Presentation box with a winter motif wishing a Merry Christmas.
Box shows no signs of being originally Montblanc; a sticker shows the name of a stationary and leather wholesale in Leipzig, Germany.
The Montblanc Meisterstück L 139 fountain pen was the top of the line model at that period of time. This one shows features of the first series like like a long ink window, hard rubber cap and filling knob while the ink feed is flat and smooth.
The background is a 1939 catalog reprint showing a range of Montblanc Meisterstück pens. The L 139 was offered for 45 Reichsmark (RM). The Meisterstück 138 which was the second largest piston filler was sold for 31.50 RM.
The cap top shows an imprinted line or rim around the star which is very unusual on this line of pens. It remains unclear if it came this way from the factory or if this is a sign of another repair performed many years ago.
The filling knob is engraved L 139, OB and D. R. P. 652405. However the cap and cap top does not show signs of any imprints.
The long ink window does not show too much ambering and black lines are mostly intact.
The pen's flexible nib is an alloy non-gold 250 nib with oblique tipping. According to today's western standards this is a OF or OM nib but might have been sold originally as a broad oblique.
While a Montblanc Meisterstück 136 (also from the the first series) is not a small pen, this comparison shows the impressive measurements of the 139 model.
While the pen appears to be in magnificent condition now, it had to rise like phoenix from ashes! It came to me in less good condition than expected and some serious work was necessary to bring it back to former glory:
The clip of the pen was not original Montblanc and it came with a smaller #6 nib which must have been a later replacement. Also the seat for the cork see was broken and needed repair.
The cap lip and lower silver ring are obvious replacements; repair was functional but visually less appealing due to wrong proportions and rough workmanship. This was also true for a replacement sleeve added to the end of the barrel with a very porous surface making it impossible to polish. Again, proportions were not original so the pen was c. 2 mm shorter compared to the original dimensions.
All of this was excusable given the history of this pen. It was purchased from a lady who inherited the pen from her grandfather's pen collection which included pens from his father as well. This collection was kept during GDR times and I suppose that all mentioned repairs had been done many, many years ago (the collection remained untouched since c. 1995). It is nice to see that the pen was kept running - maybe even during GDR times with very limited resources.
Now the pen was completely restored by Max from www.maxpens.de and returned to me this week. A new clip and original nib were fitted, the core seal seat was repaired, a new silver ring and cap lip were fitted and even more important the repaired barrel end replacement was again replaced by a more original celluloid sleeve. This was a truly amazing and remarkable repair leaving almost no part untouched. Max, many thanks for using your skills on this pen! Remembering the state this pen came into my possession it is fantastic to see the result today: a true Meisterstück.