I confess that I bought this pen with the intention of sneering at it.  I’ve had several Montblancs over the years and I haven’t been unduly impressed with them.  At the same time, I have been very aware of the ridiculous hype and the even more ridiculous prices that are charged for Montblanc Meisterstucks.  They are status symbols, something that I despise, but I have to admit that they are something else as well – a very nice pen!

This is the smaller Meisterstuck.  I believe it’s called the 144.  The plastic has kept its shine and the gold plating is nice.  The pen has a pleasing tapered shape and it evokes several vintage pens, to my mind, much more than it does any of the other modern pens.  It has a press-on cap which slips firmly into place without any drama.  It posts well too.  The gold nib is instantly recognisable as a Montblanc by its shape.  The nib is engraved “4810 MB 14 K Montblanc 585”.

Unfortunately the 144 is a cartridge/converter filler, not a piston filler like it’s a bigger brothers.  However, once filled, the pen more than lives up to its reputation as a splendidly smooth writer.  This particular example is not flexible though I believe quite a few are.  Quite small for a modern pen, it nonetheless fits my hand very well and I find it very pleasant to write with.  What more can I say?  That’s all a fountain pen is required to do.  I don’t need it to boost my ego, nor to elevate my standing among my peers, so I can only judge it as a writing instrument and it is a very good one.

All in all, I’m very pleased with it.  I would quite happily pay £100 for a pen like this.  Of course, I know that it costs more than that, but that is what I would regard as a reasonable price for such an excellent pen.