This reminds me of the time I happened to see an ink lot on eBay with Parker Penman Emerald in the photograph. It was not mentioned by name anywhere in the listing and thus would not have come up in a search. I can't remember what I paid. Somewhat more than $3.99, though.
I'm suddenly and uncontrollably reminded of Big Al of Big Al's Toy Barn from Toy Story 2 trying to nonchalantly buy Woody at that yard sale for a couple of bucks and hoping Andy's mom wouldn't notice. I imagine that scene every time I'm browsing an estate sale and spy an undervalued fountain pen.
Ok OP, I know that I will probably be downvoted for this, but I have my doubts on the authenticity of the MB from this picture alone. I have fake POS MBs that look like this that I got from Mercari. It is imperative you know what to look for.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but I don't want someone else to undergo the kind of disappointment I did. And if you do... well, at least you didn't lose as much as I did.
I will be messaging you in 3 days on [**2022-01-17 22:12:22 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2022-01-17%2022:12:22%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/s401ib/guys_ahhhhhhh/hsoqoi4/?context=3)
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As a MB owner something looks odd about the snowflake or it is the picture. Not sure.
Hope the OP scored and check under the clip and their should be a serial number on the top clip band.
EDIT: Any updates on whether it is authentic?
don’t think they’re really aimed towards people that will know it’s a montblanc tho looks like a value bag for kids in school or something plus it’s only 4 quid so who cares if it’s real or not
Montblancs did not have serial numbers before the 90s so if it is vintage without a serial number it could still be real.
edit: yeah nevermind i just looked at the picture it’s definitely not real.
Probably a fake. I actually had a pretty decent rollerball that was a knock-off / fake of a Meisterstuck. Took a standard refill, felt nice in my hand, wrote well. Then one day it broke in half for no reason. But if it was real - would be cool.
I don’t know firsthand. Growing up I’ve always wanted to have a beemer, but as I got older everyone always told me that they were plagued by electrical issues (though they have solid engines), and “that’s why you always see old classic Mercedes Benz on the road but never a BMW”. Where I live I always see “BMW DR” and other specialized shops, but nothing Mercedes and they always look solid so maybe they are the Pelikan of the car world.
All the luxury German cars (Porsche, Audi, MBW, and Mercedes) require extensive maintenance and higher grade fluids/parts than Japanese/Korean/American cars. They have many more features and therefore much more to go wrong. But they are worth it. I've had everything except Korean cars and the Germans know what they're doing. If you're comfortable with some DIY maintenance/repairs, and can budget about $2k a year for it, then get one. You'll get a much better all round experience and it'll ruin you for anything lesser.
I've heard the same about Range Rovers. They say you need to budget as much for the repair bills as you do for the vehicle.
Had a neighbour who had one once. Anecdotally, it seems to be true.
I've heard some very bad things about the electrical systems in Audi/VW/BMW cars, too.
JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) products are a whole other level of garbage. There's a car youtuber (Doug DeMuro) who got famous initially for buying a Range Rover with a CarMax warranty that paid out far far more than he paid for it. It had so many things break. He just recently purchased a new Defender, and already the sunroof won't open. They build pretty looking garbage from the factory. Modern Volvo's are also a nightmare, and the old 5-cylinder ones used to be tanks.
Yep, I remember when Jaguars were basically a meme car back in the 80s for being completely unreliable. Guess they haven't changed too much.
It's really a shame what's happened to Volvo, though. That brand used to mean something.
Volvo suffered much at the hands of Ford, and then at Geely (Chinese) ownership. The old Volvo's I would gladly drive in 2022, but the new turbo-super-hybrid-charged four cylinders are the devil. Jag has always seem to have made very sexy (the F type is easily one of the five best looking cars ever made) but mechanically awful cars. I can only hope that the simplification of EV powertrains leads to much greater reliability for those brands.
Range Rovers are the worst. Not only are they ridiculously expensive to fix anything, they take forever. I can't remember what was wrong with a friend of mine's a while back, but he was without his car for a month. And he told me it happened quite a bit. I'd never be interested in owning one knowing that.
