Parker Sonnet 18K Nib And Feed Misaligned

[mitto]

Market traditions and trade culture vary from place to place. We live in a country where you can buy stuff in Super Stores and Malls in posh commercial areas of tye metropolises for inflated prices and can buy the same stuff for bargain prices if you have the guts to venture into the congested inner city Bazars that cater to the needs of average vage earners. And as you say the markets here are not so elaborate.

[torstar]

Thank you folks, that was very informative and I really appreciate it. Thanks especially to mitto for the photos, and pajaro and hood for the details and reassuring. This is the kind of information I couldn't find anywhere else on the web.

 

BTW, @mitto, where do you buy Sonnets for such cheap prices?

 

yeah, a $300 pen for $6, must be dozens of chances to pick low-hanging fruit like that...

 

LOL

[pajaro]

 

yeah, a $300 pen for $6, must be dozens of chances to pick low-hanging fruit like that...

 

LOL

It might be a case to check to be sure it's genuine. I haven't been to that part of the world, so I don't know the frame of reference. I wondered, though. Ebay has some low priced secondhand offerings, but nothing like that, except from China.

[mitto]

Not so, pajaro. To this day I haven't seen Chinese fake Pens here. Even the famous Chinese brand pens like Jinhao and kigelu are almost non-existent in the local markets.

 

Why are vintage pens (Parker, Sheaffer, Cross and Japanese Pilot and Platinum included) relatively cheap in this part of the world. Consider this. No ebay, no paypal. Shipping charges to Europe/US exorbitantly high. Almost $75.00 for a parcel upto 0.5 kg. Hence, local seller have no outlet to sell their goods to foreign buyers. And this disadvantage of the sellers turns into advantage of buyers like your truly. Lol.

 

Plus, the markets are flooded with vintage pens and other antique items reaching , through smuggling, from Afghanistan and, possibly, Iran through the almost unctrolable north-western borders where the security fores are fighting the firmly entrenched terrorists. Note that Afghanistan is a land locked country whose trade routes are only through Pakistan and since it is suffering from decades of war there are no internal trade activities there. And Iran was until recently under sanctions.

And here comes the demand and supply equation into play that ultimately determines the prices.

[pajaro]

Thanks for the explanation. High shipping costs suppress globalization. I guess it we practiced that here it would keep all the cheap junk out of here and Sonnets would cost $300? For a pen maybe worth $30. Most of the expensive varieties are hideous as far as I am concerned.

[torstar]

 

yeah, a $300 pen for $6, must be dozens of chances to pick low-hanging fruit like that...

 

LOL

 

Maybe I should look harder, maybe find some MB 149s out there for $20 by the dozens.

[mitto]

Maybe I should look harder, maybe find some MB 149s out there for $20 by the dozens.

Nice dreaming. Lol.

[shea2812]

Found stuffs here too. Not as many as there are in Pak. Got a rolled gold Parker arrow for a little over USD 10 equivalent in local currency. Works perfect after all the gunks were cleaned off. Passed that on to a friend's kid that had had a taste of Daiso FP that I gave much earlier. Been informed by the parent that the kid is now a FP user. A good start I suppose.

 

I am not seeing more though. Our borders are not as porous and handwriting had died long ago! Sad.