Nomenclature

Grading (commencing in the 1980s, in ascending order):
CC, CB, CA, BC, BB, BA, AC, AB, AA, C, B, A, A0, A1, A2 etc.

Era-specific markings:

1972 – 1975
two white spots on the side of the stem; shank stamp: ‘BARBI'

1975 – 1981
Stem stamp ‘RBarbi' in gold; shank stamp: ‘styled by barbi'

From 1981
Relief ‘RB' logo on the stem; oval shank stamp: ‘r.barbi handarbeit'

Date codes:

From around 1987 - 1992
two to three digit date stamp, e.g. ‘78' = July, 1988

From around 1992 - 1997
4 character alphabetic stamp for the production date (month and year), details are currently not available

From 1997

Fixed alphabetic codes for the production date. The month codes are in descending order from z to m, with ‘z' standing for January and ‘m' for December: Z,Y,X,W,V,U,T,S,R,P,N,M. The year codes are in ascending order from A (for 1997), B (1998) etc.