The appeal of Parker Penman Sapphire

[Dip n Scratch]

What is it with that particular ink that makes it extra-special?

Made from the tears of Angels?? Maybe it sheens like crazy?

There has to be something that causes the silly asking price for a unopened bottle of Sapphire. Obviously something is only worth what two people determine to be a fair price & the bay of evil is not always closely connected with reality.

What is it's closest equivalent?

I have Diamine Sargasso Sea and some cartridges of Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue. Sargasso Sea sheens. I think the PR ink is just a very saturated blue. The cartridges are the extra-long ones.

[Paul-in-SF]

Anecdote, of marginal utility at best: about 4 years ago I found a partially-used bottle of Penman Sapphire that I had put away when I gave up on using fountain pens at work, at least 20 years before. It had thickened somewhat, so I thinned it back out with distilled water (possibly not the best choice, but what did I know?) to a reasonable consistency. Under those circumstances, it had a very lush appearance and feeling when writing, and it had massive red sheening. Later I came to suspect that these characteristics might have gotten exaggerated due to the amount of time spent in storage, so I still don't know for sure what a new bottle would have been like (I don't remember my own bottle when it was new). 

[lapis]

Best "substitutes" I know of are -- in any ol' order -- Noodler's "Blue" (which takes forever to dry), and DCWaites' faux recipe (one of a dozen or so IIRC), namely

40 parts PR American Blue, 8 parts Waterman Green, 5 parts (New formula) Quink B/B [4 parts if Vintage Quink]

You can find more on that here and elsewhere, that "here" link being 13 years old....

[Trekker]

The easiest substitute is Scribe Indigo (https//scribetc.com) that's available from the original developer (Dr. Leighton Davies-Smith) of Penman Sapphire.

[bunnspecial]

I'm someone with...well...multiple bottles put back of every Penman color.

 

Sapphire to me is a great reference for what I want in a blue. It's a rich blue(I'd call it a cobalt blue type color) with a pleasant but not over the top amount of sheen and also an ink that will shade(despite the insistence on here that saturated inks can't shade) and is moderately well behaved in most circumstances. Scribe Indigo is a reasonable substitute, although by design it's a bit less saturated and a bit better behaved.

 

Ebony to me is a nothing special ink. It's a rich deep black, but I'm not really that big on black inks. When I need one, 4001 Brilliant Black is all I need. Mocha is interesting but nto a color I find that appealing.

 

Emerald and Ruby are great inks also. Emerald is a nice green that shades to near black, which makes it interesting. Ruby I don't really know how to describe but I love it.

[Mercian]

13 hours ago, Dip n Scratch said:

What is it with that particular ink that makes it extra-special?

I bought some cartridges of it (along with some of Penman Ebony, Emerald, Ruby, and Mocha) in ~2000.

 

The Penman range were the first inks that I had used other than the Washable Blues made by Platignum & Parker, or Quink Black.

 

The drop-dead-gorgeous deep-blue colour of PPS was an absolute revelation to me!

I had tried my Ebony, Mocha, and Emerald first, but when I tried the Sapphire I just used-up all five cartridges one after another. When I had used them all I decided to definitely buy a bottle - but when I went back to the store where I’d bought my cartridges I found that it had been discontinued, and that it was now Unobtainium 😭

 

It was a smeary ink, and had water-resistance that I would characterise as ‘imaginary’, but its colour was (back then) absolutely unique.

Whenever I come across anything that I wrote with it (e.g. my name in the front of a book) its sheer beauty still beguiles me, even twenty+ years later 

 

My feelings towards this ink are best summed-up by the comments that Sandy1 made about it in her review of it back in 2010.

I have not yet encountered a perfect match for it, and I have basically given up hope of ever doing so.

 

Similar inks have been created since its withdrawal by Parker, but they are not exactly the same.

Probably more important is the fact that PPS was the first ink that I encountered that had such a vibrant and deep and beautiful colour, and so I formed an emotional attachment to it that I doubt will ever be replicated.

[Mercian]

4 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

Sapphire to me is a great reference for what I want in a blue. It's a rich blue(I'd call it a cobalt blue type color) with a pleasant but not over the top amount of sheen and also an ink that will shade(despite the insistence on here that saturated inks can't shade) and is moderately well behaved in most circumstances.

Yes. This. Exactly.

 

And remember to factor-in its ‘game-changing’ difference to every ink that I had previously used.

[kestrel]

I have a dwindling stash of Sapphire cartridges.  It's a wonderful ink.  Vibrant, sheen, the works.  I will miss it when it is gone.  My cisele Sonnet loves this ink and misbehaves with almost everything else I have fed it except Monteverde Horizon Blue.  By cooincidence, MHB is the closest thing I have found to Sapphire.  It's not an exact match but it is very, very similar.  Like Sapphire, Scribe Indigo is a lovely ink but it is both better behaved and slightly less saturated.  My opsin-challenged eyes can see the difference. 

I think the fuss over Sapphire is a combination of reputation, wonderful performance and color, and rarity.  I wonder how many of those highly priced bottles I see on the auction sites actually go into pens or spend years in a dark closet appreciating in value for later resale.

