Montblanc Vintage 1950–1959 Production in Denmark after the war

In Denmark Montblanc’s general agent had fountain pens and twist pencils of his own made, at first from parts supplied by Hamburg. According to “Collectible Stars” volume II this production lasted until around 1964; it brought forth colours and shapes never made in Germany.

How the Danish production came about

Denmark was an important market for Montblanc from early on, especially for coral red fountain pens. From 1921 there was a repair workshop in Copenhagen alongside the agency. Because the country restricted the import of finished pens but not of parts, the general agent Alfred Th. Øberg A/S was allowed by Montblanc to make pens himself.

According to “Collectible Stars” volume II Pencilfabrikken Danmark A/S was founded for this in 1933 and renamed Nordisk Pen- og Pencilindustri A/S in 1947 after a dispute over the name. At first it obtained large quantities of nibs, clips and feeds from Hamburg and assembled fountain pens and twist pencils with the white star from them. In the 1940s more than thirty people worked there, who also made unbranded pens for wholesalers, stationers and the promotional trade.

After the war the Danish government seized the name rights as reparations. The Danish Montblanc agency acquired them back, and in 1949 they went back to Montblanc. Production ended around 1964, while Danish pens still appeared in Øberg’s brochures until 1966. The individual pens can only be dated roughly; post-war pens also carry parts of older design (forum post of 6 March 2008).

How to recognise Danish pens

Because hard rubber and celluloid could not be obtained from Germany after the war, the Danish production used material from its own suppliers. This is why there are colours and shapes never made in Germany. Further features:

• The fountain pens 224, 226, 244 and 246 have a pointed cap top.
• The Danish 244 has a prism-shaped clip, whereas the 244 made in Germany from about 1952 has a rounded cap top and a spade clip (Fountain Pen Network post of 25 December 2018).
• Nibs of Danish production show the size number in the middle of the star imprint (Fountain Pen Network post of 25 December 2018).
• For the older Meisterstück 20 to 40 and the push-button fillers 2, 4 and 6, “Collectible Stars” volume II distinguishes the tapering Danish cap (“tapercap”) from the straight German one.

According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 5 April 2016, about nine in ten coral red Montblanc pens come from Danish production of the years 1935 to 1955, mostly with a black cap top and a white star.

The pens of the 1950s

According to “Collectible Stars” volume II these Danish pens reach into the 1950s:

• the fountain pens 242, 244 and 246 (1941–1954) — the 242 as a piston filler, the 244 and 246 as push-button and as piston fillers, in black, coral red and dark or light green marbled, some without number or without ink window
• the push-button fillers 202, 204 and 206 (1950–1954)
• their successors 212, 214 and 216 (1955–1964) in black or coral red
• two push-button fillers with a rolled-gold cap without number (1955–1964)

“Collectible Stars” volume I adds the push-button fillers 224 and 226 (1942–1952), developed in Germany in 1942 but made and sold only in Denmark. To these come the round twist pencils 40 (1948–1958) and 46 (1941–1954). According to volume I the black 244 and 246 were also sold in Germany in 1947–1949. The Diary also shows a grey and black mottled Pix 92 of Danish production (1946–1952), and the collectiblestars.com database names gold-plated fountain pens numbered 75 and 275 without a date.

“Masterpiece” on the cap

On the Meisterstück 20, 25, 30 and 40 made in Denmark — push-knob fillers of 1935–1946 — “Montblanc Masterpiece” is engraved in the cap. The Diary renders the imprint as “4810 / MONTBLANC MASTERPIECE” with star. According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017 Montblanc used “Masterpiece” from about 1935 for export and on the Danish Meisterstück pens. This imprint is documented only from the 1950s and from the Danish production before them; it does not occur on Meisterstück pens of the 1960s and 1970s.

Not everything is Danish

A book titled “Füllfederhalter” wrongly calls a 252 of 1957–1959 a war-time model made in Denmark (forum post of 29 April 2005). The coral red Meisterstück 20 on this website carries the number “20” on the blind cap. According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 25 December 2018 the Danish factory is also said to have made the Skribent Super 4, which is almost identical to the 214.

The number index of “Collectible Stars” volume I also lists a Danish push-button filler 275 — not to be confused with the Pix 275. According to forum posts it was a counterpart to the 644, which was not sold in Denmark: black with rolled gold, about the size of a 644 N but with an open nib, made 1955–1964 and offered with two matching pencils (forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 22 January 2011, forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 2 September 2013).

The two push-button fillers with a rolled-gold cap and no number that volume II lists for these years are probably this pen.