Parker Sonnet, real or Fake

[Paul-H]

Hi Guys

One of my pens is a Parker Sonnet and after reading that there are quite a few fake sonnets out there I got wondering about mine, with doubt setting in as it is not the smoothest of writers even though the nib shows no sign of damage or miss alignment, and the couple of Baoer 388 pens which are close copies of the Sonnet actually write better than the Sonnet.

With my Parker it says Parker Sonnet France N on the cap but on the Nib it only says Parker and every bit of searching on the subject show proper Parker Nibs having the Parker Logo also on the nib and Fakes often have the wrong Logo.

Does mine sound like its a copy or did Parker France not put the Logo on their Nibs.

Thanks for any help with this

Paul

[Heliotrope]

I don't know a lot about fake Sonnets, but here's an article about it.

http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Parker...nnetClones.htm

Hope this helps.

[gylo]

Those fakes look pretty good so only a side by side comparison would help.

why don't you buy a replacement Parker nib and away you go!

[Heliotrope]

John Mottishaw sells them at http://www.nibs.com/ModernParkerNibs.htm, with section included, for $98. And he tunes it before he ships it.

Here's another link discussing fake pens: http://captainchang.com/pens/fakes.html#parker

It looks like it can be difficult to tell the difference.

[Paul-H]

Thanks for the replies guys

WOW $98 for a Parker Nib, thats more than a whole new pen would cost from genuine high street dealer over here in the UK my one retails at £75 to £85 or about $110.

Here are some pictures of mine still cant figure out if its fake or not, the big thing for me is the Nib, it just does not look right, but they do have 3 different nibs for their pens just to confuse the issue.

Paul

img034.jpgimg035.jpg

[whych]

The pen is genuine.
The nibs, steel and gold, have had variations in the markings between models.
You should be able to get the date code on the cap and look up the date on:
http://parkercollector.com/codekey.html

[Paul-H]

Thanks for that, puts my mind at ease

The Date code is N which according to the site you linked to i either 1999 or 2009 but as its made in France I suspect its from 2009.

Paul

[whych]

1999 sounds about right.
I think Parker have changed the cap, finish and nib over the years to entice people to buy the latest pen.
Lamy do the same with their Safaris and Al Stars.
Parker's Sonnet steel nibs write pretty much the same as the gold nibs, so unless you really must have a gold nib, it's not going to change the writing experience much.
I haven't ever bought one of the Sonnet clones, but from what I hear, they are a lot heavier than the Sonnet as well as probably not having the date codes and stuff on the pen.

[Heliotrope]

The nibs for sale on nibs.com are 18k gold. That might explain the price difference. I should have specified.

Thanks, whych, for solving the mystery.

[pajaro]

The nib in the picture looks like one of my older gold-plated steel Sonnet nibs. You can buy Sonnet nibs from a French seller on Amazon. I have bought an 18K broad italic from him for $64 shipped, and a rhodium plated 18K fine and a steel medium italic for $88 shipped for both. His stuff is good, but nibs.com will fine tune it, which is added value. I have bought about a dozen Sonnets on ebay, and not found one yet that looks like a fake. I have read the quoted article and others, reviewed pics of real vs. fake, and the used Sonnets I have bought from USA and UK sellers look genuine, with genuine hallmarks on 18K nibs. I haven't bought any from Asia. It might be nice to have a couple of reference fakes, though. I haven't found any, and I am wondering if this issue is exaggerated, the way weather people make every rainstorm look like a budding hurricane.