Parker Penman Sapphire

[Abner C. Kemp]

Since the attached post is blurry and my shoddy cursive can be hard to read, I am going to type out the first page for those interested. I decided to use my Faber Castell Ambition Pearwood fountain pen with a steel medium nib for this review. The pen is very consistent and offers 5-6/10 wetness. I hope this review helpful. If members do like these reviews I will do them more often. Please feel free to offer any critiques.

 

Parker Penman Sapphire:

 

Well, here it is, possibly the most famous ink ever produced! This ink came from a cartridge which I topped off with a bit of distilled water to account for evaporation. The ink is quite saturated and the color is what I would refer to as a true medium blue. There is some shading but nothing magnificent -- some sheen is also noticeable (sp. whoops) but not as pronounced as an ink like Sailor Yama-dori. I find the flow to be slightly on the dry side but it is fairly consistent. The ink has not been in the pen long enough to speculate regarding clogging or cleaning -- I will update this thread as those results become available.

Generally speaking, I agree with many other reviewers -- the ink is a nice, saturated, bold writer but it isn't necessarily anything special. It's a fun ink to try but I wouldn't drop $100 on a bottle.

 

 

 

Noodler's Liberty's Elysium seems to be quite a nice match for this ink. It is a bit darker but certainly offers the same brilliance and "punch" of PPS -- although Liberty's Elysium does not have the same sheen. If it's sheen you're after, Sailor Souten should offer a bit more sheen than PPS but is not quite as brilliant. As I mentioned earlier, Parker Penman Sapphire really is a true blue -- it makes Montblanc Leo Tolstoy look like a teal!

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by Abner C. Kemp

[Nellie]

I think the Penman inks were just extremely special in their time. I'd never owned or even seen a really saturated ink before I bought Emerald. I knew nothing about it and just bought it because the bottle looked interesting.

Nice review!

[Abner C. Kemp]

I think the Penman inks were just extremely special in their time. I'd never owned or even seen a really saturated ink before I bought Emerald. I knew nothing about it and just bought it because the bottle looked interesting.

Nice review!

 

The Emerald is actually an ink I would pay up for. It is quite unique!!

[Nellie]

Oh, is it? I don't seem to have any notes or anything I wrote in this ink anymore, so I can only go on what I remember. I'd be just as happy with Noodler's Standard Green - if that was an ink I could actually get to ever dry on quality paper.

[amberleadavis]

If you hadn't "topped it off" with water, I think you would find Liberty Elysium is a dead ringer. Or if you topped off LE with some water, it would be a dead ringer for the PPS you topped off. As you have already discovered, LE is much cheaper.

[sirgilbert357]

If you hadn't "topped it off" with water, I think you would find Liberty Elysium is a dead ringer. Or if you topped off LE with some water, it would be a dead ringer for the PPS you topped off. As you have already discovered, LE is much cheaper.

 

And readily available! I'm thinking about stockpiling a few bottles since Liberty's Elysium is my favorite blue. I'd have a panic attack if Noodlers ever stops making it for Goulet...

[Abner C. Kemp]

If you hadn't "topped it off" with water, I think you would find Liberty Elysium is a dead ringer. Or if you topped off LE with some water, it would be a dead ringer for the PPS you topped off. As you have already discovered, LE is much cheaper.

 

Yep, even so they are almost dead ringers as is -- the pen used to write with the Liberty's Elysium is quite a bit wetter than my Faber Castell Ambition making the LE seem a but darker. Obviously the LE lacks the sheen of Penman Sapphire but I can put up with that, PR DC Blue might do the trick if you're looking for something similar with even more sheen.

 

Just to update, I've noticed this ink is a notorious hard starter in my FC. Once I get writing it's fine but it seems to like to dry in the nib. I noticed the same thing in a Parker Frontier. It is easy to clean though, which doesn't come as a surprise after seeing the water resistance test.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Abner C. Kemp

[amberleadavis]

I agree, it's a great ink. When it was advertised as a replacement for BSB, I was disappointed. As a replacement for PPS, I'm thrilled.

[cellmatrix]

Abner, thanks for your review.

 

The thing I like best about PPS aside from the amazing color, is the performance of the ink. In my experience, lines written with PPS stay narrow on the page compared to LE, where lines written tend to broaden.

 

If you like broad lines anyway, then the widening is no deal breaker I suppose. But if you are like me and need extra fine lines for monoline spencerian, or want to preserve the thin/thick contrast when writing with italic pens, I've found that LE is a poor ink for these purposes, in my opinion.

 

So overall, PPS has got a great color and the performance profile at least to me, is much better than LE.

Edited December 4, 2015 by cellmatrix

[dcwaites]

Abner, thanks for your review.

 

The thing I like best about PPS aside from the amazing color, is the performance of the ink. In my experience, lines written with PPS stay narrow on the page compared to LE, where lines written tend to broaden.

 

If you like broad lines anyway, then the widening is no deal breaker I suppose. But if you are like me and need extra fine lines for monoline spencerian, or want to preserve the thin/thick contrast when writing with italic pens, I've found that LE is a poor ink for these purposes, in my opinion.

 

So overall, PPS has got a great color and the performance profile at least to me, is much better than LE.

 

It is my simple understanding that the Noodler's inks have a bit more wetting agent than the Parker Penman inks. The result is that the Noodler's inks spread and bleed more, and sometimes take longer to dry, than the equivalent Penman inks.

[Abner C. Kemp]

Abner, thanks for your review.

 

The thing I like best about PPS aside from the amazing color, is the performance of the ink. In my experience, lines written with PPS stay narrow on the page compared to LE, where lines written tend to broaden.

 

If you like broad lines anyway, then the widening is no deal breaker I suppose. But if you are like me and need extra fine lines for monoline spencerian, or want to preserve the thin/thick contrast when writing with italic pens, I've found that LE is a poor ink for these purposes, in my opinion.

 

So overall, PPS has got a great color and the performance profile at least to me, is much better than LE.

 

Yes, PPS certainly does seem to retain it's line width a bit better than LE. In my experience, most Noodler's bulletproof or semi bulletproof inks are quite wet. I much prefer PPS in that regard. However, I have noticed the dryer tendencies of PPS cause it to hard start a bit in my daily use and I can have some difficulties getting it flowing. Then again, I am using it in a fairly moderate flowing pen -- I'm sure if you are using something flexy for your spencerian the ink flows wonderfully.

 

I would suggest giving LE a chance diluted 20%-25%, I think you will be surprised by how much drier the ink becomes and I would bet that the line thickness issue will be much improved. You will also notice a little more shading and the ink is still pretty vibrant. Probably not a perfect substitute but something you might like using. The increased water resistance of LE is also an added bonus.

[cellmatrix]

I would suggest giving LE a chance diluted 20%-25%, I think you will be surprised by how much drier the ink becomes and I would bet that the line thickness issue will be much improved. You will also notice a little more shading and the ink is still pretty vibrant. Probably not a perfect substitute but something you might like using. The increased water resistance of LE is also an added bonus.

Thanks for the tip! I had gotten a sample of LE a long while ago. I will try to dig it up, dilute it a bit and experiment.

[Abner C. Kemp]

Thanks for the tip! I had gotten a sample of LE a long while ago. I will try to dig it up, dilute it a bit and experiment.

 

If you can't find it send me a PM and I will get you out a sample.