Targa, Legit Or Not

[TimTheZaj]

I wanted to extend my targa collection and saw this auction and was wondering if this guy was legit: http://m.ebay.com/itm/201173693995?nav=SEARCH this guy seems legit but Jakarta ?

And this one: http://m.ebay.com/itm/121414706747?nav=SEARCH I know this isn't for a targa but he was selling a sterling targa yesterday.

Thank you

[Charles Rice]

I don't see anything that jumps out and says "fake", but considering the quality of the photo, who knows. Hard to tell, but the tip of the nib looks damaged.

[PAKMAN]

The plating on that Targa looks really rough. Targa's aren't faked so it is real, but this one doesn't look to be in great shape.

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[mirosc]

Indeed, the pen looks like it has lived through some troubles...

I've never heard of any faked Targas and I got one of mine out of Malaysia (the Grapes and Leaves version). Since I've never found it around here, I had to look elsewhere in the world.

Edited September 20, 2014 by mirosc

[athar201]

Seller is selling many different targas with different prices looks legitimate as all are priced differently according to the condition

 

Ali

[sexauerw]

As the others have noted, the Targa is legit but the body, cap and clip are badly corroded and the nib is gold-plated steel rather than the normal 14K gold that should be on this pen. Strictly a user and I personally wouldn't even want it for that. I have not looked at the other pens from this seller but I suspect that if you examine the pictures closely you will find both bad and good ones. Pick and choose carefully and you should be OK.

 

(P.S. I just looked at the four of my Targas of this exact model. Three of them have the normal 14K nibs and the fourth has the same gold-plated steel nib as the auction pen does. So that may well have been a factory configuration.)

 

As for the Imperial, the seller is claiming vermeil but there is NO silver in this pen. This model is gold-plated brass and, if legit, I don't know how it escaped QC at the factory. The engraving is simply terrible, it looks like it was done by a five-year-old. This auction seems to me to be off and I would be very suspicious of this seller.

 

Edited to add Targa nib info.

Edited September 21, 2014 by sexauerw

[Happy Harry]

Indeed the Indian maker Wilson made copies of the Targa complete with inlaid nibs. Not the quality and labelled as Wilson, they also had a fondness for Parker lookalikes.

 

With the Imperial I suspect it's not as bad as it appears, a number seem to photograph that way so maybe the infill makes it look worse than if in the hand. As this seller has put that pen up a twice at the same time ( the wear on the clip was identical) I'd be rather suspicious of him too. In fact I avoid him outright.

[TimTheZaj]

Thank you all