Do You Have A Signature Color For Signatures?

[Manalto]

As a fountain-pen advocate in a world dominated by ball points, I've chosen Waterman 'Inspired Blue' ('South Seas') for my public scribbling. It's gently attention-getting and unmistakable as a fountain pen ink. Its lack of permanence doesn't bother me; in fact, I like imagining someone saying, "Hey, there used to be a signature here." I'm not an oceanographer so it's not a major issue.

 

Private communications are most often written and signed, according to tradition, in brown or sepia.

 

Dark colors, while elegant, can be easily ignored by those who are not fountain pen enthusiasts.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Manalto

[ethernautrix]

Usually Noodler's Black, cos it's what I use in my favorite pens which are the pens I carry everyday.

[BaronWulfraed]

No particular ink -- though I tend to use B or small stub nibs for signatures, and tend to load those pens with some shade of blue (though the pen on my computer desk currently has "Regal" (a purple)).

[N1003U]

My go-tos for signatures are Diamine Presidential Blue, is Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite, or whatever Waterman is calling their blue-black this week.

[inkstainedruth]

For signing checks I tend to use something relatively water resistant: Noodler's Kung Te Cheng, 54th Massachusetts, Heart of Darkness and El Lawrence; and (more recently) Sailor Souboku. Before my bank got bought out by a larger one, they insisted that I use "blue" or "black" -- but didn't bat an eye EVER over KTC (for "blue") and El Lawrence (for "black").

Last week when signing the papers for the re-fi of the line of credit, the guy wasn't overly enamored of the idea of me using purple (Nemosine Alpha Centauri) so I used vintage Quink Permanent Royal Blue which is currently in the Plum Demi Parker 51....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ENewton]

I use purple for almost everything, but which purple I use depends on the season:

 

• Sailor Kobe Suma Purple is my favorite for autumn
• TAG Kyoto Soft Snow of Ohara is my favorite for winter
• Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu is my favorite for spring
• Rohrer & Klingner Aubergine is my favorite for summer, recently displacing Montblanc Lavender Purple

[Tom Kellie]

~ It's been such a long time since any signature was ever required.

Therefore no particular ink.

Tom K.

[sciumbasci]

Used ad enjoyed R&K Scabiosa, but people tend to frown upon such colours, especially if you're a man.

I wouldn't mind to try some Turquoise.

[silverlifter]

Used ad enjoyed R&K Scabiosa, but people tend to frown upon such colours, especially if you're a man.

I wouldn't mind to try some Turquoise.

 

Check out KWZ Iron Gall Turquoise. Great colour, awesome performance.

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

Some real interesting responses; I can see the permanence issue is still raging on with permanent inks in the clear majority.

 

Maybe I'm just a lucky guy, but I've never really had the need for them and the couple times I've tried them, my pens clogged.

 

 

Sean

[A Smug Dill]

I can see the permanence issue is still raging on with permanent inks in the clear majority.

 

Maybe I'm just a lucky guy, but I've never really had the need for them and the couple times I've tried them, my pens clogged.

I haven't had any trouble with my favourite pigment inks — Sailor souboku and seiboku, and Platinum Carbon Black — clogging my pens, but I always try to use them in pens known to seal very effectively against ink evaporation when unused. That could be just about any Sailor pen above >$30, a $300 Platinum #3776 Century kanazawa-haku or $3 Platinum Preppy pen. Pelikan and Aurora piston-fillers would probably be OK too.

 

For signing the paperwork at my wedding last year, I chose Sailor seiboku pigment ink, because it is sufficiently quick-drying, almost completely waterproof in ten seconds flat, and well on the blue end of the spectrum of ink colours with which one can be expected to sign official documents. Good thing I did, too; the celebrant — who my wife and I have already observed to be rather careless from previous meetings — mindlessly put our marriage certificate face down on something slightly uneven and damp, a few minutes after it was signed and before it was handed to us! There are now a couple of creases on the certificate, but all the signatures were completely intact, without smudging or smearing.

