As the first Winter Olympics premiered in Chamonix, France, and New York City hosted the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Montblanc debuted its Meisterstück fountain pen earlier that same year. Now celebrating its centenary, the inimitable pen has secured its place in popular culture, with The Origin Collection becoming the most recent chapter in its storied tale.
It was 1924, and the world was ready for something fascinating and new in the realm of writing instruments. Company lore says Montblanc pen customers had been avidly requesting a writing instrument for “Sunday use”—something a shade above those pens they used every day.
Their wish was granted in the Meisterstück, which aptly translates to “masterpiece.” So what was conceived as a well-engineered but relatively simple black safety pen 100 years ago has since become a renowned collectible comprising reimagined shapes, sizes, materials, and mechanics. The pen’s signature cigar shape and three gold rings rolled out in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Joseph McElyea, owner of Penwright in Dallas until 2005, has had a lengthy and enjoyable working relationship with Montblanc—both the pen and the company, and to hear him tell it, the Meisterstück has retained its Sunday-best status throughout the years. His pen-shop clientele, many of whom became collectors, comprised a number of physicians and lawyers. They fancied their shiny black Montblanc Meisterstücks as “pocket BMWs,” recognized (and coveted) the world over.
Though most significant Meisterstück collectors prefer to remain anonymous, suffice it to say that many of their collections run the gamut: from the brand’s earliest examples found at collector events and auctions to more recent product introductions. Letizia Iacopini, vintage pen expert and proprietor of TenPen.it, owes the Meisterstück’s long-standing high rank to its heritage and its place as Montblanc’s top-of-the-line writing instrument. She says the company smartly positioned it as a “status symbol for high quality, luxury, elegance, and class.”
The Origin Collection
A true homage to a classic, the just-introduced Montblanc The Origin Collection offers a wide range of pen design options, each decorated with a special nib engraved with “100” as well as the years “1924” and “2024.” The original Meisterstück logo is visible on the side of the cap of every edition.
The Origin Collection Precious Resin 149 has a black resin barrel and an interesting cap with a “fluid-ink” effect. It has platinum-coated fittings and includes a special anniversary clip. The nib is rhodium-coated 18-karat gold. The Precious Resin LeGrand has a dark blue barrel with a similar fluid-ink effect on the cap. Its nib is 14-karat gold. The last of the resin editions is the Classic, which is in green—also with a fluid-ink-style cap. Fittings are gold-coated and the nib is 14-karat gold.
The Doué and Solitaire editions reach into the company archives for their inspiration, centering on a piece that never made it to production, but here has inspired the caps of these pens. The Doué LeGrand combines a platinum-coated cap with a lacquered pattern sourced from the archives. The barrel is blue resin, and the nib is 18-karat gold. The Doué Classique showcases a gold-coated cap with the archive pattern in green lacquer. Finally, the Solitaire LeGrand pairs gold coating with Montblanc’s signature coral color—a hue I suspect was also gleaned from the archives.
Accessories celebrating the 100th anniversary are also available. These include three ink colors that reference the new pens: blue, green and coral. Notebooks, notecards, cufflinks, and bracelets round out the collection. Stay tuned here for more Meisterstück anniversary celebration pieces.