All three versions of the venerable Skrip Blue-Black flow freely from any pen I have used them in. They are well behaved and do not exibit feathering. They also do not bleed through most types of paper. I did not have a bottle of the Slovenia Blue-Black to compare them to. The swabs were made with a Q-tip.

Thanks! I'm glad you are giving this excellent ink (which came in excellent bottles) its due.

I have only a 1950's-era bottle and it looks pretty close to your sample. I'm surprised to see that the samples from before and after are much closer to black.

I appreciate the fact that you used the same pen for all three samples. That gives a much more accurate depiction of the ink. Thanks!

Hi,

Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to create and post the comparison.

Skrip Blue-Black was my mainstay ink as a kid (mid 1960s or so). I wish I had a clear enough recollection of the color to say whether it more closely resembled the 1940s/80s samples, on the one hand, or the 1950s sample, on the other. Maybe someone out there has a 60s-era bottle...?

In any event, I'm struck by the fact that the current Slovenian version is a very, very good match for the 1940s sample.

Slovenia or Iowa, I've never had a problem with this ink, and to my eye the color has a perfect vintage look.

Cheers,

Jon

I did a blot test on these three vintages of Skrip Blue-Black. It seems, to my eye, that the 1940's & 1980's versions are made by mixing Black with Peacock Blue, but the 1950's vintage is a mix of Blue (perhaps Royal Blue) with Peacock Blue. I wonder why the formula changes.

How interesting! My old bottle of Sheaffer blue-black looks identical to your writing sample of the '80s ink (my bottle was purchased in the early '90s). Now I can see where that elusively vague hint of green comes from. Cool!

AIR, someone said something on the forum about "dye availability changes" and since FP ink is no longer a major market the ink makers have to make do with what is available from other areas.