Worried Montblanc 146 may be fake

[VEDG91]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum and fountain pens but I thought this was the place to go. 

 

I purchased a 146 from a local well respected shop. They've been in business for over 50 years with great reviews. Not an AD or anything. When I went in around Black Friday, they had a 146 that I looked at. I was a bit hesitant and the assistant offered me a Black Friday price of another 30% off. Meaning I got the 146 for £200. Wasn't a red flag to me as the shop is trusted, and it was established as not being a new pen with some documentation missing.

 

I'v been writing with the pen since and enjoying it, trying inks etc. My enthusiasm led me to watching some youtube videos. I never thought my pen could be fake until I came across a video from Figboot on pens. He seems like a well trusted, decent guy. So why do I suddenly think it's fake:

 

1) The underside of the clip says 'Made in Germany Metal'. The fake in Dave's video has Made in Germany on the underside and his real ones have 'Fix'

2) The writing on my nib seems a little off compared to photos I've looked at of other nibs. The Au and the S something D.

3) The quality of the engraving of the serial number is one I'm just not sure about. I haven't attached pictures of this as I believe generally it's not a good idea to post serial numbers. Happy to send to someone direct or post if I've got this wrong.

Now the shop in question are decent people, and not pen experts. If this is a fake, I don't believe they knowingly sold it to me. I also paid with my credit card so I'm sure I'd be fine either way. I'd just like an idea of whether I'm worrying for nothing or if my concerns are legitimate. Attached a few pictures to help. Apologies, photography isn't my strong suit, let alone macro work. 

Appreciate any help

t sure of -

[sebastel23]

so far, it looks good to me.

 

by the way, "Made in Germany  --- METAL" is also on mine (both 146 and 147).

 

enjoy it!

cheers,

sebastian

[Michael R.]

everything just fine

 

enjoy your Montblanc!

[VEDG91]

2 hours ago, sebastel23 said:

so far, it looks good to me.

 

by the way, "Made in Germany  --- METAL" is also on mine (both 146 and 147).

 

enjoy it!

cheers,

sebastian

 

1 hour ago, Michael R. said:

everything just fine

 

enjoy your Montblanc!

 

Thank you so much guys! Much appreciated. I guess there's a lot of variation in these things

[Paul-in-SF]

A lot of things you might find on a 146, like the engraving under the clip, depend on the date of manufacture. For example, Pix on the underside of the clip started in 1997, replacing Made in Germany which started in 1991. If you check out the "sticky" or pinned topics at the top of the Montblanc forum, you will see one about dating your 146, and in the first post you will find a link to a spreadsheet with a lot of that information (not the visible spreadsheet which is not updated, click on the link underneath it). 

 

Bear in mind some of these things can change, especially in an older pen, if it has been repaired or otherwise tinkered with. Nibs, clips, even parts of the body may have been changed from when they were originally sold. 

[PAKMAN]

Looks like the real deal to me also. Does it have an ink window and is it a piston filler? If so that would also point to it being the authentic.

[VEDG91]

45 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

A lot of things you might find on a 146, like the engraving under the clip, depend on the date of manufacture. For example, Pix on the underside of the clip started in 1997, replacing Made in Germany which started in 1991. If you check out the "sticky" or pinned topics at the top of the Montblanc forum, you will see one about dating your 146, and in the first post you will find a link to a spreadsheet with a lot of that information (not the visible spreadsheet which is not updated, click on the link underneath it). 

 

Bear in mind some of these things can change, especially in an older pen, if it has been repaired or otherwise tinkered with. Nibs, clips, even parts of the body may have been changed from when they were originally sold. 

 

Thank you. Definitely interested in dating it.

 

39 minutes ago, PAKMAN said:

Looks like the real deal to me also. Does it have an ink window and is it a piston filler? If so that would also point to it being the authentic.

 

It has an ink window with bars essentially. Not very useful if I'm being honest. Yup, piston filler. Thank you for your response!

[como]

The tip of the nib looks too good of a precision cut to be fake. If the nib is real, chances are pretty good that the rest is real too, because, why bother.

[Paul-in-SF]

I am curious about that "S10D" (or whatever it is supposed to be) on the nib, where I would expect to see 14K. I haven't run across that before. Is that something that Montblanc did in certain cases?

[Dione]

21 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I am curious about that "S10D" (or whatever it is supposed to be) on the nib, where I would expect to see 14K. I haven't run across that before. Is that something that Montblanc did in certain cases?

StOD is a gold mark that was added when they changed to marking nibs as Au585 or 750 rather than 14 or 18k. There are other threads about it.

Enough proof that this is an authentic and very modern pen.

[Paul-in-SF]

Thanks for the lead to what was kind of a rabbit hole. What I tentatively learned by digging through various old threads from 2013, which seems to be when this started, is that StOD is a Montblanc specific hallmark for precious metals, or maybe only gold, or maybe only 18K gold. 

 

A lot of the information is very confusing as to what stamp started when, and I'm not enough of a Montblanc scholar to tease out the facts. This is enough for me. 

[Dione]

It would appear it's specifically a registered Montblanc precious metal mark but definitely not only for 18K gold since that mark is clearly on OP's 146/Le Grand with a 14K nib.

[meiers]

It’s authentic. 

[SpecTP]

that looks like an authentic Montblanc platinum legrand.

 

https://www.montblanc.com/en-us/fountain-pens_cod22527730565448160.html