Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 515

From an American pen company to a famous German brand--here's another recent acquisition belonging to Christopher!

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

He writes: "Although I do have a few Montblanc pens in my current collection, there has been a vacant spot for a real oldy since day one. Seems that any vintage Montblanc that I ran across to fill that space, had a price tag on it that was right up in the stratosphere! Still, there is an adage that if you wait long enough and are patient, often just what you are looking for comes your way. And this was just the case regarding a early 1940s Montblanc 232. Well, such was the case until I removed the cap, only to find a good quality but ‘American’ 14K gold replacement nib. Ouch, and at first I just walked away from it. But in doing some research and consulting my pen book library, I discovered that regarding the Montblanc pens that were produced during the war, their sections sported steel nibs. So maybe this particular upgrade was a good one. Also, I noticed that the gold filled cap banding was also not available on this pen. But again, during the war the Montblanc 232 just had chased cap banding. So for the record, that was totally correct on this pen as well. 

 So I brought it home and. in cleaning it up and polishing it, was well satisfied. My educated guess regarding this pen’s history, was that it was acquired by an American serviceman during World War II and, in turn, brought back to America where the original Montblanc steel nib was replaced with a higher quality US 14K Gold nib. This fine writing instrument has all the traditional earmarks of a Montblanc pen. From the white cap star crowning the clip screw, to the early teardrop Montblanc 14K Gold filled ring clip, it just cries out Montblanc. In this pen’s case, the plunger filler is in good working order and although not original, the 14K Gold nib is more than adequate. This pen posts smoothly at 5 ½ inches and caps back to a pocketable 4 ¾ inches. The condition overall is superb and it might not be a Meisterstuck, but regardless it is a brilliant vintage pen well deserving to become part of my collection."

What a nice vintage find :) We'll be featuring another of Christopher's Montblanc writing instruments this month, so watch this space!