Here are the color swatches for Colfer's Imperial Ink that Sean sent to me.
I photographed the pages and tweaked the individual colors in Photoshop until they matched the colors on the paper in my monitor.
The are written on White 100% cotton bond paper. I see no signs of feathering or bleed through on any of the samples. There are some very slight differences between the image posted here and the actual color samples, but it is virtually impossible to get a pure match.
I will mention the biggest differences:
Black Dahlia ... not as black as the image.. but a good solid black close to Pelikan in density...
Sovereign Blue and Diplomat Blue are both a bit duskier in color than the image... both are very appealing conservative colors for those who need a good business blue.
Antilles Blue... the actual color sample is an even nicer richer color than in the image with just a note of a green background... almost unnoticeable.
Fields of Green .. picture fresh spring grass, the color in the image is a more blue.. this ink is definately a green... a beautiful light spring grass green
Signal Red ... is definately more red than the image... it shows no orange highlights.. it is a red... that might tone out to a hot magenta in a dry writing pen.

I would say that all the other colors are pretty true to the original samples... at least as they show on my monitor.
My personal opinions based on just the color samples is WOW... there are some sweet colors here. Some of which I don't think we have ever seen before and all of them beautiful. I can't wait to try the Antilles blue and New York Central Jade. I am sure that the African Violet and Hawaiian Sunset are going to be big hits for anyone who likes that tonality. The Blue Spruce would be a great business color for anyone who wants to run a little outside the pack... not really blue, not really green, but definately a good conservative color. Oscuro Tinta Verde... I honestly don't know what I think about this color.. in some ways it reminds me of PR Avacado, but not the same... then again I hated PR Avacado when I first got it and now love it.

Thanks Griz,

If the colours that I see are a good match then there are some good fresh colours there, I might even get adventurous and step outside my normal browns and greys for writing.

Once again thanks for doing the work for us all and I, for sure, am looking forward to your further comments and assesments.

Cheers, John

I've been following this with interest... I'm glad to see some very nice colours here!

New York Central Jade and African Violet looks lovely.

I thought Black Dahlia was already trademarked?????

As a movie title, but I doubt as an ink

Thanks for the detailed image. Do any of these inks provide any water-resistance?

I think these inks "deserve to live"!

Nice colours, definitely. My fave is Côtes de Nuit

I had faith in these inks

Tom, how is the flow in these pens? Smooth and a pleasure to write with? Dry? Wet?

my error I guess I was just curious about all the little trademark symbols when a US patent & trademark search shows none of them.

k

I believe you have to use the TM mark, demonstrate you are using it in your application, and then after a rather long process your trademark is registered and you get to use the cute little R. That's the process we've been undergoing at work, although we use a service mark rather than a trademark, but I think the process is essentially the same.

Movie and book titles aren't trademarked, and even if they were, the name "Black Dahlia" was applied to the unfortunate young real-life person before there were any books or movies about her.

Griz, thanks for this! Looking forward to hearing more about how they write. The colors are nice!

Is this premixed ink or is this the ink that you add water to?

You add water to it

They're ink concentrates

Greetings all,

I believe it is best if I abstain from posting in this thread and I am only making this one concession to clear up the trademark issue. Therefore, this will be my first and last post here.

Sonia is exactly right. Ironically, a trademark has to be used before it can be registered- that is an integral part of the registration process.

Furthermore, manufactured products get trademarks ™; services, (and service oriented companies), use service marks, (sm); and movies, (like the infamous "Black Dahlia"), books, etc., are copyrighted.

OK- that's all from me folks.

Good night, good luck and God bless,

Sean


* Edited for grammatical error.

Those inks look nice....
Thanks OldGriz for tweaking the colours in Photoshop so that they look as close to "real life" as possible.
That Blue Spruce™ looks wonderful; it didn't catch my eye the first time I saw a sample, but I can see myself buying some as it doesn't look like any other ink I have
Oh, and glad to hear the Signal Red™ isn't really "orangey"; I love red inks

I have not mixed the inks yet...
These are the color swatches that Sean sent me...
When I mix the inks and write them...I will post Part II of my test... then a little later on I will post the final Part III after the ink has been in the pen for a while...

