Montblanc Vintage 1950–1959 Meisterstück 139, 142, 144, 146 and 149 of the 1950s

In the 1950s the Meisterstück pens had the torpedo shape that came onto the market in 1949: the 142, 144 and 146 in celluloid with a telescopic piston, and as the large model first the 139 and from 1952 the 149. With the redesign of the range the 142, 144 and 146 were dropped in 1960; only the 149 continued.

The models and their production years

The shape that is still regarded as the Meisterstück’s “torpedo shape” came onto the market in 1949; who designed it is not recorded. The fountain pens 142, 144 and 146 replaced the flat-topped 132, 134 and 136 (Fountain Pen Network post of 4 August 2008). The digit after the 14 denotes the size of the whole pen, not just of the nib (Fountain Pen Network post of 19 July 2010). The 142 was made only from 1950 and was the smallest Meisterstück of its time (forum post of 11 June 2012).

At first the large model was still the 139 in the older shape, namely until 1951. According to a forum post of 3 May 2005 the last 139s already had the section of the 144 and 146; they later served as the model for the Writers Edition Hemingway. The 149 followed in 1952 (forum post of 2 December 2005). The advertising claim of 2009 that it had remained unchanged for 85 years is not correct (forum post of 22 March 2010, forum post of 26 March 2010).

Construction and filling system

Cap and barrel are made of celluloid and were turned on the lathe (post on Penexchange (thread “146G Demonstrator”)). On the black pens the barrel consists of transparent celluloid coated black on the outside, and the stripes of the ink window are applied from the inside (Fountain Pen Network post of 5 February 2013); cap and turning knob, by contrast, are coloured right through (Fountain Pen Network post of 5 February 2013). Many pens offered as “demonstrators” are black pens whose coating has been worn or sanded off (post on Penexchange (thread “Demonstrator von ‘Olinaimior’”), post on Penexchange (thread “146G Demonstrator”)).

The pens are filled with the telescopic piston mechanism for which Montblanc applied for a patent in 1936. It takes up more than 30 % more ink than an ordinary piston and needs brass for its strength, which is why these Meisterstück pens feel heavy in the hand. According to a post on Penexchange (thread “146 vs 149 - Kolben”) the spindle is brass and the outer part probably steel; an identical mechanism by another maker is not known (forum post of 10 January 2018).

The larger the ink supply, the more easily ink escapes when the air pressure changes. The demand for pens that were safe on aircraft therefore ended this design, and on a plane the old pens are hardly usable (forum post of 15 March 2013). Celluloid also shrinks over the years: cap rings then sit loosely (forum post of 17 May 2012), and even a cap from the same period does not always fit another barrel (post on Penexchange (thread “Habe eine Kappe für meinen 149er bei blackpen 4810 bestellt aber das Gewinde passt nur sehr schlecht”)).

Imprints, nibs and ink window

The model number is on the turning knob, often together with the nib width (forum post of 5 October 2012, forum post of 5 February 2006); there was no serial number on the clip ring yet (forum post of 27 March 2007). The wide middle cap ring reads “Montblanc – Meisterstück”, on pens for export “Montblanc – Masterpiece” (forum post of 28 February 2019). The English imprint stayed in use up to the late fifties.

According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017 Montblanc returned to “Meisterstück” around 1958, yet a warranty card still records the sale of a 149 with “Masterpiece” in September 1959 (Penexchange forum post of 27 February 2019 (thread “Montblanc 149 1950er”)). A forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 16 April 2013 gives a reason: Sheaffer claimed the name “Masterpiece” as a trademark, and Montblanc afterwards had to imprint “Meisterstück” for export too.

The “Masterpiece” imprint is not known on Meisterstück pens of the 1960s and 1970s. Some pens also carry a company imprint on the cap, as they were given as promotional gifts (forum post of 5 October 2012).

The nib is a 14 ct gold nib marked “4810”, “14 C” and “585” (forum post of 5 October 2012), 18 ct for France. Its two-tone look comes from a plating of a platinum-group metal, not silver (forum post of 12 March 2008); “Collectible Stars” volume II calls the two-tone Meisterstück nib, used since 1935, “rhodinated”. The nibs of these years are more flexible than today’s (forum post of 17 July 2012, forum post of 16 March 2011).

Montblanc sheets for dealers of January 1953, February 1955 and September 1958 also offer ball-tipped nibs for the 149 and for all fountain pens of the 140 and 250 series, including the 640 and 740: KEF, KF, KM and KOB (forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 4 July 2015).

The nib chart of 1952 names EF, F, M, B, BB, OF, OM, OB, OBB, O3B and K (forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 23 May 2009). According to a forum post a minus sign with a hook after the letter, such as “B-”, marks a nib oblique to the right for left-handers, which occurs only in these years.

