Yet Another "is This A Real 146" Thread...

[ajlmarques]

Hi everyone,

 

I got an unexpected gift today - a supposedly new MB 146.

The person who bought it has no experience with fountain pens (guess she's just fed up of listening me talking about them), and got this MB on ebay without realising the amount of fakes around.

 

I did take a look at the listing: the seller has over 1000 sales, no recent negative feedback, many different pens sold; price was about 30-35% off list price.

 

I started going through the "checklist" of obvious signs to detect a fake, but I'm also no expert in MBs. And there are a few things that got me confused and I hope anyone can shed some light on it.

 

- Came with box an "Service guide" booklet;

 

- The precious resin (marketing is such a great thing, isn't it?) feels warm to the touch and not like cheap plastic. Strong light shows the expected "red transmittance";

 

- MB star is perfectly centered on the top of the cap;

 

- Was (still is) stickered (M);

 

- Piston filler is very smooth;

 

- 9 digit serial number on the clip band;

 

 

So far so good, but then things got slightly weird:

 

- Cap ring is engraved with "MONTBLANC-MEISTERSTUCK-Pix®-" (I thought Pix was under the clip);

 

- Under clip is engraved with "Made in Germany" and centered below it "metal" (never heard of the metal part before);

 

- Nib is the dual-toned with 4810, the Montblanc star with M inside it, Au585, StOD, and MONTBLANC right at the bottom - writes wonderfully and under a loupe does not show any imperfection, engraving/pressing is smooth, everything is perfectly centered;

 

- There is a tiny "D" on the tip of the feed;

 

Do any of these things seem a sign of a fake? I know that MB changes engravings once in a while, but I had never seen this variation before.

 

I did not have time to get the macro lens out of the bag for some proper images, and I hope the description is enough. If not, I'll try to get some decent images.

 

Thanks for any help.

[jar]

Those all are signs of the most recent iteration from Montblanc.

[ajlmarques]

Those all are signs of the most recent iteration from Montblanc.

 

Thanks. I was hoping for that.

 

Also because it writes so nicely that it would be a shame if I had to try and return it

[orfew]

Congratulations on your genuine 146. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

[ajlmarques]

Congratulations on your genuine 146. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

 

Thank you very much. I'm sure I will.

 

Any idea what that "metal" under the clip is/means?

[Joe in Seattle]

My guess is that "metal" means plated metal, not solid gold.

[Chrissy]

There is no reason to think your pen might be a fake

[ajlmarques]

My guess is that "metal" means plated metal, not solid gold.

 

 

There is no reason to think your pen might be a fake

 

 

Thanks very much. Much more confident in the gift now... and it seems I can't stop writing with it.

[jar]

You will sometimes find the term Metal followed by a number which indicates the shade.

[welch]

Biggest tip-off: your pen writes the way you'd expect a Mont Blanc 146 to write. I suppose that if a fakester went to the effort to make a nib (plus piston!) as smooth as a 146 and with some "give", then they've gone to more trouble than it would be worth to fake the pen. They might as well sell the pen under their own name for luxury prices!

[GabrielEverest]

Hi everyone,

 

I got an unexpected gift today - a supposedly new MB 146.

The person who bought it has no experience with fountain pens (guess she's just fed up of listening me talking about them), and got this MB on ebay without realising the amount of fakes around.

 

I did take a look at the listing: the seller has over 1000 sales, no recent negative feedback, many different pens sold; price was about 30-35% off list price.

 

I started going through the "checklist" of obvious signs to detect a fake, but I'm also no expert in MBs. And there are a few things that got me confused and I hope anyone can shed some light on it.

 

- Came with box an "Service guide" booklet;

 

- The precious resin (marketing is such a great thing, isn't it?) feels warm to the touch and not like cheap plastic. Strong light shows the expected "red transmittance";

 

- MB star is perfectly centered on the top of the cap;

 

- Was (still is) stickered (M);

 

- Piston filler is very smooth;

 

- 9 digit serial number on the clip band;

 

 

So far so good, but then things got slightly weird:

 

- Cap ring is engraved with "MONTBLANC-MEISTERSTUCK-Pix®-" (I thought Pix was under the clip);

 

- Under clip is engraved with "Made in Germany" and centered below it "metal" (never heard of the metal part before);

 

- Nib is the dual-toned with 4810, the Montblanc star with M inside it, Au585, StOD, and MONTBLANC right at the bottom - writes wonderfully and under a loupe does not show any imperfection, engraving/pressing is smooth, everything is perfectly centered;

 

- There is a tiny "D" on the tip of the feed;

 

Do any of these things seem a sign of a fake? I know that MB changes engravings once in a while, but I had never seen this variation before.

 

I did not have time to get the macro lens out of the bag for some proper images, and I hope the description is enough. If not, I'll try to get some decent images.

 

Thanks for any help.

Thank you for this post! I bought a Montblanc meisterstuck 146 through amazon.com from a buyer named watchwarehouse. Their seller reviews show over 1000 sales with very few if any recent negative reviews, but I was still very skeptical about purchasing the pen; I bought it for $580. My pen matches your description in every way, from the detail of the engravings "montblanc meistustck pix [registered]", the beautiful red maroon glow of the pen cap under a strong LED from my phone, to the little D on the very top of the feed. The one theme that is consistent throughout the pen is quality. I had visited a montblanc boutique near me, before the purchase, and the fountain pen I have is just as shiny and lavish as the fountain pen at the boutique; precious resin is shiny, gold plated trim is shiny. Under a 50x microscope I can see the detail of the engraving around the cap of the pen, the lines within the lettering are flawless and extremely impressive on a fountain pen. The "pix" seems to be raised, it's a little hard to tell, but the "registered" symbol ( capital R within circle) is so small it looks like a dot to the naked eye but under the microscope, the detail emerges and the symbol is pressed perfectly into the material, my jaw dropped when I saw the detail. The nib looks great, engraving is consistent. I also have the StOd symbol under the Au585. The iridium, the very tip of the nib, is fused perfectly with the gold, it is very impressive metallurgy for a writing instrument. The gold bands, below and above the main engraved band on the cap, and the star of the montblanc will have a tiny tiny bit of feedback if you run your fingernail past it and onto the resin, but it is not a a problem it seems. under the clip of the cap it has "made in germany" with "metal" centered and below the first line. And, the serial number on the clip band is directly behind the cap, it has MB then two more letters followed by a few numbers then a weird symbol then one last number; the weird symbol on the cap looks like a hieroglyphic "D". pen came with the gold "M" sticker for medium and the box looks legit along with the user manual, although the user manual did not come with a stamped signature on the very last page that is supposed to be stamped by someone as it leaves the factor indicating it had been inspected. But other than than last missing detail of the missing stamp, everything checks out, the same as your post.... So thank you! I did not want to take my pen to a boutique to ask them to authenticate it but from my hours and hours of research plus this "yet another is this the real 146 thread" only cemented my confirmation that I do indeed have the real thing.

Thank you!

-Gabriel

[Moonshae]

Hi everyone,

 

I got an unexpected gift today - a supposedly new MB 146.

The person who bought it has no experience with fountain pens (guess she's just fed up of listening me talking about them), and got this MB on ebay without realising the amount of fakes around.

 

 

Are you willing to make introductions? I'd love to have a friend who buys MB fountain pens as gifts!

 

Seriously, you are a lucky chap and I hope you find some way to reciprocate. You received an amazing gift.