Here is a story of how you saved me from being a sucker, as I watched this video after I won an used Montblanc 146 in an ebay auction for $309 thinking I had won a great bargain. The photos looked convincing and so did the description. Soon thereafter, when I drove to meet the seller in the same city, I had the distinguished pleasure of touching and feeling a Montblanc 146 which was presented to me in a little jiffy plastic bag! After a minute or two of inspection and lovely chitty chatty with the seller who told me that she had received it as a gift from somebody and she did not have much use for it although the person who gifted it was a relative of hers and he had used it a bit etc. I took a close look at the engraving on the centre band and it looked good except that it was not totally straight and did not neatly line up between the upper and lower gold bands .. wow, why is the text going up there like there I wondered! Then, the piston did not turn smooth getting stuck halfway, and it felt surprisingly light for an expensive Montblanc pen! The underside of the nib feed felt sticky (ok so ink dried up I thought) but it was a bit more than that and felt like there was some decay happening as well on the feed. I had to break it to the seller! I said, "Sorry but unfortunately I do not think this is a Montblanc", pointing to the engraving and remarked it is very light also. Some story was soon told about how the person who gifted it to her was a millionnaire and he would never buy a fake one etc .. I told her that even millionnnaires can make mistakes of buying fake ones sometimes! I had given her my cash envelope already a bit stupidly but I gave the pen back and my money was given back with a bit of a groan. Was cursing myself all the way back as to how I could have bid on it without inspecting more closely. When I came back and looked at a closeup picture on ebay, I had in fact missed the slanted off sync engraving although this is hard to perceive without the benefit of actually having seen the pen. Camera angles in photos can be deceptive and hide faults. My policy in future will be .. I will never buy an expensive pen off ebay without its original box and papers plus inspecting or requesting more photos as necessary. Please do not be intimidated by sellers who pretend they are offended somehow. Genuine sellers will be eager to prove that it is genuine pen. When you do not get replies from sellers just stay away like the plague despite all temptation. Was a total waste of my time but a very good lesson in my fountain pen travels. Nice video and thanks to this great fountain pen lover and contributer.
Hi, For whatever it's worth, there are no fake 146 or 149 that have piston fillers. If the pen you looked at had an actual piston, even if it was broken, I'm included to say it was real.
There are NO FAKE 146 MODELS!!!...309.00 Is actually higher then resale value. There are several ways besides the band to tell you if it is legit. The Resin needs to be a ruby red when light is passed through it. The Nib details need to be pressed in not engraved etc and so forth. And finally it needs to be a twist vacuum type not an ink adapter .
I watched your video and realized I had the EXACT fake pen as you did. It had the EXACT same ID number around the pen IW1 etc.. I bought it off ebay, informed them it was a fake and they gave me all my money back. I offered to ship it back and they told me to keep it. I bought another pen at NM. I still can not get over that our pens had the same fake serial numbers!
Excellent video David, this really helps people to identify their Montblanc. Fun fact is that most of the fake Montblanc's we see in our store are always ''gifts''.
@@jamesbakersmith1112 Ask Montblanc to "inspect for repairs". If you get an email to tell you what needs to be done, take that as authentication by the company (according to another reviewer whose video I just watched).
Good review, David. Thanks. The fakes have improved, but there are always discrepancies. The filling mechanisms tend not to be marked or designed accurately, and the nibs have flaws in design. That said, I bought a clear phony (usually call these things "Montfake" or "Fauxblanc" that performs very nicely, despite its not being the real deal. Also, since the company was purchased by a mass marketer, the overall quality has crashed, imho, and the brand name now shows up on umbrellas, drug store colognes, other low-end items sold to people who may be chasing prestige without knowing what they want in a pen.
I own a Montblanc without serial number. This happened after they repaired it in the boutique in Frankfurt. The old ring had a serial number, but after the repair, there wasn't anymore.
Thank goodness you didn't ramble or mumble. Concise, informative and most importantly, straight to the points on spotting a fake MontBlanc. I have an MS 149 (fountain pen) and have been trying to authenticate it. I'm too lazy to drive to the next town over and go to the MB store...well, more like I hate traffic. I still can't figure out if mine is a fake or not.
Thank you for giving out the tips! Never having seen a Montblanc in person before, these guidelines will help avoid such a disaster. Does not Montblanc only want their pens sold in a brick and mortar store?
