…or what you can find online, if you search hard enough, wait long enough, and save up all your Christmas money for three years during a global pandemic! (Hey, at least it was useful for something…!).

So!

I’ve been after a MB146 in sterling silver (because sure as hell, I am not typing out the full model-name and variant all over again. Once in the title is more than sufficient for my carpal-tunnel syndrome, thank you very much…) for many, many, many years now. Since at least 2017, and definitely, since 2019. Sadly, the instances where I could actually buy the pen were annoyingly few, and far between.

Very, very, very far between.

Every time I saw one for sale at collectors’ fairs, they were either really expensive, or they were snapped up by other collectors, before I could even get a look-in. As usual – “…some guy just bought it, sorry…”, was the most common refrain I received in instances such as this. Oh, the dreaded ‘sumgai’ – the bane of every collector since the dawn of humanity.

Anybody who’s been a longtime reader of this blog will know that I love vintage and antique silverware. I do. I just do. I love how it looks, I love the different shades and finishes, I love how it gleams when it’s cleaned, and how almost anything can be made from silver, if you have enough imagination – like a beautiful sterling silver fountain pen! And since I love fountain pens, I had to find a beautiful marriage of the two, to add to my collection – and this was going to be it!

Sterling silver fountain pens are nothing new. They literally go back over 100 years, to the earliest days of fountain pen design in the 1880s and 1890s. Even before then, luxurious, gleaming, silver dip-pen holders were also available for those who wanted a bit of class while writing their daily correspondence. Fountain pens have always been made of sterling silver, from the oldest Parkers and Watermans (Watermen?) at the turn of the last century, right through to the Parker 75s, the Auroras, Omas and other more modern models of the late 1900s and early 2000s, and they’re still being made today.

Unfortunately, they are rare, which obviously makes them difficult to find. It’s not like every company produces a silver variant of every single model of pen that they produce, so getting your hands on one is not exactly easy – unless you buy the pen from a company that specialises in silverware, like Tiffany. Yes, Tiffany sells silver fountain pens – very, very, very expensive ones – but yes, they do. But even a company like Tiffany doesn’t exactly splash them around, and they are not easy to find secondhand.

The Start of the Hunt

I got interested in wanting to buy a silver Montblanc back in the mid-2010s, when I started seeing them in the collections of friends, and other collectors online in collectors’ groups on Facebook, but raising enough money to afford one was always a struggle. This was because almost every single one which I saw was being sold at retail prices – which, if you’re not aware, is the better part of $3,000+!!…which not only could I not afford, but also, couldn’t justify, even if I had that kind of money. Oy…

They do come at lower price-points, but I was always outbid, or out-bought, by faster (and probably richer) collectors than I, and so it was a fantasy that remained a fantasy for years to come.

However, the challenge in buying a silver Montblanc is not limited solely to the pricing of the item – but also the variant of pen that you want to buy. There’s quite a few of them out there, and this effects not only the price, but also the availability – and it can trip you up if you’re not aware of the details.

Montblanc fountain pens that have sterling silver variants are the 144 pocket-model, and the larger 146 piston-fill model, the little brother of the more famous MB149. Montblanc fountain pens in sterling silver are part of their “Solitaire” line of precious-metal fountain pens, which come in sterling silver, sterling vermeil (sterling silver with gold overlay), and finally, solid 18kt gold. They usually come in two finishes: Barleycorn, and Pinstripe. From what I’ve seen, the Pinstripe variant seems to be more popular (and consequently, more available).

These varieties are available for both sizes of Montblancs available in silver – so you can get a 144 in Barleycorn or Pinstripe, or a 146 in Barleycorn, or Pinstripe, and they’re priced accordingly online. This is why it’s so important to pay attention to the details when you’re chasing after a pen like this – because from a distance, they can look remarkably similar – and why you should always pay attention, ask questions, and ask for photographs when attempting to net one of these for your collection.

Cerchez le Plume!

After saving up over a year’s worth of antiques-flipping money, I attempted to track down a Solitaire 146 Pinstripe at the upcoming pen-collectors’ fair…and to quote Maxwell Smart – “Missed it by THAT much!”

Rats!

And to make things even more painful – this was the second time in a row that I’d missed out on a silver Montblanc at a collectors’ fair! Clearly, the fates were conspiring against me in some sadistic game of Piggy-in-the-Middle.

Every single silver Montblanc that I saw on sites like eBay and Etsy were asking insane amounts of money (by which I mean, full-retail prices), which I could never justify spending. Upwards of $2,500 – $3,500, not including the cost of postage. I’ve never bought a Montblanc at retail prices, and I didn’t intend to start now, so the quest continued.

This involved a lot of clicking, scanning through photos, reading descriptions, and checking details, but after a lot of effort, I finally found one for sale in Japan for what was a very good price for what it was. Still pretty expensive (it’s a Montblanc, it’s always going to be expensive), but also far below what they usually sell for. After shifting a few other pens in my collection to make space (and more money), I finally nabbed the pen and bought it!

For the price advertised, the pen was looking a bit rough. It didn’t have any surface damage that I could see, but it was significantly tarnished (being silver will do that to an item…), and the nib was looking a bit suspicious. However, apart from these slight cosmetic defects, it seemed to be perfectly functional – and it had the right type of nib which I like in my pens – a Fine.

Could I have bought a nicer-looking silver Montblanc? Yes. But for the same price? Hell no! As I have said in previous posts of this type – collecting vintage items and antiques is all a matter of compromise. How much are you willing to put up with, overlook, or sacrifice, in order to find the item that you want? I decided that a bit of surface tarnishing, and nib-wonkiness, was nothing, and that I’d be happy to buy the pen in this condition. After all – there was nothing mechanically or really, cosmetically wrong with the pen, that I couldn’t fix. It just needed a damn good polishing – which you would have to do anyway, if you buy a silver pen, and a bit of nib-tweaking (which is VERY common with vintage pens) so in the long-run, it really made no difference. Besides, after all that work (which isn’t all that much, really), you’d get a new-looking pen for at least half the price of an actual brand-new pen. It’s a win-win!

Analyising the Pen

So – the pen arrived just a few days before Christmas, which must be one of those Christmas miracles I keep hearing so much about, because the postal tracking on this parcel had dropped off the face of the earth two weeks ago, leaving me all but guessing. But, it arrived, nonetheless, and was excellently packaged.

Once I got the pen out, I was able to see just how heavy the tarnishing was, but fortunately, not so heavy that I couldn’t just rub it off using my silver-cloth. The results were stunning!

I was a bit worried about the tarnish, largely because tarnish usually hides defects and damage in silverware that you never notice until after it’s been cleaned – stuff like cracks, scratches and dents. But once this was cleaned, it was absolutely flawless! Muah!

The next area to check apart from the body, was the piston-filling mechanism – smooth as melted butter! Just like new! Nothing to see here, so I left it alone.

In examining the pen, I found clues to its age. The clip-ring at the top of the cap had a serial-number stamped into it, this was an anti-counterfeiting measure introduced by Montblanc in 1991 (and which continues today) to deter fraudulent manufacture. However, next to this, were the letters “W. GERMANY”, meaning that the pen was manufactured before the German Reunification in 1991. Deduction: The pen was made in the late 1890s or very early 1990s, and sold as a West-German pen, by a German company in a reunified Germany, around 1992, after the serial-numbers were introduced. So a pen like this would date pretty firmly to between 1990-1992. One last thing I found engraved on the cap was the single word “METAL”, indicating that this was indeed the matching silver cap for the silver pen barrel below.

