Montblanc Sir Henry Tate July/August 2006 Stylophiles Online

By Mike Stevens

I've always viewed the various Montblanc 4810 Patron of the Arts Series pens with a somewhat lukewarm affection. There have been a few, mostly the earliest ones, that I've found downright amazing, but for the most part, lately I've been able to honestly say that I could take 'em or leave 'em. That changes with the latest 4810, the Sir Henry Tate. This is one that I am seriously considering saving up to purchase. That's despite the fact that I normally don't buy pens in this price range.

Why the sudden change of heart? Well, it comes down to just a couple of things, at the top of the list is the design. The Tate is just plain a good looking pen! Deep red lacquer, guilloche engraving, and bright sterling silver. The design elements used on this pen are very bold, and the resulting pen has a very striking appearance. You definitely wouldn't overlook it in a crowd of plain 146 and 149 pens!

Another nice touch is that the Tate is designed around the larger of the retractable nib Boheme models. The overall size is what I would consider to be "full sized", if a bit on the short side when capped. This is far from being a problem, in fact I like it as a feature on a pen intended for actual use, as it allows the Tate to fit all the way down in even a small shirtfront pocket.

Once you remove the cap you find that the nib seems to be missing in action. Simply threading the cap onto the barrel end and then continuing to turn extends the nib, just as with an early safety pen. Once extended, you find that you have a nicely engraved platinum masked nib to take care of any writing chores you might have at hand. Retracting the nib allows you to remove the cap from the barrel end and close the pen. I like posting my pens in use, this one is clearly designed for just that. You don't have to thread the cap on the end of the barrel, I guess you could just turn the barrel end to extend or retract the nib, but where's the fun in that? Besides it leaves you holding the short cap in your off hand while writing.

The choice of Sir Henry Tate for the latest Patron of the Arts pen is fitting. Henry Tate went from being a clergyman's son to a wealthy Sugar magnate, and a noted patron of the Arts in Great Britain.

Tate was born in 1819, the son of a clergyman. When he was 13, he became a grocer's apprentice in Liverpool. After finishing his apprenticeship, he opened his own shop. He was successful enough to grow his business to a chain of six stores by the time he was 35.

In 1859 Tate became a partner in John Wright & Co. sugar refinery, and soon sold his grocery business. Within a few years, he had gained complete control of the company, renaming it Henry Tate & Sons. In 1872, he purchased a patent on a new method of making sugar cubes, and in the same year built a new refinery in Liverpool.

Tate rapidly became a millionaire, and known for his generous donations to charity. In 1889 he donated his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the government, on the condition that they be displayed in a public gallery. The National Gallery of British Art, better known as the Tate Gallery, was opened on July 21, 1897. Tate was made a baronet in 1898, the year before his death. Today the Tate Gallery (actually a group of four galleries) is considered to house the foremost collection of modern art in England.

The Montblanc Sir Henry Tate pen carries forward elements of both the Victorian era of Sir Henry Tate's lifetime, as well as aspects of the modern art for which the gallery is known. Maintaining a harmonious overall design with such disparate themes isn't easy, but in this case Montblanc have managed to pull it off quite well. The result is a pen that doesn't look unfinished or cluttered in it's design, with all the elements blending well.

Filling is via cartridge, the Tate uses the same interesting mechanism as the Boheme, with the back end of the barrel hinging to one side to allow the cartridge to be changed out. Flipping the barrel end to one side will show the opening to the barrel. Once you've opened the barrel, continue to turn the barrel end and the empty cartridge will be extended out the back of the barrel, where you can grab it and replace it with a new one.

It's a very cool system. No, it doesn't offer any advantage over the traditional method of using cartridges, it's just a relatively neat way of accessing the cartridges. If you like gadgets for their own sake, you'll love this filling mechanism! For that matter, the whole pen is one of those gadgets that might not make sense when considered purely from a purely functional point of view. After all, the original safety pen design was created in order to provide a reliable, relatively easy way of providing a "leak-proof" eyedropper filler pen. It's certainly not necessary to have a retracting nib on any of today's pens.

It is quite a lot of fun to do so, however!

Once you've got the pen filled it's not going to provide any surprises in terms of the writing. Equipped with the standard Montblanc nib, albeit on with special engraving to match the theme (what looks like a pair of sugar cane plants on either side of the nib) the Tate should be a reliable performer when it comes to getting ink on the paper. I wasn't allowed to ink up the sample, but if it works as well as my regular model Boheme, I'd be pretty happy with it.

Montblanc's modern nibs are known for being smooth, thanks to well shaped tipping material. They are rigid enough that you don't see much line width change with pressure, in this I find that they don't differ much form most modern nibs. I prefer the broad or double broad in modern Montblanc nibs, the tip is cut with enough of a straight line across to provide a sort of "soft stub" line. It's not as crisp as a true italic, or even a stub nib, but it does give a nice line with some interesting change to the width depending upon the direction of the stroke.

The Montblanc Sir Henry Tate is not going to be the "perfect pen" for everyone. With only 4,810 made, and a price tag well into four figures, that's probably for the best! Still, if it's got a guy like me seriously thinking about which other pens in the collection would have to go up on the block in order to afford one... The Tate really does invite a very close look before you decide to pass it by!

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