Would you be interested in seeing another example of a fake Montblanc? I bought one recently that I ended up really enjoying. I checked many of the things you mentioned and the only one that seems to stand out is the nib engraving alignment.
So sad. The hardest is when the fake is the same as the price of the genuine one. Unless maybe if he has great rating. But if it's really expensive, sometimes it's best to just pay the full retail price, at an authorized dealer. God bless, Proverbs 31
👍🤩💝Good info. Thank you. I love Montblanc pens and have had several over the years. The problem I have with Montblanc is that they recycle the serial numbers and they themselves aren’t consistent about their own brand markings. I buy directly from the Montblanc Boutique so I know what I have is authentic but it’s a shame how they charge so much money and yet it’s so challenging to truly authenticate their products. 😫
Thanks for the guide, but I am interested how writing with the pen compares when using a real vs. fake. I'm assuming the bad quality also shows when writing?
Oh, 8 years later, and I can add something to this video. I have two Montblanc Meisterstuck 149's made in the mid-80's. I was presented with both of these as a "sales spiff" for being top salesman of a then name-brand computer. It came in a fancy, properly marked box (though white and much smaller than the black box you showed) so I know they are genuine. Outer shipping box was even a bit fancy and marked at USD $295.00. They *do not* have a serial number on the top band, but there *is* the word "Germany" engraved (possibly stamped) on it. The font is very small and, if your pen is older and the band is scratched, it may be hard to see without a loupe or good magnifier. I've used and love both of them. I do wish I had the full provenance for that particular batch of pens, though. The computer manufacturer bought *hundreds* of them to award for the whole U.S. Perhaps they specified no serial number, perhaps MB hadn't started using serial numbers. Someone may know, I sure don't. But I've used and loved them both since getting them.
Thank you for the video. However, since it's airing, the forgers have really stepped up their game. The pen I purchased passed all the applicable tests you demonstrated except for 1... the feel. It felt like plastic to me, but as I do not have any genuine Montblanc pens to compare to, it was hard to be certain. As for the price, $15 would have been a dead give away, however in my case, the seller claimed to be a dealer that was liquidating their entire stock (they had 3 Meisterstück ballpoints). My winning bid was $160 and figured I was either getting a great deal, or seriously getting ripped off. Since it was an auction, the seller is not in complete control of the price. The packaging for my pen was impressive. The pen was shipped in a case almost identical to yours, only smaller as it was a ballpoint. It was even shipped with the service manual. Moving on to your quality checks... clearly my pen is a much better pen than your forgery. Mine did not have any obvious defects. The font was much more like your genuine Montblanc and there was nothing that I could see that confirmed that it was a forgery. In fact, on first viewing, your video was actually leading me to the conclusion that my pen was genuine. I was ready to head over to a Montblanc dealer to validate it, but then I saw it, the smoking gun... the serial number. My pen has the exact same serial number as your forgery did. That was enough for me. I have since contacted the seller for a refund. Thank you, again.
aztexanguy hop onto FPN and post the name of the counterfeiters. I've done so after buying a couple fake Sonnets. After much deliberation I decided not to price hunt, and but my MB at the physical boutique here in Toronto. Cost an arm and a leg, but the service is un paralleled and of course I know it's real.
Same thing I went to a Montblanc store one of the employee thought it was real, the other one who was more experienced, had an intuition that it was a fake but couldn’t find anyway to prove it, he said usually if its a fake a real Montblanc ink shouldn’t work with it but it did. Came back home and the serial number gave it away
My Mont Blanc pen says (Meisisterstuck- Montblanc) Around the gold stripes on the ball point pen just below the clip. Do you have any info on that. There is no serial number at the top. I’m assuming it’s an older pen. I’m not the one who originally purchased it.
i ALWAYS insist on the warranty card and the original owner's reciept when buying an expensive pen ... no self respecting Mont Blanc owner will toss out the paperwork
Thanks for the great video. To your knowledge, has there ever been a fake 149 or 146 with a real piston mechanism? If not, it seems that checking for that initially would save some time for those models.
I haven't seen any personally...but it wouldn't surprise me if there were some out there. Even if it was a captured converter made to look like a piston filler.
Nice informative video. Clip markings seem to be inconsistent. On my (authentic) Montblancs, I see a variety of "Pix", "Made in Germany", "Germany" and on the more recent ones, "metal". Several have more than one marking. There also seems to be a wide variety of nib markings too. When you shine a bright light through the Montblanc 'precious resin', it has a nice red glow. Does the counterfeit also do this?
