The Mentmore Regent is a charismatic pen, when I opened the very attractive box it was a "wow" moment as the pen is big.

It is made of acrylic coated brass which gives it a substantial feel, and a fair bit of weight, its a whopping 56 grams. Its heavy enough to feel it but not so heavy it makes your hand ache. I am using it unposted, and I feel using it posted would make it top heavy as a lot of weight is in the cap.

The 14k gold medium nib is extremely smooth, the pen is a pleasure to write with and it has quickly became my favourite pen. I just cant put it down.

It has a piston type converter and also uses international cartridges.

I have a vintage Mentmore which is one of the best writing pens that I own, and I was pleased that the modern Mentmore more than lives up to expectations.

In conclusion, I would recommend this pen, it is eye catching and the acrylic finish over the brass is beautiful. Mentmore pens can be picked up relatively cheaply compared to their English competitor Conway Stewart, I would say pick one up before everyone catches on

This is the box that the pen came is .....

And one more shot of the pen ....

Dawn, thanks for the review! I had not heard of Mentmore before, but I will keep my eyes open for them now.

Thats a really nice looking pen!! Thanks for sharing!!! I was unaware of these pens other than the vintage ones!!!

Enjoy

TNS

Hello Folks,

Mentmore pens sell on UK e-bay under other pens, the seller ID is'mentmorepens', not imaginative but informative.

The prices seem to be reasonable or even very good given what Dawn has to say about the pen. If they write as well as my vintage Diploma and Auto-flow I would pleasantly surprised.

I have no idea whether the Mentmore Pens Co of today is related to the company of yesteryear, if it is at all. The old Mentmore Pen Co was one of the largest makers of pens in the UK in the 1930's-60's, using several diffent brand names.

If the makers of the new pens stick to the quality of the old firms premier brand offerings rather than those of the Platignum cartridge pens that were also a Mentmore product then they should do well and deservedly so IMO.

Next time I have need of a sensibly priced modern pen I could be tempted.
Cheers John

Thank you for this review! I have been drooling for these pens and searching for user comments but couldn't find anything. I think this is a very recently revived brand of pens.

Hi guys

Thanks for the comments, sorry the review was short but it was my first and I was a bit lost for words, but the point was I love the Mentmore.

My initial interest started with an Auto-flow when I found out that they were manufactured in the East End of London near to where I was born, and then they were taken over by Platignum who were near to where I grew up, it was just too many coincidences for me not to try one

I am not sure if the modern Mentmore is conneted with the old Mentmore, but they seem to be carrying on the tradition of making very good quality pens.

You can find a bit more about the company at www.mentmorepens.com.

I mentioned that it was a big pen, I have put it along side my other pens and it is slightly shorter than the Conklin Glider and about as thick, although heavier because of the material that its made from.

Thanks for reading!

Dawn

After examining the advertised images on the www.mentmorepens.com it seems to me that they are using Duke nibs.

And the Mentmore Viceroy pen is a replica of Duke Viceroy! So I have to say that I think these Mentmore pens are just Chinese Duke pens in a different presentation box.

I thought that nib looked familiar...

who copied who?

The resemblance is VERY uncanny - to the extent that I initially thought they were the same company just selling under different names. Is there any evidence that they're owned by the same large corporate?

It's just a bit of a weird thought thinking that a British brand would COPY a chinese brand...it's a bit inverted

It's probably a case of a British company (perhaps someone who's acquired the Mentmore name) contracting with Duke to sell this pen under their brand. It's a marketing thing. I'd guess that most people encountering this Mentmore pen in a store in Britain would never have heard of the Duke brand.

Wow, now I am comparing the Mentmores and Dukes side by side they are so similar. I am going to do some digging and see what I can find about the modern mentmore pens and their origins.

Dawn

Yes. Copying a pen would make no sense. Importing a Chinese pen and adding some instant heritage to make it more marketable *does* make sense... After all, if the Hero 100 was being sold by Parker people would probably be paying £100-£200 for the pen, while the Haloali flex nib pen might fetch even more if it was being sold by the right Italian manufacturer.

