Monteverde Trees of the World Fountain Pens: Three Resin Designs Worth a Look

Introduction

Monteverde’s Trees of the World series takes one well-established fountain pen platform and dresses it in three very different resin styles: the Avenue of the Baobabs, the Dragon Tree, and the Giant Sequoia. Each pen is named after a remarkable real-world tree, and each resin has its own character rather than being the same material in different colors. Typically retailing for around $92, the series sits comfortably in the sub-$100 range, which raises an obvious question: is it a good value there?

Three Resins, One Platform

The most interesting thing about this series is that every model uses a genuinely different resin. The Giant Sequoia carries stripes of pearlescent green with black and gray. The Dragon Tree has a crushed-ice look with lots of dark blue and deep red. The Avenue of the Baobabs goes for a swirled, mixed resin in browns and creams, which reads as the most wood-like of the three and is arguably the most “tree-like” of the bunch. Since the resin varies pen to pen, no two examples will look exactly alike, and small details like a cream blob near the barrel end can end up resembling a knot in wood.

Cap, Clip, and the Walnut Band

The cap tops off flat, which lets the cross-section pattern of the resin show nicely. The chrome-plated clip is slightly stiff: it works well in thinner fabrics but needs a bit of a squeeze to grip thicker material such as a leather pen case. The cap angles upward for roughly the first inch and a half before straightening out, and then comes the signature detail: a band of walnut wood set between two chrome-plated bands.

There is a small oddity here. The wood is walnut on all three pens, not the wood of the tree each pen is named after. That makes some sense, since baobab wood is fibrous and spongy and would not work in a pen, but using the same walnut across all three avoids a mismatch where only one or two pens carried their namesake wood. The cap unscrews in just under two rotations, and the barrel tapers gently after its first straight inch and a half, ending in another flat face.

Nib, Filling, and Writing Experience

Underneath the cap sits a standard Monteverde number 6 stainless steel nib, available in extra fine, fine, medium, broad, stub, and Omniflex, with a plastic feed. The company name appears on the nib’s left shoulder, and curiously it appears twice, which is unusual for a nib. The section is very slightly concave and comfortable in the hand, though a grip naturally rests against the resin threads and the step up to the barrel. Neither is sharp or uncomfortable.

This is a cartridge converter pen that accepts standard international cartridges, and a converter plus a couple of cartridges are included in the box. Because the section housing is metal, eyedropper conversion is not recommended. The cap can be posted and holds on securely, but it does not take much to dislodge it with a tap, and posting back-weights the pen slightly, so unposted use is the better experience.

In writing, the broad nib tested here is very smooth with a generous ink flow. Do not expect much line variation, even writing sideways. The feed keeps up easily with fast writing, and reverse writing is not really what this nib is meant for.

Buying Advice

At the typical $92 retail price, this is a solid pen, and keeping it under $100 was a good decision. Some retailers sell it slightly below that, so it is worth shopping around. If you want to fill out a collection with a decent sub-$100 fountain pen, any of the three resin styles makes a reasonable pick. The three models differ only in resin, so choose on looks: the flowing browns and creams of the Avenue of the Baobabs for a wood-like feel, the crushed-ice blues and reds of the Dragon Tree, or the pearlescent green, black, and gray stripes of the Giant Sequoia.

Conclusion

The Trees of the World series is a straightforward proposition: a familiar, comfortable cartridge converter platform with a smooth stainless steel nib, real walnut trim, and three distinctive resin treatments that all look good. If one of the three tree designs speaks to you and your budget sits under $100, it is a good value for the money.