Where can you purchase refills and what serial number do I use to get the correct refill? The refill I purchased from Office Depot was too short. It writes well but I had to use a spacer.
A good friend of mine from work went on AliExpress and bought himself a Montblanc 149. After, watching this video I told him all the MB on AliExpress are fakes. He paid 27 US dollars. The scary thing is that the fake montblanc looked so much like an authentic montblanc. Very scary.
thanks for the vid ! could you do a similar video with a so-called "super replica" that usely sells 3 times higher than the one you have (around 50$); those really scare me on the secondary market
This video definitely helped me! I'm on eBay looking for an authentic and they show a picture of the serial number and it's the EXACT same number as yours! LOL Even after 7 years, they are still using the same serial number!
The problem is in the ripoff aspect ... If you knowingly buy a fake pen and knowingly pay what a fake pen is worth then you have not been done ill by. If you buy a fake pen represented as the genuine article and pay the same price as the genuine article then you got robbed. I do not hold by your "feels cheap" arguments. Subjective criteria like that are always suspect and generally superficial. It is a function of your cognizance that you KNOW it's cheap so it "feels" cheap. That's why you cannot quantify "cheap" in a description. If you read reviews of pens on Amazon you'll see that a LOT of people complain about really good pens feeling "cheap". You really should leave such subjective observations out of this whole discussion. Your intuitions and gut feelings mean nothing and do not provide useful information for others. I'm not advocating for counterfeits and fakes here but I do think they have their place as long as they're not SOLD as genuine by ANYONE including the end user. There are some dandy counterfeit Montblanc pens out there that write really well, do not feel "cheap", lay a nice wet line with a nice buttery smooth nib ... Those pens in their own right would be very good pens at their price point if they were not trying to pass themselves off as Montblancs. I also do not believe that a Montblanc pen is all that and a bag of chips too. I have one, I'll never buy another one. The juice isn't worth the squeeze when you compare the cost to other pens. "Resin" is just a name for "plastic" on ANY pen, it's marketing lingo. The nibs are good but they're not so good that they merit a premium price compared to other offerings on the market. Montblanc has known problems with cracking and that's a heartbreak even though the company will fix it for free. You not supposed to dismount the nibs and disassemble the pens for a thorough cleaning so if for some reason you get a reaction between the remnants of old inks and a new one you have to ship it back to the factory and do without your very expensive pen for quite a long time. Etc. Juice ... not worth the squeeze ... If you're serious about writing with fountain pens, there are better writing pens that cost the same or less. If you're serious about durability and heirloom quality, there are better pens that cost the same or less. If you're serious about after-purchase support there are companies that sell pens that do a better, faster job of taking care of any problem you might encounter. If you're serious about not getting ripped off, you probably shouldn't be buying a $200 pen and paying $400+ for it, which is the case with Montblanc ... That said, if you're serious about status symbols then a Montblanc pen is right up there with Rolex watches. The difference is that you can get a pen that no one else is going to know is a fake for around $40 that is so much like a Montblanc none of your friends will ever know the difference unless you tell them. Because all the things you mentioned in this video require serious scrutiny with magnification except for your subjective "it feels cheap" nonsense. There's nothing about the fakes that anyone is going to detect from across your desk or the table in a boardroom. If you want to buy a fake Rolex that will provide comparable service to a real one and stand up to the same degree of casual observation it's going to cost you more than a real Montblanc. With Montblanc pens the counterfeits have gotten so good they are competing with the real thing even when people know they're counterfeit.
I enjoy your reviews...very informative. Question: Is there a good substitute for a Montblanc144...perhaps in the JINHAO collection? I would like to find a pen of this style and size, but not the cost. Thank You.
Thank you for a very useful video. Why would anyone go to the trouble of making this and then try to sell it for only $14.00? Not only does it look very poor, but you have to wonder how they figure they could pass off such sub-standard build quality as the real thing?
+Chandon Bleackley They don't think so. I have a real MB and a fake of the same pen that I keep and use at work. The fake is a fine pen and looks as good as the real one, unless you study it with a magnifier. No one who really examined it would believe it is real. It is simply a nice looking pen, it writes very well and I don't have to worry about someone walking away with my real MB...
me too. I got it from amazon when I ordered a low priced 149 . They refunded me and let me keep the Chinese Mon Blan .. & definitely not a 149 . Then I did the exact same thing again , and got another free pen !
