Ink Color

[SirPhotoGuy]

I recently acquired some Sheaffer Blue-Black Skrip ink. It was the first bottle I had bought in almost 12 years. Does anyone know if the ink coloring was changed at all? The current ink color is a smoky greyish blue-black, where I remember the ink I had as a kid being more of a really dark blue. Could I have possibly been using a different? I know the bottles looked different, the old bottle was more of a flat top and sides as opposed to the current design.

[Pickwick]

I bought a bottle of Sheaffer's blue/black a few years ago and found the color disappointing, To me it does look washed out and not the same as their earlier ink. The only ink I'm finding reminiscent of a rich blue/black is Rohrer and Klingner Salix. Looking at reviews of others all seem to have a greenish or teal tinge which has no appeal whatsoever.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Just because we all like pictures-- a couple of samples. First, a bit of oldish ("vintage" to some) blue-black:

 

...which I was looking at again recently, about four years after writing, and it has gone somewhat green with age. This newer stuff, though...

 

 

...well, if one likes Pelikan's blue-black (as I do), it's not terrible. That's also about four years ago, so I may not be right up to date as to what Sheaffer is offering now (this suggests I'm not). Organics Studio's Manganate V was a fantastic analog of the older version, if not an improvement upon it, but I don't think its in production any more, alas:

 

 

Isn't that something? Yum!

 

After writing all that, I have a tiny bell go off in my head from my school days, when I'd occasionally buy cartridges of Skrip Midnight Blue to give the teachers a break from the onslaught of Peacock. That was indeed a nice dark, non-teal, blue black, of which I've no samples. Diamine Denim and Midnight and Jentle blue-black have Venn overlaps with my faulty memory of the old Skrip Midnight.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Ernst Bitterman

[SirPhotoGuy]

I have been using Noodler's 54th, which seems to be a close match to my memory. Ernest, it looks very similar to your 1970 ink above.

[davefoe]

Yes, I think the current blue-black is a little more gray/black than the former dark blue with black undertones. The older version looked nicer, I think.