933–1940 with rings, in coral red until 1942). The 51 (1932–1936) and the 50½ (1935–1938) had neither clip nor rings, were sold only there and later received a flat top.

The OB push pencil

In 1924 Montblanc launched the OB push pencil, according to the Diary together with the first twist pencils. Its mechanism was based on patents whose numbers appear on the pencils: PATD 1447637 (USA), 202183 (Great Britain) and DRP 376387/379275.

Instructions for use of 1931 explain it as follows: pressing the button advances a ready-to-write piece of lead of fixed length, which then sits firmly and cannot turn. To retract it, one holds one part and presses the lead against the table top. New leads are kept under the screw-off top, and Montblanc advised using only OB leads.

Compared with the twist pencil the mechanism was too complicated; in addition the trade was poorly informed and the advertising weak, so that the OB sold only moderately. The tables of volume I list it for 1924–1932, round in black hard rubber (12.8 and 13.5 cm), in grey, orange and brown galalith, in silver, round or eight-sided, and in rolled gold, all 0.8 cm thick. Montblanc only had a reliable push pencil in 1934 with the Pix.

Same numbers, other instruments

Several numbers denote other instruments in the same years:

• 1 to 4 the first Pix push pencils of 1934–1935
• 30 to 43 the two-colour pencils
• 20 to 45 Meisterstück fountain pens
• 20 and 21 in 1933–1935 the twist pencils of the brand Reflex
• numbers such as 30, 32, 40 or 46 the twist pencils made in Denmark in 1937–1949 (Production in Denmark)

Later 22 and 24 denote fountain pens of the 1960s and 53 a multicolour ballpoint from 1957. How the twist pencils continued is described on the pages Twist pencils of the 1940s and Twist pencils of the 1950s.