In the early years of Montblanc the safety filler was a more advanced construction compared to eyedropper of lever filler pens. Safety pens were offered from c. 1908 until 1939. Both Meisterstück and non-Meisterstück pens were available.
The nib of the pen remains inside the barrel when uncapping the pen. This also has the advantage that the nib is always surrounded by ink when the pen is capped. This way a safety pen would start writing right away after retracting the nib.
Unfortunately this wonderful c. 1924 to 1928 Montblanc safety pen came to me with a broken, non-Montblanc nib. So far it is waiting for me to find a suitable, original replacement nib. Most Montblanc safety pens have a smooth and round barrel, but this one is a 8-sided pen which was available in 4 different sizes. This no. 6 was the biggest compared to no. 1, 2 and 4.
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| 8-sided no. 6 (middle) in comparison to the smaller no. 4 |
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| matching no. 6 sized classical nickel plated clip with worn plating |
Originally Montblanc's safety pens came without a clip. However accommodating clips were available from Montblanc and other manufacturers which would simply slide over the cap and hold in place by friction. Designs ranged from classical nickel platted clips to snake clips - which were popular in Germany - made from silver or even gold.
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| silver snake clips in comparison to the classic Montblanc branded clip; reproduction snake clip on a Meisterstück 35, original snake clip on a Meisterstück 25 and classic Montblanc clip on a 8-sided no. 6 (from left to right) |
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| Montblanc clips were marked with size numbers matching the pen's size |
Interestingly this pen does not feature any Montblanc markings nor a cap top with the famous white star on top. Instead a transparent red lense is used which lets you see a logo, printed on paper which is placed underneath. It is suspected that no Montblanc markings are found on pens like this so they do not distract from the advertised brand.
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| a small paper insert shows the old Siemens logo |
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| under good light conditions the Siemens logo is visible under the transparent red lense |
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the pen came to me in an original Montblanc pouch and with a nice silver pencil |
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8-sided no. 6, Meisterstück 25 and Meisterstück 35 (from left to right) |
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| Meisterstück 35, Meisterstück 25 and 8-sided no. 6, (from left to right) |
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| three size 6 safety pens from Ric-Lei, Astoria and Montblanc |
So far the Montblanc has not been restored. Since it is in pretty good condition without any discoloration on the hard rubber surface it won't take much to bring it back to former beauty. Finding a matching Montblanc no. 6 nib will be the biggest challenge.
