Input Needed - Le Petit Prince Planet Le Grand

[sanders07]

I just purchased a MB Petit Prince Planet Le Grand on Ebay and would like your help identifying the authenticity of the pen. The vendor claimed his pens are authentic but I am questioning the claim in regards to the pen I purchased -- for the following reasons:

 

- Compared to my older MB pens, the precious resin on the Petit Prince MB turned out to be a magnet for lint and dust particles. Lint gets trapped under the pen's clip, inside the cap's threads and on the surface of the barrel.

- The serial number engraved is pretty faint

- The nib seems fine but the Montblanc inscription is very hard to read and the Au585 below can barely be identified with a magnifying glass -- truly blurry.

 

I have not purchased a MB pen in while so I am wondering if this is normal for this pen or if I purchased a fake. Can anyone point to a website where I may be able to verify the authenticity of the petit prince series of pens?

 

Thank you in advance for your help and input with this question.

 

[Uncial]

Need pictures.

The nib should be engraved with the Little Prince with a spade planting a rose and the piston nob should be metal.

I haven't seen any fakes of these, but on the other hand I haven't gone looking. I can't say I find mine a 'lint magnet'.

[Toll]

Perhaps you should look at the images on the Montblanc website. Most on-line pen retailers that carry MB products will also have sharp images.

[Parker51]

It appears there may be fakes in the marketplace, assuming that this website is real and not a scam to take money from those wanting to buy fakes: https://www.replicamontblanc.cn/

 

A way to perhaps help determine if a Fountain Pen is a real Montblanc is determine if its nib will dry out. The Montblanc Fountain Pens I have do not dry out and start immediately, even if not used for quite some time.

 

Another is the nib should be wonderfully smooth and the pen should write flawlessly on a Montblanc Fountain Pen. Again a feature of the Montblanc Fountain Pens I have.

 

So, I suggest you ink it up with some standard Montblanc ink and see how it writes. Then cap it and let it sit at least for a few hours and see if when you use it again it starts immediately and writes extremely well. This type of testing may not prove it is real, as an extremely good fake might be able to copy those aspects of Montblanc pens, but if they are absent it suggests a problem.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Parker51

[Mulrich]

Most fake MB use steel nibs instead of gold, so a quick first test is to see if the nib is attracted to a magnet. If so, you know the pen is fake; if not, it could still be fake (but much less likely) and you will need to compare photos with authentic MB products to have a better idea.

Another quick check is if the pen you bought uses a cartridge when the authentic pen uses a piston filler. Forging a piston is much harder than just using a cartridge, so many counterfeiters dont go through the effort.

[zaddick]

Most fake MB use steel nibs instead of gold, so a quick first test is to see if the nib is attracted to a magnet. If so, you know the pen is fake; if not, it could still be fake (but much less likely) and you will need to compare photos with authentic MB products to have a better idea.

Another quick check is if the pen you bought uses a cartridge when the authentic pen uses a piston filler. Forging a piston is much harder than just using a cartridge, so many counterfeiters dont go through the effort.

 

Forging a piston takes slightly more effort and cost and thus is not common. I am not disagreeing with you, except to combat the POTENTIAL misconception that piston technology is some sort of roadblock. You can find pens for a few dollars that are piston fillers and many individual makers can make a piston themselves.

[zaddick]

To the OP, a real nib is stamped so it should be clear imprints. Agree photos would help a lot.

[Mulrich]

 

Forging a piston takes slightly more effort and cost and thus is not common. I am not disagreeing with you, except to combat the POTENTIAL misconception that piston technology is some sort of roadblock. You can find pens for a few dollars that are piston fillers and many individual makers can make a piston themselves.

That's true, a piston is not a guaranteed legitimate pen, but lack of a piston in what should be a piston-filler is a pretty reliable indicator.

[AndyLogan]

It appears there may be fakes in the marketplace, assuming that this website is real and not a scam to take money from those wanting to buy fakes: https://www.replicamontblanc.cn/

 

A way to perhaps help determine if a Fountain Pen is a real Montblanc is determine if its nib will dry out. The Montblanc Fountain Pens I have do not dry out and start immediately, even if not used for quite some time.

 

Another is the nib should be wonderfully smooth and the pen should write flawlessly on a Montblanc Fountain Pen. Again a feature of the Montblanc Fountain Pens I have.

 

So, I suggest you ink it up with some standard Montblanc ink and see how it writes. Then cap it and let it sit at least for a few hours and see if when you use it again it starts immediately and writes extremely well. This type of testing may not prove it is real, as an extremely good fake might be able to copy those aspects of Montblanc pens, but if they are absent it suggests a problem.

 

 

A shame! A prime example of copy & paste, they don't even use their own products for the pictures.

What I truely don't get (apologies to the OP), is that the Le Petit Prince & Planet is a recent product, that you could order online through Montblanc (if you only have a preference for F or M nibs), or through the various online stores from legitimate stationery stores (Appleboom, LCdC, Pengallery, Aesthetic Bay, etcetera) ebay would be the last thing on my list. If perchance the price offered by the seller is too good to be true for a recently launched product, then goshdarnit, your pen might be too good to be true.

[sanders07]

Thank you all for the valuable suggestions. I have not been able to take high resolution pictures worth uploading but I did followed some of the input you kindly provided. So far the pen passed the magnet and ink tests. I also compared the nib and other details I could see in the pictures posted at the Monblanc's website and everything matches. That makes me feel much better about it. The pen also writes very nicely and that makes it worth keeping it Again, thank you all for your help and guidance!