The Bohème copy is well made; a layman will hardly notice the difference, and the decisive features are not visible in a seller's auction photographs. Placed alongside an original, however, the fake can be identified with certainty.
Taking the pen apart, the first thing you notice is that the copy has a coil spring on the refill, which the original does not. The cap star has rounded points on the original and angular ones on the copy. On the original the logo finishes cleanly against the metal part, while on the copy it clearly overhangs.
On the ring bearing the Bohème lettering, the lettering of the copy is hatched, and the middle ring is noticeably wider in relation to the two outer ones.
The most conspicuous feature is the gemstone: on the original it has a rounded cut, on the copy a straight, plain, flat one. In side profile the difference is impossible to miss. And as with most Montblanc fakes, the clip of the copy is made from bent sheet metal.
Anyone who still wants to buy a Bohème at auction should ask for close-up photographs of precisely these points — a trustworthy seller posts such pictures anyway.
