This version of Mentmore Diploma was made between 1942 and 1945, one of only four models that wartime restrictions permitted the company to produce.
Restored and tested, the pen is in excellent condition. It has a first class surface with a very strong imprint and the Gold filling to the clip, cap band, and the ornate 'spade' lever has held up very well. The cap is a smooth screw fit, tightening with two full turns.
Fitted with a new ink sac, the filling system works well and the 14Ct Gold nib delivers a fine to medium line. At 15.6 cm. in length with the cap posted on the barrel, it is a good sized, well balanced pen with a solid, high quality feel.
A classic English lever filler, the1940s Mentmore Diploma was made to last at a time when a fountain pen was very much a necessity. The demand, very high due to the numbers of soldiers posted overseas, was much greater than the supply due to the wartime restrictions on production. Mentmore, along with many other manufacturers, devoted some time developing new models inpreparation for the cessation of hostilities and this classic Diploma was replaced with a semi hooded nib version in 1946.