Fake Pelikans...

[stevekolt]

I see a lot of threads about fake Mont Blanc pens...does Pelikan suffer from the same issues?

[Bluey]

Pelikan hasn't yet made it to "high end" prices but they are hoping to head in that direction with their prices continually being pushed skywards for the same product. So maybe when they reach their hoped for destination they will be faked more, or maybe they never will be considered worthy by collectors/fakers.

I've not heard of any fakes in existence.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Bluey

[KellyMcJ]

I don't think Pelikan is seen as a "Status Symbol Pen" so much as Montblanc (at least it isn't in the states) meaning the only people buying Pelikans are pen enthusiasts and Pelikan has a smaller market share than Montblanc. Pen enthusiasts are lot harder to fool than the guy who carries an uninked Monblanc in his pocket to impress people and there aren't enough of them to make it worth their while. Especially as Pelikans are somewhat harder to fake I imagine than a plain black body Montblanc. (Heck, Status Symbol Uninked Pen Guy might even WANT a fake MB since he's never going to use it and a casual glance will fool the people he's carrying an uninked pen in his pocket for. For a lot cheaper too!)

 

That's my take on it anyway.

[pajaro]

If the Chinese fake Parker Sonnets, why would they refrain from faking Pelikans?

[KCat]

I guess "high end prices" remains relative. An M600 at $350 is too much for my wallet these days considering I payed $190 for my Places series pen. Still, I agree that Pels are not considered status symbols like Mont Blanc and for all the reasons KellyMcJ said, fake MB's make sense. Fake Pels would just look like pretty, but mostly unrecognizable pens to the average American for sure. No one really notices my pens in public. Pels, VPs, Sailors. Works great for me. The only one ever noticed was a Waterman Phileas. Big, bulky, and a big gaudy.

[KCat]

Fair point. However, Parker is a big brand here in the US. Pelikan is not. You won't find Pelikan ballpoints at the checkout stand.

 

If the Chinese fake Parker Sonnets, why would they refrain from faking Pelikans?

Edited August 8, 2017 by KCat

[Bluey]

I didn't hear about Pelikans until I read this forum. Parker I even knew about when I was a kid, along with Sheaffer. I hadn't heard about Montblanc then, and not until many years later as some "snobby brand", but before I came here. Pelikan is more of a German only brand that's only known inside German and within the FP community. Parker and Sheaffer are/were global brands.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Bluey

[Bo Bo Olson]

The Chinese are now making piston pens. The Chinese factories according to rumor, make fake cartridge instead of piston MB's after work at the main Chinese pen factories................so how long can it be before 'worker' powered piston MB and Pelikan pens...with cheap nibs are to be had for $15-20?

[sargetalon]

Not sure the reason for it but I've yet to run into a fake Pelikan pen and I monitor the secondary markets very closely. I guess there must not be a perception of it being lucrative or I'm sure somebody would go to the trouble. I kind of like the status quo. One less thing to worry about.

[invisuu]

I didn't hear about Pelikans until I read this forum. Parker I even knew about when I was a kid, along with Sheaffer. I hadn't heard about Montblanc then, and not until many years later as some "snobby brand", but before I came here. Pelikan is more of a German only brand that's only known inside German and within the FP community. Parker and Sheaffer are/were global brands.

Pelikan is a very well established brand here and one of the few I had growing up - and we're certainly not Germany. Well, we're trying and want to be, but we're not.

 

I'd even say Pelikan is more recognizable than Montblanc here.

Edited August 8, 2017 by invisuu

[Nyanzilla]

I have seen fake Lamy Safaris. So not only high-priced pens are counterfeit.

There are a lot of mid-priced Japanese pens that are copied by the Chinese. But I've never seen a fake Pelikan or a pen that looks very similar.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Nyanzilla

[inkstainedruth]

I have what is probably a fake Hero 616 -- and that's a less expensive pen in the US than a Safari is. So, I suppose that there could be fake Pelikans out there. But the first few I bought were older/semi-vintage models, and I suspect that it's more likely that new pens would be faked, rather than older ones.

I guess the answer would be to buy from a reputable dealer.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[chromantic]

I dunno. The Chinese are great at making C/C pens so I could see maybe a fake P200 but standard piston Pelikans are pretty sophisticated (compared to a C/C) and, while I don't doubt they could do it, making a fake that's so good it could reasonably pass for real just doesn't seem like it would be cost effective enough for anyone to bother.

[inkstainedruth]

I dunno. The Chinese are great at making C/C pens so I could see maybe a fake P200 but standard piston Pelikans are pretty sophisticated (compared to a C/C) and, while I don't doubt they could do it, making a fake that's so good it could reasonably pass for real just doesn't seem like it would be cost effective enough for anyone to bother.

 

But aren't some MB pens piston fillers?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

The converters in C/C pens are mainly piston converters. All the fakers need to do is scale it up.

[ian1964]

I rarely meet anyone who has heard of Pelikans but everyone has heard of Parker and Montblanc. Many have also heard of the Lamy Safari. As for Hero and Jinhao, many millions of Chinese are very familiar with these brands. There is no point faking something that attracts little interest from those who are happy to buy counterfeit goods.

[Erik Dalton]

If the Chinese fake Parker Sonnets, why would they refrain from faking Pelikans?

Well said. I don't think anything is safe from Chinese Fakes, but so far we haven't seen any Pelikans being faked. I find myself cautious when buying anything from Asia these days with the exception of Japan.

[pajaro]

Pelikan might not have the type of cachet that makes Montblanc attractive to the status conscious.

[ian1964]

but so far we haven't seen any Pelikans being faked.

Not that you know of anyway

[grainweevil]

I dunno. The Chinese are great at making C/C pens so I could see maybe a fake P200 but standard piston Pelikans are pretty sophisticated (compared to a C/C) and, while I don't doubt they could do it, making a fake that's so good it could reasonably pass for real just doesn't seem like it would be cost effective enough for anyone to bother.

 

There's been a rash of Chinese piston fillers coming onto the market recently; good ones. So we can probably assume that it's got a lost more cost effective. And that there's a demand for them.

 

While I agree Pelikan maybe doesn't have the high profile of MB or Parker, it's sufficiently recognisable that several Indian manufacturers have produced extremely Pelikan-esque models before now. Throw in the ever-increasing prices of the real thing, and frankly, why wouldn't you make Pelikan lookalikes? Got to be lots of people who would like the appearance but can't afford them, or want a wider range of colours. Now whether it's worth making actual counterfeits, maybe not. Hopefully not. But if you make an affordable lookalike, that may generate a larger market who become aware of Pelikan and start looking for the real thing, and that in turn could make "genuine fakes" suddenly worth doing. Who'd have thought anyone would think it worth producing fake Safaris? But they have. What came first? As far as I recall, knock-offs by other brands.