Vintage Inks: Is This A Good Way To Share The Wealth?

[eharriett]

I need practical and ethical advice from fellow ink lovers.

 

Ive lately come into a supply of vintage ink. Ive got one nice lot up in the classifieds Im using for trading to increase my own personal collection. However, since I posted that lot, Ive had a couple people offer to sell me some of their large vintage ink bottles, which Ive gladly bought. You know, the large quart size Skrip and Quink bottles. Got more than a couple of those now. I dont have much use for inks in such copious amounts, so I would like to share these with the world. Here is what I am considering:

 

I would like to go and purchase, from eBay or wherever, empty bottles of the exact ink in these quarts. Clean out these smaller empty bottles, and then fill them with the ink from the quart, and then offer them for sale. Im not looking to make a profit, just enough to make back what I put in so that I can share these with others, maybe even make a dent in the prices of these inks as they seem to be going up so much. Lets face it, very few collectors are going to share vintage inks by the quart. Theyre going to hold it and pass it from person to person until the ink finally evaporates away and then we are all the less for it. This way, I can maybe help get some of this ink into other peoples hands.

 

For example, I have two quart sized bottles of Quink Microfilm Black. Neither are completely full, but both have over half their contents left. I also have an empty bottle and box of the identical stuff. I already decanted it and it is the go to ink if I want to use that color, but it came from the quart bottle.

 

Of course, I would be up front when listing them, letting people know I did exactly what I am proposing.

 

My questions: Is this a good idea? Is this ethical (this is my most important question, please give me your thoughts)? Am I contributing to the hobby that I love by being able to ever so slightly bring to market some goods that would most likely never be shared by others? Or am I harming the hobby by breaking up some collectible items and ruining the value of these items?

 

Thanks. Sorry for the long post. But this has been on my mind. I have a little piece of history here and I want to share responsibly.

[Trexton]

I can see this as something people might be interested in, but not perhaps on the scale that it would require to make it worth your while. We'll see though, it's a nice idea and hope that enough people take interest to render it a workable enterprise.

[Noihvo]

 

[eharriett]

Noihvo: good points. And that is one of my reasons for thinking I should do this. I keep thinking about how much ink has evaporated rather than been used. Even some of these bottles. No way for me to tell if they've been dipped/used or just evaporated. But if the ink keeps being passed from collector to collector and just sits in the collection because it is of value in its quart bottle, then it will eventually just evaporate. I'd like to at least give it a chance to be enjoyed, even if what happens is it just sits in smaller bottles in someone else's collection.

 

And having gone to the DC Pen Show last year and the Ohio show for two years in a row, I think I can honestly say that inks are the underappreciated part of the pen world. I found so many more exciting and underpriced ink buys than pen buys. With the exception of the $100 bottle of Skrip Persian Rose, I bought every ink offer I found.

 

That being said, I probably need to start parting away the inks I'm not using much of again, in addition to the possible decanting strategy I'm asking about.

[eharriett]

I can see this as something people might be interested in, but not perhaps on the scale that it would require to make it worth your while. We'll see though, it's a nice idea and hope that enough people take interest to render it a workable enterprise.

 

Thanks. I guess I'm not sure how I'd even want the economics of it to work out. My preference is not to lose money at it, but overall the cost to me has been so little I'd just be more interested in it getting out to people who might use it rather than making a profit.

[SamCapote]

eharriett, I say go for it, and charge what you want to charge, even to cover you postage and time fiddling, and the higher value of inks that unobtainum now. People are then free to buy or not buy. I don't see the need to try and source original empty bottles, I would just get some smaller ones depending on how much you want to share. Lots of resellers for glass bottles online as one example found with "glass bottles" search.

[Runnin_Ute]

Ruth found some brown "half round" I think they are called to do something similar with if I recall correctly. She would be able to point you in the right direction to find something. I think it would be more cost effective to get that type of bottle than to track down original era empty bottles.

[inkstainedruth]

Ruth found some brown "half round" I think they are called to do something similar with if I recall correctly. She would be able to point you in the right direction to find something. I think it would be more cost effective to get that type of bottle than to track down original era empty bottles.

 

 

 

They're called Boston rounds (they're cylindrical and look like old medicine bottles). I don't remember where I ordered them from at this point, but I just did a Google search for glass bottles and then compared prices (some places had great prices -- IF you you were buying in bulk, as in 1000 bottle case loads -- which of course I wasn't). I got 4 oz. bottles with eyedropper caps, and two oz. ones with regular-ish caps (but which had an insert to help prevent evaporation, IIRC. I bought amber glass, because the cobalt glass bottles were way more expensive.

The advantage of new bottles is that they could be cleaned and sanitized easily, without worrying about losing labels or such (and I would NOT reuse a vintage bottle unless it was sterilized -- you don't know whether there are mold spores in them, after having been empty for so long). I had 2 large bottles of vintage ink, and it was too difficult to use without decanting into something else: the pint bottle of Skrip Peacock was of course a huge amount of ink; while the 8 oz bottle of Quink Violet had a rubber stopper with a cotton wick attached to it (I didn't have the nozzle which I presume one would have used to dispense the ink when you removed the small cap attached to the the rubber stopper). I had no use for large empty bottles, so I gave them away to a guy in my local pen club; I think he was going to display them on a shelf in his office.

The problem of course, eharriett, is that you don't know whether the ink was reconstituted or diluted before you got it. And the ethical thing would be, of course, to say so in the listings. And using new bottles (rather than vintage ones) would make that point.

Says the person who just bought an almost full bottle of Skrip V-mail -- it's one of the jars with the glass inkwell part in the top. It's the first time I've ever seen Sheaffer's version anywhere -- I have a couple of four oz. bottles of Quink Microfilm Black that I've picked up here and there. I haven't even had a chance to try it. I may have paid a bit too much, but we'll see. I don't buy empty bottles -- I'm not a bottle collector.