Anyway, after exploring the pen to try and find out more about it, came the careful (and lengthy) examination of the nib. While it was, as advertised, indeed a Fine, it was a fine with significant issues attached – which I expected, for a pen which was this heavily discounted, but finding the cause for these issues was an adventure in and of itself!

Tweaking the Nib

I found the nib on this fountain pen to be intolerably scratchy, noisy, and very unpleasant to write with. Out came the loupe, a bottle of ink, and a notepad, and what followed was several hours of nib-tweaking and adjustment. Leveling the tines, rocking the nib, and finally, spreading the point to increase the inkflow.

Tweaking and adjusting a fountain pen nib is a real exercise in patience. Nothing about this can be done in a hurry, and it can take hours to get right. You’re working in tolerances of fractions of millimeters, here, so absolutely microscopic adjustments have to be made, before the nib will write smoothly, or at least, less coarsely. However, despite all my best efforts, I was only able to make superficial improvements in the writing quality.

I was NOT happy. A pen from Montblanc, that cost this much, should write FLAWLESSLY. I don’t care how old it is! Montblanc provides, and I expect, and demand, perfection, goddamn it!

Time for drastic action!

I drained the pen of ink, and wrapped a tissue around the nib and feed. Then, I started twisting.

Montblanc and Pelikan fountain pens have feeds and nibs which screw into their sections. In theory, you need the correct piston-wrenches and section-wrenches to remove these components, but enough evenly-applied pressure is usually sufficient. After a firm twist, I felt a ‘pop!’, and the feed began to unscrew.

Once I’d gotten the nib out, I cleaned everything away – all the grit and dust and ink…and had a closer look.

Now I realised what the problem was: The nib wasn’t lined up with the feed! There was a tiny gap between the nib and feed, which meant that the tines at the nib-point would be uneven once the nib and feed were screwed into the pen. It’s so small that you’d never notice it (and would never SEE it, because it’s hidden by the SECTION!). Only by physically pulling out the feed, could I spot this defect. I gave the nib a slight twist to realign it against the feed, and then screwed the whole thing back into the pen and filled it with ink again.

Result: Absolute Perfection! The pen now wrote like it was built yesterday! Well worth every penny that I spent to buy it.

“Cool Pen!…Where Can I Get One!?”

Thanks! And uh…good luck!

Precious metal fountain pens in gold and silver are very hard to find, and very expensive. As I mentioned before, average price for one of Montblanc’s sterling silver models is upwards of $2,500 – $3,500+ (not including postage), depending on the seller, condition, and what’s included as part of the lot.

My pen was even harder to find, because it’s a vintage model. The Le Grand Solitaire Pinstripe in sterling silver (which is what this is), isn’t manufactured anymore. You can only get them vintage, or New-old-Stock, which only drives the price up even higher! If you are trying to find a sterling silver or precious-metal Montblanc of any kind, (or any type of fountain pen made of these materials) then start saving – they hardly ever go on sale for under $1,000, unless they’re the small, 144-sized pocket-pens. The chances of finding a 146-sized pen in sterling silver, vermeil, or solid gold, for under $1,000 is never going to happen.

To find them, search collectors’ communities on Facebook, ask friends or other collectors who might have one they want to sell (unlikely), trawl eBay or pen-selling websites, and visit pen-fairs and collectors’ shows. That’s about the only way you’ll ever get your hands on one, short of buying one brand-new from Montblanc.

While Montblanc is most famous for being a manufacturer of high-grade writing instruments such as fountain pens, rollerballs, mechanical pencils and…ahem…uh…b…ba…ball…ballpoints…for the longest time, Montblanc has also been a retailer and manufacturer of a lot of other things besides.

In more recent times, Montblanc has started exploring areas such as watches, jewelry, cufflinks, and even cologne, but while some people think that this is a relatively recent trend, with other such niche companies also expanding outwards (Victorinox which manufactures the Swiss army knife, is a good example), Montblanc has been making a lot of other things besides pens, for many decades – not something that most people are generally aware of, because all they ever really associate the brand with, is its pens.

Regardless of this, it does happen to be true, even if the non-pen Montblanc products are less well-known or well-advertised as its luxury writing instruments.

From pen stands to inkwells, rocker-blotters to desk-blotters, notepad holders and portfolio cases, the company produces a lot more than just pens! The fact that these items are not always as fully advertised as its other products means that you can sometimes find some weird, interesting, and different items for sale which have since fallen through the cracks of advertising history.

A good example is something I found on eBay about a month ago, which came to me all the way from the USA – a solid crystal paperweight-bowl, sold by Montblanc, probably at some time back in the 90s.

The difference between Montblanc’s accessories ranges, and its ranges of pens, is that unlike a good portion of its pens, Montblanc’s various ranges of accessories are not part of its regular product-lines. You could buy a brand-new Montblanc #149 in 1952, and you can buy a brand-new Montblanc #149 in 2022. But you can’t buy a Montblanc Meisterstuck inkwell brand new today, or the matching blotter new today. They’re simply not made anymore. You can get them as NOS, NIB condition, from stores which never successfully sold them to begin with – but that’s about the closest you’re ever going to get.

This is why so many of Montblanc’s more obscure products…are…obscure! They were produced for short periods of time, and then they’re just forgotten about!

It was by pure chance that I found this crisp, sleek, rather minimalist glass bowl paperweight on eBay, complete with the original packaging. It’s from Montblanc’s “LifeStyle” collection, which was from a few decades back. Considering that they’re not made anymore, I thought it’d make an interesting addition to my collection of writing accessories.

A bit of research confirmed that the piece was a genuine Montblanc item, and I was also able to find a pretty decent idea of the original sale-price…which sounded frightfully expensive for a fancy paperweight – even if it is trying to be useful by doubling as a glorified snack-bowl! Either way, I estimated that it was, even with postage – a 75% discount – so I decided to buy it. It would take a while to get here from the ‘States, but I was prepared to wait.

And the wait was worth it. The bowl is not, as the photos might suggest, a perfect square. The sides are not straight, and instead taper inwards towards the base. The Montblanc star logo, and the company name are engraved on the base and on one side, of the bowl. Not sure why it isn’t engraved on all four sides, but there it is.

The bowl is surprisingly heavy. It’s large for what it is, but still much heavier than its size would suggest. It’s originally advertised as a “paperclip bowl”, which sounds rather pretentious for something which is basically a glorified snack-bowl, but it is nonetheless a useful and interesting desktop accessory. And it’s certainly heavy enough to stop papers from blowing away – with or without paperclips, or chocolate bonbons – filling up the bowl in the middle!

The bowl itself is hemispherical in shape, and the entire piece is absolutely flawless. There’s no cracks, chips or other damage anywhere on the piece. A few marks from age and grime which were easily polished off, but nothing which marred the beautiful smooth finish of the bowl – and smooth is the key word here – it’s so well-polished that it literally slides across my desk!

Apart from the fact that it exists, that it was in such great condition and came with all its packaging, another thing which surprised me about the bowl was its sheer size! From edge to edge it’s about 4 inches across, and two inches high, so it’s not some insubstantial little trinket, and you could probably store a lot of loose change, or chocolate bonbons or…yeah, even paperclips…in here, if you wished. So while it would’ve been very expensive, and heavy, and rather simplistic, it does have the advantage of being good quality, and of being large enough to serve a practical purpose.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved weird, quirky, interesting antiques – especially anything related to writing – my main hobby.

