Montblanc Vintage 1950–1959 Monte Rosa of the 1950s: O42, O42 G and the push pencils

Monte Rosa was Montblanc’s school pen and second brand; the range went on sale in 1952. In the 1950s it comprised the piston filler O42 with steel nib, the O42 G with gold nib and three push pencils.

A brand for beginners

Monte Rosa went on sale in 1952 as Montblanc’s school pen; this is how “Collectible Stars” volume II and the company chronology in the model catalogue record it. Younger buyers were to be offered an affordable first pen without weakening the main line.

Monte Rosa was thus Montblanc’s second brand (forum post of 2 January 2006). How far it stood below the main brand is described differently: according to a forum post of 25 November 2008 it was the least expensive line from the start, according to a Penexchange forum post of 6 April 2010 (thread “Monte Rosa”), on the other hand, an independent line and expressly not a cheap pen.

The name, “Astoria” and “Reflex”

According to “Collectible Stars” volume II Montblanc had already used the name as a sub-brand in the early years of the company. According to a forum post of 30 November 2005, however, Montblanc fountain pens of this name only appeared after the war; a Swiss pre-war brand called Monte Rosa has nothing to do with Montblanc. In Switzerland the Zurich firm Dimmler held the name. Montblanc therefore sold the pen there for a time as “Astoria”, and the imprint “Reflex” also occurs on Monte Rosa caps — as both volumes of “Collectible Stars” record.

Fountain pens and pencils

For the 1950s “Collectible Stars” volume II lists these pens:

• the piston filler O42 with steel nib (1952–1956)
• the piston filler O42 G with gold nib (1954–1956 and 1957–1961)
• the push pencil O92 (1954–1956)
• the push pencil O95 for 0.90 mm leads (1959–1960)
• the push pencil O96 for 1.18 mm leads (1957–1960)

The pencil O95 or O96 was the counterpart to the fountain pen (Fountain Pen Network post of 29 June 2014); the reference works expressly count the pencils as part of Monte Rosa. They know no further numbers for this period; the models 41 and 401 only followed in the 1960s.

Steel nib or gold nib

The “G” in the number denotes the gold nib, 14 ct (585) (forum post of 30 November 2005, Fountain Pen Network post of 30 July 2010). Without “G” the Monte Rosa had a steel nib, often gold-plated; forum posts say the same (forum post of 29 November 2005, post on Penexchange (thread “Monte Rosa - wer kann mir hier helfen?”)), as does This also applies to the export colours, and the book’s colour plate shows a blue pen with steel nib under the number O42. What counts is the impressed number: sales listings often omit the “G”, so such a title says nothing about the nib.

A Montblanc leaflet of 1957, reproduced in the Penexchange forum, gives these nib widths (Penexchange forum post of 9 January 2020 (thread “Monte Rosa 042 ‘STM’ Feder - Empfehlungen?”)):

• for the O42: EF, F, M, OM, OB, KF and shorthand
• for the O42 G, as for the 342: EF, F, M, B, OF, OM, OB, OBB and KF

What the marks “ST” on this leaflet and “STM” on the turning knob of an O42 (Penexchange forum post of 5 January 2020 (thread “Monte Rosa 042 ‘STM’ Feder - Empfehlungen?”)) mean is unresolved.

Dating and colours

The position of the number helps with dating: until 1956 it is on the turning knob, from 1957 on the cap band. The knob also carries nib marks such as “KF” for a fine ball-tipped nib (forum post of 2 January 2006); a half arrow after the nib width marks an oblique nib for left-handers (post on Penexchange (thread “MB 264 - komisches Zeichen auf dem Drehknopf”)). Besides black, the O42 G came in colours:

• 1954–1956 in red, grey, green and blue, for export only
• 1957–1959 in red, grey and green, without that note

The coloured Monte Rosa pens were meant for other countries (forum post of 2 November 2004). The push pencils O95 and O96 came in black, grey, red and green, in blue for export only.

How to recognise it

A Monte Rosa can be recognised by its wavy cap band; the same wave appears on the nib between “Monte” and “Rosa” (Penexchange forum post of 29 December 2018 (thread “Montblanc Monte Rosa”)). The cap top is domed and has no white star. Some pens have an engraved, uncoloured star outline, others none at all, and both are original (forum post of 2 January 2006). The end of the barrel has neither an emblem nor a coloured plug (post on Penexchange (thread “Patronen-Modelle der 60er- und 70er: orangener Einsatz statt MB-Logo im Schaftende”)).

The ink window is translucent blue (forum post of 1 December 2005); some coloured pens, including those in the colour plate of “Collectible Stars” volume II, have a clear window. The cap reads “MONTBLANC” and “Monte Rosa” in varying sizes, or only “Monte Rosa” in script (Fountain Pen Network post of 29 December 2012, Penexchange forum post of 18 October 2016 (thread “Schreibtischfund - Monte Rosa und Tropen”)).

Material and dimensions

Cap and barrel are thermoplastic. According to the collectiblestars.com database the O42 measures 14.1 cm with the cap posted, at a diameter of 1.3 cm. Measurements in the forum give (forum post of 4 December 2005, Penexchange forum post of 18 October 2016 (thread “Schreibtischfund - Monte Rosa und Tropen”)):

• closed 12.7–12.8 cm long
• without the cap 11.2–11.4 cm long
• barrel 11.6–11.8 mm in diameter
• cap 13 mm in diameter

Parts, early pens and the end of the range

Whether parts can be swapped with the 342 of the third series is disputed: according to a Penexchange forum post of 6 April 2010 (thread “Monte Rosa”) they cannot, according to a Penexchange forum post of 19 December 2020 (thread “Montblanc 342 Federhalter-Füller/Stahlfeder”) caps, nibs and feeds fit. The flat feed with lengthwise grooves is regarded as the early form, later came crosswise grooves (Penexchange forum post of 15 January 2017 (thread “Schreibtischfund - Monte Rosa und Tropen”)). A forum post of 12 May 2009 names the black O42 with steel nib as the very early version, as shown on the page with photos.

The reference works list the range until 1970. According to the explanations in “Collectible Stars” volume II, however, older models were sometimes sold for years afterwards.