Noodler's Victoria Mint

[gravitas]

I haven't seen this ink reviewed here so I ordered some in order to try it out. Noodler's Victoria Mint is part of the UK Eternal Series. My first impressions aren't that great. It seems like a poor approximation of Legal Lapis. The color is almost identical to Legal Lapis but the flow is less and doesn't write as smoothly.

 

Legal Lapis (left) Victoria Mint (right)

 

 

 

 

I will post some more impressions as I use this ink over the next couple of weeks.

 

Edited March 28, 2008 by gravitas

[Titivillus]

Looking at the scan on a laptop and it's hard for me to figure out if it is blue with green or green with blue...then I reread that you called it teal! perfect naming of the color.

 

 

Kurt

 

 

 

edited by moderator to remove repeat of large photo

Ann Finley

Edited March 28, 2008 by Ann Finley

[rattybad1]

How does it behave in terms of start-up? My experience with the UK Eternal inks (Mata Hari Cordial and Empire Red in particular) is that they clog up fairly quickly. I know this is a revised color for the Victoria Mint and I'm interested if the ink flow has improved.

[antoniosz]

Mine is more green what I see in your sample.

As for flow... Forget it. Maybe we should talk about lack of flow. It clogged immediately one of my most reliable pens - a Lamy safari.

Unless I have a pen with a hose for an inking system I will not try this in any of my "regular" pens.

 

[Deirdre]

Here's my comparison scan:

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2320/2368418050_0663be4ee7.jpg

 

You can see bigger versions here.

 

In short, I'd call Victoria's Royal Mint a blue green (where blue is the adjective), and Legal Lapis a green blue. They are distinct hues to me; of these two inks, I strongly favor the Legal Lapis, and my husband strongly favors the Royal Mint.

 

rattybad1: no one else has mentioned whether they used the old or the new. I have only tried the new. I've not used it long-term (I dipped my pen for the above sample, thus leading to the arterial ink spray seen in the Legal Lapis sample), but it feels like a nice-flowing ink. This is in contrast to a couple of the others I've tried that wrote very dry.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Deirdre

[Ondina]

A good review of an ink that I don't want to get, at last!. Very peculiar color, but the name id pretty accurate. Thanks for sharing.

[greencobra]

Interesting color, might give it a try. Thanks.

[Melnicki]

I wonder how it's different from Swisher's Verdun (whose flow is excellent, though nib creep is severe). Verdun (my bottle, at least) is a bluish green also, but it's undoubtedly a green, not a teal.

[limesally]

Here's my comparison scan:

 

You can see bigger versions here.

 

In short, I'd call Victoria's Royal Mint a blue green (where blue is the adjective), and Legal Lapis a green blue. They are distinct hues to me; of these two inks, I strongly favor the Legal Lapis, and my husband strongly favors the Royal Mint.

 

Deirdre, how would the colour compare to PR Blue Suede or Noodler's Dostoevesky (both of which are blue green variants to my eye)?

Edited March 28, 2008 by limesally

[Deirdre]

Here's my comparison scan:

 

You can see bigger versions here.

 

In short, I'd call Victoria's Royal Mint a blue green (where blue is the adjective), and Legal Lapis a green blue. They are distinct hues to me; of these two inks, I strongly favor the Legal Lapis, and my husband strongly favors the Royal Mint.

 

Deirdre, how would the colour compare to PR Blue Suede or Noodler's Dostoevesky (both of which are blue green variants to my eye)?

PR Blue Suede is most similar to Squeteague. Offhand, I can't recall how it fares against Dostoevesky.

 

I've been planning a blue-green comparison scan with:

 

PR Blue Suede

Noodler's Dostoevesky

Noodler's Victoria's Royal Mint

Noodler's Legal Lapis

Noodler's Blue Green

Noodler's Squeteague

 

In a little pie so they can all be seen together.

 

(anyone know of an online n-slice pie pdf generator?)

[girlieg33k]

How does it behave in terms of start-up? My experience with the UK Eternal inks (Mata Hari Cordial and Empire Red in particular) is that they clog up fairly quickly. I know this is a revised color for the Victoria Mint and I'm interested if the ink flow has improved.