It’s for that reason that I’ve always wanted to buy a roller blotter.

“A what?” I hear you say.

Yeah, like a lot of people, I didn’t know that roller blotters were a thing, either! But, apparently they are, and ever since I found out that these things existed, I’ve wanted to own one. Problem is, they’re not exactly common, and hardly any pen or stationery companies still make them, so getting your hands on one can be tricky.

The first time I saw one, it was this tiny silver thing on eBay – and god almighty the price was gigantic…probably because it was some vintage thing made by Montblanc. But ever since I realised that they were a thing that you could buy – I had one hanging around in my brain on the back burner as being something that might be neat to add to my collection.

And recently, that dream came true! I was poking around on the internet and found about half a dozen of these things for sale! Antique ones, made around the turn of the century, all with silver handles, and with rollers in various states of…uh…rollability. After scanning over about four or five different options and weighing up condition, price, size, postage, and so on, I finally settled on one! It was a great price, even with the postage on top of it, and it’s certainly a writing accessory that most people will never have seen before – so it’ll be a heck of an addition to my collection!

Of course, anything at that price is never going to be perfect, so naturally, a certain amount of restoration was required before the new blotter could be used. This mostly consisted of a bit of light sanding of the wood, and shaping of the metal to make sure everything was straight and true – and finally – wrapping the wooden roller with some blotting paper so that it could be used.

Affixing the blotting paper to the roller took a bit of ingenuity, to be sure. As there’s no way of sliding a cylinder of paper around the roller, or of affixing it into place, all you can do is cut a strip of paper, wrap it around the roller and then glue it in-place – but not onto the actual wood itself – if you did that, you’d never get it off again! And that might be problematic if you wanted to change the paper later.

What I ended up doing was using a tiny amount of sticky-tape to tape the paper down onto the roller, wrapping the blotting paper around, and then gluing the paper back down onto the starting point of the paper, thereby reducing the chances of the paper slipping off the cylinder.

It’s a bit more work than simply wrapping the paper around the base of a rocker-blotter and clamping it in place or whatever – but it works!

But does this whole roller-thingy actually work? Absolutely, as you can see from the photograph above! So long as the blotting paper is wrapped tightly and secured firmly in place so that it doesn’t unwrap or slide off the roller – it’s a perfectly workable blotting solution.

And it takes up less space on your desk than a traditional rocker blotter!

With the latest passing of my birthday (and the less said about that, the better), came the arrival of the latest addition to my pen collection: A postwar masterpiece of design which has remained popular for over 50 years – the Pilot Vanishing Point.

Alternatively called the Pilot Capless, the Vanishing Point or “VP” was invented by the Pilot Pen Company in 1963. It’s the world’s only click-action retractable fountain pen!…which is why I wanted to add it to my collection – because it’s such a unique and different design.

The Vanishing Point works like any other retractable click-action pen. There’s a button at the back, which works on a catch-and-release principle, using ratchets and springs. Pressing the button down pushes the whole pen assembly out, and locks it in place. Pushing the button again releases it and the spring shoots the assembly back inside the pen-barrel – with a sliding door or shutter at the opening that closes upon retraction, to seal the pen and stop the ink from drying out on the nib.

Refilling the pen is as simple as unscrewing the pen in the middle of the barrel, pulling, or letting the pen-assembly slide or drop out, and then refilling it using its converter, like you would any other modern fountain pen. Once it’s filled, you dry off the excess ink, and re-insert it into the barrel.

Because the Vanishing Point is a fountain pen, however – you can’t just shove the assembly back into the barrel any old way – it has to (and can only) go in ONE way – which is the correct way. And that correct way is with the nib lining up with the pocket-clip at the pen’s base, before you drop it into the barrel again. If it doesn’t – then it’s very simple – the pen doesn’t work! The pen has to be assembled this way because fountain pen nibs only write when they’re in the correct orientation, and anything else would render the pen useless!

Now of course, you could just as easily move the pocket-clip to the back of the pen, near the click-button, like on every other click-action retractable pen – so why don’t they?

The reason is because of a simple quirk of fountain pens – that they should always be stored nib-upwards, when they’re placed in your pocket. This prevents jolting and leaks and ink-splashes. You couldn’t do this with a Vanishing-Point, if it had the clip near the click-button – hence the clip’s positioning near the nib. It keeps the nib up, and prevents ink from being spat out of the pen if it’s jolted or shaken around while it’s clipped inside a pocket.

Doesn’t this make the pen tricky to write with?

Honestly? No. The clip is minimalist and smooth, and doesn’t get in the way of your fingers, so it’s not an issue while writing.

So, apart from the upside-down clip and the nifty click-action retractable mechanism, what else does the pen come with?

Well – it also includes an 18kt gold nib!

A small nib, but 18kt, nonetheless, in the standard sizes of XF, F, M, and B. Vanishing Point nibs come in two varieties – the traditional yellow gold, and the less traditional, but still stylish rhodium-plated gold, which gives the nibs a glossy, silvery sheen, without sacrificing the quality, or prestige, of having a nib made of 75% gold!

Another nifty feature about the Pilot Vanishing Point is that the nibs can be removed and exchanged!…Or at least, the whole interior pen-mechanism can. So, if, for example, you wanted a Vanishing Point with a fine nib, and could only find Broads, you could easily buy a broad-nibbed VP, and then find somebody else with a fine-nibbed VP who wanted to swap out their nibs. All you’d have to do is unscrew both pens, swap the pen-assemblies around – and hey presto! A fine nib! It’s similar to the nib-swapping abilities of the Pelikan Souveran series, where the nib-units can just be unscrewed from the sections and swapped out between pens.

This ease of disassembly also makes the Vanishing Point extremely easy to clean – which is great, because not all pens are!

Pilot Vanishing Point – CONS

The Vanishing Point is about as different from a conventional fountain pen as you could get, and this does lead to a few things which may take some getting used to…

The first one is the pen’s ink-capacity. Its cartridges and converter, by necessity, have to be kept small, to give space for the retraction-mechanism to work inside the pen. Because of this, refilling the pen will have to be done more often.

The upside-down clip may be irritating to some people, because they may find it interrupts their natural grip on a pen. Be sure to try out a few Vanishing Points in person before you commit to buying one, to be absolutely sure that you’re comfortable holding it and writing with it for extended periods of time.

Pilot Vanishing Point – PROS

The pen is lightweight, comfortable, and smooth to hold.

It’s very easy to operate.

The click-action retractable mechanism is smooth and robust.

It’s extremely easy to clean.

It’s easy to swap out nib-units with other VP owners.

It comes in a WIDE variety of finishes, from elegant, futuristic, colourful or plain.

Being able to click the pen open and shut with literally a flick of the finger, without having to worry about what to do with the pen-cap (because it doesn’t exist!) makes the pen a great one for jotting down quick notes on the move.

Is the Vanishing Point worth Buying?

The Vanishing Point is not for everybody, but then, neither is any other pen. If you’re after a pen which is unique, futuristic, which stands out, and which will confound and surprise your non pen-collecting friends, then the Vanishing-Point will definitely turn heads. If you want a pen that’s different, unique, convenient and low-maintenance, the Vanishing Point may well be for you.

