Diamine Grape - Montblanc Violet Quick Comparison

[Penman222]

It has been reported that Montblanc has pulled its Violet/Lavender Purple (VLP) ink off the market in much the same way it discontinued the much beloved British Racing Green. I have had one bottle of the MB Violet for about three years, and have used about half of the bottle in that time. I think it is a great ink, but obviously I am not a heavy user of this color if it takes me six years to go through one bottle.

 

I began thinking about a suitable replacement for MB VLP, even though I still had a couple year supply of the ink in my current opened bottle. I am also a big fan of Diamine inks so I searched the Diamine catalog for a suitable replacement color in their selection of 100 ink colors. Diamine Grape seemed like a good match. A couple of weeks ago I ordered an 80ml bottle directly from Diamine as I always do and it arrived in the mail today. I have put together a quick and dirty comparison of the two inks, and I found that they are similar in many ways.

 

The Diamine Grape is everything I hoped for, and I would be happy using it as my dark purple ink from this time forward. Both inks had many positive qualities, and neither had any real negative qualities.

 

I am not very good at describing fine differences in colors, but the MB VLP seems to have more a blue tint compared to the Diamine Grape which looks more reddish. Hopefully my scan picks up the color differences between the two inks.

 

In any case, I think that Diamine Grape is a suitable if not exact replacement for MB VLP.

 

-bhbarto

[Edwaroth]

The Montblanc seems a tad bluer. I love Diamine Grape but have been smitten by Biberry!

[Bo Bo Olson]

What gramage is that staples pad?

 

Would a better paper give shading of either?

[Fabienne]

They look almost identical to me. Ah well, you do have 6 years to come up with a perfect replacement, so don't despair. MB might introduce your PERFECT purple within those 6 years. In the meantime, why don't you experiment with Black Swan In North African Violets? Search for the recipe here, get yourself some sample sizes of Noodler's Heart of Darkness and North African Violets and have a ball. I think you will be highly entertained by it's shading and lovely color!

[georges zaslavsky]

Nice color and nice review thanks for sharing

[raging.dragon]

Diamine Damson, Amethyst or Imperial Purple might also be suitable alternates. I'm partial to Private Reserve DC Super Violet and P.W. Akkerman Voorhout Violet, though neither are particularly close to being the same colour as MB Violet/Lavender.