Please kindly let me know if I’ve been swindled AGAIN!! Counterfeit?? Or, legit? IDK

[savroof]

I NEED a Lamy Safari EXPERT! First batch of these Ltd. Candy Safari’s were 100% COUNTERFEIT! Nibs were horrible! Two of the nibs were canted a bit sideways, with the way you have to hold the pen to write, the nib wouldn’t be straight for writing. LAMY logo on nib barely there, nibs had MANY micro, and bigger scratches all over the nibs, totally wrong packaging, 3 silver colored cigar shaped shiny cardboard boxes. Not black ribbed cardboard. So angry! I never knew there were counterfeit Safari’s! Now I do!
  But…. These, specifically, the pens themselves, under 10X magnification, “LOOK” 100% legit to me. What troubles me is the packaging. I’ve seen the black ribbed thin cardboard boxes, with the many slits cut in one side, but never this fine box! It’s really nice! It is black, ribbed, but the silver LAMY and the fancy black fabric covered stretchy cord, that keeps the box closed. And all three pens together in this box, NEVER seen this packaging anywhere. Are they counterfeit as well? Came all the way from an island famous for Jersey milk cows, the island of Jersey! Off the coast of the UK. The nibs are mirror polished, traces of blue ink on the back of the nib, like they do from testing every pen, black LAMY, and F (for fine nib size) etched at the bottom of the nibs, the pens LOOK spot on! The packaging strange. Does have embossed in the bottom of the box: GMUND paper. I can call Lamy tomorrow, but thought I’d might get an answer tonight. Second Amazon vendor. First set was 100% counterfeit. I have an order from Pen Chalet for the exact same pens, plus another fountain pen, and some Ltd. edt. Lamy ink. I can keep these, or the Pen Chalet order. FYI, These three Candy Ltd. fountain pens were about $21.00 each. Pen Chalet, $27.00 each, with discount, regularly: $29.00 each. Big difference! Again, maybe a red flag. But I inspected these pens backwards and sideways, and they TRULY seem legit. 
 

Any ideas??? Thank you! See the pic’s below. Really nice box! Black horizontal looking line over silver LAMY logo, is the stretchy cord that holds the box shut. 

[savroof]

Here are pic’s of the pens up close: finely polished nibs, can you see the blue ink residue on the backs? They look 100% authentic. 

[savroof]

THANK YOU ALL!! I’m two weeks in, about even knowing Lamy existed! Fell in love with my: red, white, and blue, Independence Safari, bought at Lamy dealer in Greenville, SC., AWESOME store!!! Downtown area, near the theater house my mom went to see her favorite (NOT mine) group Il Devo concert. I had to drive her as she has Parkinsons and cannot drive anymore. KILLS her she cannot anymore. Just stumbled on the most fantastic fountain pen store I’ve EVER seen!! So, I compare these “Candy” Safari’s to it. 

[Paul-in-SF]

I can't speak to the pens, I'm no Lamy expert, but I think my Lamy Vista came in a box like that, but with a piece of folded cardboard in the middle to nest just one pen. I would be surprised if a dealer would send three pens like that to rattle around together without any protection during shipping. That doesn't mean at all that the pens aren't legitimate, I don't know one way or the other.

 

Honestly, though, is it really worth all this tsuris and anxiety to pay $63 instead of $81? Not to mention the likelihood of higher shipping costs from Jersey than from a US dealer. 

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, savroof said:

totally wrong packaging, 3 silver colored cigar shaped shiny cardboard boxes.

 

I bought a Lamy AL-Star Bronze special edition fountain pen from a trusted retailer a while back, and it was sent to me in a silver-coloured cardboard box. My understanding is that is how Lamy ships new pens to retailers, and leave it up to the retailer to package each new pen into a suitable Lamy ‘gift box’ which has been sent by Lamy separately and at some other time. (Pelikan does something similar.)

 

Without reservation, both then and now, I trust this retailer to be an authorised Lamy dealer and sell only genuine merchandise. Therefore, I disagree that receiving a Lamy pen in a silver-coloured cardboard box is positive proof that the item is counterfeit, even if you don't think you got the full retail package you thought (rightly or wrongly, based on the product listing and description) you were buying.

 

 

[Misfit]

The only help I can offer is Lamy pens are tested with blue ink, so a blue residue is not a concern. 

