Montblanc Vintage 1930–1939 Meisterstück safety pens 20 to 45 and 102 to 108

With the Meisterstück Montblanc offered a fountain pen with a lifetime guarantee for the first time in 1924, and the first Meisterstück was a safety pen. As a safety pen it carried the two-digit numbers 20 to 45 until 1934 and the numbers 102 to 108 from 1934/35. Montblanc’s last safety pen was the 104 G, made until 1939.

What set the Meisterstück apart

Technically the Meisterstück hardly differed at first from the firm’s other pens. It was recognisable by the word “MEISTERSTÜCK” on the cap, soon also by two decorative rings; only in 1935 did it receive a shape of its own.

Whom the guarantee covered had not been defined. According to the illustrated book “Meisterstücke for the art of writing”, Meisterstück pens were still being presented under it more than fifty years later, until Montblanc replaced it with an exchange for new pens. According to a post on Penexchange (thread “Reparaturen von Vintage Schreibgeräten durch Hersteller”) it applied only to the first buyer.

How the safety pen works

The safety pen is the firm’s oldest filling system; Montblanc made it from 1908 to 1939. It is filled with a dropper while the cap is off. For writing, the nib is turned out of the barrel with the knob at the end of the barrel, sealing the opening as it comes out; afterwards it is retracted and the cap is screwed on.

As the nib stands in ink while the pen is closed, it writes at once, and a pin in the cap prevents it from being turned out while the cap is screwed on. A safety pen has no section: the nib emerges directly from the mouth of the barrel, whose thread carries the cap. This is the easiest way to tell it from a push-knob filler in photographs. The Bohème of 2000 revived the principle of the retractable nib in modified form.

The two-digit numbers until 1934

The number gave the shop price in Reichsmark: from 1924 Montblanc marked new models with their selling price. The first Meisterstück pens were numbered 25 because they cost 25 RM; when the price fell to 20 RM, the same pen received the number 20. This is also the origin of numbers such as 15½ (15.50 RM) and 18¾ (18.75 RM). In 1932 the III. Sorte added the letters A, B and C, and in 1935 Montblanc changed to three-digit numbers.

Until 1934 the Meisterstück pens carried two-digit numbers. As safety pens “Collectible Stars” volume I lists these numbers:

• the 25, 35 and 45 from 1924 — until 1926 without cap rings and clip, afterwards without or with various clips
• the 20 from 1928 to 1934
• the 30 and 40 from 1930 to 1934, with cap rings and also without clip — the 30 has the dimensions of the 35, the 40 those of the 45

Clips were at first sold as accessories and slipped on, which is why many safety pens have none. The nib of 1924/25 to 1929 is marked “18 CT” with the model number in the star, from 1930 “4810” with the M in the star, 14 ct. For France there were gold nibs of 18 ct.

102 to 108 and the shape of 1935

With the new numbering system the safety pens became the Meisterstück 102, 104, 106 and 108 in 1934. The 1 stands for the Meisterstück, the 0 in second place for the safety pen and the last digit for the size. The number index of volume I confirms it: 102 to 108 are safety pens, the push-knob fillers are only the 122 to 129.

At first the 102 to 108 kept the shape of the 20, 25, 30 and 40, according to the Diary for only about five months. In 1935 the new shape followed, with flat cap top, tie clip and “MONTBLANC Meisterstück” lengthwise on the cap. The letters after the number denote the surface:

• S — hatched (chased)
• G — smooth and high-gloss
• E — with rose pattern, called “Extraklasse” (extra class) in the price list of 1936

This is how they are explained in the four-language price list of 1936, with which Montblanc informed the dealers of the new designations (Penexchange forum post of 14 April 2011 (thread “Bezeichnung der MB-Modelle”)), and likewise in the Diary and in a forum post of 24 June 2007. In volume I these versions are listed:

• 102 S and 102 G (1936–1937)
• 104 S (1935–1937)
• 104 G (1935–1939)
• 104 E (1935–1936)
• 106 S, 106 G, 108 S and 108 G (1935–1936)

The 104 G was thus Montblanc’s last safety pen; volume II lists the 102 until 1937 and the 104 until 1939. According to the Diary all these versions had the two-tone nib. The nibs of the Meisterstück 102 to 128 were always of gold — 14 ct, 18 ct for France.

Material and imprints

In volume I the Meisterstück safety pens are listed only in black, of hard rubber, which turns brown with light and use. The note that all black pens were also available in red ripple hard rubber or coral red until 1932 appears in the book only for the safety pens and lever fillers of the main line, not for the Meisterstück.

According to the collectiblestars.com database the cap of the two-digit numbers reads “4810” and “MONTBLANC MEISTERSTÜCK” with the mountain symbol between, the barrel “SIMPLO ORIGINAL MONTBLANC”. Some pens also carry the name of a dealer, such as “Stöffhaas”. The number is on the end of the barrel, the nib width opposite.

Dimensions

As to dimensions, volume I gives 16.6 cm (20, 102) to 18.6 cm (40, 45, 108) and for the shapes from 1935 17.0 cm (102 S and G) to 18.8 cm (108 S and G), at 1.10 to 1.60 cm in diameter. The collectiblestars.com database gives these lengths with the cap posted. Closed, individual pens at penboard measure about 130 mm with a cap diameter of 14 mm (25) and 135 mm with 16.5 mm (45).