What Are The Most Frequently Counterfeited Pens?

[arcadeflow]

The Lamy Safari pen is now being counterfeited too, and it is easy to find them on eBay.

[Chrissy]

Montblanc pens must be the most counterfeited, but I know that Parkers are also counterfeited too.

[stevesurf]

it seems like Montblanc is; however, there a number of Lamy Safari replicas popping up!

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/267633-buyer-beware-lamy-safari-on-ebay/

[Matlock]

When I was last in Rome I saw several traders selling Mont Blanc pens for 5 euro. Could they have been counterfeit?

[mirosc]

Yes, a copy of the Montblanc 146 could be a Sailor 1911, and no one thinks bad about Sailor

 

Montblanc does.

They were succesful in keeping the 1911 out of the German market while all other Sailor pens were available.

[sjones581]

Most counterfeited? Must be the Platinum Preppy.

[_Stormin_]

I like FPs and I never heard of the Company Montblanc until I joined FPN.

 

My jaw is on the floor. Essentially the automotive equivalent of saying that you're never heard of "Cadillac" before joining a car forum.

 

 

Easily Montblanc. Oddly enough, I have some Pelican and Nakaya pens that cost just as much some of my MB's and I have not seen a replica. Another puzzler, I don't know why piston pens are that tough to counterfeit... TWSBi makes theirs and manages to turn a profit around seventy bucks a pen with a double seal and all... Anyone have any insight?

[chas0039]

I'd never heard that before. It certainly would explain why the Sonnet has such a variable reputation, with some people loving them and some hating them.

ron

They are all over ebay. I had to return one recently. Reported to ebay and they did nothing.

[chas0039]

...TWSBi makes theirs and manages to turn a profit around seventy bucks a pen with a double seal and all... Anyone have any insight?

MB uses brass which adds to the cost. So why spend more when you are making money with fake 144s. And there are some very high quality 146 and 149 fakes. They sell for over $100 or so and some are so good only MB can be sure.

 

Makes you wonder, if a $100 fake it literally impossible to tell apart from the $900 genuine article what is the extra $800 for?

[Notgatherox]

 

My jaw is on the floor. Essentially the automotive equivalent of saying that you're never heard of "Cadillac" before joining a car forum.

 

 

Easily Montblanc. Oddly enough, I have some Pelican and Nakaya pens that cost just as much some of my MB's and I have not seen a replica. Another puzzler, I don't know why piston pens are that tough to counterfeit... TWSBi makes theirs and manages to turn a profit around seventy bucks a pen with a double seal and all... Anyone have any insight?

 

There are Indian replicas of Pelikan. Here's a link: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/246678-pelikan-look-alikes-from-india/

 

 

I would say lack of a market, and the high(er) cost comes into play. If the company isn't sure of sales, I doubt they'll be willing to pour in the money for the initial investment of the moulds and whatnot. IIRC, TWSBI has a strong culture in Taiwan and there is a market for such items domestically. But if we are looking at the countries making the replicas (ie China and India), you see that these two countries are not so much of piston users. Chinese users, more often than not use c&c systems, or aeromatrics, on a smaller scale (I list you Jinhao, Hero, Baoer, Duke, Kaigelu etc...), and the Indian users are more eyedropper people (Camlin, Deccan, Ranga etc.)

 

TWSBI, backed by their domestic market, find it reasonable to pour in money for the initial investment. If I'm not wrong, I believe they make a little profit on each pen, and sell a lot of their pens so they can have an acceptable profit margin.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Views above are mine and mine alone. I may be wrong and you are welcome to disagree with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Epic

Edited October 26, 2014 by Lord Epic

[Notgatherox]

MB uses brass which adds to the cost. So why spend more when you are making money with fake 144s. And there are some very high quality 146 and 149 fakes. They sell for over $100 or so and some are so good only MB can be sure.

 

Makes you wonder, if a $100 fake it literally impossible to tell apart from the $900 genuine article what is the extra $800 for?

 

I second this. I had a fake 145 (Chopin) which had a broken dome. Before that accident it was almost impossible to tell the difference, the resin even glowed red under light!

 

It cost me ~$20

 

I would say the extra money would be labour cost (handmade and hand tested in Germany, where the pay is much higher), brand name (the exclusivity of the Major Brand, the need to price it high so people find it a luxury good), perhaps customer service (heard about the guy who dropped his 146, or was it a 149? He sent the pieces back to Major Brand and he got a new pen FOC)?

 

And simply because they can afford to price the pen like that: people will shell out the extra $800 for it.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Views above are mine and mine alone. I may be wrong and you are welcome to disagree with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Epic

[harry015]

When I was in Rome back in 1952, there were street peddlers selling Parker 51 fakes for as little as $2 American. One of our crewmen (USAF) bought one and filled it. When we reached altitude, in an unpressurized military aircraft, his blue shirt got much bluer, along with his chesty. It was funny, but I salvaged the pen from the trash, and the fill mechanism was totally unlike a real Parker 51 that I had at the time. The whole pen was cheaply made, but a deliberate fake, with the name Parker used everywhere. The story told us was that the Company that made them was P. Arker, and they just left off the period...

 

Harry

[KBeezie]

The Lamy Safari pen is now being counterfeited too, and it is easy to find them on eBay.

Now? Seems like it's been a few years now.

[OneRiotOneRanger]

Good points about the difference between "counterfeit" - made to be sold as the real thing - and "copied," where distinctive features are reproduced. It seems like everybody and their dog copied Parker's hooded nib, generally without malicious intent. And virtually every Italian pen maker has produced their homage to the Parker Duofold.

 

And, I think it should be pointed out that counterfeits run the gamut of prices: not only expensive (Montblanc), but inexpensive (Lamy). The Chinese are particularly adept at counterfeiting, having factories devoted to the process. The Parker Sonnet is one they have knocked off, fairly well - but not perfectly. There are a couple of well-known sellers on eBay who knowingly sell these at discounted prices.

[FountainPages]

You just need go to Aliexpress...Couterfeits abound and it seems Montblanc is the most abounded.