[InkyColors]

My Al-star came from a seller on Jersey and it’s perfect.  I don’t know if it’s the same seller, but how many can there be on such a small island?🙂

[Sailor Kenshin]

Just for fun…I have bought Lamy 'tribute' pens (clearly labeled as such) in all those Easter and Candy colors.  All great writers.  All come with converters.  All about five bucks each.

 

You don't have the nib choices you would in a Safari, just F or EF.  But at that price, I have a number of fun, festive pens to load with matching inks (one Jinhao set even came with its own ink bottle of the size and shape Iroshizuku uses for the minis).

[savroof]

14 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I can't speak to the pens, I'm no Lamy expert, but I think my Lamy Vista came in a box like that, but with a piece of folded cardboard in the middle to nest just one pen. I would be surprised if a dealer would send three pens like that to rattle around together without any protection during shipping. That doesn't mean at all that the pens aren't legitimate, I don't know one way or the other.

 

Honestly, though, is it really worth all this tsuris and anxiety to pay $63 instead of $81? Not to mention the likelihood of higher shipping costs from Jersey than from a US dealer. 

All true! But this was thru Amazon, so the shipping was free,  and free returns. GOOD point! Why three pens in same box with no foam/paper/whatever, to protect them?? IDK. Maybe a red flag, IDK. 

 

THANK YOU for your response!!

[savroof]

14 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I bought a Lamy AL-Star Bronze special edition fountain pen from a trusted retailer a while back, and it was sent to me in a silver-coloured cardboard box. My understanding is that is how Lamy ships new pens to retailers, and leave it up to the retailer to package each new pen into a suitable Lamy ‘gift box’ which has been sent by Lamy separately and at some other time. (Pelikan does something similar.)

 

Without reservation, both then and now, I trust this retailer to be an authorised Lamy dealer and sell only genuine merchandise. Therefore, I disagree that receiving a Lamy pen in a silver-coloured cardboard box is positive proof that the item is counterfeit, even if you don't think you got the full retail package you thought (rightly or wrongly, based on the product listing and description) you were buying.

 

 

The silver colored cigar shaped boxes wasn’t the “tell”, it was the nibs with a VERY faint, almost not there, LAMY logo at the bottom, nothing like the “real” Safari I bought. Also, the nibs were canted towards the left or right. As the pen has the triangular area where you hold the pen, the nib wasn’t straight to write with, does that make sense? Also, the nibs had micro, and bigger scratches all over them. My authentic Safari, and the “Jersey” Candy Safari’s all have mirror polished, STRAIGHT nibs. “THAT” was the big tell! Counterfeit. I wish I’d taken pictures of all this with the pens, before returning them to Amazon. And I had NO idea they were counterfeiting plastic/inexpensive Lamy Safari fountain pens. Was shocked. But they are! Beware! And they cost as much as authentic Safari’s at Pen Chalet! Not like a FAKE $20.00 Louis Vuitton bag. But like a $800.00+ FAKE Louis Vuitton bag. Which nobody would ever buy, obviously.

[savroof]

6 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Just for fun…I have bought Lamy 'tribute' pens (clearly labeled as such) in all those Easter and Candy colors.  All great writers.  All come with converters.  All about five bucks each.

 

You don't have the nib choices you would in a Safari, just F or EF.  But at that price, I have a number of fun, festive pens to load with matching inks (one Jinhao set even came with its own ink bottle of the size and shape Iroshizuku uses for the minis).

Lamy Safari pens do not come with converters, they are sold separately, and $5.00?? Clearly counterfeit. You made some factory in China happy.

[savroof]

Just now, savroof said:

Lamy Safari pens do not come with converters, they are sold separately, and $5.00?? Clearly counterfeit. You made some factory in China happy.

Or, did you buy another brand? I’m confused. 

[savroof]

9 hours ago, InkyColors said:

My Al-star came from a seller on Jersey and it’s perfect.  I don’t know if it’s the same seller, but how many can there be on such a small island?🙂

Agreed! These seem 100% legit, the box/packaging threw me however. Still don’t know. And the island of Jersey is REALLY small! I’d never heard of it! But I looked it up, very pretty place!!! IDK.

[savroof]

13 hours ago, Misfit said:

The only help I can offer is Lamy pens are tested with blue ink, so a blue residue is not a concern. 

Yes, that was one of the things I believed made me think they are the real deal, as Lamy tests every pen with blue ink. Just: three pens loose in one box??

