A friend at work brought in her Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 fountain pen for me to play with, as she's been seeing many of my recent purchases and talking pens with me. She bought it in 1983 as a special treat to herself, and hasn't inked it more than a few times. It's been in the box and unused for about the whole time she's had it; the look of horror on my face made her feel like she should start to use it, so she thought I'd inspire her.
What an amazing pen. This is truly a cigar, or as I usually put it, a Robber Baron style pen. The nib is about double the size of any of mine, and while it's a medium point it looks to me like a broad. And the flex! I can't believe how much flex this nib has, even my Namiki Falcon II isn't as flexible as this. I'm beginning to see how writing with a fountain pen was an entirely different experience even 25 years ago. The only problem I had was more because of the lack of use: the ink wouldn't flow smoothly out of the pen, but started and stopped (let's not get into how long the piston filler took to pull the ink). Of course, once I gave it back to my friend both inked and used, she immediately started writing away quite happy to play with it again. I wrote a few sheets, but didn't really get the hang of the pen. Then I noticed something that could account for that: my friend is a lefty, and the pen flexed and glided specifically for her hand. Glad they are back together, I imagine I'll be seeing an amazingly large black pen on her desk from now on.
Props to your friend, PB, for bringing out that beaut of a drawer hermit. Tell her, nope, it's not snobby or affected to use it. That FP ink, saturated and low-viscosity, plus the nib geometry, make FP penmanship everyman's everyday art. (The ballpoint's convenience was bought at a price, in other words.) At least that's what I'm telling myself, a "re-discovering penman".
ReplyDeleteVery cool, a classic pen!
ReplyDeleteblonde,
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for your suggestion on visiting Kinokuniya and Muji! It was a blast to go there, especially Kinokuniya. I only spent about $50, but I got so much neat stuff! Thanks for your advice!