As many people know, family, friends and work colleagues. I have something of a fascination with pens and in particular, pens of quality. I have a small collection of Mont Blanc pens, mainly fountain pens but a few are of the roller-ball variety. I also own a few Parker pens of above average quality and most of those are fountain pens.
My collection of both brands has a tendency to ebb and flow. It increases in number and then I sell a pen, perhaps two. As with my ever growing private library, the money gained is frequently fed back into the collection. There is certainly no financial profit in either hobby but there is a great sense of enjoyment in collecting. I derive pleasure from both.
My favourite brand of pen is without doubt, the Mont Blanc. There is something highly appealing in the quality, the design and I dare say, the expense. This is not to suggest that I dislike other brands in any particular way, least of all Parker. I merely have a preferential inclination, it is a matter of taste. I do have other brands in my pen collection, such as Pelikan but Mont Blanc is the cream. I do admit to disliking in general, ballpoint pens. I much prefer the flow of the roller-ball and the fountain pen.
I use my pens. Not all of them. Some are stored away as part of the collection but many are in use, even the expensive ones. I derive pleasure from writing with a good pen and I own a selection of leather, refillable notebook covers. These I take with me to events, whether it is a lecture, a concert or similar. I use them in conjunction to take notes, in preparation for future blogs, articles and suchlike.
The Parker is a more durable pen when compared to the Mont Blanc. The latter being somewhat more delicate and refined, in general. I particularly like pens with a metal body, as they can withstand being dropped (horror) and I do use my pens at work.
A quality pen is frequently referred to as a writing implement or instrument. They are not simply a pen. Very often rather than taking a pen with you when leaving the house, we will choose one to wear. They are like jewellery. They are an accessory, as are my notebooks and I am pretentious by nature. I make no apology for that.
In June of 2022 I came across a rather over-decorated Mont Blanc fountain pen on Ebay and I decided to place a bid. I did not expect to win. The instrument was a limited edition piece commemorating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I. I was expecting the pen to sell for a few hundred and therefore be well beyond my meagre means. To my surprise I won the pen with a bid of £165.
When it arrived my first thought was how impressively heavy the piece was, some Mont Blanc pens are and some are quite chunky. My second thought was more of a question. I was surprised to have won the pen, it should have sold for £500 plus. I decided to take a closer look, as the engraving did not look quite correct and it felt ‘rough’ to the touch.
Out came the magnifying glass and up came the Mont Blanc catalogue on my laptop screen. I found a serial number, good. I found pictures of the model in the catalogue, with a price listed in the thousands. The clip was off set and that is unusual. A luxury brand like Mont Blanc do not generally permit ‘seconds’ to leave the factory, they strive for perfection.
I had a closer look at the nib. Silver, engraved with the correct numbers and the famous star. The catalogue lists the nib as gold and set with a royal crown. The finish was indeed a little rough, the engraving on the body was not correct and the pen did not feel smooth in the hand. I had a fake, I could feel the edge of the join on the cap, which on a genuine piece is much smoother and less pronounced. It was a fake and of that I had no doubt. It was a very good fake and would fool many. I have been fooled in the past and lost money because of it. One learns by one’s mistakes.
What I had was possibly a hybrid, where a true Mont Blanc nib and mechanism had been fitted to a fake body. Not unheard of but not common. A nib can be copied. I give credit to the maker for their attempt at detail. They had even gone so far as to include an ink piston but again it was the quality of the Mont Blanc stamp that let them down.
As a result of this and feeling somewhat annoyed at being fooled once again, I contacted the seller and Ebay. I wanted to return the pen and get a refund. I also left negative feedback and a review, stating that the pen was a fake. Within a day or two, I had an email from the vendor. I was offered a partial refund of £100 and I get to keep the pen.
The days passed and the money was not forthcoming, so I contacted Ebay a second time. They investigated and discovered that the vendor had made no attempt to refund my money. Ebay therefore found in my favour and I was informed that the agreed refund would be transferred in a matter of days. The very next day I had £100 credited to my bank account. The vendor had failed to honour an agreement twice, first he had sold counterfeit goods and secondly, he had failed to refund the money.
The vendor has now been removed from Ebay and I still have the pen. It is a good pen. A surprisingly good copy, with a working nib and piston. It is worth the £65 but it was not worth the £165. True enough that it has no resale value but it is a good enough pen for occasional use.
Although I was suspicious of the motives of the vendor and I did think it likely he knew the pen was a fake, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. His mistake (actually he made several) was not sending the refund. If he had done that, I would have been happy and not pursued the report with Ebay. When he failed to honour that agreement, it was then that I knew for certain he was a crook.
As a friend of mine has pointed out, the vendor was foolish. We could even say quite stupid. The partial refund in the words of my friend, would have ‘shut me up’ and he (we assume he) could have carried on selling fake pens. The majority of people buying the pens via Ebay would have been less inquisitive than I but now, he must set up a new account. Clearly the vendor assumed that I could be placated by the offer of a refund but that I would not actually follow it up. That was another of his (many) mistakes.
On reflection, obviously I should be more careful and that goes without saying. I have however, learnt something else. I have learnt that can spot a counterfeit and that is something I would not have been able to do, five or perhaps ten years ago. That is a positive. I have also learnt that Ebay does listen to its customers and because of that, my opinion of Ebay is much higher than it once was.
Daniel Bran Griffith - The Chattering Magpie 
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