[Sailor Kenshin]

16 minutes ago, savroof said:

Lamy Safari pens do not come with converters, they are sold separately, and $5.00?? Clearly counterfeit. You made some factory in China happy.

 

Of course.  Because these are NOT sold as genuine Lamy Safaris, but clearly marked as Jinhao.  Jinhao is a respectible Chinese brand and many of their pens are excellent quality at low prices.  I have a number of Safaris, but my last two were disappointing.  In the case of the Jinhao I was just after the color, and pleasantly surprised by the writing quality.

[savroof]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Of course.  Because these are NOT sold as genuine Lamy Safaris, but clearly marked as Jinhao.  Jinhao is a respectible Chinese brand and many of their pens are excellent quality at low prices.  I have a number of Safaris, but my last two were disappointing.  In the case of the Jinhao I was just after the color, and pleasantly surprised by the writing quality.

Got it! I thought you said you bought Lamy Safari’s for $5.00 each. Yes, Jinhao makes Safari lookalikes, haven’t seen them in the wild. I’d buy a few! I’m just shocked they are counterfeiting such an inexpensive pen as a Lamy Safari! And I was sent three! I learned my lesson. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

1 hour ago, savroof said:

Got it! I thought you said you bought Lamy Safari’s for $5.00 each. Yes, Jinhao makes Safari lookalikes, haven’t seen them in the wild. I’d buy a few! I’m just shocked they are counterfeiting such an inexpensive pen as a Lamy Safari! And I was sent three! I learned my lesson. 

I wonder if the last two Lamy Safaris I got were genuine.  Probably, but the nibs were not what I'm used to (I'm a minor-league Safari collector… used to get all the limited editions).  That's why I bought the Jinhao: just to see how they wrote.

[Arkanabar]

It's not just $40 USD LAMY Safaris that get counterfeited.  I have heard stories of counterfeit $5USD Hero 616 Doctors.

[sirgilbert357]

6 hours ago, savroof said:

The silver colored cigar shaped boxes wasn’t the “tell”, it was the nibs with a VERY faint, almost not there, LAMY logo at the bottom, nothing like the “real” Safari I bought. Also, the nibs were canted towards the left or right. As the pen has the triangular area where you hold the pen, the nib wasn’t straight to write with, does that make sense? Also, the nibs had micro, and bigger scratches all over them. My authentic Safari, and the “Jersey” Candy Safari’s all have mirror polished, STRAIGHT nibs. “THAT” was the big tell! Counterfeit. I wish I’d taken pictures of all this with the pens, before returning them to Amazon. And I had NO idea they were counterfeiting plastic/inexpensive Lamy Safari fountain pens. Was shocked. But they are! Beware! And they cost as much as authentic Safari’s at Pen Chalet! Not like a FAKE $20.00 Louis Vuitton bag. But like a $800.00+ FAKE Louis Vuitton bag. Which nobody would ever buy, obviously.

 

LOL, every real Lamy nib I've ever had (bought from the Goulet Pen Co. - a trusted seller) has the same VERY FAINT Lamy logo on the nib. I think I have 5 or 6 at this point. I think they do that on purpose...and that is certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

[savroof]

1 hour ago, sirgilbert357 said:

 

LOL, every real Lamy nib I've ever had (bought from the Goulet Pen Co. - a trusted seller) has the same VERY FAINT Lamy logo on the nib. I think I have 5 or 6 at this point. I think they do that on purpose...and that is certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

Are you talking about the tiny number at the bottom of the BACK of the nib? I was saying, a real Safari, the nib has an small blackish “LAMY” logo at the bottom FRONT. Under intense LED white light, the LAMY logo, is slightly copper looking. This is really anal stuff. Suffice to say, the LAMY logo on the counterfeits wasn’t the same as an authentic one, and all the scratches all over the nibs, not mirror polished nibs, as authentic ones have. And not being able to write correctly, with the nibs canted left or right. Case closed. NEVER buying ANY pen on Amazon, in the future. They, at this point, likely have counterfeited EVERY brand for sale. ESPECIALLY Mt. Blanc. Been counterfeiting them for many years! I was just surprised they have now been counterfeiting Lamy Safari’s, and their other models as well. And 427 Cobras. Carroll Shelby said there are hundreds of counterfeit Cobras out there. God rest his soul.