However, if you need a pen with a large ink capacity, which you can write with for hours and hours at a time, then you might be in strife. Not that this pen can’t do that, of course, but that you’ll need to carry extra ink with you, should you choose to do so.

You may remember, several months back, now, that I wrote a review about the Pelikan Stone Garden M800 fountain pen, a special edition released fairly recently, which I fell in love with, at first sight – which honestly, is not something I thought that I’d ever say about a Pelikan. I loved the pen for its bright colours, easy usability, light weight and its ability to stand out in a crowd. If you haven’t read that posting, I’ll leave a link here.

Moving on.

In that review, I wrote about how if I ever bought a Pelikan pen, then it’d probably end up being the Pelikan Souveran-line “Stresemann” release, which came out a few years back. It struck me largely because it was so different from all the other Pelikan pens which I’d seen. It wasn’t jet black, it wasn’t blue, red, green or white, and its style was historically inspired. And me, being a history-loving person (gee! Who would’a guessed??), naturally found it very interesting. I liked the darker, less-conspicuous colours used in its design, and the sort of…gravitas…that it gave the pen. This was a serious pen, a pen which had a background to it, and that’s what I liked.

That I liked so much, in fact, that I finally went out and bought one!

…Or at least, I bought one online…going out to buy a pen these days is almost impossible because of all the coronavirus restrictions…but…you get the idea. So that’s what this posting is going to be about. The Pelikan M805 “Stresemann” fountain pen.

The Pelikan Stresemann – Appearance

Like the rest of the Souveran line, the Stresemann has a solid-colour cap, section, and blind-cap. In this case – black. It’s decorated with silver-tone trim on the two blind-cap rings, the two cap-rings, the pelican-beak clip, the section, and the cap-jewel. The striped barrel is done in heavy, dark grey pinstripes. By default, the pen comes with an 18kt white gold nib, to match the silver trim on the pen, and to harmonise with the grey stripes on the barrel.

The pen, like all Pelikan Souverans, is a piston-filler with a removable nib-section. That means that it is possible to unscrew the whole nib-section and replace it with another one, should you need, or want to. I didn’t want to ruin the nice black-and-silver look that the pen had going on with itself, so I left it in its default configuration.

The Stresemann. What’s in a Name?

The Pelikan Stresemann (“Stray-zehr-mahn“, in case anybody can’t pronounce it), is named after the German foreign minister, former chancellor, and Nobel Peace-Prize winner, Gustav Stresemann! I think we can all agree that a guy who held that many titles and accolades, did a hell of a lot of writing, and certainly deserves the distinction of having a fountain pen named in his honour!

Stresemann died in 1929, but before his death, he was a highly influential figure in German Weimar-Republic-era politics. He mended relations between Germany and France, and was one of the few politicians to hold onto their positions in an era when Germany was highly politically and economically unstable. Between the German Revolution of 1919, the Hyperinflation Crisis of the early 1920s and the coming of the Depression in 1929, he remained Foreign Minister for six whole years. This is saying quite a lot, when you consider that during the same period, there were FIVE different German chancellors!

Apart from his political career, Stresemann was famous for one other thing: His fashion-sense!

As a politician and diplomat, Stresemann naturally had to attend all kinds of conferences and meetings with neighbouring European powers – it kinda happens when your title is “Foreign Minister”. In those days, very formal attire for politicians was still considered de-rigeur. And I mean VERY formal attire! Morning suits or stroller suits, with their top hats, grey waistcoats and heavy, black tailcoats, were still the preferred form of dress for a lot of politicians and diplomats (for example, look at the photos of the conference at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles).

Stresemann disliked having to wear the heavy, long tailcoat, which you can see in the photograph above. So he didn’t! Instead, he wore a slightly more relaxed form of formal daywear, known as a stroller suit. Stroller suits were black, but they still had the heavy tailcoat – so Stresemann just gave up wearing it! He removed the tailcoat, and instead, wore an ordinary, black suit-jacket, of a kind familiar to almost anybody today. This, combined with the black waistcoat, and the striped, grey trousers which finished off the look, became known as a stroller-variant still known today as a “Stresemann” suit!

Remember how the Pelikan Stresemann fountain pen has grey pinstripes on the barrel?

This is where they come from. They’re an homage, and a reference, to Stresemann’s distinctive style of dress.

The Pelikan Stresemann – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Honestly? I couldn’t find much that was bad, or ugly about this pen, if anything. The only thing that did kind of annoy me was that the ink-window on the Pelikan Souveran line is very subtle – almost – ALMOST – to the point of being invisible. They’re not like the ink windows on say, the Montblanc 149, which is chunky and visible and easy to see – especially when the pen is half-empty. No. The Pelikan ink window is very discreet. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d probably never spot it.

To some people, this might be a good thing, because they won’t want or don’t like ink-windows in their pens, because they break up the look of the pen’s lines and colours, which I totally understand, but on the other hand, if you’re the kind of writer who loves using their pen’s ink-windows to check how much fuel they have left to drive their imagination-journey while they write the next great epic novel, you will likely be sorely disappointed. Unless you hold the pen up to VERY strong light, the ink window is all but invisible.

Apart from that one critique, I really couldn’t find anything that I didn’t like about it. The 800 size is big, without being uncomfortable. It’s roughly analogous to the Montblanc 146 size, whereas the much larger 1000 series of Pelikan Souveran pens, are significantly longer and chunkier, and are probably even bigger than the Montblanc 149, which is saying quite a lot! So the 800 is a comfortable size to hold and write with for a long time. Also, it’s the same size used for my Pelikan Stone Garden, so they match in size, which is nice.

I liked the pen’s colouring a lot. The silver, black and grey work well together. the colours don’t clash and they’re not garish, bright or ostentatious. They don’t scream at you to look at it, or demand attention, but at the same time, they’re different enough from most of Pelikan’s other offerings to stand out in a crowd. In a sea of blue, red, black, and green, the dove-grey pinstripes of the Stresemann will definitely stand out.

Closing Remarks

Is the Stresemann M805 worth it?

In my mind, for the money which I paid (I bought the pen secondhand) – the answer is “Yes”. It’s lightweight, comfortable, distinctive and comes with a story. It’s a worthwhile pen to consider if you’re looking for something a bit more serious and refined than the usual offerings in the Pelikan ‘Souveran’ line. It doesn’t cost more, or less than any other Pelikan, and will definitely stand out in your collection.

My ongoing love-affair with fine writing instruments, and desk accessories, was taken to another level this week, when I finally acquired – after many years of indecision – my very first PELIKAN fountain pen!

Pelikan is one of those pen-companies that the populous at large, are not overly familiar with. Everybody has heard of names like Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Montblanc, and maybe even brands like Visconti, Pilot, Faber-Castell, Sailor, and Namiki. Pelikan, by comparison, is relatively unknown outside of Europe. Most run-of-the-mill pen-and-paper shops won’t sell Pelikan pens – to find them, you need to visit pen shows, or more high-end pen-and-paper stores which specialise in higher-end or more refined writing instruments.

Despite this relative obscurity, Pelikan enjoys a good reputation among fountain pen collectors for the size, quality and dare I say it – variety – of their pens, which come in all kinds of colours, sizes, stylings, and price-points, from something like a little Pelikan M100, all the way up to an M1000! Passing through the M200, 400, 600, and 800, along the way.

