12-sided No. 25 in Brown & Green Marble
This pen is from the personal collection of Farmdogfan, a generous contributor on FPN and distinguished collector of fountain pens!
Alfred Øberg became Montblanc's official distributor in Denmark in the 1920s. From 1939 to the mid-1960s his company was allowed to design and manufacture MB pens for the domestic market, but under the condition that the Danish designs would not be identical to the German ones. In 1944, when the Hamburg factory was bombed by Allied Forces, the Denmark factory was the only one in the world producing Montblanc pens. Poul Lund, co-author of the excellent book "Montblanc in Denmark", explains more in his interview --> link.
Vintage Danish models are cherished by collectors today for their vibrant colours and distinct designs, and the two No. 25 examples we have here are no exception. Notice the beautiful 12 facets complementing the art deco design. The No. 25 model was also available in Germany under the Meisterstück series through the 1920 and 1930s. But, these pens looked quite different. You can see several examples reviewed on our website (coral red lever, lapis lazuli, etc.). The 12-sided No. 25 was essentially the Danish Meisterstück in the sense that it was a top-of-the-line model, but it didn't use the Meisterstück branding.
The 12-sided No. 25 was produced between 1939-43. It is an exceptionally rare pen to find today. This Danish design came in three colours - brown marble, green marble, and black.
The No. 25 has a thick art deco cap ring, and the "papyrus" clip which is rather elegant. We have the 'high top' variants of the No. 25 here, but there was also a shorter and more pointy top version that replaced it in 1944.
The nibs on the green and brown marble examples here are period and model correct. The Danish 12-sided No. 25 had a 14 C nib of 225 size. Notice that the centre of the nib simply has an "M" imprint inside the star outline, instead of the "25" imprint like the German No. 25 Meisterstück pens sometimes had.
This No. 25 is a push-knob filler known as "Stoßfüller" and "Stossfüller" in old catalogues. It was advertised as "a press of the button, that is the handling for the Montblanc; no losable individual parts and allowed single hand operation". It is similar to a button filler from the inside i.e. it has a sac and a pressure bar, but it has a push knob that allows for more comfortable action than the small metallic knobs on button fillers. This innovation on the simple button filler was used by MB on its highest tier offerings like the 12x and earlier Meisterstück series.
For bibliography, see Resources page -->link