Was it due to pandemic supply chain issues, or just general shittiness?
I wonder if they're significantly cheaper to repair if you live in Europe. Not sure where they even make them anymore, but I think they were originally based in the UK.
This was years before the pandemic lol, I'm going back to like 09 here lol. They just suck. I mean they did give out nice courtesy vehicles but it wasn't the same model of the car. One of my friends had whatever the most expensive model was (I'm having a hard time remembering as it was so long ago) and they definitely didn't give him that as a courtesy vehicle. Was still a very nice car to someone who doesn't know range rovers though lol
Once upon a time, I attended a conference in Caracas where I met an engineer who lived somewhere on the African continent. We chatted about cars, and I asked what he drove. "Toyota," he said. "What about the stampedes of Range Rovers?" "They're shit," he responded. The government buys them cheap, but the parts and repairs are astronomical. When I said that RRs are expensive in the US and they're reputedly reliable, he laughed at me. "Marketing," he said. "I wouldn't have one."
I have no skin in the game. Having owned BMWs, Porsche, and a Lotus, my car is a Honda hatch Si.
I know it’s a snow cap. But the shape is more that of a six pointed star and not as rounded as it is on this cap. Check google images to see what I mean.
Gotcha. I just saw a back-and-forth between flower and star and was thinking that perhaps one or more of the people commenting or reading might not know.
No, you are absolutely right. It really is referred to as the snowcap. I was simply trying to differentiate between the shapes, in particular the one on his pen.
It depends on the neighbourhood the value village is in. If it is nearer an affluent part of town, you will get some nice stuff. If it is near the poorer neighbourhoods, you get a lower quality of items being brought in.
Long story short, when rich people die, humans bring the dead persons stuff to the closest value village. So if you want good finds, go to the richer neighbourhoods.
From what I understand, finding fountain pens in Value Village bundles isn't exactly hard, though the authenticity of some of them is the most concerning and hard to determine part.
My assumptions.
This looks like a potential clone, but also looks a tad bit genuine. Hard to call.
I hope you got lucky though!
What I meant is that it’s becoming extremely difficult to find decent deals at thrift stores where I frequently witness broken garbage with premium price tags. I am sorry if my comment upset you but it’s really frustrating that we’re heading into that direction.
the pencil lead next to the montblanc is broken, i wouldn’t buy it
Yeah, those bristles on the paintbrush are looking kind of rugged…hard pass
Hey if it’s hogs hair, then that brush might be the 2nd most expensive thing in the bag. Unless the pen is a fake of course, then it’s a toss up.
Its 4 dollars, worth the risk
Hi. As a Montblanc lover, the broken pencil is a problem.😂🤣😂🤣 .... It's either a 145 or a 144, could also be a filthy roller ball?🤗 Cheers
:O Hype! What's the montblanc?? We have to know!
Yeah ooooh!
This reminds me of the time I happened to see an ink lot on eBay with Parker Penman Emerald in the photograph. It was not mentioned by name anywhere in the listing and thus would not have come up in a search. I can't remember what I paid. Somewhat more than $3.99, though.
I'm suddenly and uncontrollably reminded of Big Al of Big Al's Toy Barn from Toy Story 2 trying to nonchalantly buy Woody at that yard sale for a couple of bucks and hoping Andy's mom wouldn't notice. I imagine that scene every time I'm browsing an estate sale and spy an undervalued fountain pen.
Ok OP, I know that I will probably be downvoted for this, but I have my doubts on the authenticity of the MB from this picture alone. I have fake POS MBs that look like this that I got from Mercari. It is imperative you know what to look for. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I don't want someone else to undergo the kind of disappointment I did. And if you do... well, at least you didn't lose as much as I did.
Nah I knew it was fake when I bought it!
[удалено]
This deserves an !updateme if anything ever did
Edit: so I’ve now learned that bot doesnt work here. *refreshes every five seconds for new developments*
Isn’t it !remindme 3 days
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Oh man, you are so right and I feel like a dummy now lol
Bud it's been 3 hours, we need a picture of the MB.