Have you ever been to New York and seen all the guys selling "Rolex" watches off cork boards in the public squares? I guarantee no one who buys that "Rolex" thinks it's real, but they do it anyway. For some people, it's a way to impress their friends who don't know. For some, it's a conversation-piece: "Hey, Joe, look at the $25 Rolex I just bought in Union Square!"
Some really good advice but forgers have become more sophisticated. Even the resins are becoming thinner and the black resin under light should have a reddish hew to it...the forgers can even replicate that too. I know a Mont Blanc employee that bought a fake Boheme that looks and feels real, but under professional examination was a fake. BE CAREFUL FOLKS!
Lol your monitor screen must be to your left! Either that ORyou need an ophthalmologist because you have the Jimmy eyes! Lol they drift left! But seriously - this was a good post.
There are retailers on eBay selling “authentic” Montblanc fountain pens swearing that they are not knockoffs. When I went ahead ordered one and when inquired about the authenticity of the pen the seller cancelled the order. Go figure.
From what I understand, a nib marked with "C" was most likely produced in Europe...where it is "carat" rather than "karat". Most pen makers stick to the K...but some older pens might have the C. Basically, no difference other than potentially age of the pen.
hi, i'm thinking on buying a MB 149 which has the word Pix under the clip, but not on the band. does that mean that it's a fake? thanks. I really appreciate your videos!
Thanks for watching. I believe that MB's post 1997 have Pix on the underside of the clip. Since 2000, Pix has also been used on the cap band. So...if this pen was manufactured between 1997 and 2000, it is possible to have this combination. If the seller states this is a relatively new pen, then I would be wary.
+Figboot on Pens scuse me, if I bother you again. i have found two MB 149, which i can see in person before buying, at 290€ PRE-Owned, without warranty. the first one has never been inked, comes with an ink bottle, but has the word Pix only under the clip, and the box has a black velvet in it (which i think was typical in the late 90s, when you said the word Pix was used only under the clip). the other one is in mint condition. without the ink bottle, has been used for just one week, only for the signature, but has the word Pix also on the band, beside 149. which one do you think is the best value, which should i buy? i'm not a collectionist. thanks, i hope you answer my long question!
Hi!! Thank you for your video! I did just receive my montblanc fountain pen ("from the 80's) and unfortunately it does not gave "pix" engraved at all on the underside of the clip. I am bumming!! Does this mean it is a fake? Thank you again, I sure hope you are still on RU-vid to see my question. Many thanks again. LilyM 🌷 (i am so disappointed it may very well be fake).😣
I have a genuine Montblanc from 1984 - it predates the era when Montblanc put “Pix” and a serial number on the pen. The pen has nothing under the clip, and “Germany” on the clip band, indicating it was made after the reunification - earlier models have “W Germany” - I have enjoyed this pen for more than 35 years, with only two visits to the Montblanc repair shop - one to fix the nib which bent when a friend tried the pen and it dropped on the floor, nib first (of course) - that was the last time I let anyone else touch my pen! The other repair was to fix a leak at the piston joint. An outstanding pen in every respect. Amortize the cost over decades of ownership and it is worth every penny.
LilyMar hello LilyM - my pleasure. I hope you enjoy your Montblanc Diplomat 149 a much as I have. As a professional writer, I view the fountain pen as a tool of my trade - and I have been using fountain pens since I was in grade school in the 1950s. I wrote my Masters thesis with a Lamy 2000 in the late 1960s, and I discovered Montblanc in the 1980s - I bought my pen from Arrow Stationery in New York City - it was expensive, even back in 1984, but I have only lost one pen over the years, so I had no qualms about investing in a pen that would "last a lifetime", and I intend to continue using it until it becomes part of my children's inheritance. When my son received his law degree, I gave him a very nice Waterman pen; when my daughter received her Master of Education degree, I gave her a Lamy and a bottle of raspberry colour ink to mark the students' essays... my children understand the connection that is formed between a writer and his or her pen... it is an extension of your mind, and when the nib has been carefully selected and properly adapted to your hand, over time, the art of writing becomes a very natural and fulfilling part of life.
You chose a $14 copy to demonstrate how to spot a fake, but there are some that $300-$400 which even Montblanc has a hard time deciding if they are real or forgery (I've seen a few comments regarding this on a few forums). In your opinion, where would the best place be to purchase a 'gently used' 'real' Montblanc?