This posting is going to be a review of the first Pelikan pen in my collection, the M800-sized limited edition known as the ‘Stone Garden’.

Why Buy a Pelikan?

Over the last two years or so, I’d been wanting to make a conscious effort of not only increasing, but also upgrading, my overall collection of antique, vintage, and modern fountain pens. To this end, I’d started selling off most of my lower-end, or otherwise unused fountain pens, writing accessories and unused inks to friends, and other collectors.

It was around this time that I started looking at new pens that I might want to buy. I’d had enough of American and British pens, such as Parker, Waterman, Swan, etc, and turned my sights towards Europe. Europe has a very rich history and culture of pen manufacture, and I wanted to add a sampling of this culture to my collection.

In Europe, the main pen-manufacturing countries are Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland – yes, Switzerland! Don’t forget that Caran d’Ache is based in Switzerland!

Well. I already had a Visconti…and a Caran d’Ache…and I’d had my fill of Montblancs…and pens from other manufacturers seemed too far outside of my price-range for the time-being. Because of this, I turned my attention to – PELIKAN!

I had discounted adding a Pelikan to my collection for many years because of a sort of love-hate relationship that I had with them. Any pens which I could afford were too similar in styling to pens which I already had. Any pens which were different from what I had, were too expensive to afford! It really was a case of six-of-one and half-a-dozen of the other! So in the end, I turned away and put it all on hiatus.

That changed last year, when I found out that Pelikan had released the new “Stresemann”-style, to their famous “Souveran” line.

For those who don’t know – “Stresemann” is a reference to the early 20th century German politician, Gustav Stresemann, who was famous for wearing a stroller suit with a pair of pinstriped black and grey trousers. To pay homage to Stresemann’s distinctive style, the new pen was designed to be black, with silver trim and medium grey stripes and a shiny, white gold nib – very different from the usual monochrome offerings made by Pelikan, such as black, blue, green, red…usually in quite bright, vibrant colours.

Initially, I had my heart set on getting a Pelikan Stresemann in Pelikan’s largest, M1000-size, and started price-hunting. I wanted a Pelikan that didn’t look like all the other damn Pelikans that I’d seen, and the Stresemann seemed to be the best bet! That is…until I saw the price. Naturally, being almost brand-new, it was extremely expensive! So I started looking at something a bit more affordable – a different model, perhaps. Or a different size?

That was when I stumbled across a curiosity of a pen that I found on the “Available Stock” page of a local online pen-and-stationery retailer. It was a Pelikan, alright – but not as I knew it! The cap was a rich, navy blue. The blind-cap was navy blue. Even the section was navy blue!

When every single Pelikan pen I’d ever seen in my life had contrasting black, you can bet that the contrasting navy blue certainly stood out! On top of that, the main area of the pen’s barrel was not just boring old stripes of blue, or red, or green…or even the grey of the Stresemann – oh no! This was much more interesting! It was a marbled, mottled, speckled brown and blue of different shades, all mingled up together, punctuated here and there by little specks of black!

This was something which looked so incredibly different from every other Pelikan pen that I’d ever seen, that I was immediately drawn to it! I was intrigued, fascinated, amazed! It really was a case of love at first sight!

Brown and dark blue, and dark blue and gold, are three colours that all go together beautifully, and here they were, all combined together into a single entity! I knew at once that this was the pen for me, and that I absolutely had to get my hands on one by any means necessary! I always told myself that if I did ever get a Pelikan, then it had to be one which stood out – and boy howdy, did this one ever!

Und so! The hunt begins!

Acquiring the Desired Pen…

I don’t believe in any form of God, higher-power, angels…guardian or otherwise…wizards, pixies, elves, halflings or little people…but for some reason, I always seem to be able to find the best deals on almost anything that I’m looking for, when it comes to adding things to my collection. I guess I’m just obscenely lucky…or patient!

I trawled several online sellers of fountain pens to try and find the best deal for this pen, both locally, and internationally. Every seller which I came across was selling the pen for an absolutely insane price. $800-$1,000+ was the most common price-range that I found…and that didn’t include international shipping and any taxes or insurance that went on top of it! Add it all up and even at the cheapest level, the pen would still cost $1,000!…not a price I was willing to pay! Especially for something that I was going to be buying secondhand – which I would almost certainly have to do, since the pen hasn’t been manufactured for two years!

A conversation with a friend – if she’s reading this, she knows who she is – hey!! – directed my search to a fellow member of a local pen collector’s group on Facebook. He had two such pens for sale! He’d already sold one, and by sheer happenstance, I’d contacted him just at the time when he was thinking of selling the second one!

His price was significantly cheaper than anything that I’d seen anywhere else, even with the cost of postage thrown in! It took me about a week to make up my mind to buy the pen, and it took less than a week for it to be delivered! The benefits of finding a local seller!

The Features of the Stone Garden Pelikan

The Pelikan Stone Garden L.E. fountain pen is a special edition, a variation on the more common Pelikan Souveran M800 line, upon which it is based. As such, it shares all the common characteristics with the rest of the M800, and larger M1000 line from Pelikan.

Piston-Fill Mechanism

One of the reasons why I started getting interested in Pelikan pens is because, much like their sibling, Montblanc (you know, the younger brother who was always hotter, cuter, more popular at parties, and more famous among all your friends…!), large-sized Pelikan pens are all piston-fillers. This means that they have an internal mechanism that draws ink up inside the pen, using a screw-actuated piston-mechanism inside the barrel, operated by the knob (or “blind cap”, to give it its proper terminology) at the back end of the barrel.

For those who might not be aware of this – Pelikan actually invented the piston-fill fountain pen! So if piston-fillers are your thing, then you have Pelikan to thank for their existence!

The piston-filler on the Stone Garden is EXTREMELY smooth. It requires no effort to fill or empty the pen, and exactly five turns of the blind-cap is all it takes to complete either operation with no issues at all.

Another feature of the M800 and M1000-series of Pelikan piston-fillers is that these pens, unlike the lower-grade, 600, 400, 200 etc, series, come with a brass piston-filling mechanism…as opposed to the cheaper, and less robust plastic mechanisms used in Pelikan’s other pens.

Of course, that’s not to say that the plastic piston-mechanism aren’t as good, but when you’re paying for something like a limited edition collectors’ piece, you want a filling mechanism that’ll last as long as the rest of the pen does!

Removable Nib-Unit

Another feature of the M800 series (and indeed, all Pelikan pens) is the ability for Pelikan nibs to be swapped out for other nibs! This is easily done by gripping the nib and feed together in your fingers, and carefully unscrewing the whole section. The threaded feed and collar, with the nib included, then simply slides out once it has been unscrewed the appropriate number of times.

To change nibs (for writing preferences, or to replace a broken or damaged nib), simply screw the replacement nib-unit back into the pen! Hey presto! Of course, it has to be a nib-unit from an identically-sized pen! An M1000 nib won’t fit into an M800, and M600 won’t fit into an M1000, and so-on. Be sure you know the size of your pen and be very specific when searching, or asking for, a replacement!

I swapped out the nib in my Stone Garden from a Broad Italic down to a Fine, simply because European nib-sizes are quite generous and juicy, and I wanted something that wasn’t too wet that would flood my writing, bleed through the paper, and feather across the page during one of my long-haul writing marathons!

Another fantastic benefit of the removable nib-unit is that it makes the pen extremely easy to clean! You can literally unscrew the nib and feed, pull it out, pour out all the ink, wash everything out incredibly thoroughly – and then simply screw it back together again!