I'll admit that I have also given some of the decanted ink away -- I didn't try to sell it. The bottle of Quink Violet was pricy, but was a full 8 oz. (the seller said "Museum Quality!"; I said "$6.57 an ounce for purple ink!" ) The Skrip Peacock? $12 US for a 3/4 full pint bottle. Some of the other bottles were about $4-8 apiece, and a woman in one local-ish antiques store flat out *gave* me a partial bottle of vintage Quink Blue-Black because she said she could sell that way (the other Quink bottles, which I think were either two or four oz., were $4 each). I suspect she felt bad because she had bought an entire 12 bottle case of the Blue-Black, and she said she'd bought it still sealed up -- but we checked *every* bottle and they were all empty....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[eharriett]

This is a good idea I didn't think of. And thanks Ruth, for pointing out the ethical emphasis that decanting into different bottles will assist with. It is a fact I had not considered and it is a point well made.

 

I can price some of those out this week, and even compare them with the prices for bottles some of the vendors sell their empties for (every now and then, I think Anderson has a sale of them for about 75 cents for the ones people don't usually want).

[mhguda]

I compliment you for sharing your bounty, and I don't see an ethical problem if you are upfront about the history of these bottles, as you are already doing here. But then I share the point of view of most other posters here: ink is for using in our pens, not for hoarding and storing away...

[eharriett]

Thought I'd do a late add to this post. I was at an antique mall in Findlay, Ohio today looking for a birthday present for a co-worker when I stumbled on the biggest freaking bottle of Skrip I have ever seen!! And less than $20!! It is about 3/4 full. I think there's a slight leak, but either way, no one would ever use this if I left it intact. Something good to possibly part out to other interested parties. I want to try and get ahold of a stash of new model Skrip bottles (the ones without the well) since they're most likely the ones able to hold a seal, and begin parting out.

 

[Barkingpig]

I grew up on that ink; we lived on a horse farm (where my Mother was employed) & that was her business ink because it closed matched the royal blue racing silks, of their racing stable. Her office letterheads included a horse & jockey, wearing the silks & she always signed all correspondence with Skript Royal Blue. I have a few partially used bottles from her desk & although it is not a favored blue of mine, it is surely recognizable.

 

She merely purchased the regular sized bottles of it from a local office supply store. This was in the late 1940s thru mid 1960s & she probably wouldn't have been interested in the large bottle, even if it had been available. I have perhaps a half dozen of these large bottles (both 16 & 32oz) besides Waterman, Carters & Diamond large bottles. I fear I would have to bring home almost any different large sized bottle, just because I think they are so unique.

 

Congratulations on your find & enjoy the ink!

[inkstainedruth]

What's the capacity of that bottle? It looks a lot like the 3/4 full pint bottle of Skrip Peacock I found several summers ago in a place up in Fryburg, PA (north of Clarion).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[eharriett]

What's the capacity of that bottle? It looks a lot like the 3/4 full pint bottle of Skrip Peacock I found several summers ago in a place up in Fryburg, PA (north of Clarion).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

This one says 32 oz. And it sure is. There's at least 24 left, by my untrained eye.

 

I'd never seen one this big. Lots of 16 oz ones and I have a 16 oz of Purple I had to decant the ink from because the seal was gone. This one really is twice the size. Had no idea they went this large.

[Drubbing]

Just slightly OT if I could...

 

After a long lay off from my vintage pens (bought 15+ years ago), I've just started using fountains again. I got a Lamy Vista and TWSBI Eco. I bought some new inks, but I also I have a couple of old ones - a Parker Quink black and blue black. Both are at least 15 years old, one probably way more. These have been stored in a drawer for all that time.

 

I understand old inks are safe to use, but these 2 have a bit of crud around the cap and bottle threads making them hard to get on an off. I've cleaned one up, taking care not to get any crud near the ink and filled my Lamy. All seems good, but is a cruddy cap a concern?

[mhguda]

I don't think crud on the cap would be a problem. I've bought old Quink bottles and had some crud on the caps, but I figured it was just dried ink. Same would happen when I left my bottle unused for too long. I just rinse it off under running water (taking care not to get water inside the bottle), dry the threads (on bottle AND cap) and am good to go again.

Enjoy your pens and ink! and btw, welcome to FPN...

[inkstainedruth]

Drubbing, I think as long as the caps aren't broken or rusty you're probably okay.

Some people recommend wiping the threads on bottles after inking up a pen (if for no reason other than to keep your hands clean...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[eharriett]

Drubbing, I agree with Ruth, but I'd add a couple things I've learned recently.

 

First: take a close look at the top of the ink next time you have the cap off and everything hasn't been disturbed for a bit (no shaking or sloshing). Is it clean or do you see bits of anything floating on the top. If you see pieces of that crud, did it just fall from the cap when you opened it or is it something else?

 

Second: Is the seal on the bottle still good when you close it? Has there been any evaporation over time?

 

If the ink is clean but it appears to be slowly disappearing (evaporating), go to your favorite retailer that sells samples and purchase a new empty bottle of your favorite shape and transfer the ink so you can salvage it (clean and sterilize the bottle first, for heavan's sake!). I find I am having to do that with a lot of my vintage Sheaffer inks, but not so much with the Parkers or Watermans.

[johnboz]

What's the capacity of that bottle?

 

Here's a fun-fact about vintage Skrip bottles. All inks have a number assigned to them. In this case, Permanent Royal Blue is #5. The numbers that follow are the bottle capacity. So in this case 532 means a 32-ounce bottle of Royal Blue. You'll see the smaller bottles are 502 (2-ounce), 504 (4-ounce) and 516 (16-ounce).