+Joshua Greenman While there is inherent risk in purchasing just about anything online, I would personally look at popular pen forums like FPN as well as Reddit's r/pen_swap. If you see something you like, I would try to research the seller. Take a look at their posting history and determine if they appear to be an active member of the community in "good standing", or if they just created an account in order to sell a pen. Someone who is an active member would be less likely in my opinion to knowingly pass on a forgery that would sully their name within the group.
Here's a neat way to tell if a pen's resin is cheap ABS plastic or some type of "precious resin" (as used by Montblanc, Pelikan (caps and ends), Platinum, Pilot, etc.: get an infrared camera. Some people have correctly recognized that if you hold a "precious resin" pen (cap, usually) up to the sun you'll see that it's not black, but rather very dark red. That being the case, it's also transparent in the infrared spectrum. An IR-converted camera will be able to see through an otherwise black and opaque Montblanc. Here's a link to some examples I posted on FPN (if the link will work on youtube…): www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/269537-infrared-photography-and-precious-resin/
I would buy the fake at that price and use it. I buy mont blanc limited edition for keepsake. 😊 I have an original Grace Kelly and a fake one that i use.
I got a fake a montblanc pen for free, I guess my question is a good fake going to write any different than a real one? Im not in the pen world one bit or care about them, mostly curious
The writing experience will be diminished significantly with a fake. The inkflow might be fine, but you can certainly feel the difference between the gold nib on an authentic MB, and the low-quality steel used on the fakes.
Thank you sir. I recently purchased a Meisterstuck Le Petit Prince ballpoint, and I've been looking at Ebay for a replica out of curiousity, but all I've found are ones without the "engraving". Thank you for the feedback.
With all due respect, the last letter 'c' is NOT pronounced in the Montblanc brand name, although it's a German make. The same goes for the mountain. You don't have to believe me when I say this is the way it should be pronounced. You should not pronounce 'c' there just like in the word Connecticut. You can also see how well-educated Germans pronounce their brand name here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RsNi6bK2v8g.html Maybe you should check out the Merriam Dictionary: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mont%20Blanc but they don't list the brandname there (only the mountain). You can easily check it in other youtubes: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VwZ0BoPPENw.html Here you can hear it pronounced in both German and English: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xRn3RJJLnZg.html You can also back up some wrong pronunciation just like people often do disregarding the truth and claiming the truth to be just an opinion.
@@drganesh108 They are each great pens in their own right. The Lamy is significantly less expensive than the others. Of those, the KOP is my personal preference.
I've owned 2 real Mont Blancs (ball points). I like my counterfeit one better. Regardless, Mont Blanc's *ink cartridges* are crap from long experience owning two pens. Recent, I was at the airport and went into a Mont Blanc store. Got to try one of the pens. First cartridge I was allowed to use was leaking. After that we tried another cartridge and it laid ink down like my Mont Blancs. Not as good as a Bic.
nowadays fake montblanc pens are getting better in quality. aliexpress sells these fakes that look way better than the one you bought. price also cost more
Fakes will always be inferior to the real deal though, it's not only about the product. If the fake breaks you will not be able to service it professionally, but a real has supposedly lifetime serviceability with montblanc
+Alex G what's the difference between a real pen and a fake? it's the outer casing of the pen. the fake pen also uses real montblanc refill and it fits perfectly. when you sign a document, after signing, no one can tell whether you're using a fake pen or real one cause th ink is the same.
xuweiwen That is true for rollerball and ballpoints, in which i have no argument for against fakes other than maybe quality and or if people find out they will think less of you for using fakes. For fountain pens however, the nib is drastically different on a fake to a real one.
ebay is sketchy! I would never trust. I personally dont like the pompou6 look of Montblanc pens! It would never be my first quality pen. maybe my 10th after really learning about pens.
Hi. I have a pen that say's Mont Blanc. It's a ballpen (it seems to be a sign pen) and has a white star at the tip of the cap. Are there fake Mont Blanc as well? It's toughest when they price the pen at the same price as the original. Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31
They're good. The fakers should just create their own name and brand if they're good enough (like Jinhao), same with LV fakers (not sure if my LV is genuine super mini suitcase type, it's vintage).
I bought 12 fakes from Sofia Market Bulgaria...which were supposed to be real including swastika German markings silver casings etc, no mont blanc nibs but very pretty £1200 so i got stuffed. I wish they were real but al look old old
Oh man... You actually got a bad fake. You were ripped off. You should be able to get a lot better for that money. You could say you got a fake fake. The converter is scandalous.
