Montblanc Fountain Pens?

Hello!

Random off-work kind of question....

I have been collecting fountain pens for approx 5 years and have a collection of 11 from basics such as a Parker sonnet to my most expensive being a viscontini homosapien Bronze Age with quite a few sailor fountain pens.All these -ens are within a comfortable price range for my parents to purchase for me{below £400).

However I have been working really hard at school/A-levels etc lately and my parents are willing to buy me another pen.I was thinking of other stuff I may need but none came up{covered in terms of tech, clothes,etc...}

I was looking at a montblanc meisterstuck 149 fountain pen.Its pushing the comfort zone in terms of price at £650 but surely as a Montblanc it will retain its value and I believe I will cherish it for decades to come{hopefully at least:}

Would you say its worth pushing and getting this pen or to invest in something else/A cheaper pen{recommendations from other enthusiasts appreciated:}

Thanks.

Hello!

Random off-work kind of question....

I have been collecting fountain pens for approx 5 years and have a collection of 11 from basics such as a Parker sonnet to my most expensive being a viscontini homosapien Bronze Age with quite a few sailor fountain pens.All these -ens are within a comfortable price range for my parents to purchase for me{below £400).

However I have been working really hard at school/A-levels etc lately and my parents are willing to buy me another pen.I was thinking of other stuff I may need but none came up{covered in terms of tech, clothes,etc...}

I was looking at a montblanc meisterstuck 149 fountain pen.Its pushing the comfort zone in terms of price at £650 but surely as a Montblanc it will retain its value and I believe I will cherish it for decades to come{hopefully at least:}

Would you say its worth pushing and getting this pen or to invest in something else/A cheaper pen{recommendations from other enthusiasts appreciated:}

Thanks.

i too have a collection of a dozen pens...

http://media-poundland.scdn1.secure.raxcdn.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/0/101971_1.jpg

It depends how much you want that particular pen. Might I recommend, however, buying old pens. An old pen in good condition is much more valuable than a new pen, and it seems you're just looking at new pens - which, frankly, are not so much special or collectible as they are merely expensive.

I'd recommend you look for early Parker, Waterman, or Sheaffer pens. You can't go wrong with those. My Duofold writes beautifully at 90 years old, and as I'm looking after it it's only going to get more valuable - not bad for a £115 purchase ~10 years ago. Usually I'm a Parker man, and there's loads of old pens to go at - the Duofold, the 51, the 45, and many many others. If you can get an early 51, you'll be awestruck by how well it writes.

My own goal is to get a Parker Jointless.

I've also dabbled with making dip pens from reeds and quills, with results varying from awful to amazing. Also experimented with making fountain pens using various materials.

Yay another enthusiast!

Wow!I haven’t even got close to thmy Zorro EC it expertise imo to making my own pens years but definitely an exciting thought for the future.

I’m currently focusing on building my collection to a great extent and enjoying fine writing instruments.

As to your idea of vintage I have absolutely considered it but have a constant worry of buying used items as I can’t guaremtee their authenticity especially when spending potentially thousands on pens.I have never bought anything used in my life life and since parents find such endeavours I don’t think they’d be that comfortable either.

I’ve consideted vintage montblanc a and the Parker 51 but it’s just that worth inside me.

Hehe

The only reason I use fountain pens are that we were forced to use them since we were allowed to use pens to at the school I went to so kind of got used to them.

So don't buy other than from a reputable dealer. You're better with vintage because they are actually collectable. New pens aren't, unless they're special one-offs - like I said, all they are is expensive.

If you aren't prepared to buy older pens you might want to reconsider whether the term "collector" really applies to you, or if the right word is just "snob".

i also have this one:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRWLgFfUsAAYjF-.jpg

as you can see it is in need of renovation, but once that is taken care of it will be a solid investment for the future.

I still believe I’m a collector but vintage and new are a mixed bag.

If you and your five years' experience are confident of that. I've been into pens for far longer than that and wouldn't buy new unless it was (a) just a knockabout/disposeable pen I needed or (b) it was a really special one-off.

I would add to this that many of the new 'custom' or slightly obscure makes with little history to the company behind them use very cheap nibs and often are far far worse in the long run compared to an older one, even a decently cheap old pen as they were often made far better back when fountain pens were the norm and there were companies that were very good at precision.

I have also found that cheaper ones often have poor feeds and will often be very iffy after a while of normal use, leading you to wonder if it was your fault and ending up in you buying another decently cheap pen.

Get something a bit expensive and you have a pen that will last lifetimes and ink is very cheap so in the long run you have a collectors item that is very functional and easy to fill.

bring your own rubbers

Exactly. This is why I stand by the Parker 51 as possibly one of the best pens of all time. In those days Parker developed their own alloys for making nibs, and the 51's nib is perfect and beautiful; the pen sits nicely in the hand, the ink bladder holds loads more than a cartridge or even a convertor... the whole thing is just a work of art.

The only thing I'll say, though, is never use Parker ink - it's crap. Sheaffer Skrip is the best (normal) ink I've ever used. There are specialist inks which are better, but they start at 2-3 times the price of Skrip.

I am having to get a new fountain pen as my old one is sadly dead, I will certainly take a look at the parker 51.

I know a guy that machines his own pens, fountain and otherwise so I have been using those for quite a while but they seem to fail after a year or so, but I bought a rollerball for my grandmother a while ago and holy crap it was the smoothest thing I have ever wrote with, it felt like I was gliding across the paper and I was pretty shocked.

The parker ink is awful, I found some pretty cheap ink that was very slightly longer than normal and I could fit two of them in my pen and it was so snug that the pen wouldnt rattle at all but I have sadly never seen those again

Well, if you get a Parker 51 I can greatly recommend the Skrip ink. IIRC it's about £8/bottle but a bottle will last you a couple of years. It comes in plenty of colours too (I personally keep black, blue, purple, and red in, my dad uses blue-black and also green).

I've used rollerball pens too but... I dunno, something doesn't feel right about them for me. If I'm not using a fountain pen I'm using a knocked-about Jotter that must be forty years old. I've broken and repaired it a goodly number of times but it's never let me down.

Hello!

Random off-work kind of question....

I have been collecting fountain pens for approx 5 years and have a collection of 11 from basics such as a Parker sonnet to my most expensive being a viscontini homosapien Bronze Age with quite a few sailor fountain pens.All these -ens are within a comfortable price range for my parents to purchase for me{below £400).

However I have been working really hard at school/A-levels etc lately and my parents are willing to buy me another pen.I was thinking of other stuff I may need but none came up{covered in terms of tech, clothes,etc...}

I was looking at a montblanc meisterstuck 149 fountain pen.Its pushing the comfort zone in terms of price at £650 but surely as a Montblanc it will retain its value and I believe I will cherish it for decades to come{hopefully at least:}

Would you say its worth pushing and getting this pen or to invest in something else/A cheaper pen{recommendations from other enthusiasts appreciated:}

Thanks.