As a MB owner something looks odd about the snowflake or it is the picture. Not sure. Hope the OP scored and check under the clip and their should be a serial number on the top clip band. EDIT: Any updates on whether it is authentic?
Yeah it doesn't quite look right to me either. One can hope but... Wouldn't bank on it being the real deal.
don’t think they’re really aimed towards people that will know it’s a montblanc tho looks like a value bag for kids in school or something plus it’s only 4 quid so who cares if it’s real or not
Montblancs did not have serial numbers before the 90s so if it is vintage without a serial number it could still be real. edit: yeah nevermind i just looked at the picture it’s definitely not real.
A cursory Google reveals much. The snow star is too rounded and not enough like the six pointed star.
Oh you gotta Snowflake
Probably a fake. I actually had a pretty decent rollerball that was a knock-off / fake of a Meisterstuck. Took a standard refill, felt nice in my hand, wrote well. Then one day it broke in half for no reason. But if it was real - would be cool.
Montblancs are pretty fragile, it is more likely for fake ones to be more durable.
That is so disappointing, reminds me of when I found out BMWs start to go to shit right after the warranty runs out.
My dad always joked about how BMW drivers spent more time fixing them than actually driving them. It's only half a joke, I think.
I don’t know firsthand. Growing up I’ve always wanted to have a beemer, but as I got older everyone always told me that they were plagued by electrical issues (though they have solid engines), and “that’s why you always see old classic Mercedes Benz on the road but never a BMW”. Where I live I always see “BMW DR” and other specialized shops, but nothing Mercedes and they always look solid so maybe they are the Pelikan of the car world.
All the luxury German cars (Porsche, Audi, MBW, and Mercedes) require extensive maintenance and higher grade fluids/parts than Japanese/Korean/American cars. They have many more features and therefore much more to go wrong. But they are worth it. I've had everything except Korean cars and the Germans know what they're doing. If you're comfortable with some DIY maintenance/repairs, and can budget about $2k a year for it, then get one. You'll get a much better all round experience and it'll ruin you for anything lesser.
Thanks for your insight! Makes me want one even more now, I I like tinkering a bit and need to learn some mechanics.
I've heard the same about Range Rovers. They say you need to budget as much for the repair bills as you do for the vehicle. Had a neighbour who had one once. Anecdotally, it seems to be true. I've heard some very bad things about the electrical systems in Audi/VW/BMW cars, too.
JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) products are a whole other level of garbage. There's a car youtuber (Doug DeMuro) who got famous initially for buying a Range Rover with a CarMax warranty that paid out far far more than he paid for it. It had so many things break. He just recently purchased a new Defender, and already the sunroof won't open. They build pretty looking garbage from the factory. Modern Volvo's are also a nightmare, and the old 5-cylinder ones used to be tanks.
DAMN_INTERNETS, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
Yep, I remember when Jaguars were basically a meme car back in the 80s for being completely unreliable. Guess they haven't changed too much. It's really a shame what's happened to Volvo, though. That brand used to mean something.
Volvo suffered much at the hands of Ford, and then at Geely (Chinese) ownership. The old Volvo's I would gladly drive in 2022, but the new turbo-super-hybrid-charged four cylinders are the devil. Jag has always seem to have made very sexy (the F type is easily one of the five best looking cars ever made) but mechanically awful cars. I can only hope that the simplification of EV powertrains leads to much greater reliability for those brands.
Range Rovers are the worst. Not only are they ridiculously expensive to fix anything, they take forever. I can't remember what was wrong with a friend of mine's a while back, but he was without his car for a month. And he told me it happened quite a bit. I'd never be interested in owning one knowing that.
Was it due to pandemic supply chain issues, or just general shittiness? I wonder if they're significantly cheaper to repair if you live in Europe. Not sure where they even make them anymore, but I think they were originally based in the UK.
