Platinum Ptl-5000A Nib Confusion

[Paino]

I recently bought a Platinum PTL-5000A for a pretty stellar price on Amazon, but the nib is a bit different from what has usually been described to me and what I've seen in videos and reviews. If you look at the Goulet Pens overview, you can see that the nib is supposed to look like. Here's a picture I found online:

 

 

As you can see it has 14k first, then the platinum "P," then the Japanese character for the size. Mine in comparison has the platinum "P" first, then "14k F" on the same line underneath it:

Could this mean the pen is fake? Did I just buy a weird version of the pen that has a different nib?

Edited July 5, 2017 by Paino

[ehemem]

I think you just have a more recent production nib, not a fake...

[Drone]

I recently bought a Platinum PTL-5000A for a pretty stellar price on Amazon, but the nib is a bit different from what has usually been described to me and what I've seen in videos and reviews. If you look at the Goulet Pens overview, you can see that the nib is supposed to look like. Here's a picture I found online:

 

 

As you can see it has 14k first, then the platinum "P," then the Japanese character for the size. Mine in comparison has the platinum "P" first, then "14k F" on the same line underneath it:

Could this mean the pen is fake? Did I just buy a weird version of the pen that has a different nib?

 

While I currently do not have a PTL-5000A, I have other similar Platinum pens. From your one picture your pen looks real to me. Compare the feed and how it is mounted carefully with the picture you took off the web and make sure they look the same. Is your feed matte-clear also?

 

To be sure, send better pictures of both the top & bottom of the nib to Platinum and ask them if your pen is a fake. Link:

 

http://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/english.html

 

Let us know what they say.

 

Regards, David

[fabri00]

I really cannot immagine someone making a fake 14 ct nib...

[Drone]

I really cannot immagine someone making a fake 14 ct nib...

 

@fabri00,

 

I think you miss the point. It is not about whether the original nib is gold or not, it is more about how much the pen as a whole sells for:

 

Is counterfeiting a pen worth it? It depends. Probably not for a relatively inexpensive pen like the Platinum PTL-5000A, even though it originally comes with a solid 14K nib straight out of the box. The fact that the nib is solid gold really doesn't matter that much in the end.

 

However, if the pen normally sells for a high price (say due in large-part to brand recognition, i.e., Montblanc), then a counterfeiter will go to significant efforts to try duplicating the original product while at the same time trying to keep material and labor costs to a minimum. So the counterfeit version will likely have a steel nib with a thin (PVD) gold-tone coating.

 

Keep in-mind the material cost of the gold-alloy that makes up a typical #5 or #6 modern 14K solid gold nib is rather small, amounting to roughly $20-$30 USD per nib at my post time & date. Also, the labor and tooling costs are about the same regardless of whether the nib is gold or steel. [Actually, one can argue the gold-tone steel nib costs more to manufacture than the solid gold nib due to increased tooling wear & replacement, plus the added specialized machinery and labor needed to PVD coat the nib.] Material reclamation & recycling is near 100% in the efficient manufacture of gold nibs, so that is not a significant factor.

 

If given what I've said here leaves you wondering why modern production-quantity gold nibs often cost 400%-500% more than otherwise identical steel nibs, in my opinion the answer is that it has more to do with marketing and profit than anything else.

 

P.S., The "Fineness" or purity of precious metal-alloys (e.g., Gold, Silver, Platinum) by weight is expressed in Karats (K, or kt). These days to avoid confusion, the term Carat [C] is (arguably) deprecated as an expression of fineness. Instead, the Carat (ct) is used to express the mass of gemstones and pearls. A Carat (a.k.a. Metric Carat) is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg.

 

References:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fineness

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_(mass)

[fabri00]

@fabri00,

I think you miss the point. It is not about whether the original nib is gold or not, it is more about how much the pen as a whole sells for:

Is counterfeiting a pen worth it? It depends. Probably not for a relatively inexpensive pen like the Platinum PTL-5000A, even though it originally comes with a solid 14K nib straight out of the box. The fact that the nib is solid gold really doesn't matter that much in the end.

However, if the pen normally sells for a high price (say due in large-part to brand recognition, i.e., Montblanc), then a counterfeiter will go to significant efforts to try duplicating the original product while at the same time trying to keep material and labor costs to a minimum. So the counterfeit version will likely have a steel nib with a thin (PVD) gold-tone coating.

Keep in-mind the material cost of the gold-alloy that makes up a typical #5 or #6 modern 14K solid gold nib is rather small, amounting to roughly $20-$30 USD per nib at my post time & date. Also, the labor and tooling costs are about the same regardless of whether the nib is gold or steel. [Actually, one can argue the gold-tone steel nib costs more to manufacture than the solid gold nib due to increased tooling wear & replacement, plus the added specialized machinery and labor needed to PVD coat the nib.] Material reclamation & recycling is near 100% in the efficient manufacture of gold nibs, so that is not a significant factor.