Ink-Window – Or Lack Thereof…

This is, probably, the only strike that I have against the Pelikan M800 Stone Garden – the lack of an ink-window, a feature that almost all regular Pelikan pens have…but which this limited edition, owing to its method of construction, does not.

The ‘Ink Window’ is the name given to the transparent midsection of the barrel, just above the section. You often find it on piston-filling pens, and it’s a convenient way of telling how much ink is left inside your pen. On Montblanc and Pelikan pens, the ink windows are discretely worked into the decorations and body of the pen barrel, which means that they can perform their functions without sticking out like a sore thumb.

While this pen does not have an ink-window, somehow, I think it looks better without it. An ink-window would disrupt the nice blue-brown contrast between the section, barrel and blind-cap at the end of the pen.

The Pelikan Stone Garden: First Impressions.

The pen is very neatly presented, and packaged, in a cardboard “PELIKAN” box, and wrapped in a white, leatherette sheath held shut by a dark red elastic band with a red disc on it. The whole design gives the impression of a scroll tied up with ribbon and held shut with a seal of red wax, with the pen nestled neatly inside. It’s a big departure from how many other pen manufacturers package their merchandise, and it really stands out!

The pen is light, and comfortable to use. It’s medium-sized and is similar in length, girth and weight, to the Montblanc 146 ‘Le Grand’ model. The section threads allow the cap to be removed easily and cleanly, without exerting too much force or having to twist endlessly to find the end of the thread. Three quarters of a full turn is enough to remove the cap.

The clip on the cap is flexible, but strong, and the filling mechanism is extremely smooth and easy to use. The cap may be posted on the end of the barrel, and sits very securely, with no wobbling or loosening over time, while you write. The gold-trimmed cap-band reads: “PELIKAN SOUVERAN GERMANY”, referring, of course, to the company name, the product line, and the country of origin.

The Pelikan Stone Garden: Writing Experience.

As with most of Pelikan’s higher-grade fountain pens, the Stone Garden comes complete with an 18kt two-tone nib with decorative looping, and the “Pelikan and Chick” logo set in yellow gold. The nib is marked “18c – 750”.

The pen wrote wonderfully smoothly, with a good, strong, consistent line, most definitely on the ‘wetter’ side of the spectrum – a characteristic of European pens, which always seem to be more generous in their ink-flow. There was no skipping, hard starting or any other issues that sometimes plague other pens, and first, and subsequent impressions, continue to be very favourable.

Pelikan Stone Garden: Size, Weight, Balance, Feel.

The pen felt wonderfully light in the hand, but not unsubstantial, or otherwise indicative of being poorly made. It’s definitely an excellent pen for substantial writing, involving pages and pages of longhand cursive.

Even with the cap posted, the pen is well-balanced, and there’s no sensation that posting the cap might encourage the nib to lift away from the paper. The pen is fairly large, but comfortable to hold in the hand, without the fingers becoming too crowded around the section. All in all, a very pleasant writer.

Concluding Remarks

All in all, I think the Pelikan Stone Garden is an excellent pen, well worth any amount of money that someone might spend on it. It’s attractive, comfortable, has a large ink capacity, and solid inkflow. The pen’s filling mechanism is smooth and easily operated.

The unusual colour choices for the cap, section, blind-cap and barrel make the pen unique, and it stands out from the crowd, without being tacky, conspicuous, loud, or excessively showy.

The pen fills and empties easily, is very simple to clean and maintain, and all up, makes for a very pleasant writing experience. All up, the Pelikan M800 ‘Stone Garden’ is a worthy addition to any serious collection of fine writing instruments.

I purchased this last week, as a slightly late birthday treat for myself – it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally arrived – a piece that I’ve been trying to find for nearly a decade to add to my collection! With its addition, I can finally say that one part of my pen collection has finally been completed!

The Backstory – And a Very Long Wait

Writing has been my greatest hobby for as long as I can remember. In one form or another, I’ve been writing for nearly 30 years. I find it fun, and relaxing. I love the freedom to literally create whatever I want – characters, settings, scenarios and ideas, story-arcs and adventures of almost any possible…or even impossible…description. Nobody can tell me that it’s impossible, or ridiculous, or stupid, or that it can’t be done, and you’re only held back by your own imagination.

My deep love of writing meant that, from a very young age, I always had a great interest in fine writing instruments. Fountain pens have been my weapon of choice when it came to the physical act of writing, ever since I was seven, and ever since then, I have barely touched a ballpoint.

Along with writing came my equally fetishistic love of history and antiques! This meant that, alongside fountain pens and dip pens, I soon developed a fascination with writing accessories and desk accessories – inkwells, blotters, letter-openers, bill-spikes, pen-cleaners, and any other strange, weird, whimsical doohickeys which I could use to make my writing experience more enjoyable.

I don’t remember exactly when I started getting interested in the famous Montblanc No.149. I was a teenager when I first spotted it, and decided that I wanted one! It was my dream throughout my schooldays to have one. That said, anything Montblanc is expensive, and being a simple student meant that there was no way I could afford one – certainly not at retail prices!

I spent years reading and researching, looking at photos and watching videos and auctions. Even when one did show up, I was always outbid, so I never thought that I’d be able to own one.

That is until last year, when I scored a Montblanc 149 in a box lot of other pens (all of which I’ve now sold). Out of this treasure trove, I kept the 149 as my prize! While the price for the box of pens was fairly high, it was still less than half the price of a brand new 149, so you can imagine how cheap the pen was, once you averaged out the cost among all the pens in the box!

Being no fool, naturally I examined the pen on an almost atomic level before bidding on it, to make sure that it was real. Montblanc products are among the most faked items in the world, alongside luxury handbags and Rolex watches!

The Montblanc No.149 Matching Desk Set

During all my years of looking at what fellow collectors have jokingly described as “pen porn” on the internet, I was made aware of the fact that the Montblanc No.149, as famous as it is, was only one part of a larger set of items! This was when I discovered that there was actually an entire set of desk accessories that went along with the pen, and that they were all designed to match.

Given how long it took to buy the pen, I didn’t have any great hopes that I’d also be able to buy the set that goes with it. However, I managed to score both the inkwell, and the desk-pen base relatively easily – not something that I was ever expecting! They were being sold secondhand, and I was able to get them for a good price.

The next piece to add was the blotter. Or, at least, I could dream about adding the blotter, because even a cursory glance at all the various eBay listings told me that it would cost a small fortune! Even at its cheapest, it would still be several, several, several hundreds of dollars, and many times, it was well over $1,000!…and that didn’t include extremely high postage-costs due to overseas shipping! Not even a secondhand No.149 cost that much! The more I looked at it, the more I began to think that perhaps this was a piece that I’d never be able to get – the chances of buying one for under $1,000, or even under $500, seemed impossible!

As my latest birthday approached, I started browsing eBay rather absent-mindedly, wistfully looking at all the stuff on sale, and typing in just random combinations of words to see what would pop up on the screen – stuck in lockdown over the coronavirus, I didn’t have much else to do! And it’s fun to see what kinds of things you’d like to have as a birthday treat, even if you can’t afford them, right?