And even these mark-ups are small compred to what a Reform or a Wallity (with improved quality control in this last case) might fetch with a Mont Blanc star added.

This whole company makes me sick! Their advertising is SO misleading... It leads potential customer to BELIEVE that these are genuine British design products.





Hero 100 and Duke are great pens. I adore my Hero 100. It doesn't pretend to be anything else than what it is. But the above-mentioned quote from Mentmore web page was sheer lying. They are not creating anything but copying or importing.

I think they are using "we" to include the actual manufacturer as well. Often Western companies will work with Chinese manufacturers to make items that are altered to their specifications. The matter of who's responsible for the design then becomes more blurred, and indeed the marketing company is paying for the right to call the item it's own. This happens so frequently now that to have a product manufactured in the West is an unusual thing. Of course, as consumers, we'd like to be informed about these things, but how often does that really happen?

Dawn/Oxonian, to answer your questions, I seem to remember reading about the modern Mentmore company. I believe it is the original Platignum organisation which was on its last legs in the 1980/90s and bought up as a cash "shell" company. The name was changed to Mentmore PLC (a registered trademark of Platignum) and, these days, a name with far fewer pen associations. Its main commercial activity is in the booming area of public self-storage facilities and I believe it has a stockmarket listing on AIM.

I imagine the Ebay pens were either a final attempt by the pre-takeover company to generate some business, or a small "cash cow" sideline for the new company. Or perhaps, both.

But its interesting to note that the new Mentmore still has some old Mentmore DNA in its make-up, in that the original company never stopped trading. In this sense (but only in this sense, I think) today's Mentmore is more part of a continuous tradition than today's Conway Stewart!

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the clarification.

Unfortunately it seems to be more Platignum cartridge than Mentmore Diploma. I hope they do alright, I don't know how much Duke pens go for in UK but these look to be reasonably priced, although I could get a real Mentmore to sort out for less and a restored one for not much more.

Cheers, John

AAARRGH!
Yesterday I'd just won a Mentmore
D'Oh :doh:
I looked at their website. The pens looked very nice with a range of professional quality looking nibs
A few days before I had also read Dawn's review so I made a bid

then AFTER that all the posts went up about the copies of Chinese Duke's
then I wanted to stop bidding but I won it anyway
£18. ($30?) Sells for £39 ($64?) on website.

Oh well. I guess I will test it out and hope it turns out to be a good pen.


Armchop

Hi John, yes I'm with you.

I keep acquiring old Mentmores. I think they're superb pens - rugged, reliable and very straightforward to restore. My favorite is an old Diploma in light blue snakeskin I found on Ebay; writes beautifully with a fine, almost oblique line.

Hi Richard,
There is a similar one coming up in a couple of days, only issue is aslight crack in the cap lip, I am tempted, that is a fine example that you have, I have a couple of the more common colours and one NOS. They write well, they are solid and they make me wonder what all the fuss is about CS.

Nice to know that I'm not in an absolute minority in thinking they're good pens. Dawn likes them too, so that makes three of us, that means more to go round if we keep quiet about them, but its too late for that I'm afraid.

There is a definite case of friendly envy over that one Richard, its a gem.

John

I've got a red-marbly B-plus Auto-Flow that I love. Bought it because of Dawn's enthusiasm. Good price, too (off eBay).

Thanks John, they do come up occasionally. In fact, mine was one of two that happened to be for sale at around the same time. So if you have doubts about the one you've seen, hang on - there will probably be another one along in a month or two.

Thanks for the information on Mentmore Richard. I am glad that I am not the only Mentmore fan, in particular the vintage models. My favourite pink marbly autoflow is wonderful. They were one of the great quality English manufacturers of their time.

I really like the regent too, and although it seems not technically a "Mentmore" as in the traditional sense, it is a very well made pen and I am enjoying using it.

Dawn

Andy's Pens has them listed as Mentmore on his site.
http://www.andys-pens.ukhome.net/regent.shtml

Dawn,

Very nice review. Beautiful pen!

Judybug