If given what I've said here leaves you wondering why modern production-quantity gold nibs often cost 400%-500% more than otherwise identical steel nibs, in my opinion the answer is that it has more to do with marketing and profit than anything else.

P.S., The "Fineness" or purity of precious metal-alloys (e.g., Gold, Silver, Platinum) by weight is expressed in Karats (K, or kt). These days to avoid confusion, the term Carat [C] is (arguably) deprecated as an expression of fineness. Instead, the Carat (ct) is used to express the mass of gemstones and pearls. A Carat (a.k.a. Metric Carat) is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fineness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_(mass)

I do not think to have missed the point, really.

 

I think that if someone will decide to counterfit a relatively cheap pen like the platinum of this post, which is also a not popular pen for the majority of the people, probably it will not counterfit a nib in gold.

 

In 30 years of fp collection, I've seen really very few nibs counterfitted in gold.

 

Have you seen any ?.

[Drone]

I do not think to have missed the point, really.

 

I think that if someone will decide to counterfit a relatively cheap pen like the platinum of this post, which is also a not popular pen for the majority of the people, probably it will not counterfit a nib in gold.

 

In 30 years of fp collection, I've seen really very few nibs counterfitted in gold.

 

Have you seen any ?.

 

OK, I get your point now, I think it was a mix-up in my interpretation of your your comment in Post #4. Thanks for clarifying

 

Nope I haven't heard of many gold counterfeits of gold nibs either. Of-course there are the luxury-brand fakes, Montbanc etc. where it happens some times in the higher-end counterfeits. And I remember hearing of some counterfeit vintage pens coming out of E. Asia, S. Korea I seem to recall. Some of them supposedly had fake gold nibs (which might actually have been scavenged vintage IMO).

 

Regards, David

[fabri00]

Anyhow, coming back to the subject of this thread, I have 3 of that pens bought all in Japan few years ago, and with steel nib, and nib shape is like that one of the first picture.

Maybe that one of the other picture is a new style nib.

[Honeybadgers]

 

@fabri00,

 

I think you miss the point. It is not about whether the original nib is gold or not, it is more about how much the pen as a whole sells for:

 

Is counterfeiting a pen worth it? It depends. Probably not for a relatively inexpensive pen like the Platinum PTL-5000A, even though it originally comes with a solid 14K nib straight out of the box. The fact that the nib is solid gold really doesn't matter that much in the end.

 

However, if the pen normally sells for a high price (say due in large-part to brand recognition, i.e., Montblanc), then a counterfeiter will go to significant efforts to try duplicating the original product while at the same time trying to keep material and labor costs to a minimum. So the counterfeit version will likely have a steel nib with a thin (PVD) gold-tone coating.

 

Keep in-mind the material cost of the gold-alloy that makes up a typical #5 or #6 modern 14K solid gold nib is rather small, amounting to roughly $20-$30 USD per nib at my post time & date. Also, the labor and tooling costs are about the same regardless of whether the nib is gold or steel. [Actually, one can argue the gold-tone steel nib costs more to manufacture than the solid gold nib due to increased tooling wear & replacement, plus the added specialized machinery and labor needed to PVD coat the nib.] Material reclamation & recycling is near 100% in the efficient manufacture of gold nibs, so that is not a significant factor.

 

If given what I've said here leaves you wondering why modern production-quantity gold nibs often cost 400%-500% more than otherwise identical steel nibs, in my opinion the answer is that it has more to do with marketing and profit than anything else.

 

P.S., The "Fineness" or purity of precious metal-alloys (e.g., Gold, Silver, Platinum) by weight is expressed in Karats (K, or kt). These days to avoid confusion, the term Carat [C] is (arguably) deprecated as an expression of fineness. Instead, the Carat (ct) is used to express the mass of gemstones and pearls. A Carat (a.k.a. Metric Carat) is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg.

 

References:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fineness

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_(mass)

 

This.

 

The only pens that are even bothered to be made as counterfeit are desirable pens, pens like limited edition lamy safari/al stars, mont blancs, etc.

 

An obscure japanese gold nib pen is not likely to be counterfeited, and yours looks legit. Also, the price you paid isn't drastically lower than it can be found.

 

I think, but I may be wrong, that the 5000a and the pilot sereno are being discontinued, so these are also unpopular pens that are likely leftover stock that needs to be moved. Especially with the pilot 74 and platinum 3776 available from japan for the $60-70 range.

 

Your nib is likely a newer production. the steel nib on my platinum carbon desk pen has the exact same P symbol and location, and Goulet hasn't carried that pen for a while, so it's probably just an older version.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Honeybadgers

[Drone]

The only pens that are even bothered to be made as counterfeit are desirable pens, pens like limited edition lamy safari/al stars, mont blancs, etc.

 

There fake Lamy Safari's out there, of all colors limited or not. The limited edition Safari pens may have been the motivation for investing in the tooling to make the fakes in the first place. But once that investment was made, why stop with just the limited edition pens... Copy them all!