I've been buying some juicy inks lately and I keep a small writing and swab sample of each in a little notebook. I can't help but see a striking resemblance between a couple of these and was wondering if others have had the same experience. Here are a couple of pairs that I think look very, very similar - so much so that I feel like I have 2 bottles of the same ink. Fortunately, I love these colors but I just wonder what other 'duplicates' are out there. I'm sure a few (many?) will disagree with me on this but to my eyes these are practically identical. Unfortunately no scans...working on it though.


Diamine's Imperial Purple and Pelikan's Violet

PRs Fiesta Red and Noodler's Tiananmen

Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue and Namiki Blue look very similar to me

I have way too many blues that look the same alone, but have very minimal differences when compared (sheaffer blue, hero blue, waterman blue, aurora blue, pelikan blue).

Kelly,

I had the same thought regarding the Diamine Imperial Purple and Pelikan violet - they look (almost) the same colour, but both are great.

Sometimes with these ink comparisons I wonder just how fine a hair is being split, but then some of the differences are less to do with colour and more about flow, drying time, water-resistance etc.

But we certainly have a surfeit of riches from which to choose, so enjoy the chase.

Currently, rather than go crazy trying to find the right combination of pens and inks for the major colours, I'm just mixing and matching as the fancy takes me. But like you I do keep a small sample of each combination written in the pages of a notebook to allow some comparisons later.

Chris

Diamine Purple and Pelikan Violet? Hmmm... I'll see... thought they looked different.

Some of the Noodler's are probably designed to be very close if not exactly like other ink colors from other brands. I am still waiting for Nathan to make a duplicate of penman emerald. yoohoooooo Nathaaaann.

I could hardly tell the difference between Zhivago and Sequoia when I had both..

Lamy Turquoise and Waterman Southb Seas Blue.

To me, Diamine Prussian Blue and Waterman Blue-Black look quite similar. Not identical, but very much in the same region of medium blue-towards-green. I found the similarity surprising given a number of comments along the lines of "Prussian Blue doesn't have the green tint of Waterman Blue/Black". They're close enough that I would have skipped the Prussian Blue in favour of a different Diamine colour, had I known.

As with the other pairings, flow characteristics differ enough that they may suit different pens.

What I found (or am guessing):

J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche = W. Bethge No. 4 Sea Blue (made by Herbin) = Standardgraph Sky Blue

J. Herbin Violette Pensee = W. Bethge No. 6 Lavender (made by Herbin) = Standardgraph Elder Blue

OK, W. Bethge inks are made by Herbin as the bottle underside says. But why do these two Standardgraph inks look like the Herbins? The Standardgraph bottle is completely different and it is cheaper.

I haven't seen the Diamine IRL, but Diamine Jade Green and JH Vert Pré look very similar to me.