Montblanc De Luxe 275

Montblanc started its Danish production of pens and pencils in 1933. In fact, for a time after the war, the Copenhagen factory was the only running production, since the Hamburg buildings were destroyed. However, by the 1960s, the fountain pen market had been decimated by the introduction of the ballpoint pen, and Montblanc decided to consolidate its production to the rebuilt Hamburg factory with its ability to produce pens using thermoplastics.

In 1955, the Danish factory introduced four new fountain pen models: the 212, 214, and 216 and the De Luxe 275, which turned out to be the last pen made by Montblanc in Denmark

This particular 275 isn’t in perfect condition. It started life as an Extra-fine, as can be seen in the “EF” imprint on the blind cap. However, it was obvious when I purchased the pen that it had probably fallen off a desk sometime in the past 60 years. The tip of the nib was cracked off and the remaining tines were quite bent. After a little straightening and gentle grinding, the nib is now a “right foot” italic. This means that it’s gold rather than iridium that’s in contact with the paper, which is why I chose to grind it to an italic to reduce the amount of wear. Someday, I’ll hopefully come across a nib on a donor pen to replace this temporary solution.

The other issue is that there is a gold band missing from the blind cap. This should be in the groove at the end of the pen, similar to the band at the top of the barrel. I doubt that this will be easy to find – but I might make a replacement some day if I get brave and/or rich enough to start putting gold on the lathe.

Despite these two minor issues, it’s nice to have a small piece of history from Montblanc’s Danish production. Time to get busy restoring the matching mechanical pencil, which is unfortunately in much worse shape than the pen.

V202401