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Bottled Ink Cost - Per Ml


Jared

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I really like how The Writing Desk shows the cost of ink for sale per ml. Perhaps this is in part to push the sale of their own rebottled Diamine ink at a lower cost, but it helps me see the overall cost vs volume. Looking at the Goulet Pens website, here are the current costs per milliliter of bottled ink for the most common and available brands in the US:

 

Aurora

- 45ml, $15.00, $.33 per ml

DeAtramentis

- 35ml, $12.50, $.36 per ml

Delta

- 30ml, , $15.00, $.50 per ml

Diamine

- 80ml, $12.75, $.16 per ml

- 30ml Registrars, $15.50, $.52 per ml

- 100ml Registrars, $29.75, $.30 per ml

- 30ml Flowers & Music 10 bottle sets, $89.00, $.30 per ml

J. Herbin

- 30ml, $9.75, $.33 per ml

- 100ml, $20.00, $.20 per ml

- 50ml 1670 inks, $24.00, $.48 per ml

- 10ml Scented Ink Sampler 5 pack, $21.00, $.42 per ml

Lamy

- 50ml, $10.50, $.21 per ml

Montegrappa

- 42ml, $20.00, $.48 per ml

Monteverde

- 90ml, $12.50, $.14 per ml

Noodler's

- 1oz (29.6ml), $13.50, $.46 per ml

- 3oz (88.7ml), $12.50, $.14 per ml

- 3oz (88.7ml) Blue Ghost, $13.50, $.15 per ml

- 3oz (88.7ml) Polar Blue, $16.00, $.18 per ml

- 3oz (88.7ml) Eternals, $18.50, $.21 per ml

- 4.5oz (133.1ml) Bulletproofs, etc., $18.00, $.14 per ml

- 4.5oz (133.1ml), Waterase, X-Feather, etc., $19.00, $.14 per ml

- 4.5oz (133.1ml) Baystate/Cape, etc., $21.00, $.16 per ml

- 4.5oz (133.1ml), Polar Blue, $24.00, $.18 per ml

- 4.5oz (133.1ml), Kung Te-Cheng/Sepia, $27.50, $.21 per ml

Omas

- 62ml, $15.50, $.25 per ml

Parker

- 2oz (59.1ml), $10.30, $.17 per ml

Pelikan

- 62.5ml, $11.00, $.18 per ml

- 30ml Highlighter, $16.50, $.55 per ml

- 50ml Edelstein, $25.00, $.50 per ml

- 50ml Edelstein Turmaline, $26.00, $.52 per ml

Pilot/Namiki

- 60ml, $12.00, $.20 per ml

- 50ml Iroshizuku, $28.00, $.56 per ml

Platinum

- 30ml, $7.00, $.23 per ml

- 60ml Mix Free/Pigminted, $20.00, $.33 per ml

Private Reserve

- 50ml, $8.80, $.18 per ml

Rohrer & Klingner

- 50ml, $12.00, $.24 per ml

Sheaffer

- 50ml, $9.00, $.18 per ml

Stipula

- 70ml, $19.00, $.27 per ml

Waterman

- 50ml, $10.40, $.21 per ml

 

Most affordable ink by ml: Monteverde & Noodler's - $.14 per ml

Most expensive ink by ml: Pilot Iroshizuku - $.56 per ml

Edited by Jared
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Thank you for breaking this down, it is very useful information.

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I'm curious if you stratified this at all by the prices of inks that came in really fancy bottles...Iroshizuku, Akkerman, Edelstein are ones I know of. Surely, one pays for that as well. Great table, thanks for updating us!

 

For me, since I don't drink the stuff (or haven't yet, at any rate), feel that price is generally secondary to how the ink works for me, since a bottle lasts a really long time. It's moot for now, though, since I haven't yet fallen in love with any of the most expensive inks. When that happens, I may change my mind on that point. I will admit that price has kept me from regularly buying really fine whiskey.

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

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Thanks! Great table +2. I do it all the time. The only problem (as if you didn't already know, har, har...) is that it depends on who looks where. E.g. R&K, DeA, MB, Pelikan, Herbin etc etc are all quite inexpensive here but Noodler's and PRs aren't. In your neck of the woods I'd say it's exactly the other way around. It's also interesting to compare one and the same ink in one and the same country, e.g. Diamines from Diamine, TWD, Cult Pens etc etc...

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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I'm curious if you stratified this at all by the prices of inks that came in really fancy bottles...Iroshizuku, Akkerman, Edelstein are ones I know of. Surely, one pays for that as well.

 

This analysis is in no way related to the performance of inks, but rather just a straight analysis of their cost vs volume of ink in a bottle. I expected to see Noodler's as the clear winner, but while they did come out as the leader (tied wtth Monteverde, which I believe is rebottled Pelikan), I don't believe that the cheapest ink is necessarily the best. I love my Iroshizuku inks, but I'll admit that I use them very sparingly.

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Interesting cost breakdown (someone did this a year or two ago, and included Caran d'Ache, which at the time was the most expensive per ml).

It would be nice to see this expanded out to brands that are not as readily available, and also to comparison-shop prices between various vendors (prices of inks sometimes vary considerably between sources -- and that's not taking sales promotions or closeouts into account).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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I recently found a full quart bottle of Skrip Royal Blue in on eBay for $34. That works out to $.034 per milliter.

