Waterman's Patrician Purple

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I like old ink (and pens)

This is not a secret

Why? Because when vintage ink was made, it had to WORK. Period.

It wasn't boutique or eccentric.

Fountain pens were PENS, not bling (ok, some were bling, but they still had to function as pens, without fail!)

So badly behaving ink was an impediment to writing!

People were FAR less likely to tolerate misbehaviour, be it bleeding, feathering, clogging of pens, etc.

Think of it this way:

What do you do when you are FORCED by circumstance to use a ballpoint, and then that ballpoint doesn't work within the first 5 seconds or so?

That's right, you throw it in the freaking garbage, swear about how bad ballpoints are, and grab another one. (and maybe even another one after that...)

Back in the day, ink was likely the same way. If you loaded your pen with ink, and more than once that ink let you down?...

There's a pretty good chance you threw it out and bought a different ink!

As such, Vintage ink was made when it HAD to work.

And that brings us to today's ink

Waterman's Patrician Purple (note the 's in the name)

My bottle is NOS I purchased on eBay in Jun/Jul 2020 and was manufactured in Montreal.

Bottle, box and Aqua/Pastel Blue Sentinel Snorkel used for testing

Colour Swatch

Rhodia Webnotebook (paper is slightly off white in real life)

Chromatography done twice to verify results

Text is transcribed below for searchability and due to terrible handwriting

21 Jul 20

Waterman's Patrician

Purple 2oz bottle from

eBay Jun/Jul 2020. Bottle

is NOS from the 1950's (i think)

This ink is pale/

washed out. I'm not

sure how much of

that is due to age.

The flow is average/dry

and the ink is well

behaved as expected from

Waterman's. After it

dries this ink seems

to grow on you with

its understated nature.

[Dry Times]

Would buy again?

Maybe/NA

Waterman's

Patrician Purple

Eco 1.1 MM

Aqua Sentinel

Shading: Low/Medium

Saturation: Low

Feathering: Nil

Spread: Nil

Bleed: Nil

Cleaning: P.I.T.A

[water tests]

Notes: Yes, it's that

water resistant! It's also

a PITA to clean. Only

a couple of hrs in the

Eco and it had started to

stain/leave a residue.

Clairefontaine paper (very white paper)

Waterman Waterman's

Tender Purple Patrician Purple

Sheaffer Sheaffer

Aqua/Pastel Blue Aqua/Pastel Blue

Snorkel Sentinel Snorkel Sentinel

The quick brown The quick brown

fox jumps over fox jumps over

the lazy dog the lazy dog

1234567890 1234567890

Twsbi Eco 1.1 mm

The quick brown

fox jumps over

the lazy dog

1234567890

The chromatography should have been a clue as to how much of a PITA this ink was going to be to clean out.

(think Noodler's Rome Burning)

Purple inks of course have a reputation for staining, and this one certainly lives up to that reputation.

That said, I guess that was much less of a concern when the overwhelming majority of pens were NOT demonstrators.

If you can't see the inside of the pen... how would you even know it was getting stained!?

So that's it.

That's Waterman's Patrician Purple

It's hard to find, can be expensive, the colour is washed out and will somehow still stain your pen!

But hey, at least it's well behaved on paper!

[LizEF]

It's hard to find, can be expensive, the colour is washed out and will somehow still stain your pen!

But hey, at least it's well behaved on paper!

A ringing endorsement! Thanks for another fun vintage review. I don't think I'm going to expend much effort looking for this one.

[lapis]

Thanks for the news and whole review. Still sort of a conundrum insamuch as I like the history (and getting a piece of it onto my shelf and on paper) but dislike the actual colour of the ink itself....

[inkstainedruth]

I'd be interested to see a side by side with this and (modern) Waterman Tender Purple; and also side by sides with other vintage purple inks, such as Quink Permanent (and Washable) Violet.

