I’ve written about the Spot pen before. The search box above right will find those articles if you’re interested. These pens sell well, better than the average Mentmore. In terms of build quality they’re about the same as the Mentmore Autoflow but they are attractive to collectors as something different with their white dot and leopard imprint. That’s the story up to now…

A few days ago a Spot went through eBay and sold for a price in excess of £700. It is solid gold, beautifully designed and in perfect condition. Unusually for a Spot, Mentmore put their name to this pen, appropriately named the Regal Spot. It bears the leopard imprint on the nib.

Perhaps Spot collectors were aware of this pen but it was completely unknown to me. Everything about the pen adds up to a very harmonious design and it makes me reconsider the places of Mentmore and Spot in the vintage pen world.

It would be instructive to more about this very rare pen. How many were made? What were the circumstances that gave rise to its production? When was it made? Was it produced by the usual Mentmore team or was an outside designer brought in?

I would go so far as to say that it is the most handsome metal pen I’ve seen, even apart from the precious metal. If only I had £700 lying around not needed for anything else!

With thanks to Rob Parsons.