Montblanc is a German manufacturer of fine pens often identified by their famous “White Star" (peak) logo. Its pens are praised for their quality, beauty and originality of design, but have been criticized for their cost and the supposed inferiority of their pens to other brands’ pieces of a similar price. Many of these complaints have been quelled with the withdrawal of the controversial 144.
Nevertheless, the Montblanc company is by degrees the most successful pen manufacturer today, having firmly ensconced itself in a comfortable niche market.
The company is easily associated with several of their trademarks, most famously the star (white on black, with rounded off edges, representing the snow peak of the Mont Blanc peak), an idea which reportedly came to the Montblanc board of directors in a "stroke of inspiration". Another trademark is the inscription of the number "4810" on warranted Montblanc nibs. 4810m was the metric height of Mont Blanc, the mountain from which the company is named.
Montblanc pens are often bought for their high quality and the prestige associated with them, as opposed to their utility in writing. As such, there is a significant part of the pen collecting community that looks upon them more as piece of history than as writing instruments.
Originally limited to merely fountain pens and relevant accessories, they have recently branched out into other luxury goods. Montblanc now sells watches, leather goods and desk accessories in addition to writing instruments.
For decades Montblanc rarely deviated from its flagship Meisterstück line, but in recent years has begun to establish new lines. The Bohème (formerly “Rouge/Noir et Noir” –) the Scenium and Starwalker ranges are the most recent additions to the Montblanc family. The Bohème was renamed due to copyright issues with the original line name.
Montblanc also produces limited edition pens of exceptional quality and beauty, but at significantly higher cost. They are released annually in various series: the Annual Series (not limited, but only sold for one year in collabiration with Meissen porcelain), the Donation Pens (usually unlimited, but different from regular pens and much more costly), the Writers Series (15,000 to 30,000 pieces), and the Patron of The Arts series (4810 /888 pieces). There are also exclusive "one-offs" commemorating special events,and other pens becoming as limited as circulations of 75 or less. These are the best pieces of the Montblanc collection, but largely unavailable to the casual consumer and indeed most collectors.