The hard-rubber feed was flat at first and round with transverse fins from about 1955 (forum post of 6 January 2005); other sources say 1956/57 (Penexchange forum post of 8 August 2017 (thread “Frage zu Tintenleiter Montblanc 144 G aus 50er Jahrena”)), an exact year is not documented. The striped ink window was originally pale yellow; ink turns it brownish to dark red (post on Penexchange (thread “Montblanc 146 Solitaire Carbon”), forum post of 29 January 2009). Its length varies with the year of production (forum post of 29 December 2011), and collectiblestars.com also lists the 144, 146 and 149 with a “long striped” window.

Colours and the “G” after the number

Besides black, the 144 and 146 came in green and in grey striated celluloid from 1949 to 1960, the 142 striated from 1952 to 1958. A catalogue of the 1950s names the colours of the 146 “silbergrau” (silver grey) and “dunkel-seegrün” (dark sea green) (Fountain Pen Network post of 9 June 2011). “Collectible Stars” volume II does not distinguish the shades of green; according to forum posts, however, there were three kinds (forum post of 17 January 2005, forum post of 20 July 2005):

• fir green
• a light lime green, for export only
• fir green with straight instead of flame-like stripes, known as the 144 and 146 — collectiblestars.com lists a 144 “green parallel striated”

Brown never came from the factory; brownish pens are discoloured (forum post of 31 August 2005), and grey ones turn greenish over time (forum post of 10 January 2005).

The reference works do not list a “G” after the number (142 G, 144 G, 146 G). It originally stands for gold, i.e. the gold nib. A pen with “G” is also always smooth — hatched versions carried other letters such as “S” — and always an early version, because the “G” was dropped once gold could be used as a matter of course again. This means that all the readings found in the forums are correct:

• the mark of a gold nib (post on Penexchange (thread “146G Demonstrator”))
• the smooth, high-gloss finish according to a 1936 catalogue (Fountain Pen Network post of 17 July 2009)
• “Glanz” (gloss) (Fountain Pen Network post of 21 July 2010)
• a feature of the earliest pens with a flat feed (Fountain Pen Network post of 19 July 2010)

Gold, forgeries and look-alikes

“Collectible Stars” volume II lists the 144 and 146 entirely in gold from 1949 to 1952, often as jeweller’s work. Gold sleeves on ordinary 144s mostly came from jewellers (forum post of 2 June 2008). Forgeries of the Meisterstück pens of these years are hardly known (post on Penexchange (thread “Expertenhilfe benötigt bzgl. 2 älterer MB Federn”)); pens offered as a 144 “with a green cap”, however, are mostly forgeries of the 1990s (post on Penexchange (thread “Montblanc Meisterstück 144 mit grüner Kappe?”)). Not a Montblanc is the fountain pen “Dicke Berta” by the Berlin firm Weltpen: it bore the engraving “Das Meisterstück” and was slightly larger than the 139 (forum post of 25 August 2004).

The 149

Like the 139 before it, the 149 has two narrow light-coloured cap rings beside the wide gold-plated middle ring; on the 149 “Collectible Stars” volume II calls them “white metal”. The 142 to 146, by contrast, have gold-plated rings. The section of the 149 is straight, that of the 146 curved (Fountain Pen Network post of 9 June 2011); according to a forum post of 3 May 2005 the first 149s took over the section of the last 139s. According to one measurement the telescopic piston of the 149 holds about 3.2 ml (Fountain Pen Network post of 26 August 2013).

By the feed, an early version with a flat feed and a later one with a round feed are distinguished (forum post of 28 February 2019, Fountain Pen Network post of 24 April 2012). During the changeover, nibs of the 139 were still used up (forum post of 3 July 2004), and during repairs in the 1950s barrel or cap were swapped between 139 and 149 (forum post of 8 November 2006, post on Penexchange (thread “Die ‘kleinen’ Geschichten zu und hinter Füllhaltern”)). If a 139 broke when it was no longer made, the factory fitted parts of the current 149; likewise a celluloid 149 with a broken cap received a cap of the time of the repair.

Cap rings that do not match the barrel therefore point to a cap replaced later at the factory (forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 13 August 2013, forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 12 April 2017). Celluloid and the telescopic piston ended on the 149 in 1960.

Versions for particular markets

For the Arab markets the 146 and 149 carried a white dot instead of the star — from the mid-1950s into the early 1970s. Pens without any star from the 1950s and 1960s are also known (forum post of 21 December 2010). A five-pointed star on Meisterstück pens of the 1950s is mentioned in a forum post only from memory (Fountain Pen Network post of 7 February 2017); it belongs to the 1970s to mid-1980s.

On the 149, three-tone “18C” nibs occur, found mainly in the USA, Asia and Mexico; two pens described at penboard carry the import mark “IMPORTE D’ALLEMAGNE”. For export Montblanc also made special models that appear in no catalogue. Since the books are based on catalogues, it should also be borne in mind that discontinued versions were still sold from dealers’ stock for up to ten years.