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No. 1 Danish Flat Top
Alfred Oberg became Montblanc's official distributor in Denmark in the 1920s. From 1939 to the mid-1960s his company also started designing and manufacturing MB pens for the domestic market, but under the condition that the Danish designs would not be identical to the German ones. Interestingly, in 1944 when the Hamburg factory was bombed by Allied Forces, the Denmark factory was the only one in the world producing Montblancs.
This No. 1 button filler with its little size-1 oblique nib has some flex and is a lovely writer! It is the first Danish MB I bought. I adore these flat tops. I also find the tear drop clip quite elegant. The caps without any bands are relatively rare.
This pen was produced in the late 1930s. The cap top and blind cap are ebonite, while the rest of the pen is celluloid. A very understated and inconspicuous design which make the pen rather elegant and classy.
The No. 1 has a button filling mechanism. During the 1930s, Montblanc had three kinds of filling mechanisms with - piston, button, and safety. The button filling system came in two variations - the push knob for higher end pens, and the button filler like we see in the No. 1 here. Catalogues call it the "Druckfüller", where "Druck" means "pressure". The button filler requires the user to first screw out the blind cap and set it aside and then operate the button.
Bibliography:
Rösler, J., & Wallrafen, S. (2014). Collectible Stars I: 1908 - 1947.
Holten, C., & Lund, P. (2013). Montblanc in Denmark 1914 - 1992; The Untold Story.
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