Check This Out.

[ruhtradouglas]

I've been a lurker on this forum for quite a while now, and today I've got something to share, so I decide to register.

 

Check out these 2 Montblanc Legrand,

bet you know what comes next, one is a FAKE.

 

I've got into fountain pens last year and my college classmate has been giving me a lot of grief for spending so much money buying Montblanc pens, so he posed a challenge to me that he could get one that is spot on for a fraction of a price. I laughed it off thinking it'd be ridiculous, but i was appalled to see the quality on these fakes, albeit no as high a an authentic Montblanc. The fake is on the right. It is a cartridge converter pen, and has a construction similar to that of a 147 Legrand Traveller.

 

 

The nib on the fake (right) has a slightly wider shoulder, and the engravings on the nib is faint, and doesn't look as detailed. It has a lot less spring to it, being a steel nib. As far as i can tell, there are not much difference between the markings of the nib

 

 

The feed however, is a dead giveaway. The fake (left) feed is small and flat, and does not have the fins like those on my 146 (right).

 

 

While fiddling with the fake, (top) pen, I unscrewed the blind cap and for a moment I thought this might be a piston filler..

 

But no surprise here, it is a cartridge converter filler...

 

Also, the fake (top) does not have an ink window. Which is consistent with a 147 Traveller, but not a 146.

 

The gold plating on the on the fake has a darker hue, the real 146 has a paler yellow gold. The trim on the fake says "Montblanc Meisterstuck" while the one on my 146 says "Montblanc Meisterstuck". The fake also has pix embossed under its clip (not shown), while my 146 (probably pre-90s) does not.

 

On the middle gold trim, the font on the fake pen (right) is slightly smaller and thinner, and the lines within the words are a lot less crisps.

 

 

Next up is the engravings on the clip ring. I've tried my best to show them i the pictures, but you might not be able to see them clearly. The fake (bottom) has the word "GERMAN" on the left of the clip and a serial number on the right of the clip, while my real 146 (top) has "GERMANY" on the left and the serial number on the right. The engravings on the fake were not centralised, and was pretty close to the bottom of the clip ring, while the real 146 has it dead centre. The engravings on the fake is also a lot darker than the real deal.

Edited January 13, 2015 by ruhtradouglas

[ruhtradouglas]

Heres the pen compared to my 146 and 149.
Honestly it is pretty hard to tell just by looking at it.

As for writing performance, the tines were a little off, but after some tweaking, it was as smooth as both my montblancs, which was pretty scary.

 

 

That being said, this post is not to encourage anyone to go get a fake, but to educate people new to the fountain pen hobby on these fakes. As a greenhorn to these pens, it is pretty scary as someone could pass this off as the real deal, and to the uninitiated, it'd be pretty hard to tell.

 

So do not ask me where the fakes can be purchased, I would not entertain them as I do not condone the purchase of counterfeit products.

Have a nice day and thanks for reading my first post on the FPN!

Cheers!

[s5blitzer]

Welcome to FPN and thanks for sharing your pics and findings. I guess since there are more availability in SE Asia region and the temptation to buy a fake MB is higher.

[Chrissy]

When I saw the pictures of the nibs, it was immediately obvious that the markings on the fake nib have no definition, and that it is gold plated because the plating continues around the tips of the tines. Authentic nibs aren't like that. Also, the collar next to the nib isn't added separately like the collar on the authentic one.

 

Sure enough when you look at the feed, and the filling system it's instantly a fake to most people who know which Mb's have what filling systems.

 

I must admit I've never seen this fake with the cone unscrewing filling system though.

[Paul Raposo]

Welcome to FPN ruhtradouglas and thank you very much for this post. Your pictures are very well done and show the differences--and similarities--very well.

 

What's sad is that the fake MB pen could be a very interesting pen if it weren't trying to pass itself off as a MB.

[JLS1]

Thanks for sharing this - I'm going to put together a "MB FakeSpotting" topic and your topic is going to be something that I am going to include.

[zaddick]

Thanks for taking the time to help educate those people new to the hobby.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Welcome to FPN!

 

I found the best way to keep from buying a fake pen is to always buy from an Authorized dealer or a Montblanc Boutique.

