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One of the best known British pen makers of the twentieth century is Onoto De La Rue, and it seems fitting that they are making a bid to become one of the twenty-first century's best known British pen makers. The launch of the Centenary pen by the new Onoto Pen Company is of significant interest on many levels. Of course, a new pen is always welcome, but this is the resurrection of one of the classic names from the history of writing instruments. While many manufacturers, such as Parker, Pelikan, Montblanc and OMAS to name a few, have continued in business since their inception, there are many companies which vanished with the rise of the "disposable" ballpens in the late 1950s. Some few of those companies have returned in new incarnations, to offer pens to today's market of collectors and fountain pen enthusiasts. Conklin in America, and Conway Stewart in the UK are two well known examples of this recent trend. And now Onoto has joined this select band.
In the early nineteenth century, the Thomas De La Rue Company had built up an impressive printing business encompassing fields as diverse as playing cards, postage stamps, and even bank notes. In 1880 it was awarded the monopoly to print all British postage stamps. This guaranteed income allowed De La Rue to expand its activities by moving into fountain pen making. In 1905, they were approached by George Sweetser, a mechanical engineer and inventor, with a self-filling safety fountain pen which he had recently patented. While similar to Evelyn's design, Sweetster's was far simpler, both to manufacture and to operate. De La Rue arranged to purchase the rights to this new design, and went forward with production of their new pen. The new Onoto, as it was christened, more than justified the company's investment of £50,000 in advertising. At the time, this was a significant amount for promotion and advertising. It must have been quite a relief when the Onoto was a success! The name was chosen because of it's sounding the same in as many different languages as possible. From the beginning, De La Rue had every intention of marketing their new pen internationally. The general success of the De La Rue Company with Onoto lasted through the 1950s, by which time almost all fountain pen manufacturers were experiencing trouble. We can then cut forward to 1999, when a group of Onoto collectors in England acquired the rights to the Onoto name and set up the Onoto Pen Company Ltd. This company was then purchased by a British entrepreneur, James Boddy in 2004. James' vision for the company was to resurrect it to its former position as a leading global brand, producing top quality pens and other related instruments. James has been joined by David Cooper as Managing Director, and by a world-class team of British craftsmen who are working to create pens which carry the Onoto name with as much pride as the originals. Their first design, the Centenary, is being issued to honor the 100 year anniversary of the launch of the first Onoto pen in 1905. It's modeled on the 1937 Onoto Magna model, and is a substantial pen in every respect. It's large, and being crafted of solid sterling silver, it's not light in weight!
Make no mistake, this is a heavy pen! That's what starting with a big chunk of sterling silver will do when you make a pen... As long as you go into it with that understanding, you won't be disappointed with the Centenary. I think that most purchasers of this pen will be expecting a fairly heavy pen, and won't be disappointed with the weight. All of that weight gives the Centenary a very "solid" feel. The threads on the barrel are cut to very fine tolerances, and threading the cap on and off is smooth. The fit and finish are also excellent, as is the engraving of the barley pattern on the cap and barrel. The barrel features a large space of smooth silver on which is engraved the name and anniversary dates, and in addition, the cap top, barrel end, and the center portion are left in smooth sterling. The design is very nice from a visual perspective, with enough gold trim to keep it from looking boring, not so much that it looks flashy or overstated.
In fact, most of the Centenary is very close There are some slight differences in size, but it's a very faithful re-creation of the classic Onoto. I think that most collectors will see this as a positive
step, as the original Onoto Magna is a very sought The Centenary manages to capture the feel and look
of the original, with the sterling silver construction setting it far
enough apart from the Magna to leave it feeling fresh and modern. The
Centenary uses the international cartridge converter filling system,
supplying ink to a very nicely decorated two tone 18K nib.
The new owners of Onoto seem to be working with a large supply of enthusiasm, with several other models and editions planned for launch shortly. New pens scheduled for 2005 include limited editions celebrating the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, which will be called The Horatio Nelson pen and the Emma, Lady Hamilton pen. The Nelson pen sounds particularly interesting, as it is currently planned to have this pen feature enamel over the engraved sterling silver cap and barrel. Given the level of quality shown on the Centenary, these new pens should be quite exciting!
The Onoto Pen Company have appointed Pendemonium to operate as their exclusive agents in the USA. Contact: USA - Toll Free - 888-372-2050 UK - 0044 + (0) 1603 811165
copyright 2005 William Riepl |
The
first De La Rue pens involved a somewhat complicated self filling mechanism
designed by Evelyn Andros 
I
like large pens, myself, and so I found the Centenary to be "just
right" in terms of the size. It's heavy enough that you probably
wouldn't end up posting the cap, but the long barrel of this design
makes that pretty much unnecessary anyway. I thought it balanced in
the hand quite well without posting. 
The
clip is patterned closely upon the design 
In
addition to the large markings "ONOTO", "18ct",
and the number 7, what I at first took for simple decorative embellishment
between the gold and silver portions of the nib turned out to be the
word Onoto repeated along the edge! It's a neat touch that sets the
Centenary apart from other modern pens.
As
with the rest of the Centenary, the fit and finish are excellent, with
the nib fitted tightly to the feed. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to
fill the sample up for a nice long writing test (say about ten years
or so!) However, I did note that the UK representative, Jim Marshall,
was proudly using his during the LA show.