Montblanc Vintage 1950–1959 The third series: 331, 332, 334½, 342, 344, 442 and 444

The third series was the least expensive line with the Montblanc star, meant for everyday use and made in large numbers (forum post of 10 April 2007, forum post of 26 March 2011). Until 1950 the pre-war shape continued with the 331, 332 and 334½; from 1951 came the 342 and the larger 344 in three versions, and on a slimmer body the 442 and the 444 rollerball.

The line and its numbers

According to a forum post of 3 July 2004 the third series was not purely a pupils’ pen but intended for adults as well; as the school pen Montblanc launched Monte Rosa after the war. The numbers follow the system of 1935: the first digit gives the line, the second the filling system, the third the size.

After the war the 3 in second place became a 4 to mark the new shape (forum post of 3 July 2004). “3-42” thus means third series, piston, smallest size (forum post of 16 September 2005). From about 1950 Montblanc gave a ten-year guarantee on the gold nibs of the third series (forum post of 30 March 2005).

The pre-war shape until 1950

The 332 and the 334½ continued from 1948 to 1950 with an engraved star and in the pre-war shape, alongside the 331 with the imprint “Reflex” and one cap ring. On all three the number is on the blind cap. The 331 has a steel nib and no Montblanc imprint on the cap (collectiblestars.com database).

Reflex was Montblanc’s entry-level brand, under which individual pens were sold again and again until the mid-1950s; in Switzerland Monte Rosa pens also carried this name for a time. A forum post of 21 January 2005 considered the “½” a mere sales argument — as an estimate.

342 and 344: three versions

From 1951 came the 342 and the larger 344, both with one cap ring. “Collectible Stars” volume II distinguishes three versions:

• 1951–1953: a “G” follows the number for the gold nib; without “G” a steel nib was possible. The star is only engraved, the cap ring sits slightly above the edge of the cap and the number is on the turning knob; the ink window is brown in 1951 and blue afterwards.
• 1954–1956: the cap ring forms the edge of the cap.
• 1957–1960: a cap band engraved “MONTBLANC” and the number covers the lip of the cap, and the old imprint on the cap disappears (Fountain Pen Network post of 7 January 2016).

The first pens were made of celluloid and had a short turning knob (collectiblestars.com database, post on Penexchange (thread “Material Bestimmung zum polieren”)); a forum post of 5 July 2006 counts the 342 among Montblanc’s first plastic fountain pens. The illustrated book places the move to injection moulding from 1952, and production had changed over completely by 1955. The small holes in the cap near the clip equalise the pressure and are original (forum post of 5 July 2005).

Numbers with a hyphen (“3-42 G”, “3-44”) are not in the book. They belong to the middle version, which according to a Fountain Pen Network post of 7 January 2016 with a Montblanc brochure ran from 1953 to 1957, i.e. between the first (until 1953) and the last (1957–1960). In the book it corresponds to the version of 1954–1956.

The star

The 344 has a white star from 1954 — with the blue cap top also an engraved one —, the 342 only from 1957. The engraved stars were never filled with colour; a “painted” star therefore speaks against a genuine pen according to a forum post of 27 March 2007.

Colours and country versions

Besides black, the 342 G and 344 G came in petrol blue and burgundy in 1951–1953, for export only and without an ink window (collectiblestars.com database); on the 344 G in these colours the cap ring sits in the middle of the cap. In 1957–1960 red, green and grey were added. For markets where Montblanc feared confusion with the Star of David there were pens without the star, otherwise identical, with the old mountain on the cap band (forum post of 21 April 2006, forum post of 22 April 2006, Fountain Pen Network post of 22 April 2016).

Nibs

The gold nibs are stamped 14 ct (“14C”, “585”). For France there were 18 ct nibs, and there Meisterstück nibs stamped 4810 also went into pens of the second and third series (forum post of 26 February 2005). A factory leaflet of 1957 lists the widths EF, F, M, B, OF, OM, OB, OBB and KF for the 342 (Penexchange forum post of 9 January 2020 (thread “Monte Rosa 042 ‘STM’ Feder - Empfehlungen?”)). Special nibs are documented:

• carbon-copy nibs — very hard nibs for copies with carbon paper, recognisable by a blue cap top (forum post of 26 July 2005, forum post of 20 November 2004); “Collectible Stars” volume II lists the 342 (GD) of 1957–1958 and the 344 of 1954–1956 in this form
• ball nibs with a ball-shaped tip — “KM” means ball nib medium (forum post of 14 February 2005)
• music nibs on the 342 and 344 (forum post of 27 August 2008, post on Penexchange (thread “Montblanc und Music Nibs”))

Montblanc used glass nibs before the war, in the 420 and the 421; a 342 with a glass nib is a conversion (page with photos).

442, 444 rollerball and 346

The 442 and the 444 were built on a slimmer body with a cap of Silvre, a copper-nickel alloy with a silvery shine (collectiblestars.com database). The 444 is a rollerball of 1950–1951: it is filled from the ink bottle like a fountain pen, bears the imprint “zum Patent angemeldet” (patent pending) and shows the ink supply in two porthole windows (maxpens.de).

The chronology in “Collectible Stars” volume II names the introduction of a fluid-ink ballpoint, the “Kugelfüller”, for 1950 and calls it a failure; the description fits the 444. According to a Penexchange forum post of 5 October 2025 (thread “Tintenkugelschreiber – Montblanc, Riepe, Sphinx, UHU”) the patents 816965 (from 21 October 1949) and 838871 (4 July 1950) protected the 444 “Kugelroller”. A special Montblanc ink for the Kugelfüller was not intended for fountain pens according to its label (Penexchange forum post of 10 January 2025 (thread “Tusche für den Montblanc-Kugel-Füller”)).

The book lists the same body with a nib as the 442 with multi-purpose nib, 1952–1954. maxpens.de shows such fountain pens also with “444” on the turning knob, and a stylo of 1952–1953 on the same body. The books do not confirm that the 442 and 444 had glass nibs, as a forum post of 5 April 2010 assumed from memory.

“Collectible Stars” volume I lists the 346 only in its number index, as a piston filler. The collectiblestars.com database shows it as a prototype with grey cap and black barrel, and a Fountain Pen Network post of 21 September 2011 also considers such pens prototypes — with reservation. According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 25 December 2016, however, a 346 was made in Spain around 1950. Whether prototype or Spanish production is unresolved.