Bill Sexauer
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The only problem (as if you didn't already know, har, har...) is that it depends on who looks where. E.g. R&K, DeA, MB, Pelikan, Herbin etc etc are all quite inexpensive here but Noodler's and PRs aren't...

 

When I've visited Germany I make a point of picking up some R&K, Pelikan Blue-Black, Lamy nibs, etc. All of which are far more inexpensive there than they are here. Also, European paper is far superior to what we've got in the US so I try to get some stationery. Zanders Gohrsmühle is one of my favorite papers as it's fountain pen friendly and has a cool watermark.

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I recently found a full quart bottle of Skrip Royal Blue in on eBay for $34. That works out to $.034 per milliter.

And here I thought I got a pretty good deal over the summer on a full bottle (possibly unopened) of Quink Violet for $50. Although I seem to be doing the math wrong somehow: I keep ending up with it being about $.21-.22 cents per ml. So either my math is way off or sexauerw's is. Because a more expensive bottle of the same amount of liquid couldn't possibly be cheaper....

My brain hurts.

I haven't opened the bottle yet, because I want to decant it into a smaller container to actually fill pens from -- largely due to a *really* bad experience with a brand new bottle of Noodler's Kung Te Cheng a couple of summers ago (and that only was half as much ink, roughly). The bottle of KTC I could replace fairly easily (although it took about 6 weeks for Goulet Pens to get it back in stock); the Quink Violet, not so much....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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  • 2 weeks later...

And here I thought I got a pretty good deal over the summer on a full bottle (possibly unopened) of Quink Violet for $50. Although I seem to be doing the math wrong somehow: I keep ending up with it being about $.21-.22 cents per ml. So either my math is way off or sexauerw's is. Because a more expensive bottle of the same amount of liquid couldn't possibly be cheaper....

My brain hurts.

I haven't opened the bottle yet, because I want to decant it into a smaller container to actually fill pens from -- largely due to a *really* bad experience with a brand new bottle of Noodler's Kung Te Cheng a couple of summers ago (and that only was half as much ink, roughly). The bottle of KTC I could replace fairly easily (although it took about 6 weeks for Goulet Pens to get it back in stock); the Quink Violet, not so much....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

1 qt =32 oz (I am guessing he actually has a 1 liter bottle which would be 33.8 oz or 1000 Ml) It appears he has used that when doing the math. $34/1000=.034. If your bottle is that size then it would come to .05/mL A 500Ml bottle (16.9 oz) would be $0.10/Ml

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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My big bottle of Skrip ink is really a quart, 32 ounces. I'm guessing that it's something like 50 to 60 years old. The label is marked with both 32 oz. and 946 c. c.

 

It does seem that my finger slipped on the keyboard when I was typing my original post in this thread. I had meant to show the cost per ml. as $.036, not $.034.

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/ETNzDkDOgM2jTF/7054592.0/org/p/Quart_of_Ink.jpg

Bill Sexauer
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PCA Member since 2006

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Interesting to see that some of the best inks in the world also are some of the cheapest inks in the world...

"Le vase donne une forme au vide, et la musique au silence"

Georges Braque

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My cheapest ink is a packet of ink powder that I got for $1, that makes a quart, or approximately 1 litre.

That comes out at $0.001 / ml. However at that strength, it is too weak for a fountain pen. I need to have it 3x stronger, so the cost as a fountain pen ink, rather than a dip pen ink is really $0.003 / ml.

 

The price on the packet, though, was 1 shilling (12 cents). And that turns out to be 0.33 pence / oz, or a bit over a farthing an oz.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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I really like how The Writing Desk shows the cost of ink for sale per ml. Perhaps this is in part to push the sale of their own rebottled Diamine ink at a lower cost, but it helps me see the overall cost vs volume.

 

Thanks for posting the link. We introduced that feature in 2008 and we thought it slightly risky at the time but customers value the additional information. We also have a price comparison table of all the ink ranges we currently stock. Our table shows live prices with links to each product range.

 

Martin

The Writing Desk

Fountain Pen Specialists since 2000

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not sure that i care so much.. i would buy Kon-Peki buy the litre or 32oz whatever conversion is hahahhaa

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My cheapest ink is a packet of ink powder that I got for $1, that makes a quart, or approximately 1 litre.

That comes out at $0.001 / ml. However at that strength, it is too weak for a fountain pen. I need to have it 3x stronger, so the cost as a fountain pen ink, rather than a dip pen ink is really $0.003 / ml.

 

The price on the packet, though, was 1 shilling (12 cents). And that turns out to be 0.33 pence / oz, or a bit over a farthing an oz.

 

 

Where did you find it? I want to play with it. I see an experiment in my future.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My big bottle of Skrip ink is really a quart, 32 ounces. I'm guessing that it's something like 50 to 60 years old. The label is marked with both 32 oz. and 946 c. c.

 

It does seem that my finger slipped on the keyboard when I was typing my original post in this thread. I had meant to show the cost per ml. as $.036, not $.034.

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/ETNzDkDOgM2jTF/7054592.0/org/p/Quart_of_Ink.jpg

Thanks for the clarification. It doesn't mean much in the final analysis cost wise, but interesting to see.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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okay guys nathan from Noodler's just finished making me a 16 oz bottle of 54th Massachusetts if this internet converter is correct 16oz = 454 ML

 

so it works out to be 0.11 cents a ml not bad for a giant mamba jumba of my favourite everyday writing ink.. i always have a pen inked with it

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Where did you find it? I want to play with it. I see an experiment in my future.

 

replied by pm.

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“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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