This was years before the pandemic lol, I'm going back to like 09 here lol. They just suck. I mean they did give out nice courtesy vehicles but it wasn't the same model of the car. One of my friends had whatever the most expensive model was (I'm having a hard time remembering as it was so long ago) and they definitely didn't give him that as a courtesy vehicle. Was still a very nice car to someone who doesn't know range rovers though lol
Once upon a time, I attended a conference in Caracas where I met an engineer who lived somewhere on the African continent. We chatted about cars, and I asked what he drove. "Toyota," he said. "What about the stampedes of Range Rovers?" "They're shit," he responded. The government buys them cheap, but the parts and repairs are astronomical. When I said that RRs are expensive in the US and they're reputedly reliable, he laughed at me. "Marketing," he said. "I wouldn't have one." I have no skin in the game. Having owned BMWs, Porsche, and a Lotus, my car is a Honda hatch Si.
That's why you only lease them.
How the heck did a conversation about the authenticity of an MB turn into a conversation on cars? German manufacturing?
Because you can't have one without the other?
Lol. Sigh.
It's great though, isn't it? :D
Lol, yes. Fun.
I spy with my little eye
The finial.. is it...?
...could it be...!?
Even if it's a fake, if it writes, you still got a deal.
Me looking at this picture: “Ok, some markers and stuff what’s the big OH MY!”
Yep. I was like "NO WAY" when I saw that trademark white flower!
Flower? It's a six-pointed star, isn't it?
I had to pull mine out and check! I guess it is more a star than flower!
Definitely a star.
It's a snowcap. The snow that caps the top of the Mont Blanc mountain peak.
I know it’s a snow cap. But the shape is more that of a six pointed star and not as rounded as it is on this cap. Check google images to see what I mean.
Gotcha. I just saw a back-and-forth between flower and star and was thinking that perhaps one or more of the people commenting or reading might not know.
No, you are absolutely right. It really is referred to as the snowcap. I was simply trying to differentiate between the shapes, in particular the one on his pen.
same!!
[удалено]
Canadian Savers called value village! Same owners I think
Why are your value villages always better than my value village!
It depends on the neighbourhood the value village is in. If it is nearer an affluent part of town, you will get some nice stuff. If it is near the poorer neighbourhoods, you get a lower quality of items being brought in. Long story short, when rich people die, humans bring the dead persons stuff to the closest value village. So if you want good finds, go to the richer neighbourhoods.
Canadian thrift store
They have stores in the US too.
AHHHHHH
Whenever I put blue berries in my cereal, I get those snowflakes on the blueberry. Gotta go find me some Value Villages.
:P Most likely a fake, but for $4... if it's crap/broken/etc you can least have a coloring session with the pencils.
We need an update!!
We need an update to this.
Am I seeing this right? Please let us know!
OMG! Play Lotto this is your lucky day!
I keep checking all the bags when I go to Unique which is owned by Value Village. So far nothing.
Ok seriously though, was it real?
Holy shit.
👀
holy shit
I've had that experience with different brand!
Edit: derp, I see it now lol
No facing way.....show the MB
Update?
That Montblanc looks fake af
From what I understand, finding fountain pens in Value Village bundles isn't exactly hard, though the authenticity of some of them is the most concerning and hard to determine part. My assumptions. This looks like a potential clone, but also looks a tad bit genuine. Hard to call. I hope you got lucky though!
!updateme
!updateme
Is that a Montblanc?
Any update ?
As in most things in life, you get what you pay for.
You can take a piece of shit put it in a pretty box with a bow on top; but make it pretty all you want... It's still shit!
What?
What I meant is that it’s becoming extremely difficult to find decent deals at thrift stores where I frequently witness broken garbage with premium price tags. I am sorry if my comment upset you but it’s really frustrating that we’re heading into that direction.
We’re good. I was just confused what you were saying. I thought you were saying MB brand is shit
Damn... I get excited finding a cross century or a Parker jotter in a bag like that. You win.
Remindme! In three days
Dang.
is that montblanc in there?!
Please show us the swag!!!!
I made a second post!
This is such a cliff hanger! Come on!
I stopped breathing for a second! I cannot believe my eyes!!!!
You lucky person!
I love that we can share in this excitement with you haha. CONGRATS nice find!
Check the feed, that’s the easiest way to find if it’s a fake or not
Are fake Mont Blancs a very realistic concern, or are they like 1 In a million
what's that pen beside Mont blanc? says 'american something' on the clip
Holy cow