Which Is This Sterling Silver Montblanc?

[shrieku]

@Jar

thanks for sharing your experience. I must say the majority of sellers are quite scrupulous and upright and very quickly issue refunds when the item is faulty or counterfeit. Most only post fake items inadvertently.

 

It looks like any expensive item is prone to be imitated in order to make a quick buck. Am I also right in thinking that only "New" pens are counterfeited? Has anyone come across attempts at faking "vintage" pens as well?

 

It seems Montblanc is right up there in the counterfeit circuit- brand value and price being the biggest contributors I gather. Are high-priced Pelikans not prone to imitation? has anyone come across a fake Pelikan?

 

I suggest research before buying any pen online or across the counter. Most of the pens sold on FPN are well described, but I see the odd misdescribed MB here too esp. with respect to vintage and period correct parts.

 

Very sound advice hari, Thanks. I have also read the warnings on FPN about the items in Sales/Classified section. I think experts like you and quite a few others on FPN look for specific things in specific pens- such as period, trim etc. If my guess is right that majority here are like me, we are happy to broadly know which particular model a pen is. I hope I am not mis-representing the majority here. Of course it is important to know that a pen one is buying is not a mish-mash of parts from various periods if they turn out to be drastically different from it should have been originally. I must say I am a tad obsessive that way in that I can forgive a fault in something as long as I have been kept in the know about it right from the beginning.

[jar]

@Jar

thanks for sharing your experience. I must say the majority of sellers are quite scrupulous and upright and very quickly issue refunds when the item is faulty or counterfeit. Most only post fake items inadvertently.

 

It looks like any expensive item is prone to be imitated in order to make a quick buck. Am I also right in thinking that only "New" pens are counterfeited? Has anyone come across attempts at faking "vintage" pens as well?

 

It seems Montblanc is right up there in the counterfeit circuit- brand value and price being the biggest contributors I gather. Are high-priced Pelikans not prone to imitation? has anyone come across a fake Pelikan?

 

 

 

Yes, fake Pels are quite common as are ST Duponts, Cartier, Dunhill, Caran d"Ache and also Parker.

 

Let me add one thing related to older pens. I have seen many fake Pelikan 100s, 400n and 400nn, the ST Dupont Classique and similar replicas of pens that were made over an extended period of time.

Edited June 5, 2011 by jar

[shrieku]

Right- I have had a full refund issued by PayPal. PayPal has been very good and when I called them, most of those I spoke to have been very pleasant and all were helpful.

 

As of now, the seller has not listed any pens on eBay which is good. The last Montblanc he sold was the one I bought.

 

This is the seller- auctioneer8510

 

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/auctioneer8510/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50

 

Thanks for the info Jar.

[tenney]

This ebay posting looks suspicously similar... Things are spelled correctly, but it has a 14K nib on a silver solitaire pen. Is this one a fake too?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330758805940

[osnofian]

This ebay posting looks suspicously similar... Things are spelled correctly, but it has a 14K nib on a silver solitaire pen. Is this one a fake too?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330758805940

 

This one looks alright to me, even though I agree it should have a 18K nib.

[tenney]

Thanks.

Wow, so although someone else felt that these pens only come with 18K nibs, this one might have come with a 14K nib? Dang, trying to figure out what to buy and what's a good deal is even tougher when there are so few hard-and-fast tests for what's legit.

[osnofian]

Thanks.

Wow, so although someone else felt that these pens only come with 18K nibs, this one might have come with a 14K nib? Dang, trying to figure out what to buy and what's a good deal is even tougher when there are so few hard-and-fast tests for what's legit.

 

I was telling you the pen seems genuine. I very much doubt that it left the factory with a 14K nib, but I don't have any evidence that it did or did not. I guess it is more important to define if any part of it actually was made in Hamburg, than to discuss nibs (IMO). There is nothing wrong with nib swapping in my dictionary.

[tenney]

If it's not claimed to be model XYZ, then a nib swap is fine especially if it's a genuine MB nib. But, if I'm going to get an MB I'd really much prefer the original nib on it.

The "catch" is that I was getting to think that knowing which nib was supposed to be on a particular MB would help determine if it's fake nor not... an that's evidently not always true.

I do wonder, though, if you took the pen into an MB boutique if they'd be able to say that a pen is genuine even if it didn't have the right nib. I'd sure hope so.

[jar]

 

I do wonder, though, if you took the pen into an MB boutique if they'd be able to say that a pen is genuine even if it didn't have the right nib. I'd sure hope so.

 

That would depend on the boutique and the personnel there just as at any B&M. Many today know very little about fountain pens, particularly older models.

[MHfernandes]

Please, dont get me wrong on this, I'm not saying that it's the case, but we have to be carefull when showing up in forums the differences between real pens and fakes, because this could be used as a "test" for putting fakes on the market, since we will be pointing out the mistakes (errors) on the fakes pens.

Edited October 9, 2012 by MHfernandes

[ASL]

I guess if you visit a Montblanc shop and request them to evaluate the pen .. They will advise "fake", hence, I don't think they will mind giving you a paper with pen serial number confirming its fake ! Hope it works well in your side.