 

For signing personal correspondence, I'm still searching for a suitable ink.

[rennfahrer]

I used to exclusively use Montblanc Racing Green and the. Omas Sepia. Ive been kind of lost since a couple of years due to Omas going away.

[azbobcat]

Private Reserve "Blue Suede"

[Mercian]

For cheque-writing I would actually be tempted to write the name of the payee and the amount to pay using permanent/bulletproof/eternal ink, but for the signature to use something delicate & ephemeral like a washable blue.

 

I don’t want anybody altering the name of the payee, or the amount that I’m paying, so I want the ink for that to be as durable and tamper-proof as possible.

For my signature (the bit that authorises payment) I don’t want that hanging round for ever, or even for long enough for it to be copyable by forgers*.

I expect that the recipient will be motivated enough by their desire for payment to keep the physical cheque safe for long enough to cash it without fading of the signature ever becoming an issue.

 

* Yes, I do admit that I have now developed an uncomfortable rash from my tinfoil hat. But, as any fule kno, that’s only because the latest generation of NSA chemtrails have been developed to make its edges corrode. Trufax!

[A Smug Dill]

... for the signature to use something delicate & ephemeral like a washable blue.

_...‹snip›...

I expect that the recipient will be motivated enough by their desire for payment to keep the physical cheque safe for long enough to cash it without fading of the signature ever becoming an issue.

Don't cheques — including personal cheques — have a limited validity period, say, six months from the date of issue, after which the bank does not have to honour them? An ink that is known to fade rather quickly, such as Noodler's Baystate Blue, might just fit the bill, if by your own testing on the paper used for your chequebook it will remain legible for just that long.

 

That said, these days just about everyone has (at least) one camera in their pocket or bag all the time, so an image or facsimile of effectively everything you've put on paper and handed to someone else could well hang around forever outside of your control.

[sansenri]

honestly, no. I sign with the inks that's in the pen, it's always some kind of blue anyway...

[Mercian]

Don't cheques — including personal cheques — have a limited validity period, say, six months from the date of issue, after which the bank does not have to honour them? An ink that is known to fade rather quickly, such as Noodler's Baystate Blue, might just fit the bill, if by your own testing on the paper used for your chequebook it will remain legible for just that long.

 

That said, these days just about everyone has (at least) one camera in their pocket or bag all the time, so an image or facsimile of effectively everything you've put on paper and handed to someone else could well hang around forever outside of your control.

 

You are right about both things - e.g. two of my friends have told me that they can now pay cheques in to their personal bank accounts just by opening their bank’s phone app and taking a photograph of the cheque.

I prefer to go in to a branch of my bank - both because I am a cantankerous old Luddite, and because I like to have the legal security of getting a receipt from the bank that has been stamped & signed by one of its cashiers. The same when I pay my bills.

 

Like I said before, I acknowledge that many people might regard me as un-necessarily overcautious (or, if you prefer, paranoid), but a lifetime of dealing with UK companies has (sadly) taught me to place my trust ONLY in those hard-copy forms of verifiable proof that are admissible as evidence in a Court of Law.

 

So I am particularly irked by the fact that all the UK banks are engaged in a race with each other to close as many branches as possible (especially to not be the last branch to have a branch in any given town, in case some future govt requires the ‘last bank’ to be kept open).

 

Also, having had to jump through all the damn hoops that banks require you to when dealing with probate - twice - I know that some things (e.g. verification of govt-issued legal documents, proof of your id, etc) can ONLY be done in-branch, and that until those things are done the bank keeps YOUR money and WON’T let you access it.

There is NOT “an app for that”, and there NEVER will be.

[BaronWulfraed]

 

That said, these days just about everyone has (at least) one camera in their pocket or bag all the time, so an image or facsimile of effectively everything you've put on paper and handed to someone else could well hang around forever outside of your control.

It's even worse... Many banks have "apps" for phones which can deposit checks by capturing front&back sides and sending them to some level of clearing processor. Paper checks no longer get sent from bank to bank for clearing -- just images.