That was when I spotted, by pure chance, a group-lot of vintage Montblanc items up for sale. For some reason, the wording of the listing meant that it had never popped up in any other search until now. I clicked on it just out of curiosity. The opening image in the listing was very misleading, which is probably why I never noticed it before, but when I realised that part of the lot was the blotter that I’d wanted for so long, I started paying much more attention! The asking price was fairly high, but pretty reasonable, for a group-lot of Montblanc things! Just one of the items in that lot sells for $1,000 brand new! Out came the calculator, and I started number-crunching to see just how much of a bargain all this stuff might be, and whether it was really worth it!

It took me all of half an hour to decide that it was a worthwhile price. When I realised how many other people were checking out the listing alongside me, I decided not to wait! I knew that it’d be years before another chance like this ever came along again, so I bought it, as a birthday treat for myself!

Yes, the price was fairly high, but I consoled myself in the fact that I could sell the other items in the lot for a healthy profit, and keep the blotter for my collection.

How Old is the Montblanc Meisterstuck Desk Set?

Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t found any solid documentation giving me start and end-dates. I believe that this particular style of desk set was manufactured in the 1990s, based on what little information I could find, but that’s about it.

Is this the only type of Montblanc desk set out there?

Oh, certainly not! There’s at least five, which I’ve been able to identify. Their details are below:

First, there is the solid glass “Lalique” set, with inkwell, blotter, and pen stand, made of beautiful cut glass, and which is named after the famed French glassware designer, Rene Lalique.

Next comes the black resin and acrylic “Meisterstuck” set with goldtone trim, which is designed to match the look, styling, and materials of Montblanc’s most famous pen – the Meisterstuck No.149. This is the set that I’ve been collecting.

The third set which I’ve identified is the sterling silver “Solitaire” set, with an inkwell, pen-stand and blotter, which is identical to mine, but with one major difference – that the trim is sterling silver and gold, instead of black resin and gold. It’s quite striking, actually!

There’s a black resin and polished brass set from, I believe, the 1960s or 70s, which I’ve seen at various places online, and finally, there’s also a set covered in black leather, which is Montblanc’s latest offering when it comes to desk accessories. The various elements for this set are currently available from the Montblanc website (and other, Montblanc-affiliated dealers and stockists).

The sets are not all consistent, and there are minor differences between each one, in terms of what’s included in them, the finishes, and shapes and styles. These are all the Montblanc desktop accessories sets which I’ve been able to identify. There may be others out there which I’m yet to see, but those are all the ones which I’ve been able to definitively identify.

So, is your set complete?

Believe it or not – but – no! The full set is actually five pieces, not four!

The last piece is a matching paper-knife or letter-opener, again in black resin, clear acrylic and gold-plate. However, in all my years of hunting and searching, I’ve never seen it! I’ve never seen it on eBay, I’ve never seen it at auction, at flea markets, pen shows, pen shops…I don’t even know anybody who owns one!

The only reason I know it exists is because I saw it included in a photograph of the full and complete desk set in a very old auction listing online somewhere, but I’ve never seen it for sale. It seems to be something so rare that nobody has one, “not even for ready money!”, as they said in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest‘.

The last time I saw a Montblanc-branded paper-knife of any description for sale on eBay, the asking price was over $1,000…for a paper-knife…and it wasn’t even the one that goes with my set! So, I don’t think I’ll ever be adding one to my collection…not that I’d use it, even if I could, so it’s probably just as well!

The Montblanc Meisterstuck Rocker Blotter – A Closer Look

Since the blotter is such a rare item, I thought it’d be good to write about it in detail, and try and give as much information on it as I can, for anybody else out there who might be trying to buy one! I’ve never been able to find very many detailed photographs of the blotter, and like I said earlier, there’s almost no information about it online anywhere!

I guess that’s what happens when something’s as rare as this. But first…

What is a Rocker Blotter?

If you watch a lot of period dramas, old movies, or if perhaps you’ve visited the museum-homes of famous authors, then you might’ve seen one of these things sitting on a desk somewhere. They used to be extremely common.

The purpose of a blotter is to soak up or absorb excess ink on a written page by a fountain pen or dip pen. Since these pens use liquid, water-based ink, it may take some time to dry – especially if the paper is not especially absorbent, or if the line laid down is particularly wet or broad (for example, in various styles of calligraphy). In instances where you can’t, or don’t want to wait for the ink to dry naturally, you rock the blotter back and forth across the wet ink to dry it faster. The excess ink is absorbed by the sheet of blotting-paper affixed to the underside of the curved blotter base, and the writing on the page is now dry.

Blotters were extremely common throughout the Victorian era, and lasted well into the 20th century. The heyday of the blotter ended in the 1950s when ballpoint pens started replacing fountain pens, but there are still plenty of companies out there which manufacture blotters, and there are many craftemen and woodworkers who produce them for people looking for brand-new rocker blotters for their desks. Apart from modern luxury blotters like those made by Montblanc, the J. Herbin ink company also manufactures blotters and blotting paper.

Anyway, back to the Montblanc blotter…

The blotter, like the inkwell and pen stand, is covered in Montblanc’s well-known, glossy black resin – the same substance used to make its famous pens. The edges are trimmed in gold plate, and the main body, or base of the blotter is smooth, transparent acrylic, much like the pen stand, and inkwell.

The slip of blotting paper that fits underneath the blotter is cut to size, and then folded and slipped into the two tabs or ridges on the ends of the underside of the blotter, and are simply held in by friction. In this instance, it’s better to use thicker, or double-folded blotting paper, rather than thinner paper, since thicker paper will hold more securely.

I want one! Where to Buy!?

Oh boy…

Getting a set like this is not easy. And not just because of the potentially, very high prices involved.

No.

The reasons why it’s not easy (difficult, but not impossible) are because of the following:

One – the set was a limited edition. My research says that they were only made for about 10, maybe 15 years. So that means there’s a limited number out there. This set is no longer manufactured by Montblanc.

Another reason is that this roughly ten-year gap was at least twenty years ago, in the mid to late 80s, up to the late 1990s. So if you want to buy the set, you have to buy the pieces individually, and they’ll all be secondhand.

Thirdly – because the set is vintage, and a limited edition, the prices could be extremely high. I’ve seen asking-prices on eBay for the various elements of the black resin and clear acrylic desk-set, of over a thousand dollars…for EACH piece. And while I don’t doubt that they might possibly be worth that (or something close to it), due to their age and relative scarcity, it’s a lot of money for most people to cough up, and that also makes them tricky to find.

The one good thing about these desk accessories is that, unlike the pens – nobody is faking these. They’re so rare that the chances of finding a genuine one to use as a model from which to make fakes, is very difficult, so, given their rarity, you can be sure that if you find one on eBay, or elsewhere, that it will be the real deal. Provided that the price is something you’re willing to pay, you can buy them with confidence, which is not always the case with Montblanc pens, which are among the most faked items in the world.

Despite restrictions and lockdowns, quarantine orders and masking-up, it is nice to still be able to attend auctions…even if, nowadays, they have to be done at home…through a screen…and online…instead of going out in-person to view the items you want to buy.

Nevertheless, it is still possible to score some amazing stuff online – like the latest addition to my fleet of Montblanc paraphernalia!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll know that one of my longest-lasting loves has always been for fountain pens and fine writing accessories. It was to this collection that, just before all this virus-stuff started, I added the Montblanc inkwell, and about which I had created a post of, just a couple of months ago:

Well, today we celebrate the recent (a few weeks is ‘recent’, right?) addition of the second piece of that collection: the matching desk-pen base!

