Southern German fullgrain calfskin with Montblanc unique deep shine, mixed chrome vegetable tanning, semi-aniline dyed through. Jacquard lining with Montblanc branding. Black & white resin star logo with palladium-plated ring. 6 pockets for credit cards, 2 compartments for banknotes, 2 additional pockets
Mont Blanc Wallet
Above you will find the exact description that Executive Essentials uses for Montblanc Leather Wallets. I’ve seen this description countless times from Mont Blanc themselves. This makes sense since it accurately describes the product. However, I realized that even though I had read the description dozens of times, I’d never really taken the time to understand what it all meant. Since I wasn’t a leather worker none of the description really made sense to me – although it all sounded very nice. Well, today did some research to see what all these descriptions meant. And here is what I found out.
Southern German Fullgrain Calfskin
It’s obvious that Southern German refers to the country and the region of that country that Montblanc chooses to procure their hides from. The best I can tell from the internet is that Germany has a strong history in leather goods – as evidenced by the German Leather Museum in Offenbach, Hesse. In general, South German seems a popular place for leather. So Montblanc is choosing a widely accepted source of leather.
The Full-grain aspect of the leather means the hide has not had the top-grain removed. The top-grain is the layer that has the fur and skin. Full-grain leather has not been treated in any way that would damage the grain. This gives the leather strength and durability, allows it to breath and causes it to develop a nice patina with wear. The skin of a calf is used instead of a cow because calf’s have a softer and tighter grain than their elders.
Mixed Chrome Vegetable Tanning
Before a hide can be used to make leather products it must be treated in order to make it softer, pliable and easier to work with. The process is called tanning and there are a number of different ways to get this job done. It seems Mont Blanc has chosen a mixture of vegetable tanning and chrome tanning. Vegetable tanning involves the use of tannin, which comes from vegetables and other organic substances. The process is obviously very non-toxic and provides many benefits for the worker. However, the results of the tanned leather do not hold up well to water and extreme heat, which will make the leather lose its color and eventually become brittle.
Chrome-tanned leather, which first appeared in the mid 1800’s uses chromium sulfate — a type of salt –to treat the hide so that it can be worked into leather products. Leather treated with chromium sulfate is softer and doesn’t’ lose its shape when it comes in contact with water and heat like vegetable-tanned leather. Unlike vegetable tanning, chromium sulfate is a hazardous material. This may explain why Montblanc chooses to mix the two – in order to get the best of both worlds, without the worst of either.
Semi-Aniline Dyed
Much like the skin of any other creature on this great planet of ours, the skin of a calf or a cow is marked and potted with imperfections and blemishes. A nice patina from wear and use will often times cover up these blemishes, but what really does the trick is dying. In fact, the original purpose of dying leather was to hide imperfections. Aniline dying is just one of several substances used to not only provide a deep rich color to the leather, but to enhance the pliability of the hide. Semi-aniline dyed means that aniline and other chemicals were used to enrich the look and feel of the leather. Another technique is to use only aniline dye.
Jacquard Lining
In the beginning of the 1800’s, Joseph Jacquard created a textile with an intricately woven pattern. He accomplished this by inventing one of the earliest programmable looms. Although the fabric that he created was eventually named after him, it comes in many different styles including Damask and Brocade. In Jacquard’s time this style of fabric was expensive and much sought after. In modern times Jacquard lining is much more commonplace. However, the look and feel of jacquard lining is a great touch.
Black & White Resin Star Logo with Palladium-Plated Ring
The black and white resin star logo simply refers to the world famous Montblanc emblem that tops the caps of all pens in their line. The Palladium-plated ring is a part of that logo. Mont Blanc is known for using a number of different precious metals in their pens. Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803. Today it is used in the production of catalytic converters and electronic equipment. It’s also used by Mont Blanc to provide a nice finishing touch to their leather goods.
I hope that was useful in some way to give you a better understanding of what goes into making a finely crafted Mont Blanc Wallet. Go ahead and take some time to see the great selection of wallets we have here at Executive Essentials.
