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Can NNFAk or anyone else help. It was my wifes 60th a few days back and the children asked me what she may like so I suggested that she likes fountain pens. So they eventually bought a MontBlanc No 22 manufactured in her birth year 1954, apart from that they couldnt afford a brand new one.
So my son took delivery of it and because of the cost couldnt resist writing with it to see what the fuss was about with fountain pens.
Now that may not be the reason why but it looks as if the tines are slightly out of line and possibly a slight bend on the gold nib.
I can supply better images if required but is this a possible DIY repair as the cost of a nib overhaul is quite expensive from what I can gather.
As it stands she doesnt want to question our son because of what they paid and the fact it was a gift. There is a good chance he was heavy handed with it as he has never used a fountain pen before.

Can anyone help with this.

Yikes, those tines definitely look out of alignment. Does this seem to hinder the capillary flow of the ink? In other words, does it ever start and stop or just "run out of steam" after writing for awhile?

She has used it very little until we know if it needs a `repair` but from what I gather it was writing ok but felt a bit `scratchy` on the paper.
I think the tines are def slightly out with each other but should the nib lay against the black part with no space?

You can see in the 2nd pic the tip of the tines are slightly out.

The tines are definitely out of alignment.

It looks like what happened when my younger sister got hold of a similar pen of mine when we were kids & she was too young to be gentle with it.

Turns out she had pressed too hard, pushing the tip of the nib away from the black part underneath it (whilst I really like fountain pens and have owned a few, I'm no expert, excuse the lack of proper terminology) & then she had tried to bend it back. That gave a slightly hooked appearance to the nib & splayed the tines slightly - both of which seem evident in the pictures you provided.

I would say it is best that the pen isn't used for now, at least until an expert chimes in on this, especially because of the splaying of the tines.

I'm sorry I don't have any information about a proper DIY repair, but as a kid with no money I ended up trying to reform the nib using only my fingers. I didn't get it back to it's original shape, but at least it wrote well again. Having done it, I would *not* suggest trying this. The pen went through a fair bit of not-writing until I somehow 'fixed' it.

...Mark

Sorry for my late reply. To answer your question on if there should be a gap or not, here's some close-ups of one of my MonteVerde Invincias. Let me know of any progress you make with this problem. Let me know if you'd like me to take more pictures or post a quarter for scale or something.

Here's a view of the tines:


Here's an underside view:


Here's a strict profile view:

Thanks for the replies it does tend to confirm what I suspected. Since the original post my wife took it to a pen shop and they confirmed `a damaged nib` My son then contacted the seller and they have agreed to send another nib end of the pen to replace the damaged part so will now wait and see what they send out and if it is satisfactory. Hopefully this will be the end of the matter but I will post when further progress has (or hasnt) been made.

Update....
The seller has sent a replacement bottom half for the pen and according to my wife its writing is as smooth as a babys bum so the issue has now been resolved.

I'm glad that worked out. Could I ask what ink you use?

Its my wifes pen and from what I can gather it came with a cartridge (unknown) and when it runs out she will visit the mont blanc shop for replacements.