Corniche said:
>movies, (like the infamous "Black Dahlia"), books, etc., are copyrighted.

It's worth (maybe) further clarifying that a title has insufficient originality in most instances to get copyright protection (too short). One can get a trademark on a title if it's distinctive and used for marketing purposes (think toy tie-ins), but this will be specific to a particular domain and will not affect prior usages[1].

Classic example of the latter, a friend whose surname was ``Gryfindor'' who used that name as the name of his business. When the _Harry Potter_ movies came out, some officious studio legal representative contacted him and told him to cease and desist, not once, but twice, the second time nastily and threatening legal action, this _after_ the studio had been sent (via registered mail) copies of his birth certificate and incorporation papers.

He sent the nastygram back pointedly to the principal of the law firm involved and received an immediate, _very_ apologetic phone call, then a very nice letter, then a set of tickets to the premier of the next movie (incl. plane tickets and accommodations and a meet and greet w/ the author who was thrilled to meet someone from that distinguished house).

William
[1] unless of course your name is McDonald and you're operating a bar and don't have deep pockets to fight it out w/ a certain clown's lawyers.

Gosh,
thanks for all the information I never knew it was that hard a process to get a trademark registered. You learn something new every day.

Wishing this ink all the luck it deserves.


K

It's taken my company several years and quite a lot of work to get our service marks registered. Very interesting process, and by interesting I actually mean boring but oddly compelling.

Really looking forward to the Griz test! Corniche, I'm glad you decided to branch out and do some colors for us weird-color freaks.

Thank you all! I feel Diplomat Blue calling me!

New York Central Jade appears to be a remarkably accurate duplication of the color which that railroad used for many years.

Of course, the Twentieth Century Limited retained its two tone gray scheme along with the inimitable red carpet at both Grand Central Terminal and La Salle Street Station right to the last run. But, most of the New York Central utilized this shade of green, and the ink appears to be an excellent match.

If we have a New York Central Jade ink can a Pennsylvania RR 'Tuscan Red' be far behind?

GregM's response raises a fascinating thought relative to marketing.

Apply a railroad theme to the ink and to marketing efforts. Noodler's utilizes its distinctive catfish to create a recognizable label. As a thought, a new ink brand could adopt a railroad theme. Their Diplomat Blue is reasonably close to the color used by Baltimore & Ohio's "Royal Blue Limited." Wabash Railroad's "Wabash Cannon Ball" and "Banner Blue Limited" are close matches, also.

The "Sunset Limited" from the Espee's Sunset Route is also a good name for a red. Think about the "Orange Blossom Special" as a name for an orange ink; or "North Star Special" for a midnight blue.

Ironically, (or perhaps not) I rode the train from Chicago to Kansas City just last night, passing Sheaffer's dark and silent headquarters after crossing the mighty Mississippi River. It is a deeply discouraging sight as I recall seeing Sheaffer's busy production facilities along the Santa Fe main line in years past. I suppose more time separates me from those experiences than I care to admit.

Regardless of that, a railroad theme for marketing might be an idea to consider and I present it for consideration.

I like your railroad theme idea for an ink brand. Very creative!
It makes me want to buy a bottle of "Orange Blossom Special" right now!

Wabash Cannon Ball Blue...I like that.

Anyone remember that old bluegrass tune? Stellar, if done well on a banjo.

I've been looking for a non-traditional lighter blue or mintish green to replace my boring international blue cartridges and... wow, Antilles is gorgeous.

Any other reviews of colfer's inks?

Are they lubricating, is dahlia black darker then aurora black?

Any reviews on Côtes des nuits?

I'll do reviews of Montana Skies and Antilles Blue as soon as I get 'em in the mail. Has anyone received theirs yet?

-Hana

Thanks Hana,

It would be great, Ihaven't seen reviews except from James and Oldgriz. I would be great to have more review of any color, to get a better understanding of the quality of these inks.