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Onoto / De la Rue

Good morning everyone, I have a question regarding these pens. On ebay you can find some that mount a Parker nib. Now, why would this be ? Are they legitimate pens or a hack ? I can't get my head around this.
Thank you
Marco
 
Onoto and De la Rue pens have an excellent reputation for quality, construction and nib performance.

If the nibs are damaged it is diffocult to find original replacements whereas Parker nibs are commonplace, IMHO most Parker nibs are inferior to those from Onoto.
 

jar_

Too Fugly For Free.
Yup, and some more history.

When I was growing up just about every good sized city had at least one fountain pen repair (or radio and TV and appliance) shop. Repair of relatively expensive items was the norm. If something was damaged beyond repair parts replacement was quite common and replacement with what was already on hand the norm.

If your fountain pen needed a new nib your local fountain pen hospital would replace it with something that fit or could be made to fit from the big box of assorted branded and unbranded nibs that sat on the shelf.
 
so if it has a Parker nib it can’t be considered an original Onoto so worthless. thank you
 

jar_

Too Fugly For Free.
so if it has a Parker nib it can’t be considered an original Onoto so worthless. thank you
Definitely not worthless. The Onoto filling system was very well designed and the pens themselves generally super reliable. Parker nibs don't have the same character as some Onoto nibs but they certainly are not poor nibs.
 
Hi Jar_ I have a lot pf Parker pens and I like the nibs they have. I believe that if I’m looking for an Onoto I want it with all the Onoto pieces in place and not Frankenstein’s bride :)
 
It may be worthless to you, but it still has value. Bin it if you like, but you're just throwing away money. At the very least, I would pif it to someone who wants a fountain pen, but perhaps can't afford one.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
Since you saw the pen on EBay, I assume you don’t own it. I wouldn’t say it’s worthless, especially if the Parker nib is 14k. It’s just not worth as much as an all-original Onoto and probably not worth it to you. It’d be interesting to see what it does sell for, though. I don’t know what vintage Onotos go for usually, but my understanding is that they are higher end pens.
 
You may be aware that the filling system is special and not every pen repairer is proficient at Onotos. If you are considering buying one then a key question is 'does it fill properly'.
 
this one is a lever filler and the seller says that it works and he replaced the sac. The Parker nib is 14 K. I did not buy it in the end.
 
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