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I was able to pick this off a flea market for the equivalent of 11 USD, and it writes great (though it took me all of one hour to rinse out the red, blue, green, and black ink residue on it).
It seems to be completely made of brushed stainless steel, even the cap band. There isn't any picture of it, but the cap jewel is black, and the barrel end also has a bit of a black jewel.
I do wonder when it's from, or if it's even real as all other Sonnets I've seen have the engraving around the cap, not on just one side. I was going to take a picture of the feed itself, but I forgot to until I inked it, and I don't really want to waste any of my precious Blue-Black Quink, of which only one bottle was available. Any thoughts on this?

edit: according to parkerpens.com, the Sonnet was only introduced in the mid-90's, therefore it doesn't really qualify as a vintage pen per se, but assuming it's a real one, and the quality seems to support that, then it's a rather old model.

Sure looks like a Sonnet - but I'll let the experts weigh in.

Nice purchase no matter what style/vintage the pen turns out to be.

Regards,
Vintner

I have four Sonnets total (assuming they are all real). Two are the older, "thin cap band" model like yours, and two are thick band. My two thin band ones are lacque finish, not flighters, but the engraving on the cap matches in content and location. The thick band models are engraved within (around) the cap band.

I am less sure about the nib. All four of my nibs have more engraving and are marked 18 K 750, even the ones that are rhodium (or other "white" plating over the gold. Yours looks more like a steel nib, but I didn't think early Sonnets had steel nibs. My two early model nibs have three curved lines rather than two on each side. Second and third are close together with "curlycues" between them, so the nib appearance is different. I bought my fiirst Sonnet from Levenger 2-3 years after it was introduced, and I have very high confidence in its authenticity. The others came from the Bay, and their authenticity is based on comparison to the first and/or notes onlater models here at FPN.

By no means an expert on Sonnets but this looks genuine, most of the fakes seem to be of the more exotic variants and nearly always have fake gold nibs. I am pretty sure that the basic level Sonnet came with either a gold plated steel nib for those with gold trim or a plain steel one like this for rhodium/chrome trim pens.

Enjoy your find thats a good price.

Actually just checked my old Sonnet and the nib looks just like this except Gold plated because my pen is matt black with gold trim, I know this is genuine as I bought it from WH Smith's soon after they came out. I also have a fake goldplated set, which actually writes pretty well although the plating is a bit rough.

Andy

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I still have some time left before I go turn in, so I took a couple pictures of the feed. It does seem to look fine, but I know next-to-nothing about pens right now.

And indeed the pen is nice. Practically weightless, for those heavy writing sessions. Still too thick for my notetaking though (school-grade notebooks with a height of about 1/5 inches or 1/2 cm).

It is a sonnet...the older variant. It is not very uncommon to have the inscription at the side of the cap.... my
cascade gold French sonnet has it. I have never seen a sonnet flighter... (my experience to sonnets are
limited to 4-5 pens, at most).It looks quite good! And the nib is a stainless steel sonnet nib...

A very nice find at $11. Enjoy it!

Yes, a genuine SONNET FP at a very good price, J.M.L./

Wow, nice buy! Where'd you find it?

For $11 it would seem that you bagged yourself a real nice bargain

Oh, neat. Good to know I wasn't tricked. It was surprising at first since I'd never seen an all-brushed metal Sonnet before, and one with a plain steel nib at that.

Thanks for the help guys!

Excellent find at a great price! I heart Sonnets.