On many Montblanc pens of those years the model number appears nowhere at all; it was primarily an internal order number and is stamped into the cap ring on only some of the models. Identification from a verbal description alone therefore rarely succeeds. What does work is comparison with pictures: length and diameter, the shape of the cap, the form of the clip, the colour of the fittings, the filling system — cartridge pen, piston filler or push-button filler — and the execution of the nib together give a picture that can be matched to a model range. For the models of the 1970s and 1980s the collectors' literature, above all the standard work “Collectible Stars”, offers an almost complete survey; without a reference of that kind one gets nowhere. A visit to a collectors' meeting or fair also helps, since a pen can there be compared directly with known examples.
In placing a pen it is worth remembering that until the early 1990s Montblanc served the whole market, from the plain school pen up to the Meisterstück, and only afterwards concentrated on the upper end. Many pens of that period are well made yet fetch low collector's prices, so that a restoration often does not pay for itself. There are no spares stocks for models decades old; in case of doubt a donor pen has to be stripped. Where a nib leaks or no longer starts, a thorough flush with water is worth trying before any thought of repair.