A large proportion of the fakes offered on auction platforms come from cheap mass production and can be identified from small details alone. The cap rings are a reliable giveaway: on these pens the rings often show one or two notches, or a visible joint where the ring has not been closed cleanly. That is never the case on an original, where the rings are worked evenly all the way round, cleanly engraved and set into the body without a step. Add to that imprints that are usually struck untidily, a star sitting crooked or off-centre, too little weight overall, and cheap-looking fittings, often too yellow in tone.
Fakes of this sort are produced for about a euro in the country of manufacture and resold in Europe at the prices of genuine pens. Anyone assessing an offer should ask for sharp close-ups of the cap ring, the clip mounting, the star, the nib and the imprint; if extra pictures are refused, or only catalogue photographs are shown, caution is called for. With the more elaborate fakes, though, these quick checks fail, because their details are being improved all the time. The only recourse is then a direct comparison with a pen known to be genuine, or an examination by the manufacturer.