Fake Pilot Custom 823?

[penmaster6969]

Hi. I have bought Pilot Custom 823 (F, Smoke) last month, and started to think about its authenticity after reading a post somewhere in Reddit. First is the packaging, it comes within a gray plastic box. What's weird is that the manual included is for Cartridge/Converter pen and there is a cartridge included. Is this normal for a Pilot pen? From a pen this caliber, I expect a better packaging. Although I noticed that retailers can change the box of the pen, for example, my Lamy Al Star came with a "better" darker thick box rather than the "usual" card board one, does the same thing happens with Pilot? Another thing is the nib color. I loaded the pen with Noodler's Brevity Blue and noticed that the nib was not as "gold" as others in the pic, seems more like Rhodium plated. Also, from what I recall, the pen also has quite a lot of silicon grease inside the barrel and the piston is quite stiff at first? Are these normal? TL;DR:

 

1. Comes within a gray plastic box. The manual included is for Cartridge/Converter pen and there is a cartridge included. Is this normal for a Pilot pen?
2. Nib color: not as "gold" as others in the pic, seems more like Rhodium plated.
3. The pen has some residue/silicon grease inside the barrel and the piston is quite stiff at first.

 

This is my first gold-nibbed fountain pen, so I have no idea. But for the smoothiness of the pen. Good lord, it feels like a butter in a hot pan.

[penmaster6969]

Here are some pictures:

 

THE RESIDUE

 

FRONT NIB

 

BACK OF THE NIB

 

WHOLE BODY

 

BODY UNCAPPED

 

SOME VISIBLE INJECTION LINES

[Lithium466]

That looks mostly legit to me.

Box are mostly whatever the retailer had handy, possibly mistake on their end there if you got grey import. For some markets the 823 comes with a Pilot bottle of ink.

[penmaster6969]

19 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

That looks mostly legit to me.

Box are mostly whatever the retailer had handy, possibly mistake on their end there if you got grey import. For some markets the 823 comes with a Pilot bottle of ink.

Thank you very much for confirmation. I'm almost peeing myself on thought that I got a counterfeit of my grail pen lol

[Lithium466]

But does it write well? That's what matters

The silicone spray thing or whatever it is as residue inside the barrel I've seen in some Pilot converters too, but I'm not sure I'm seeing that right.

[penmaster6969]

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

But does it write well? That's what matters

The silicone spray thing or whatever it is as residue inside the barrel I've seen in some Pilot converters too, but I'm not sure I'm seeing that right.

yeah, writes like a dream. there's some feedback in certain strokes, other than that it feels like butter in a hot pan

[markofp]

I'm curious: did you buy it from an authorized dealer? I don't know where you are but a new 823 sold from a Pilot dealer in the US should come in the large padded box with a bottle of Pilot Blue ink. Of course, if you bought it off eBay or a non-retail dealer all bets as to packaging are off. 

[mke]

Did you buy it used?

 

 

[penmaster6969]

3 minutes ago, mke said:

Did you buy it used?

 

 

No. It is new.

[penmaster6969]

5 hours ago, markofp said:

I'm curious: did you buy it from an authorized dealer? I don't know where you are but a new 823 sold from a Pilot dealer in the US should come in the large padded box with a bottle of Pilot Blue ink. Of course, if you bought it off eBay or a non-retail dealer all bets as to packaging are off. 

No. It was not from an authorized dealer. But the retailer is very reputable and has a lot of trustworthy reviews and customer testaments. Besides, his credits and status seems like he doesn't even need to scam (VP of very large company and a full professor at prestigious university here).

[mke]

Actually, I have never heard of a fake Custom 823.

I know that there is an exact clone model from Wingsung (#699). I have one and it is quite good.

 

Does your box look like the Ebay ones?

https://www.google.com/search?q=pilot+823+with+box                 click on view all images

 

Eventually, sellers on Ebay can buy only the pens to lower the cost or they can choose the pen with the simplest available box. I don't know.

[penmaster6969]

1 minute ago, mke said:

Actually, I have never heard of a fake Custom 823.

I know that there is an exact clone model from Wingsung (#699). I have one and it is quite good.

 

Does your box look like the Ebay ones?

https://www.google.com/search?q=pilot+823+with+box                 click on view all images

 

Eventually, sellers on Ebay can buy only the pens to lower the cost or they can choose the pen with the simplest available box. I don't know.

yup. Gray box with the cheap, plastic, black box inside. It came with a cartridge and a manual for c/c pen tho, others also pointed out that it appears like a box for capless/decimo/vanishing point