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[namrehsnoom]

Cool! Thanks for showing this vintage ink. Colourwise too pale - even for me.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

A ringing endorsement! Thanks for another fun vintage review. I don't think I'm going to expend much effort looking for this one.

glad you liked it

 

Thanks for the news and whole review. Still sort of a conundrum insamuch as I like the history (and getting a piece of it in my shelf and on paper) but dislike the actual colour of the ink itself....

i don't find the colour BAD, but i do find it underwhelming. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkN_qkN5JLQ, just an excuse to post this awesome song)

 

I'd be interested to see a side by side with this and (modern) Waterman Tender Purple; and also side by sides with other vintage purple inks, such as Quink Permanent (and Washable) Violet.

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

well, the pic of the Clairefontaine paper does show it next to Tender Purple, and the snorkel writing is from the same pen a few days apart.

As to Quink, i've been watching some on eBay, but none has been reasonably priced.

 

Cool! Thanks for showing this vintage ink. Colourwise too pale - even for me.

you're welcome. And yes, it IS pale, but it's weird, as it dried and i got to the bottom of the page, i found i liked it more than i did at the start of the page... and i had used it for a couple of days and it was the same... coming out of the pen its VERY "meh" but by the end of the page it's... i donno... endearing?... but still underwhelming?,... i donno, i have mixed feelings about it

Edited July 31, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[I-am-not-really-here]

A quick dip using an Eagle lever pen shows much darker than yours. But as the ink ran out the color intensity dropped off precipitously.

 

Water alone did not remove the ink stain from the feed (it is a clear feed so very easy to tell) though an hour or two in pen flush appears to be working.

 

Now testing in a J Herbin cartridge rollerball.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Please post your pics! Would be interesting to see the difference

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[I-am-not-really-here]

All that a single dip allowed -

 

I might burn a TWSBI to get a more complete look.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I remove the nib and feed from a TWSBI Eco and then use a cheap eye dropper to put about .5ml into the pen. Then disassemble the pen to clean it.

 

Your ink appears to have aged somewhat better than mine. Thank you for posting

 

Yours also seems bluer than mine

 

It should be noted that my TWSBI Eco is a medium/wet writing stub so my samples with the Eco is the “best case” scenario for my bottle. But i May try a dip to see how it goes...

[I-am-not-really-here]

I remove the nib and feed from a TWSBI Eco and then use a cheap eye dropper to put about .5ml into the pen. Then disassemble the pen to clean it.

 

Your ink appears to have aged somewhat better than mine. Thank you for posting

 

Yours also seems bluer than mine

 

It should be noted that my TWSBI Eco is a medium/wet writing stub so my samples with the Eco is the “best case” scenario for my bottle. But i May try a dip to see how it goes...

I will be using an ECO with an off-the-shelf 1.1 Stub on Clairefontaine.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I will be using an ECO with an off-the-shelf 1.1 Stub on Clairefontaine.

awesome, thats what i used

[corniche]

Hello IThink,

 

One of those very rare instances where I prefer the MODERN Waterman to the the VINTAGE Waterman,... but it had to happen someday.

 

Thanks for the vintage review(s). 👍

 

 

- Sean

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

you're welcome!

 

and yes, i'm pretty sure i prefer the modern as well.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Apologies for the late picture, I am battling tendonitis in my right thumb, which makes for even crummier handwriting and not so steady pictures.

 

In re: my noted comment, there is a sample of Tender Purple en route.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

I don’t think it looks like tender purple

 

Buy i am jealous. Your bottle has aged much better than mine did

[I-am-not-really-here]

I don’t think it looks like tender purple

 

Buy i am jealous. Your bottle has aged much better than mine did

What does it say on the side of your box regarding manufacture location? Mine says Made in USA, New York, N.Y. By L.E. Waterman Co.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

MADE BY

L.E.WATERMAN CO.

MONTREAL - CANADA

 

what stands out as weird is that it doesn't have french text on it... usually things are either completely bilingual, or at least partially bilingual...

[I-am-not-really-here]

Manufactured in Montreal for distribution throughout Canada. Why would it be bilingual?

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Because Canada's Second largest province by population (Quebec, which is where Montreal is) is 77% french first language.

It was probably an even higher % back in the day.

New Brunswick is 31.6% French first language

I grew up in a city where something like 45% of the population spoke french.

 

French is one of the two official languages of Canada.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language_in_Canada#Quebec