Some of my friends have bought Sonnet 18K gold Pen(lacquer black, or Ocean blue) from ebay, and the price is so amazing, very very cheap, and writes so perfectly, Can anybody tell me some methods to see if a new Sonnet is a fake one or genuine?

I have found an article from penhero.com about Sonnet Clone, but that one is for the old ones, how about the new ones??????

Hi Leo,

I also foumd I was a victim of some of those fake sonnets. I was advised to take a good magnet and check the nib. A true 18 K nib will not stick to the magnet.
Unfortunately, I had a couple that did stick, so I am assuming they are fakes. I have other sonnet 18 K nibs that did not stick to the magnet. Hope this helps you.

Parkercrazy

If it writes perfectly...

I think the price is the first indication. If the pen is really "very, very cheap", then it´s a fake. A pen with 18k nib can never be that cheap; the nib by itself is always very expensive.

Or...it could just be a VERY good deal put up by either

1) a naiive person who doesnt know anything about FP
2) a billionaire who can live with throwing Sonnets away for cheap

The chances of this? proabably around the 2% mark

Does your "Sonnet" take the regular Parker converters?

HI, I have got it, the price for Sonnet Ocean Blue fountain pen in UK is 120 Pounds, the one my friend got from ebay is 40 pounds for an Ocean Blue FP with a correponding Ocean Blue ball pen, i.e. FP+BP=40 pounds, and I have post them to the parker company, I've got the response, they are REAL GENUINE parker Sonnet 18K gold pen, LUCKY...

So, all of you now should know that for a 18k sonnet fountain pen, the original price is around $225 now you can enjoy the same one plus a ball point on ebay for less than $75. WOWOWOW

My thought exactly.

There is a hell of a lot of Parker NOS about at the moment and a lot of it is the old model Sonnet with the thin band, (which I prefer).

Before buying on eBay I would challenge the seller to say if it is genuine or not, if not most will back off and won't push it, especially if you say you are going to pay with PayPal, because then they are sure they will get a chargeback if it is a fake.

Jim

Edit for trypo

Jim, why do you prefer the earlier model? Is it the nib?

Ron

Ron,

No I like the thin bands better, that's why, personal taste I guess.

I think that the nibs are good, if you get a good one but you may have to exchange the nib to get a good one.

Once you get happy with them they are great pens and good value if you can get them on-line.

Jim

Then thank goodness you got to it before OldGriz did

Great Value Parkers are not safe anymore from the posts i have been reading here

It looks like that Fakes bothers the World.

I don't think people would mind if they were properly represented by the sellers. I know I wouldn't want to pay top dollar for something that was an imitation.

-Bruce

Well, I accidentally bought a fake sonnet of the 'bay and it was a mixed experience. It was a genuine mistake at the time I bid (due to the fake pics, the Parker name and my own inexperience) but after I found out more about sonnets I knew it had been too good to be true.

Sure enough the pen arrived in a cheap cardboard box. The clip was thin and had been bent out of shape. It had cracks in the gold coating. Apart from the clip the rest of the pen seemed quite well made and it was a good writer. Very even line, started every time but perhaps a bit too 'toothy'. Not bad at all really. By this time the seller had completely disappeared from ebay.

I still have the pen but I'm not sure where it is. I don't use it and I don't like it much. The clip annoys the heck out of me...

A good honest Chinese pen from Hero or similar would probably be a much better experience.

here is a helpful link specifically on Sonnet fakes:

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Parker/ParkerSonnetClones.htm

It is certainly possible to bump into fakes but also to real bargains at the 'bay. I have bought some Parkers, including a 18kt Sonnet Chiseled Tartan ST. This pen cost me only £40 GBP at J.M. Lewertowski's eBay store. I have no connection to his business, except as a customer. Mr Lewertowski sells genuine articles.

Well, 40£ is about 75$ or 60€, so it's not really cheap price