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Herlitz Königsblau (Royal Blue) Vs Pelikan 4001 Königsblau


AidenMark

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An 'Inky Thoughts' thread is collating the most expensive/least expensive inks. Herlitz ink was my suggestion for cheapest retail non-bulk and I believe it is as yet without a review in this forum.

 

Herlitz is a brand found in German supermarkets and is aimed at the office and school market. They offer notebooks, a variety of pens including fountain pens, protractors, erasers, binders and blue and black ink in bottles and cartridges. 30ml glass bottles of Herliz Royal Blue can be had for under two Euros.

 

OOJ9TcPtgAxuFPj8aDAsk8JtFJOgGY02Lbc5u6lr

 

Having R&K, Kaweco and Pelikan 4001 royal-blue ink in my draw there was never much temptation to try it, but last weekend, a 'how bad can it be' curiosity struck. I picked up 10 universal cartridges in the local ReWe supermarket for €1.95 (they didn't have a bottle). These are the long, reversible cartridges (one end fits Pelikan, the other Lamy)  and they contain about 2ml each. So that's around 20ml for €1.95, or 1cent/ml in cartridge or 0.7cent/ml in glass bottles.

 

I fired up the Otto Hutt #4 medium nib and took the Herlitz for a test drive. The flow was good, the lubrication pleasing - this is not thin watery ink, the colour was typical school blue on the Rhodia paper but a deeper rather pleasing blue on coated paper. From the selection of royal blues my preference would be Rohrer&Klingner royal-blue but the Herlitz seemed every bit as good as Pelikan 4001. 

 

So who makes it? Consulting the package it turned out to be ... Pelikan. Wait a minute ... The scan below is a direct comparison between 4001 Royal Blue and Herliz. It was difficult to control the quantity of ink from the cartridge in the swab tests but I believe ...  well, what do you think?

 

046Ul147hk9Ve_YRuJOqDrXXVrU8y-cLgZp7ZSkO

 

The Lamy Safari is the standard school pen in German schools and probably Pelikan don't want to make Lamy compatible cartridges under their own brand, hence they sell the ink under the Herlitz name at a budget line, mum friendly price. Pelikan 4001 Royal-blue double length cartridges cost a little more:t €3.50 for 10. It's not a big difference: the strategy is likely driven by brand association. Further evidence: Herlitz glass bottles are identical to 4001 bottles.

 

Since the Otto Hutt was was fully inked it accompanied me to work this week. I enjoyed writing with this well behaved, washable and legible Herlitz blue. After a day or so in the pen the colour deepened towards the more attractive tone you see in the cotton swap area. It's great for work: once dry, the ink is never smeary on the page, so your shirt cuffs don't turn blue, cartridges keep your fingers clean and, well, there is not much to dislike at the price.

 

I am curious to try their black ink should I ever see it in the supermarket.

Less is More - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Less is a Bore - Robert Venturi

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An 'Inky Thoughts' thread is collating the most expensive/least expensive inks. Herlitz ink was my suggestion for cheapest retail non-bulk and I believe it is as yet without a review in this forum.

 

Herlitz is a brand found in German supermarkets and is aimed at the office and school market. They offer notebooks, a variety of pens including fountain pens, protractors, erasers, binders and blue and black ink in bottles and cartridges. 30ml glass bottles of Herliz Royal Blue can be had for under two Euros.

(...)

I am curious to try their black ink should I ever see it in the supermarket.

Herlitz products are also available in Austria, particularly the stationary discounters like PARGRO have them, and even the tiniest SPAR grocery shops sell them.

 

I once bought a dozen or so Herlitz Pelikan-style cartridges, colour "Nightblue". I was (still am) absolutely pleased, it's a really good super-dark blue, without black in it! Unfortunately, they've discontinued this particular "Nightblue" ink, at least I haven't found them again, neither here in any shop in Austria, nor in Herlitz's online-catalogue :(

all välgång
Alexander W.–G.

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To add some more confusion: Apparently, one can buy (in Germany I guess) also Pelikan ink in NON-reversible cartridges that fit Lamy only (!), see here:

 

 

$_57.JPG

all välgång
Alexander W.–G.

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Thank you for the comparison, I'm a long time user of Pelikan Royal blue and appreciate the advantage of fuss free use you have just described.

I like the colour, I like that after some time in the pen it gets a little darker, I like how it flows, I like the drying characteristics (fast and no smears).

Admittedly Royal blue has one problem, with time it tends to fade.

I have several examples of this happening.

Whenever I fill a pen I write with it in a booklet, jot down the pen, the ink and the date, so that I can always trace what ink is in what pen.

In the booklet the Royal blue notes always end up fading after a while (Clairfontaine paper).

 

That is a slight pity (although a consequent characteristic of this being a washable/erasable ink).

I usually address this by making up my own mixes with it, and adding a touch of a darker blue or black to it.

My latest mix 4 parts to 1 with Diamine Sargasso sea is here https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/351920-royal-mix/

I'm testing the fading now...

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To add some more confusion: Apparently, one can buy (in Germany I guess) also Pelikan ink in NON-reversible cartridges that fit Lamy only (!), see here:

 

 

I had to look at the image for a while to convince myself they were not whiteboard markers. Interesting, I didn't know that.

Edited by AidenMark

Less is More - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Less is a Bore - Robert Venturi

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Yep have a few of those colourful long carts, they came with Pelikan kiddy pens... design can be seen thru long windows in barrel.

 

Also big fan of Herlitz Lamy-und-Standard carts too... they work just fine in Lamy and Parkers ;) their Black and Blue inks are fuss free & reliable.

 

Currently have a Herlitz mypen inked up on the desk, along with a Herlitz rollerball and an older Herlitz schoolie plastic pen. Their FP nibs are nicely wet & they'll take a licking.

 

 

Corporate wise, afaik Herlitz is now owned by Pelikan who themselves got bought by foreign investors and is now listed on the Malaysian stock exchange :) so I now call it a Malaysian brand.

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I usually address this by making up my own mixes with it, and adding a touch of a darker blue or black to it.

My latest mix 4 parts to 1 with Diamine Sargasso sea is here https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/351920-royal-mix/

I'm testing the fading now...

 

 

I'll have to try that. I like Sargasso but used on its own I find it smear-prone and smelly.

Less is More - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Less is a Bore - Robert Venturi

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Herlitz used to manufacture their own pens and own inks etc. etc.. As said above, basically for school-use. That company was then bought out by Pelikan about 10 years ago, so I assumed that Herlitz's Royal Blue is now the same as Pelikan's Royal Blue. I wrote a post on that and showed scans of those 2 inks somewhere in this forum, but don't ask me where it is now....

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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I thought it was common knowledge that Pelikan inks were sold under several names.

 

Many companies that sell fountain pens and want to offer ink under their name get their ink from Pelikan.

They did produce the old Cross inks (those that were "made in Germany"); the new ones are made in China.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if all Royal Blue inks in Europe were the same ink from Pelikan - with very few exemptions.

 

It may pay off for high-profile companies like Montblanc or Lamy to develop their own ink recipe,

but companies specialized in low-budget school-stuff will not bother to create thier own batch of ink
when they can easily get good ink for small money to sell under their brand.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

I had to look at the image for a while to convince myself they were not whiteboard markers. Interesting, I didn't know that.

here with proper package:

 

$_57.JPG

all välgång
Alexander W.–G.

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