Document and Entity Information - shares	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2016	Aug. 03, 2016
Document and Entity Information:
Entity Registrant Name	Mentor Capital, Inc.
Entity Trading Symbol	mntr
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Jun. 30, 2016
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Central Index Key	0001599117
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		17,629,541
Entity Filer Category	Smaller Reporting Company
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	No
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2016
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q2