What is a ‘Desk Pen’?

A desk pen (which can be either a ballpoint or a fountain pen), is a type of writing instrument which, instead of having a cap to protect the writing point, has a base or stand, into which the pen is placed. The base is kept on the user’s desktop, where it will always be available for use at a moment’s notice. Usually, such stands and pens exist to serve decorative purposes – they show off the owner’s taste in writing instruments, as well as displaying the quality of the writing instruments which they can afford.

Desk pens have a long history, and date back as far as the 1910s and 1920s, when fountain pens were first entering the mainstream consumer consciousness. Pen companies such as Parker, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp, Pelikan, etc, manufactured desk-pen sets for executive types – CEOs, business-owners, lawyers and high-flying professionals, so that they could place them on their desks in pride of place in front of their customers and clients.

100 years later, and not much has changed, really! Desk pen sets are still manufactured (although in smaller quantities, and at much higher prices), and they’re still being sold, and people still buy them for exactly the same reasons as they were purchased in the 1920s and 30s – to show off, and to have a pen conveniently at-hand whenever one was needed. You know, for signing that big fancy contract, business-deal, or legal document, and all that jazz!

The Montblanc Meisterstuck Executive Desk-Pen Set

Naturally, a company such as Montblanc has to have at least something to offer, when it comes to desk-pen sets…and so they do!…or rather, did!

Made of clear acrylic and polished, black resin, the Montblanc Meisterstuck desk-pen stand, or base, is designed to match the resin and acrylic body and the gold detailing of the similarly square-shaped Montblanc inkwell, in the same line. It’s also designed to match the classic, black and gold styling of the Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 fountain pen – which the sconce at the top of the stand is designed to hold; the sconce even has “MONTBLANC-MEISTERSTUCK-149” on the gold banding. It’s basically a 149 cap with the finial removed, and replaced with the ball-and-socket swivel joint to attach it to the heavy, acrylic base beneath it.

Maintaining an angle of 45 degrees, the stand holds the 149 up loud and proud for everybody to see. The pen can simply be rested inside the cap, and rely on gravity to hold it in place, or it can be screwed in, like an ordinary pen-cap, for added security.

Here, we see the base, along with the pen that’s designed to fit into it. It’s a convenient place for a 149-owner to park their pen on their desk, without worrying that the pen is going to roll off the side of the table when you’re not looking – while also having the pen near-at-hand when you need it, without having to dig through your briefcase, desk-drawers, or your coat or jacket pockets to find it.

One thing I didn’t know about the stand before I bid on it was the fact that while the sconce swivels around on the base from side to side, it doesn’t have a full range of movement – for example, you can’t adjust it so that it sticks straight up, nor lies down flat – it always remains at an angle of 45 degrees. While this doesn’t really bother me, it was a surprise, in as much as it would make the stand more tricky to pack or store, if for whatever reason, I ever had to put it away somewhere, or box it up. It also means that it’s more susceptible to damage. It’s a bit of a design-flaw, if you ask me, but that quibble aside, I’m still glad that it’s the latest addition to my collection of Montblancs.

Partially due to the price of their products, Montblanc tends to be a very polarising manufacturer of writing instruments and accessories. They’re either a company that you love, or a company that you love to hate, or a company that you have a love-hate relationship with.

Personally, I like Montblanc products. I’m not so sure that I LOVE them – certainly not for the retail prices – but I do like them, for the styling and the designs that they come up with for their various products, and their simple elegance, which has stood the test of time. Not for nothing, after all, is Montblanc one of THE most faked brands in the world, right up there with Rolex, and Louis Vuitton – after all, you don’t fake something that isn’t worth faking.

In this posting, I’ll be talking about another addition which I made to my humble Montblanc collection, shortly before all this coronavirus malarkey started going off around the world – and that addition isn’t a pen, it isn’t a watch, or even a piece of jewelry – but rather – an inkwell!

Montblanc has been making inkwells to go with their pens for many years, and if you search Google Images, there’s a surprisingly wide range of Montblanc inkwells out there, made of crystal, glass, brass and, if you can find one to buy – even solid silver! But the one in this posting is the one Montblanc inkwell that I’ve always wanted to own.

I won this particular inkwell at auction shortly after the start of the year, and just a handful of weeks before everything went into lockdown over the coronavirus. I’d been chasing an inkwell like this for years, ever since I’d seen photographs of it online, and I finally had my chance to grab it!

I wanted this inkwell specifically because of its design and styling. I liked the fact that it was big, black and chunky – substantial – heavy – and decidedly executive-looking – like it belonged on the power-desk of some sort of high-ranking CEO or something like that. I also liked the black and gold detailing, which was clearly designed to match the black and gold detailing of Montblanc’s classic flagship pen – the infamous No. 149. The two items – the inkwell, and the pen – were clearly designed to go together – and for that reason alone (among perhaps…a few other reasons!), I just had to have it!

The inkwell is not a standalone piece, however. It was originally sold as part of a four-piece set. The complete set included a paper-knife, a desk-stand for the 149 fountain pen, a rocker-blotter, and finally – the inkwell. All four pieces had the same basic design – black and gold, with clear resin in between to break up the colours.

As for how old the inkwell is, I’m honestly not sure. My research suggests a manufacture-date of the late 80s or early 90s, but that’s all I’ve been able to figure out. I believe that the inkwell (and the matching blotter, pen-stand, etc) all came out at the same time, as a sort of limited-edition thing, specifically designed to tie-in with the styling of the famous Montblanc No. 149, but that’s all I’ve been able to surmise. That being the case, they are relatively scarce.

Cool Inkwell! I Want One!!

Having seen the inkwell, you might be wondering – how much do they go for? The price varies. I’ve seen everything from $550, to $900, to $1,000+, on eBay. I’m glad to say I didn’t pay anywhere NEAR that for my inkwell. Despite that, I was lucky enough to buy the whole set, with the box, and everything that went along with it! As far as I’m aware, they’re no longer sold by Montblanc directly, (and aren’t mentioned anywhere on the company website), so if you decide that you do want one of these inkwells, then you will have to buy one secondhand.

So, if you CAN only buy these beautiful black and gold inkwells secondhand – what should you be looking out for?

Given that the inkwell isn’t nearly as well-known as the fountain pen which uses it, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see a fake Montblanc inkwell, but even so, it’s nice to know what the inkwell comes with, so that you’ll know whether or not you’ve got the full set.

Originally, it came in a black and white MONTBLANC cardboard box, with foam lining and the obligatory Montblanc user-manual. It also comes with a fascinating little gadget which I’ve never seen before…or since. It’s a little black plastic spout or funnel, with a detachable screw-on ring, which goes over it. After a bit of umming-and-aahing, because its function was not explained in any paperwork that I could find, I realised that this screw-down funnel or spout is designed to screw onto the neck of a Montblanc ink bottle! The contents of the bottle can then be decanted into the inkwell through the spout, thereby minimising the risk of spilling any ink!…Pretty nifty!

The inkwell also comes with a removable, round-bottomed, clear plastic inkwell liner-cup – this is to stop any ink that you put into the inkwell from staining the clear resin midsection of the inkwell – possibly permanently – depending on the ink you like to use! Given that this is the function of this clear plastic liner-cup, it’s probably a good idea to check that your inkwell has this, before you bid on it at auction or buy it online. Otherwise, you could end up with an inkwell full of ink-stains, which would be irritating, to say the least!