Is This Montblanc Blue-Black Counterfeit?

[lampwater]

I picked up a 50ml bottle of Montblanc Blue-Black ink at a large stationery store here in Asia.

 

It's not the kind of place I would expect to find counterfeits (they don't stock anything high end, apart from some Rotring 500 pencils, and don't sell to tourists or people who would be impressed by brands).

 

And, the price was about $10... given the old-style rounded tip shoe design, I figured this was a bottle that had been sitting in their stock since back when $10 was the going rate for these inks.

 

The bottle has the proper inlaid white mountain top, it's not painted on.

 

However...

 

When I compare the ink to my usual stand-by Pelikan 4001 blue, the Pelikan writes much more smoothly. The Montblanc is much thinner in consistency.

 

Next to the Pelikan 4001 the color of the Montblanc also seems thin by comparison. The Pelikan is much more vivid.

 

The Montblanc also seems to develop bubbles much more easily, and takes longer to settle.

 

I've never used Montblanc inks before, which is why I bought it. What are the odds I got a knockoff?

Edited November 15, 2017 by lampwater

[Chrissy]

I'm not good at calculating odds, but as I wouldn't describe Montblanc B-B ink as thin and watery, you might have ink that has either gone off or isn't authentic.

[Parker51]

Can you date the bottle?

Currently MB ink has an expiration date.

This has been a question.

Other inks do not have expiration dates.

Some vintage inks age quite well; they are useable upwards of 60 years after production, while others do seem to get watery at that age, or conversely dry out.

Perhaps you have the answer to the reason MB has expiration dates, they aren't stable for more than 20 years?

If so, that might be your answer; the one you suggested, it is new old stock, say 30 years old and it may not have been stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment for the entire time it aged.

[Pickwick]

Give the bottle a shake which worked for me. I inherited an MB Black which had made in West Germany on the label which might have been in the the 80s if not before. Not sure why MB give an expiration date because I had no problems.

[MarkTrain]

Around 2010 Montblanc reformulated their inks (also changed naming, bottle design, bottle volume, added expiration dates and so on). Your ink sounds like it is just the older (pre-2010) formulation blue black which was iron gall and as such has probably gone off.

 

 

BTW. To complicate things, Montblanc reformulated their new (2010) "Midnight Blue" version around 2014, removing the iron gall.

Edited November 15, 2017 by MarkTrain

[fabri00]

I remember bubbles in the old MB inks.

[Tas]

Do you still have the box? The numbers on it will tell you if it's the original iron gall ink (gorgeous) or the latter non iron gall formula (not quite as gorgeous but nice nonetheless)

[lampwater]

I don't have the box, but I can go by the shop and look at the boxes they have left in stock.

 

What should I look for in the part numbers?

 

Regarding it having gone off, this is a non air conditioned shop in the middle of quasi tropical southeast Asia... it's usually 25-30 deg C here during the daytime and that's in winter!

So while it would not have been exposed to sunlight, it was CERTAINLY stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment...

 

...one in which the temperatures were assured to vary from hot-hot-hot (day) to kind of cool (night) and the humidity was firmly kept on the high side!

Edited November 16, 2017 by lampwater

[OCArt]

My notes say that the old MB Blue Black Iron Gall formula is Art No. 105191, sku 33IG 12574 Good luck.

[lampwater]

Thanks!

Followup question: if I go back to the store, what are the chances a regular Montblanc Blue (or another vintage MB ink) would have kept better, and be worth buying?

[Chrissy]

I have old shape Montblanc Royal Blue and Emerald Green bottles that I use regularly. I'm not sure exactly how old they are though.

[ErrantSmudge]

 

Thanks!

Followup question: if I go back to the store, what are the chances a regular Montblanc Blue (or another vintage MB ink) would have kept better, and be worth buying?

 

 

 

For the old shape bottles, it's worth buying them even if you end up dumping the ink out.

[Noihvo]

[lampwater]

@OCArt: I went back and checked. Both the Blue-Black ("For Documents") and the Royal Blue ("Washable") are marked with Art-No. 39100.

 

However, the Blue-Black has 25743 on the tab of the box, whereas the Royal Blue has 25741 on the box tab. A mystery!

 

The Blue-Black box has "With Supercleaner SC-21" on the bottom.

 

Neither boxes nor bottle are marked with an expiration date in either case.

 

 

@ErrantSmudge: Unfortunately I am a very active traveller, so (unbreakable, lightweight) plastic bottles are very much preferable to (breakable, heavy) glass. I do love the Montblanc bottle shape, though.

 

In the interest of not throwing away the classic Montblanc bottles, PM me your address and you may get a package from some exotic place

 

(bonus points if you have some interesting, smooth-writing ink in a plastic bottle to trade! Offer is open to everyone in the thread.)

 

@Nohivo: Thanks! And GORGEOUS pen, which is that?

[Noihvo]

[…]

 

@Nohivo: Thanks! And GORGEOUS pen, which is that?

 

[Jerome Tarshis]

It is nice to think those Montblanc expiration dates are a mere untruthful selling tactic. Would that it were true, because that would mean the inks would in truth last and last, the way inks of long-ago decades have.

 

Alas, no. The EU, a moralistic organization, is endeavoring to help save the planet by discouraging the use of nasty biocides whose murderous effects last a long time. Good for ink, those biocides; arguably not so good for the planet. So MB's inks of more recent years have different biocides in them, actually intended *not* to be effective for years and years and years.

 

The Japanese are not under EU regulation. I don't use Sailor or other Japanese inks myself, but one may read here on FPN and elsewhere, that some of those inks are delightfully redolent of phenol, which until recently helped keep inks fresh in the Occident.

 

One can add phenol to inks no longer manufactured with it. I haven't thought it worth the effort; others disagree.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The EU wants to you to waste money, buying new ink, when if one was thrifty...ink could be taken off inheritance taxes of your grandchildren.

[Pickwick]

 

The EU wants to you to waste money, buying new ink, when if one was thrifty...ink could be taken off inheritance taxes of your grandchildren.

 

 

I can testify to that. I found a bottle of Waterman Aztec ink some years ago my Father-in-law bought with a 10c label still on it, and wote numerous letters with no problem.

[lampwater]

@ Noihvo : thanks again for the note on aniline inks! I went back and picked up the (aniline) Royal Blue and the color is just gorgeous

 

Haven't been able to try it in my daily writer fountain pens yet (still have to finish up the fill of the Blue-Black) so I can't really review its writing qualities ... but I like what I've seen with a dip pen! A much nicer blue than the very luminescent, almost childish Pelikan 4001.

 

In other news, I need more plastic bottles...