Tag Archives: #fakemontblancs

Don’t Get Fooled by Fake Montblancs: Metamorphosis

When I first saw the Montblanc Rouge et Noir Metamorphosis pens, I was confused by the fact they featured a spider. I was thinking of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” in which is main character Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to discover he is a cockroach. It took my good friend Tobias to remind me of Ovid’s tale by the same name in Greek Mythology, in which a woman named Arachnae does not give Athena–the goddess of wisdom, war and crafts–enough credit for being as talented a weaver as herself.

This is one of the three authentic versions we know of the Montblanc Rouge et Noir Metamorphosis limited edition pens.

Athena challenges Arachnae to a weaving duel. Arachnae wins with a tapestry showcasing the offensive behavior of the gods, which sends Athena into a rage. Athena shreds the offending tapestry and turns Arachnae into a spider and eternal weaver. Hence our modern scientific term for spiders being arachnids.

The modern, limited Montblanc pens are truly stunning pens that pay tribute to that story as well as some early designs of Montblanc pens in the 1920s. Unsurprisingly, fakers jumped on that design just as quickly as a spider jumps on a fly in its web.

This is a very convincing replica of Montblanc Rouge et Noir Metamorphosis pen on the surface, but a closer look reveals its flaws.

From a cursory look, both the genuine article and the fake look very similar. We do not have the sterling silver spider web version of the original to show, but we do have the fake. Montblanc made a plain black version like the one we have, a plain orange version and a black with silver spider web version. To the best of our knowledge, Montblanc DID NOT make an orange spider web version. Furthermore, the original silver web is more like a filigree. You can tell on the fake that the orange is painted on to the steel pen with a raised webbing.

The fake version of the MB pen has the same spider logo, but it is a little less defined, as it is a copy from a casting.

The actual spider logo on the fake is very convincing, but when you look closely at it, you can see by its slight lack of detail that it is made from a casting of the original.

Our authentic fountain pen has two other features that the fake version in fountain pen often do not have. The authentic pens have a spider etched into the nib, while the fakes with a steel nib often have a more traditional “4810” nib design. Also, the real FP has a piston filler, not a converter, as many of the fakes do.

Many of the real Montblanc editions, but not all, also have ruby eyes in the spider.

With any luck, these pointers will help keep you out of some fraudster’s web of overpriced fake Montblanc pens.

Authentic Montblanc Metamorphosis pens have a spider on their nib.

Fake Mont Blanc Pens Part IV

Some days you just never know what you will find. Someone reached out to me with a collection for sale, and they told me the original owner was an avid Montblanc collector. Naturally, I was curious to see it. It didn’t take long to assess that this person had a huge collection of fakes. Sadly, they probably didn’t even know they had fake pens. Then again, maybe that was a good thing, as they were very happy with their collection until the day they passed.

This first batch of fake Mont Blanc pens has some really convincing models.

The fascinating thing to me was how some pens were extremely convincing, others were pretty obvious and some invented designs looked better than actual Montblanc pens! It was quite an education that I hope to share here.

In this first photo is a recreation of the Mont Blanc Writers’ Series William Faulkner. It (the bottom pen) looks very convincing…even better than the real thing, as the real pen’s color is a Spanish moss green-grey, and this knock-off pen is a cinnamon brown. The white pen behind it looks just like a Montblanc Tribute to Montblanc ballpoint. Only the real one has the exact same trim in a platinum plate not gold plate. Otherwise the serial number, Pix, small details were all identical. The red pen behind it looks just like some of the special edition MB pens that looked like the original safety fillers. However, the modern MB tribute pens were never made in red. I actually kinda like the red more than the official versions. The golden one in the back will look convincing to a novice, but on really close inspection the black cap bands were poorly painted on, and the black tail isn’t something an actual MB would have.

This second selection of false Montblanc pens shows is a little less convincing.

This second photo of fakes is also interesting. One of the things Montblanc does is make special or limited runs of slight alterations to its primary “Classique” design. Clever scammers can play on that variety by making their own unique version. Yet, with any experience with Montblanc pens and a little help from a search engine online will quickly reveal designs such as these four to be fake.

I don’t know the technical way to say this but the cap wring on the bottom pen is just worn wrong. The gold plating doesn’t wear like that on heavily used Montblancs. Plus, all of these pens have black bands around the cap bands when the pens are not black. Real Montblancs would have the black lines above show as the same color as the rest of the cap and/or remain gold. The bottom two pens might not show it in the photo, but their color and finish is far too cheaply made to be a real Montblanc. Also, not visible in the photo, some of the 6-point mountain top logos/stars are either rubbing off or poorly painted or unevenly inset into the caps. The black tails on two of the pens are another indicator they are fake.

These final two pens are much more egregiously impersonating Mont Blanc.

These final pens stretch the boundaries of faking Montblanc. The closer pen looks like it could be a pen from the 1970s, but MB never had a model quite like that…and it didn’t fit Montblanc refills. The distant pen has the outline, shape and clip of a Montblanc, but it doesn’t have the logo. Maybe technically it isn’t a fake Montblanc, but in all other ways it tries to look like Mont Blanc.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest segment looking into the wonderful world of fake Montblanc pens. With any luck, it helps you avoid the pitfalls of the stunningly large market of counterfeit pens.

How Do I Start Collecting Pens: Fake Montblanc Serial Numbers

This is one of the most convincing fake Montblanc fountain pens we have ever seen.

After 14 years in the pen business, I have just encountered one the very best fake Montblanc pens I’ve ever seen. It came with a collection of vintage pens for appraisal. I had been told it was a Montblanc rollerball, and it looks very much like a Montblanc Classique. The appraisal customer told me it was a LeGrand.

A quick inspection showed it had a serial number in the clip band, Pix written under the clip, perfect cap band nomenclature. It came with a convincing box and set of papers!

My first clue something was wrong came when I tried taking off the cap. A true Classique has a slip cap. This cap was threaded…and LeGrands are supposed to be threaded…though this pen was too skinny to be a LeGrand. Open the pen, and it took an authentic Montblanc rollerball refill. But, inside the barrel was a metal threaded space when there are no metal threads in an authentic MB Classique. There was so much right and wrong with the pen.

That’s when my brilliant fiancée recommended searching the number on the clip band.

EN1340798 is one of the most frequently used serial numbers on fake Mont Blanc pens.

Lo and behold, this pen turned out to have one of the most faked numbers for faux Montblanc pens: EN1340798. Research quickly showed it on fountain pens, rollerballs and ballpoints.

In a security fail for the actual Montblanc company, they don’t track their serial numbers. As such, many, if not most, MB serial numbers are not assigned to a pen owner or provenance of any kind. Montblanc has even acknowledged that sometimes it reuses serial numbers! Ironically, this makes the very security measures the company uses to authenticate its pens that much less secure.

In an effort to help separate the real pens from the fakes, please write in the comments section any other serial numbers you know to be fake. Thanks!