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Do Fake Hero Doctor/jumbos Exist?


Jamesbeat

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I bought what I believe to be three genuine Hero Doctors from China.

They were sold as a three-pack, but actually came in separate blister packs.

 

I absolutely love them, and I want to buy more as spares and to give to people to get them into fountain pens.

 

It looks as though these pens are also available in ten-packs for an even better price per pen than the three-packs.

 

People often say to avoid the ten-packs, as those are the fake ones, but others have said they got real ones in ten-packs.

 

I have read some complaints of fake versions of the various Hero pens, but there seems to be a lot of confusion about model numbers etc.

The pen I am referring to is variously called the Doctor, the 616 Jumbo, or simply Jumbo.

To confuse things further, there is also a small and a large 616, but the large 616 does not appear to be the same pen as the Doctor/Jumbo.

 

Unfortunately, because of the confusion about the model names, it isn't always clear whether people are talking about the Doctor/Jumbo model or the large-size 616.

 

I know there are fake 616's, but is there such a thing as a fake Doctor aka Jumbo?

 

Are genuine Doctor/Jumbo pens available in ten-packs, and if so, how to I tell the real from the fake?

Edited by Jamesbeat
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It's difficult to decide who the reliable Chinese dealers are though, that's the problem.

 

If you mean US-based dealers, that increases the price dramatically and negates the whole point of buying in bulk to get them cheap.

 

I understand that it is riskier to buy from China, but that's the only way to get them at such a low price.

 

The idea is to have a bunch of $2.50 pens on hand that I can not worry too much about losing or give away.

 

When it gets to be $7/pen (factoring in shipping) that would start getting expensive fast.

 

Not knocking the US dealers by the way. If I only wanted one or two, I would gladly pay a little more to save myself the headache (and get the pens sooner!).

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It's difficult to decide who the reliable Chinese dealers are though, that's the problem.

If you mean US-based dealers, that increases the price dramatically and negates the whole point of buying in bulk to get them cheap.

I understand that it is riskier to buy from China, but that's the only way to get them at such a low price.

The idea is to have a bunch of $2.50 pens on hand that I can not worry too much about losing or give away.

When it gets to be $7/pen (factoring in shipping) that would start getting expensive fast.

Not knocking the US dealers by the way. If I only wanted one or two, I would gladly pay a little more to save myself the headache (and get the pens sooner!).

Understood...and it used to be easier to get the 616s from US dealers at a $3-5 price point.

 

I've also bought from both Yespens and Jewelrymathematics; so far so good. In fact I believe Yespens has some info on how to tell fakes from the real thing.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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I am not going to take the trouble to retrieve the thread(s), but at some point in the not too distant past FPN member Seele posted an explanation of some observed differences among Hero-branded pens.

According to his (or her) account, the ten-packs are not made in the Shanghai plant, but in another far distant plant, at Lishui, that doesn't observe the same standards of quality. Legally they are all Hero pens; in actuality they aren't the same product, from the point of view of consistent manufacturing quality.

 

If that is true, a choice between dealers won't help.

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What you say is definitely plausible.

 

I often wondered if the fakes were actually fakes, or whether they were just made in a different factory.

 

My only frame of reference for communist manufacturing is buying milsurp rifles.

 

The Russian Mosin-Nagant was made in two different arsenals; Tula and Izhevsk.

They are the same rifle, but the Tula ones have a higher level of fit and finish than the Izzys.

 

I imagine this is analogous to the situation with Hero.

China is a big country with state-owned factories.

It's perfectly possible that all pens sold as Heros are genuine, but that there is more than one factory, each with different tooling and quality standards.

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[snip of interesting material on Russian arms]

 

I imagine this is analogous to the situation with Hero.

China is a big country with state-owned factories.

It's perfectly possible that all pens sold as Heros are genuine, but that there is more than one factory, each with different tooling and quality standards.

 

The analogy might have been true in Mao's time, but today many factories in China are privately-owned, and even the state-owned enterprises, which tend to be huge and in strategic industries like energy or steel, run more like businesses and less like communes. The variations you see in Chinese pens are mostly the result of unbridled capitalism, not collectivism.

That said, folks with direct knowledge of the country have stated that there are real Hero pens and copies of Hero pens. Alternate factories have been suggested as an explanation, too. And it is possible that one factory with rather loose quality controls simply sorts the finished product into bins--the good ones go to the official distribution channel at higher prices, and the not-so-good ones go to the gray market at spot prices. All of these things could be happening at once. That would explain the observed differences in size and finish as well as the differences in quality.

Given the price sensitivity you mention, I would suggest just picking a Chinese vendor and trying a ten-pack. People in the past have reported that even in a bad pack, a third to half of the pens work fine after a little nib alignment. (Of course all pens should get a thorough flushing before use, too.) So if you get five good pens, you are still within your price limit. If you get more than five, stick with that vendor.

ron

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Yes, that's a good point.

I'm going to try Yespens, as he/she has a guide to spotting fakes, so they are probably less likely to sell fakes.

 

I noticed on the Jewelrymathmatics listings, he has photos of himself outside the Hero HQ, presumably to demonstrate that he is also selling the genuine article.

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FWIW two years ago I bought a lot of 9 Jumbo/Doctor pens from yespen and IMHO they are the originals. No problems so far. But these pens are individually packed.

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Yes, it seems as though the ten-packs are the ones to be wary of.

Yespen sells in multiples of three, but they do indeed appear to be one pen to a pack.

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Yes, it seems as though the ten-packs are the ones to be wary of.

Yespen sells in multiples of three, but they do indeed appear to be one pen to a pack.

 

Yep - because of this, he's been happy to accommodate me in the past, when I wanted 3 greens rather than 1 black, 1 burgundy, 1 green.

Latest pen related post @ flounders-mindthots.blogspot.com : vintage Pilot Elite Pocket Pen review

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