[meiers]

Welcome to FPN ruhtradouglas and thank you very much for this post. Your pictures are very well done and show the differences--and similarities--very well.

 

What's sad is that the fake MB pen could be a very interesting pen if it weren't trying to pass itself off as a MB.

I agree. It's like traveling under an assumed (stolen) name.

[CS388]

Thanks for the post.

 

I think that you have shown us a highly convincing fake.

We've yet to see a piston filler faked (that's surely just a matter of time) - but your example is the closest to a 146/147 that I've seen. Quite alarming, really. It seems to write well, too.

 

It's unlikely that it would fool any of us, because we know that the whole pen doesn't make sense as a 146/147.

But buyers with less experience could fall for it, quite easily.

And once they sort out a filling system and iron out the other niggles (feed/engraving/nib markings etc), we're going to have be eagle-eyed.

 

As Paul says (above), looks like it could be a nice pen, if it wasn't trying to be what it's not!

 

Thanks again.

And welcome to FPN

[Dr. Eriko]

Wow!!!

Counterfeiters just began to be more accurate with the MBpens!!! Maybe you can put the piston assembly in that counterfeit pen, and just like CS388 said: it is just a matter of time to see the piston filled fountain pen in the counterfeit market.

I do not want to imagine that when this happens, we have to disassemble the entire pen to differentiate it from the original.

 

Welcome to the FPN.

 

Regards.

[OngL]

Excellent post. I learnt something new. Thank you for sharing.

[s5blitzer]

Counterfeiters are in the business of making a profit and must be convinced they are able to sell in high volume to justify any changes in the way the pens are made today. It will cost them more to design a piston mechanism that comes in many forms and even many parts. Much easier (and simpler) to manufacture a fake in a converter or cartridge filled. The moment they start to pass on their costs of a real and viable working piston filled FP, it may still not be a feasible business approach unless there is market of willing (to pay more) and uninformed buyers.

 

I hope that day does not arrive anytime soon.

[ruhtradouglas]

Thanks for the compliments guys!! Glad to be of assistance. I hope none of the newbies would get duped by these.

[ruhtradouglas]

Thanks for sharing this - I'm going to put together a "MB FakeSpotting" topic and your topic is going to be something that I am going to include.

Sweet! Let me know if you need any more photos. I'll gladly take some for you!

[jar]

Counterfeiters are in the business of making a profit and must be convinced they are able to sell in high volume to justify any changes in the way the pens are made today. It will cost them more to design a piston mechanism that comes in many forms and even many parts. Much easier (and simpler) to manufacture a fake in a converter or cartridge filled. The moment they start to pass on their costs of a real and viable working piston filled FP, it may still not be a feasible business approach unless there is market of willing (to pay more) and uninformed buyers.

 

I hope that day does not arrive anytime soon.

 

There's not much additional costs involved, the Reform 1745 is a true piston filler and retails in the $10.00 range. Remember, the fake only has to look like the real thing and work long enough to get out of the shop. Tail lights across the curb.

[ruhtradouglas]

 

There's not much additional costs involved, the Reform 1745 is a true piston filler and retails in the $10.00 range. Remember, the fake only has to look like the real thing and work long enough to get out of the shop. Tail lights across the curb.

 

True, I have a brand-less german fountain pen which is a piston filler, and it only costs my US$7 inclusive of shipping.

[s5blitzer]

Wow, thanks! Did not realize how cheap it can be made. I guess it is a wonder if it works with any degree of reliability (i.e. does it start to leak/fail after x number of refills?) especially if the seller's taillights is all one sees after the sale.

[Kevan]

Wow, they've started to fake the brass inside part of the piston knob. That's new. That used to be a dead giveaway that you had an authentic pen vs a fake. Now the fakers can just post pics of that "piston" knob extended without fully removing it.

 

It's only a matter of time, though. These days, the fakers can produce absolutely dead-on copies of watches, right down to the internal parts. The product is good in its own right, except it has another brand name on it.

 

It seems like they're getting there with pens too. And since they can produce such good copies, why not launch their own brand of pen? I mean, I know the reason why they won't, but still...they could do it.

[ruhtradouglas]

And since they can produce such good copies, why not launch their own brand of pen?

 

That's probably how Jinhao came about, making good pens with their own brand.