[arcfide]

If PPS were released today, in a sea of heavily competitive inks, it would probably be well respected, but not worshipped or revered. However, there are some inks that become both the emotional and technical icon of fountain pen ink's potential for some people by virtue of time and place. I think PPS falls into this category for many. @Mercian's remark about emotional attachment is probably quite relevant. For some members of my family, even though they don't remember the name, Sheaffer Peacock Blue is likely the earliest influential concept of "beautiful fountain pen ink" and you can tell that this is true for others as well. Others on this board have posted about their family history with Platinum Blue Black. For me, Waterman Black holds that special place, by the smell, flow, and color, so that I cannot help but judge all other inks by not only the technical qualities of Waterman Black, but also the emotional impact of those qualities, such as the particular glistening of ink on the page, or the feel of the nib and ink together. 

 

Or, maybe put another way, Parker Penman Sapphire had a huge early mover's advantage in the hearts and minds of many. 

[inkstainedruth]

I've also seen posts that said that Monteverde Horizon Blue is a pretty good substitute, color-wise.  And I remember when Diamine Sargasso Seas came out, and there were people who swore it was also a close match to PPS -- but I found it so saturated that it was absolutely cloggy in any pen I put it in  (so, not worth the trouble...).

A few years ago I dragged my husband down to the Triangle Pen Show.  Someone had a bottle of it for sale and he offered to buy it for me and I said "Not at THAT price!"  Which, back then (about 6-7 years ago) was IIRC $125 US....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[lapis]

Ruth, nice that you say that (that Horizon comes in close). Actually, I find Horizon my absolutely best "pure" etc etc blue. I use it all the time. I even have PPS but prefer and use H much much more often. Better balanced, better flow, much much more easily attainable. To be honest (even if it's a bit late for Dip n Scratch) I didn't mention H yesterday because I thought that everybody looking for a replica of PPS would only spend their time and dough to look for something extravagant, which H really isn't. It's just great, simple, inexpensive, and easy to get.

[TSherbs]

18 hours ago, arcfide said:

If PPS were released today, in a sea of heavily competitive inks, it would probably be well respected, but not worshipped or revered. 

 

This sums it up for me. 

[Uncial]

I had a generous sample of PPS but - to many this will be sacrilege- I didn't really like it and gave the remainder away. I found it slightly cloggy, dried out on the nib a little too quickly and stained every bit as badly as that other ink we all know and love. I did like the colour and got Horizon blue and side by side, I honestly can't see the difference. 

[ErrantSmudge]

7 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I've also seen posts that said that Monteverde Horizon Blue is a pretty good substitute, color-wise.  And I remember when Diamine Sargasso Seas came out, and there were people who swore it was also a close match to PPS -- but I found it so saturated that it was absolutely cloggy in any pen I put it in  (so, not worth the trouble...).

 

Diamine Blue Velvet I think is a better match for PPS than Sargasso Sea.

[Dip n Scratch]

I ordered some Blue Velvet. Sargasso Sea seems as though is concentrated. I will have to put some in a Play Preppy 0.5 which is quite dry. Sargasso Sea has a wicked red sheen from my navy grey P51.

So PPS stained like Baystate Blue. Really?

I would not buy BSB due to the staining issue. It is a fantastic blue, but not worth the hassle in my opinion.

Did PPS contain only water as a carrying medium or was there something else in the mix? I was thinking of alcohol to make it dry faster.

[amberleadavis]

If you want to see a ton of comparisons check out the link below.  

 

 

[PAKMAN]

On 3/18/2023 at 1:47 PM, Dip n Scratch said:

I ordered some Blue Velvet. Sargasso Sea seems as though is concentrated. I will have to put some in a Play Preppy 0.5 which is quite dry. Sargasso Sea has a wicked red sheen from my navy grey P51.

So PPS stained like Baystate Blue. Really?

I would not buy BSB due to the staining issue. It is a fantastic blue, but not worth the hassle in my opinion.

Did PPS contain only water as a carrying medium or was there something else in the mix? I was thinking of alcohol to make it dry faster.

I got some Penman Sapphire ink on my fingers Saturday at the Arkansas pen show and used inknix twice with a hand brush and washed my hair twice since then and still have some blue on my fingers. Stuff is quite staining. Still love it though!

 

[PJohnP]

58 minutes ago, PAKMAN said:

I got some Penman Sapphire ink on my fingers Saturday at the Arkansas pen show and used inknix twice with a hand brush and washed my hair twice since then and still have some blue on my fingers. Stuff is quite staining. Still love it though!

 

 

Chuckle.  One reason I went away from PPS was that it didn't have sufficient water resistance.

 

Maybe when it's "aged", it gets better at handling water (and InkNix and shampoo...).  🥶  (we really need an "inky fingers" emoji !)

 

 

John P.

[PAKMAN]

3 hours ago, PJohnP said:

 

Chuckle.  One reason I went away from PPS was that it didn't have sufficient water resistance.

 

Maybe when it's "aged", it gets better at handling water (and InkNix and shampoo...).  🥶  (we really need an "inky fingers" emoji !)

 

 

John P.

True that! An inky fingers emoji would be great! Lava soap and a handbrush still haven't gotten it all off. Boy did I have sheeny fingers when I first got it on me! lol

[Bo Bo Olson]

I was given a five cartridge box....perhaps back in '90's it was The Bright Saturated blue ink.........Today I think it can be matched by Viconti Blue and other similar inks.

 

I had fairly good papers and they have gotten better over the years, where once every three or so years, I'll try it in my P-75 and never find any sheen.  Tilt as I will.

 

A casual thought, Parker has not now, when folks know about cleaning pens (a 'new' idea) , something I think few knew in the '90's, yet they don't re-issue the inks.