Pelikan's Royal Battle; Battle Of The Blue Kings

April 6, 2014

Pelikan’s Royal Battle

Battle of the Blue Kings

The old king vs. the new Royal

Dear FPN friends,

Last week I saw two reviews of Pelikan Royal Blue coming by in the Ink review forum. An old one started in 2010 (the first link) and a recent one (the second link)

http://www.fountainp...001-royal-blue/

This gave me an Idea, since I have two bottles of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. An old bottle which is NINETEEN years old and a new one I recently obtained.

I thought it would be a nice idea to compare the two…

Please have a close look at the handwritten text since there is a Babylonian confusion of speech in the naming

The 4001 series is a cheaper line of Pelikan inks, but the quality isn’t “cheaphttp://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png” at all…

It is simply a very good basic ink that has been there for decades.

The ink is fairly dry but still the flowing is well. Saturation is great. And there is some nice shading to it. Though a dry ink, as mentioned by others too, the drying time is fairly long for a normal Fountain Pen ink. This makes it perhaps not the best ink for left-hand writers.

The old ink has matured very well just like a great wine does. As far as I can see it gained a lot of depth and finesse, expressed in darkness and shading. The old ink appears a bit darker to me. Both inks are beautiful the new one with freshness (like a good Beaujolais) the old ink has a lot of charisma like a person like Sean Connery in older age.

I think I not only build me a wine cellar (a long wished dream) but an ink cellar too!

Down here are the technical specs (as suggested by Ann Finley 2007)

points 1-5 1 = 5=

The old King

Fountain Pens: Online Best writer 0,8 Italic; Lamy Joy 1,5 Italic

Paper: Leonardo Ringbuch,,average quality school note book made in Austria

Drying time: test sheet points: 3

Flow: 0.8 points: 3 / 1,5 points: 4

Wetness: a bit dry points 3

Bleeding: almost absent in both pens points: 5

Shading: very nice points: 4

Feathering: 0.8 very little points: 5 / 1,5 little points 4

Waterproof: good points: 4

Package: simple bottle points: 2

Availabilty: Excellent points: 5

The new Royal

Fountain Pens: Online Best writer 0,8 Italic; Lamy Joy 1,5 Italic

Paper: Leonardo Ringbuch,,average quality school note book made in Austria

Drying time: test sheet longer points: 2

Flow: 0.8 points: 3 / 1,5 points: 4

Wetness: a bit dry points 3

Lubrication: 0.8 nib smooth points: 3.5/ 1.5 nib smooth: 4

Bleeding:very little in both pens points: 5

Shading: still nice points: 3

Feathering: 0.8 very little points: 5 / 1,5 little points 4

Waterproof: good points: 4

Package: simple bottle points: 2

Availabilty: Excellent points: 5

Quality and overall verdict:

4001 is still a very nice ink. The quality is like most German product: like their, cars i.e. Mercedes, their Fountain Pens i.e. PELIKAN, their inks i.e. De Atramentis ,and Pelikan of coursehttp://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png … SUPERB….