Same experience with Highland's Heather. Might as well have put mud in my pens...

 

The colour, as it appears in both scans (from Deirdre and gravitas), reminds me of R&K Verdigris -- which can also appear like Legal Lapis in certain pens.

 

Thanks for the scans and review.

[gravitas]

How does it behave in terms of start-up? My experience with the UK Eternal inks (Mata Hari Cordial and Empire Red in particular) is that they clog up fairly quickly. I know this is a revised color for the Victoria Mint and I'm interested if the ink flow has improved.

Same experience with Highland's Heather. Might as well have put mud in my pens...

 

The colour, as it appears in both scans (from Deirdre and gravitas), reminds me of R&K Verdigris -- which can also appear like Legal Lapis in certain pens.

 

Thanks for the scans and review.

 

 

I have only tried in my Lamy 2000. The flow is not horrible, but not great. It skips on some strokes and puts out too much ink on other parts of the stroke. With most other inks flow is usually pretty generous in the Lamy 2000 in my experience.

Edited March 29, 2008 by gravitas

[impossiblebird]

Has the formulation of this ink changed since this review was written? I have a bottle which is very different to that shown above (which I'd call a teal), being more the colour of very young mint leaves. I bought it from here: http://www.pelikanpens.co.uk/acatalog/Other_Colours.html#a101 If you left-click on the bottle label you'll see a colour sample; to me the ink, in use, looks more intense in colour, and less blue, more green, than their sample. Rattybad1 said the colour had been revised, but which is the new versioon, and which the old?

 

I have this ink in a Waterman Reflex (M nib, but tends towards broad) and it takes a bit of nib-wetting to get it started, and flow isn't brilliant. I'm not sure about that pen, anyway, but its colour more-or-less matches the ink, so I popped it in there first! In a Parker Frontier (M nib) it starts up right away, no skipping, and flows very nicely indeed. And that's after I'd left the pen untouched for a fortnight.

[Thornton]

Has the formulation of this ink changed since this review was written? I have a bottle which is very different to that shown above (which I'd call a teal), being more the colour of very young mint leaves. I bought it from here: http://www.pelikanpens.co.uk/acatalog/Other_Colours.html#a101 If you left-click on the bottle label you'll see a colour sample; to me the ink, in use, looks more intense in colour, and less blue, more green, than their sample. Rattybad1 said the colour had been revised, but which is the new versioon, and which the old?

 

I have this ink in a Waterman Reflex (M nib, but tends towards broad) and it takes a bit of nib-wetting to get it started, and flow isn't brilliant. I'm not sure about that pen, anyway, but its colour more-or-less matches the ink, so I popped it in there first! In a Parker Frontier (M nib) it starts up right away, no skipping, and flows very nicely indeed. And that's after I'd left the pen untouched for a fortnight.

 

The formulation has changed. There were flow issues so Mr. Tardiff changed the recipe a little. It is now very much a minty green. At least, that's how my bottle is.

[Bearcat]

Very interesting ink. Looks like a "cadet blue" on my monitor....Not one that I would add to my stable, but interesting, none the less.

[Michael R.]

...It is now very much a minty green. At least, that's how my bottle is.

 

 

Indeed; very minty and green:

 

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn140/PENSnINKS/Inks/NoodlersUK.jpg

 

(this should be a pretty recent formulation as this ink was ordered for me from Nathan this summer)

 

Michael

[Deirdre]

Wow, that fluorescent green is more like some of the banknote greens. I think I'll stick with my own bottle of VRM because I don't like that fluorescent spearmint much.

[Thornton]

Wow, that fluorescent green is more like some of the banknote greens. I think I'll stick with my own bottle of VRM because I don't like that fluorescent spearmint much.

 

Yeah, I personally like the original formulation. However, being interested in British history and culture I suspect I'll collect the entire UK series just for completeness' sake regardless of color.

[aj3537]

Where can you buy this ink? I have a sample and mine is a beautiful bright green and I would love to get a bottle.

[amberleadavis]

Verdun green is quite different. I'll pull some samples and post them.