The counterfeits sold in quantity through auction sites since the mid-2000s keep repeating the same handful of features. The box often contains a star made in black rather than white. The nib carries the imprint Iridium Point, a marking Montblanc does not use on its gold nibs. The cap and barrel rings show a visible notch or seam where the original has a cleanly continuous ring. Then there is the item's location: with Montblanc pens, listings located in China or Hong Kong, or shipped from the Far East, always warrant the greatest caution.
These features have stayed unchanged for years, because the copies are evidently turned out in large runs from unchanging tooling. Anyone who pulls up reference photographs of genuine examples of the same model before bidding will spot the great majority of these fakes from the listing photograph alone. A low price is no reliable guide, since the very same pieces are also offered at full retail prices.