Montblanc Vintage 1950–1959 Meisterstück 642, 644, 742 and 744: metal cap or metal body

Besides the celluloid Meisterstück pens, the 1950s had versions with metal: on the 642 and 644 only the cap is metal, while the 742 and 744 are entirely sheathed in metal. They were made from 1951 to 1959, with an open nib until 1956 and with the wing nib from 1957.

Materials and numbers

The cap of the 642 and 644 is rolled gold, solid gold or “Silvre”, while the barrel stays celluloid. The 742 and 744 are entirely sheathed in rolled gold, solid gold or silver. Rolled gold is a brass sleeve with gold rolled onto it; the German captions of the book call it “Doublé-Gold”.

The last digit gives the size, the 4 in second place the piston filler. The first digit, however, departs from the usual system, in which it denotes the line (Fountain Pen Network post of 13 June 2010). Throughout the tables, 6 stands for a metal cap and 7 for a pen entirely of metal — likewise with the push pencils 672 and 772 and the ballpoints 615 and 715. The same number covered rolled gold, gold in 14 and 18 ct and silver (Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017).

Pens with the wing nib often carry an N after the number on the turning knob — 642 N, 644 N, 742 N, 744 N. According to a Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017 it means “neu” (new), according to a forum post of 3 September 2005 it stands for the wing nib; both mean the new version with this nib.

A 644 with “G” after the number is documented by a single pen only (Fountain Pen Network post of 27 January 2014). As on the Meisterstück 142 to 146, the “G” stands for gold: gold nib, smooth finish, early version.

The cap slips on and is not screwed. Dealers likewise describe the pens as slip-cap models. The reference works say nothing about it, and under the numbering system a slip cap would actually be marked by a 5 in second place.

Production years and wing nib

According to the tables the 742 and 744 appear from 1951, the 642 from 1952 and the 644 from 1954. For individual versions the book gives periods of their own:

• Silver existed only until 1954.
• The 642 and 644 had solid gold caps from 1954 to 1955, and the 644 with the wing nib had them again.
• Green and grey striated 642 and 644 pens were for export only from 1954 to 1956; for the years after, the book no longer notes this, while the collectiblestars.com database still calls them export pens.

From 1957 all four numbers received the wing nib, which the second series (252 to 256) had used since 1954; in this form they ran until 1959. Its curvature is almost entirely removed at the front, so the slit hardly opens under pressure. In this way the ink flow does not break off although little ink stands at the tip. It should be borne in mind that the book’s periods are based on catalogues; old stock was sometimes sold years later.

Gold and hallmarks

Solid gold is recognised by the hallmark 585 or 750. It appears on every part made of gold, on cap, clip, barrel and blind cap; without it the pen is rolled gold (forum post of 15 November 2013, forum post of 22 August 2016). Montblanc had hallmarked solid precious-metal surfaces since 1912 (forum post of 31 August 2005). The gold nibs themselves are 14 ct, 18 ct for France.

For French-speaking markets — France and, at the time, Lebanon — there were 18 ct versions with an 18 ct nib (Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017). A set of a 742 with a Pix 772 K in 18 ct, hallmarked 750, is documented (Fountain Pen Network post of 19 April 2017, confirmed in the Fountain Pen Network post of 7 May 2017).

Imprints and sets

The cap ring reads “Meisterstück”, on export pens “Masterpiece” — as on the 744 N set on this page with photos. The English name stayed in use until the late fifties; according to a Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017 Montblanc returned to “Meisterstück” around 1958. On individual pens with a gold cap the cap lip reads “Montblanc 585” beside “Masterpiece”.

Matching push pencils went with the fountain pens, and from 1957 lever ballpoints. Documented are sets of a 744 with a Pix 772 — with a warranty card, one dated 1954 by its receipt (maxpens.de; Penexchange forum post of 14 November 2025 (thread “Info zum Montblanc Model Meisterstück 744 Pix 772”)) — and of a 742 N with a 715 ballpoint with lengthwise line guilloche, 1957 to 1959 (Fountain Pen Network post of 29 April 2017). The guilloches of the rolled-gold and gold parts varied slightly over the years, in fine-grain and thread patterns.

Silvre, prototypes and overlays

“Collectible Stars” II calls the silver-coloured cap of the 642 and 644 “Silvre” in its table; a German caption in the same book calls it “Silberkappe” (silver cap). Dealers call it “Silvexa” and describe it as white metal, yet in the book “Montblanc Silvexa” is also the name of a silver Pix pencil. Whether Silvre and Silvexa mean the same material is unresolved; the book lists solid silver only for the 742 and 744.

“Collectible Stars” II also shows a gold 744 with chequered guilloche as a prototype; it is not in the tables. The collectiblestars.com database further lists a 644 with a rolled-gold cap and a long piston turning knob, 15 cm with cap posted, likewise as a prototype. Overlays made by jewellers, as found on pens of the 1930s and 1940s (forum post of 22 August 2016), are something else: the 642 to 744 are catalogue models of Montblanc.